What does it mean to be The Oracle of Ibis? How is my work informed?

initiating the ibis

I have had a few iterations since embarking on my journey as a practitioner. Once, they knew me as The Mystic of the Missed, the reader who was informed by the many relationships I’ve developed over the years with friends and loved ones. There was a time when I hung a sign proclaiming “The Oracle of New Roads”, offering Tarot readings to my clients at the drop-in center where I worked with unhoused youth. After that, I embodied the Aquarian archetype of the alien, delivering Transmissions from Inner Space. These were all crucial steps along my path leading to the moment where I would truly spread my wings as The Oracle of Ibis.

When I first began formulating the concept for this shift, I knew that I wanted to honor and embody my Aquarius sun (in the 7th house, no less). The Major Arcana card associated with the sign Aquarius is the 17th card, The Star. The Star follows The Tower Card in the Arcana; the first glimpse of light following a time of upheaval and uncertainty. The Star embodies the archetype of hope, the ability to persevere through disruption and displacement knowing that darkness is a phase in the spiral of time. In the Rider Waite Colman Smith deck, you first see The Star in the ninth card of the Major Arcana. The Hermit (my soul card) depicts a figure holding his lantern aloft, and the source of its light is none other than the Star.

If you look closely at the RWCS image of The Star, there is a bird perched on a tree in the background, and that bird is the ibis. The ibis is a bird commonly associated with Thoth and therefore is said to symbolize divine wisdom, as well as the ability to navigate between the physical & spiritual realms. The ibis, I realized, was a potent image and guide for this new iteration of my practice. The Oracle of Ibis is not about positioning myself as some enlightened being but rather about infusing the world around me with greater hope. My goal as a practitioner is to help my clients navigate the physical and the spiritual, infusing their lives with a direct and resonant connection to the divine.

My values as a practitioner

When it comes to sifting through the overwhelming amount of practitioners who are working with clients around spiritual practices, it is hard to know where to turn. My path has been quite blessed; in retrospect it is easy to see how I have been guided towards those who were resonant for my path and my expansion. I have had the privilege of learning about the spiritual, the mystical, and the esoteric from some pretty badass teachers. The past decade has been one of spiraling expansion, and it has given me a great deal of clarity in what I want to contribute to the conversation around spirituality and the esoteric.

As a spiritual practitioner (and also a life-long student), I seek to bring authenticity to my work. Performing perfection does not interest me. We live in a world where we are exposed primarily to carefully curated personas rather than the complex people who are behind the screen. This deeply affects how we see ourselves and the narratives that define our potential and worth. As we move into 2025, the astrological movements of Neptune will further exacerbate our disillusionment. My goal as a practitioner is to be persistently authentic and to build community with other folks who crave the freedom to be our whole selves.

Beyond authenticity, my goal is to support others in their expansion. This means meeting folks exactly where they are at, without judgment. My professional background is in social work, and that career provided me with a lot of tools for supporting folks when they were experiencing significant trauma. I am not a licensed therapist or licensed social worker, however, it is important to acknowledge that spiritual work often means meeting people in moments of crisis. My ethics guide me in supporting clients in trauma-informed ways; I will never seek to exploit, manipulate, or engage in spiritual by-passing with folks experiencing vulnerability.

As a pathfinder, it is my goal to support clients in stepping into more expansive ways of being that are in alignment with their resonance and desire. This means acknowledging that there are incredibly diverse paths to this end. It took a lot of fucking around and finding out to realize that my expansion had to be rooted in deeply personalized practices rather than prescriptive ones. Working with me means exploring your unique needs and desires and collaborating on ways of being that fit you. There are limits to my capacity here, in that my experience is within open practices and paths that are specific to my ancestral lineage.

Finally, it is important that I am transparent in my values as they pertain to cultural and societal contexts. There is no way that I could do this work without acknowledging the systems of oppression that create so much suffering, physically and spiritually. The foundation of my work is personal liberation and expansion which empowers us to work toward collective liberation and expansion. This includes the liberation of all bodies from the exploitation of capitalism, the liberation of Black bodies from the systematic racism of the United States, the liberation of indigenous bodies from colonization, the liberation of all non-white bodies from marginalization, and the liberation of Palestinians from genocide, to name a few.

If any of this resonates with you, please check out all of the ways in which we can conspire together for your expansion. It would be an honor to work with you. If you have any additional questions or concerns, reach out!

xoxo

The Oracle of Ibis