Don’t you hate it when you look up the spiritual meaning of, say, Rabbit, and you find it has 20+ meanings? And then, when you visit another website, they give you another bunch of new meanings.
All you wanted was one good, easy-to-remember ‘fact’ to help you remember an Oracle card meaning, NOT a 3-hour trip down a rabbit hole, am I right?
So what do you do?
Wearily nod yes if you have done one or more of the following…
- Bookmarked every website you Googled – just in case
- saved page links to a web service like Pocket – just in case
- screenshot information and uploaded it to an online folder that you can never EVER find again – just in case
- printed out reams of webpages and stashed them into colourful binders – just in case
sigh… I’m an information hoarder, too.
Now, how often do you refer back to your resource of spiritual meanings and facts? All the time? Sometimes? Never?
If you fall into the sometimes or never (ever) like me, it might be time to rethink your hoarding habit.
“But FORMAL DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM – That sounds horrendous – soul destroying – no fun whatsoever – I thought you were about fun and magic?!!!”
Is what I imagine you are all thinking right now.
But before you Google 10 signs someone has lost her marbles, hear me out. You are correct; data collection systems are not magical or pretty, but neither is feeling overwhelmed and anxious about your favourite pastime – Oracle cards.
If you are looking to move beyond what is written in your Oracle Deck guidebook – to flex your intuitive muscle, OR, if you
want to use your Oracle cards as a tool to help you learn amazing facts about our wonderful planet, mythology, folklore and symbolism. Then you need to rethink how you store information.
And, to be clear, I am not referring to data systems that record your Oracle Card readings; there are plenty of digital and printable products available to buy that help you do that including my own Printable Oracle Card Worksheets available to buy on Etsy.
No, I am talking about getting your mitts on a database that easily stores & cross-references Oracle card practice -related information that will help you stay on top of things and your long-term Oracle card practice goals.
Abracadabra – From Formal Data Collection System to Knowledge Bank
Now that I have your attention, let’s sprinkle a little magic back into the conversation and rename my headline-grabbing label ‘Formal Data Collection System’ to Knowledge Bank.
I love the term Knowledge Bank – whenever I use it, I imagine little juicy nuggets of information being dropped into a cute piggy bank and filling up with amazing weird and wonderful facts that I can call on during an Oracle card reading.
The Age of information overload
Yes, I know I am describing the brain and how memories work, but mine has changed. It is no longer happy to process and store snippets of half-read articles and spuriously sourced factoids. It wants, sorry, needs order and the space to process facts from reputable, easy-to-access sources, especially the ones I have attributed value to.
To make sure I comply, my brain has adopted a Use it or Lose it policy.
If I don’t check in and qualify the latest information I have picked up, my brain chucks it into the Bin. After around 30 days, if I haven’t bothered to retrieve it, it’s deleted forever.
It’s a harsh policy, but I understand the need for self-preservation. I am constantly absorbing and voluntarily bombarding my system with information, as I imagine you are.
Take the pressure off with the Magic of 3 (facts)
To make life easier for my brain, I now only stockpile three facts at once. Why? Because psychology nerds say that is pretty much all we can handle in one learning session, and I am all about the easy life.
Do I just learn any old 3 facts? No, I am actually quite selective (now) about the information I try to learn and stash away.
To identify the right kind of information me to hang onto I employ my OOOO – Ew – WTHail! method. I won’t go into detail here, because I cover it in detail in an upcoming blog article but in a nutshell. I choose to retain information that evoke reactions emotional – physical – whatever else in me. Stuff that really catches my attention. Go read my other blogpost for examples. I dare you!
Upgrading to a digital capture-all system was surprisingly easy with Airtable
It was so annoyingly simple that I kicked myself for a week afterwards. So, who or what is Airtable?
It’s a great online platform that lets you create databases to store whatever your heart desires. With a short learning curve, you can quickly master Airtable and build yourself a Knowledge Bank that can be linked to external drive folders and any other source of information you might have.
Want to connect your Animal Oracle facts to your Goddess database? No problem! There is actually very little you can’t do on Airtable’s free version – sign up and get cracking!
Still feels too hard basket?
I get it. Finding the time and mind space to learn a new platform on top of building your intuition and Oracle card practice is hard. So, at the bottom of this article is a link to a blank copy of my Airtable Knowledge Bank. Please feel free to download it and adapt it to suit your needs.
Keeping it Simple – Airtable Knowledge Bank
However, if you are new to Airtable, I recommend you try my Oracle Knowledge Bank unchanged for a few weeks to get a feel for it and Airtable.
Stick to adding three facts or three symbolic meanings at a time, and before long, you will have a great big stash of facts and symbolic meanings relevant to you and your Oracle Card Practice.
Upgrading to Notion: the ultimate Oracle Card Practice Platform?
Wait, what?! I haven’t even downloaded your Airtable thing, and now you want me to upgrade?!
Not if you don’t want to. The Knowledge Bank above works brilliantly. It’s just that I want to have the ability to cross-reference and link to other related databases, e.g. blog posts and design projects. After some research, I moved my Knowledge Bank to Notion.
If you are unfamiliar with Notion – don’t feel bad – I only recently went down that rabbit hole myself, and all you need to know is that –
“Notion is a freemium productivity and note-taking web application developed by Notion Labs Inc. It offers organisational tools, including task management, project tracking, to-do lists, bookmarking, and more.”
Wikipedia
1) The learning curve is a bit steeper than Airtable.
I spent a good two weeks watching How-to videos and experimenting with Notion before building a whole new empire of roadmaps and databases.
2) You can build as many Knowledge Banks – Fact Files – and Oracle Card Tracking databases as you want on the Free version and still benefit from some fantastic functionality.
3) If you create a lovely little Resources Library (like I did) and install the Notions Web clipper widget onto your Mac or PC – you can save any webpage to it and link it to related database entries.
4) The Notions App is outstanding – you can add anything on the fly!
5) You can download your existing Airtable databases & content via a (.CSV) doc and import them to Notion, or download my Notion Template.
6) You can make it pretty. Well, prettier than Airtable, at least, which makes this aspiring creative VERY HAPPY.
I sound giddy, I know, but Notion has managed to change how I think about my work, creativity, learning and Oracle card ambitions in a way that no other system has. I suspect magic is involved.
You are welcome, brain!
Freebies – Airtable, Notion or both?
In case you missed it, I believe that creating a centralised (digital) Knowledge Bank is the way forward. Not only will it stop you from hoarding (and losing) information across multiple platforms, but it also has the potential to help you grow your Oracle card wisdom, confidence and intuition.
But is this right for you?
I can’t answer that, but I can offer you the chance to try them out.
No strings attached – just downloads
In addition to offering you a blank copy of my Airtable Knowledge Bank (database). I am also offering you the option of downloading part of my Notion Oracle Knowledge Bank.
This freebie edition contains two databases Oracle – Fact Files & Oracle – Related Articles. These ingeniously named components are hooked up to let you experience how easy it is to add web articles to a Notion database and link them to your fact files.
Honestly, If I were you, I would download both and take a sticky beak. A formal data collection system might just be what you need to help keep track of your web searches.
Enjoy!
Download the freebies!