Wild Harmonic Oracle: REDFeather Q&A with Gabe Marihugh

Wild Harmonic Oracle: REDFeather Q&A with Gabe Marihugh

RF: Who would benefit most from Wild Harmonic Oracle Cards?

GM: The Wild Harmonic Oracle is created primarily for people inquiring into the dream-like aspects of waking life, such as signs and omens and learning to create or manifest what we desire. This isn't to say I mean to preach "life is a dream" because that implies a whimsical or even dismissive relationship with living. On the contrary, I hope to inspire a deep reverence for all of life, and a deep engagement with all of our experiences. The deck aims to help cultivate the many layers of subtle awareness that our primary cultures have trained us to ignore. Psychically sensitive people will get a lot out of this deck because it speaks the language of subtle awareness, thereby supporting their unfolding. Likewise, people who haven't yet found their relationship with their intuitive side will find an endless source of encouragement and inspiration in the reflections and inquiries possible with the deck.

RF: Most people recognize the elements as Earth, Fire, Water, and Air; Wild Harmonic introduces additional elements to the mix. Can you explain those elements and the purpose they serve the deck?

GM: The additional elements were a natural creative layer that arose from the deck as I put it together. The use of elements in the deck has ties both the natural world and the seven psychic energy centers of the human body. This combination helps create a conscious connection between the outer and inner elemental realms.

While there are many different formulas for mapping elements to our psychic centers, each with different aims, the simple formula used in this deck (from the root up, earth, water, fire, air, spirit…) draws directly from the nature of the physical locations each center resides in. It is also a sequence that mirrors the elements in magic circles used by many paths of circle casting. The counterclockwise circle follows the same elemental sequence as the rising of our dragon energy from the root up, and the clockwise circle follows the reverse elemental sequence, which maps to the descent of our energy through our psychic centers into embodiment. A lot is going on here (!) with elemental sequences (alchemical processes), circles and lines (sacred geometry) and the ascent/embodiment cycles that bring us into empowerment.

The additional elements are not intended to be dogmatic teachings on the way things truly are. Like the 4 or 5 traditional elements, they are meant as shorthand, a simple linguistic container for vast amounts of information. The additional elements of Celestial and Dimensional represent the spaces we navigate beyond the terrestrial elemental realms.

The 5 terrestrial elements form the pentagram, which opens the way to the hexagram (Celestial). The Dimensional element is by far the most transcendent yet immanent of them all and is difficult to discuss with the written word. It is largely entered into intuitively, though teachings on alchemy and sacred geometry can help open one's awareness to the Dimensional. Their purpose in this deck is to do just that: to open awareness to them.

The 8th element in the deck is really a pseudo-element because it is not meant to represent a building block of reality but rather the inversion or denial of such building blocks. This Shadow element is present in the deck for a twofold purpose. First, it helps ground the rest of the deck, which is quite lofty and cosmic in concept, into the real world of the problems we face in life. Second, it helps to shine a light on these everyday problems in such a way to reveal them to be the amazing and powerful alchemical teachers, helping us to open in awareness, that they actually are.

RF: The circular shape of the cards is incredibly unique – how does shape affect reading with Wild Harmonic?

GM: The circle shape adds a couple of layers of meaning when reading with the deck. There is a way of reading the rotation of a given card to draw further meaning from it, which is discussed in the book. One can also use the orientation of a given card, as it points to other cards, as an indication of significance. There are other little quirks that the circles add to readings, which I leave for each to discover on their own.

I think also that the mere act of drawing from a circular deck has a subtle influence on how we read. When we draw a circle forth, something in us knows this is not a box-shaped idea, not something that will necessarily fit with how we think it should. This is a very subtle layer of sacred geometry teaching at play in the physical structure of the cards.

RF: Your author bio lists that you are an artist, poet, and musician. How have these art forms influenced Wild Harmonic, if at all?

GM: These have all influenced the deck tremendously. Music, of course, is a great teacher of the exploration of finding harmony, which is literally part of the deck's name and intended purpose. Of course, some of the most interesting music is formed from the inspired play between harmony and disharmony. This is why the deck contains the Shadow cards. The deck doesn't want to introduce more spiritual fluff, vanilla esoterica or philosophical platitudes. It wants to meet people somewhere real and help them get somewhere more expanded, but just as, or even more real. 

Of course, art and poetry were the underpinnings of delivering the deck as a physical object with an accompanying book. These modalities, art, music, writing and I would add movement practices, reveal how universal principles operate within and around us. By comparing notes between modalities we can learn startling and inspiring perspectives about the interconnected nature of life. This is all crafted into the deck via the relationships between two elements that each card represents.

RF: Tell us about your spiritual journey. When were you first introduced to the vast, esoteric world?

GM: Looking back, I can recall having intensely mystical experiences as early as 5 years old. Some moments from that age and later are still with me vividly to this day. Of course, I didn't think of them as such at the time. They were just what occurred to me like everything else. It was only later that I became aware of the sort of special status the world gives such experiences and became inspired with learning to see what others had to say about it all.

A lot of early esoteric teachings came to me through the unlikely source of the 12 Step Recovery Programs. While I was never in recovery myself, I was basically raised in the culture of such programs and introduced to such practices as divination and alchemy, which I would later go into very deeply.

In my early teens, I came across the Runes and became obsessed with reading with them for myself for many years to follow. They strangely fit with my innocent, inquiring and mystical nature and, through their use, I found new ways of seeing life. They opened many doors for me and, sort of like a gateway drug led me to inquire into numerous other systems and approaches.

RF: Timing can be very important when creating a deck. What encouraged or convinced you to publish Wild Harmonic at this moment in time?

GM: Honestly, the timing of this publication is way out of my hands. If it were up to me, this would have happened many years ago. But I am (usually) not one to try and force the river, so I have been trusting the timing is right and am eager to see how it fits with the world now.

RF: It is written that Wild Harmonic is "for all those who are finding and refining their path." Where is your path leading you? What can readers and fans of Wild Harmonic Oracle Cards expect next from Gabe Marihugh?

GM: Up next for the deck is an expansion book with further information on each card, ways of reading them and other practices that can be done with the cards. You can find the beginning of such information on my website (wildharmonic.com) in the ever-growing online card guide. I also plan to teach as many classes as people are interested in on the deck in 2022 and beyond.

Beyond this deck, I hope to develop more decks. I have five new decks at various stages of development already. I also hope to teach my course on Soul Path (tentatively called "Dreaming Your Soul Awake") starting in 2022. 

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About the Author 

Gabe Marihugh is an artist, mystic, musician, and teacher of meditation, subtle energy, and sacred ritual. He is a doctor of divinity and lifelong inquirer into the subtle, poetic, hidden, and empowering arts. He has been studying and practicing meditation and myriad magical teachings for over 30 years. In the course of his explorations he has wandered near and far in the esoteric world. While many different teachings inform his approaches he holds sacred ritual, non dual inquiry, and energy meditation closest to his heart. He teaches regular classes on meditation and magic and hosts weekly tea ceremonies to help spread the Dreaming.