I got a new deck of oracle cards, and suddenly I was taking a tour through every animal I have ever loved.
These are Diana Cooper’s Archangel Animal Oracle cards. The pictures are beautiful, and reading them brought up this thought: in so many stages of my life, there has been an animal beside me.
When I look back, I feel like they were looking after me in their own ways.
We had birds when I was little. Parakeets, parrots. Later, hamsters. And I remember a dove that used to nest in my mom’s hanging basket.
Reading about animals as symbols of peace, love, and companionship made those memories feel close again.
And then I got to the guinea pig.
Oh, Mr. Pickles.
I was living alone in an apartment downtown, going through a hard time, when my best friend Will and I went and got a guinea pig. I named him Mr. Pickles, and he promptly became the man of the house.
He had a little house of his own. He was not particularly interested in it.
Mr. Pickles preferred to roam.
He would wait until everyone was seated and things had settled down, then come wandering out to join us. People would jump. Some thought he was a rat.
“No, that’s Mr. Pickles. He lives here.”
He had his own schedule. His own social preferences. And somehow, this little animal gave that lonely apartment so much life.
Eventually, when my living situation changed, he went to a family friend’s grandson. I love thinking about him having another chapter, bringing that little personality into somebody else’s world.
I thought about my cats, too.
Dora the Explorer went to live with my mom’s best friend after she lost her husband. Dora became Sweetie, and she had a beautiful life there.
Then there was Butters, the cat who simply walked into my house when I was living in Humboldt County in Northern California.
Just walked in. As cats do.
I was alone there at the time. Later, when my boyfriend came back, he fell in love with Butters. His mom was dying, and I felt like that cat had arrived for him. Butters stayed with him.
When I look back at these animals, I remember who I was when they arrived. What I was carrying. What their company meant in that particular season.
The oracle cards gave me a different language for reflecting on those memories. Their spiritual symbolism speaks to me, especially the idea of little animals helping open our hearts. That is how I read them: as an invitation to notice love and meaning in the relationships I have had.
And then I realized the cards were by the same Diana Cooper whose writing about a new golden age I had already enjoyed.
No wonder the tone felt familiar to me. I kept thinking, this feels so loving.
I was also delighted by the ladybird card. A ladybug, but called a ladybird. I just love that word.
And the messages about daring to be different, aspiring to wisdom, and cooperating for the good of the community.
So much to think about in one little deck.
But my favorite part was remembering Mr. Pickles coming out to inspect the company. Sweetie finding another person to love. Butters walking through the door.
All those little lives crossing mine.
I am so grateful they did.
