Bird Cards: The Healing Power of the Bird Kingdom by Jane Toerien and Joyce Van Dobben are full of the wisdom of the bird kingdom. I’ve found messages from birds to be an enormous support in my own spiritual development and these cards can help you access their help and inspiration.

This is a deck of 55 full colour cards printed on nice quality stock, presented in a sturdy box with accompanying 159 page guidebook. The cards are all neatly numbered so it is easy to find the interpretations in the book and they all have identical navy blue backs with a simple white feather design, so there is nothing to distract the eye when choosing intuitively.

The artist, Joyce van Dobben, has used fine coloured pencils and each illustration is a proper ‘work of art’. She is clearly a very spiritual lady and as well as a lifelike drawing of each bird she has included rainbows, crystals, magical landscapes, rays of light and other mystical elements. On my Wing and a Prayer workshop we found that the richness of the illustrations made the cards possible to interpret for ourselves, although the very well written book by Jane Torien contains much additional insight and advice. It is pleasing that the artist has also been given space for her notes at the end of the book.

To give you an idea of the deck I have drawn a card at random for my day and picked Thrush. I know that the thrush’s song is very beautiful, uplifting and melodic, hence the name ‘Song Thrush’ which suggests I will be using my voice and music. Supporting that idea there is a picture of a harp ‘drawn in light’ on the card and by synchronicity I am using Harp Therapy by Lizary Rodriguez Rios in the background of my meditations at the moment.

The Thrush card shows a rainbow and a new moon with a sprinkling of stars starting to come out. The landscape is pastoral and peaceful. The thrush perches on a branch and looks like she is ready to fly off. Thrushes are busy little birds. I’ll be teaching so I do have a busy day ahead in which thrush energy will be useful to keep things moving along.

The numbers of thrushes has fallen drastically with the use of poisonous slug pellets. When I was a child it was common to see a 'thrush’s anvil' littered with snail shells, now sadly it is much less so. When I see the thrush I am reminded to take responsibility for all of the products I buy, whether in the garden or in the home.

Looking Thrush up in the book Jane Toerien confirms the importance of music and the voice. She also suggests that maybe there is discord somewhere that needs to be harmonised. She talks of accessing the happy energy of the thrush, that it is ‘effervescent’ and light-hearted energy, so possibly someone will need ‘lightening up’. Jane talks of the healing power of sound and although the course is based around crystal healing we do use sound. Yesterday we were chanting mantras for the chakras, perhaps I need a sound element to today’s class too?

I have drawn a second card, asking for guidance just for me now. Very interesting! I pulled Lark, one of the other leading choristers of the bird kingdom. The need for melodious music and use of the voice is obviously strong for me and not just about today’s teaching. Also shown on the card are lots of beautiful rainbows and a sky that alternates between clear blue and starry night. Again the crescent moon. The lark is drawn in flight, aiming at the source of light, the Sun. Flight for me is literally uplifting and symbolic of freedom, the ability to stretch your wings and try new things. It is interesting that neither bird I picked is showy, they aren’t glamorous to look at, it is their voices which makes them stand out. I have been told before that I will be speaking to larger audiences, perhaps it is to do with being heard? As I type this I hear the intuitive message,
“You’ve got to sing your own tune.”
That makes a lot of sense to me. I used to care all the time about what people would think of me and that concern causes self censure and restricts what you think you can do. There are still shreds of that old habit that need to be dissipated.

Looking in the book Jane speaks of exultation and abandoning ourselves to sheer bliss and joy. She reminds us of the need to let go of old pain, hurts and bitterness from the past and that holding on just makes us suffer. Very good advice for everyone. On a practical level I am in the middle of a big clear out of my loft at the moment as I am hoping to move house and I got stalled a little while ago, so things are half done. I need to get back to it and I know I have too many boxes of keepsakes in there. I think I need to travel lighter and then I can really 'fly'. Not bad advice from drawing just two cards!

If you marvel at the beauty of the bird kingdom and feel, as I do, that the birds have messages for us, then I think you’ll enjoy these lovely cards too.