The first encounter that most people have with the Odyssey is learning about their growth cycles. When you add up the numbers in your date of birth in a special way, the number matches up to one of the "paths of change" in the Odyssey (otherwise knowns as "Channels" in the tree of life or the Major Arcana of the tarot). According to the Odyssey perspective of life, your character grows most harmoniously throughout your life when developed in alignment with the quality indicated by that card/channel/path.

LIFETIME - To calculate your lifetime growth cycle, add the day, month and year of your birth together. Then add each of the individual numbers together until you come up with the number 21 or below. For example, if your birth date is 2 May 1970, here are the steps to calculate your lifetime growth cycle:

FIRST: 2 + 5 + 1970 = 1977
NEXT: 1 + 9 + 7 + 7 = 24
THEN: 2 + 4 = 6 - The Lovers

So your lifetime growth cycle would be the Lovers. Go to the Major Arcana section of the Elements page to learn more about what a Lovers lifetime growth cycle might mean for you. I might suggest, for example, that you may be most satisfied in your life overall if you remain aware of the opportunities to synthesize dualities and oppositions and make choices that transcend smaller loves to demonstrate unification in relationships.

ANNUAL - You can also determine the growth cycle for each year of your life. Add the day and month of your birth to the year of your last birth day to determine what cycle you are in right now. For example:

FIRST: 2 + 5 + 2007 = 2014
NEXT: 2 + 0 + 1 + 4 = 7 - The Chariot

So this year (between your birthdays) you would probably have been most satisfied and fulfilled if you took advantage of the opportunities of the Chariot year and if you experienced conflict, it might have been useful to see if you were trying to resist some Chariot characteristics. Again, go to the Major Arcana section of the Elements page to learn more about each growth cycle.

PAST - You can do these calculations for past years and compare the growth cycles with your memories from those years to see whether greater knowledge of the cycle you were in might have helped you to relax or be more motivated in certain areas.

FUTURE - You can also calculate into the future and plan activities to coincide with what might be the most auspicious years for that type of change. For example, planning a big trip, pilgrimage, move (home or job) or renovation for a Chariot year would probably be good. Or if your child is entering a Hermit year, you might want to wait until the next year to push team sports and support more solitary activities instead, if they seem so inclined.

PERSPECTIVE - Remember that these are just alternative ways of viewing life to aid decision making - not the only ways. The information from the Odyssey Growth Cycles or Journeys can provide some extra guidance that may be necessary when it is unclear just which way to go.

     

The next step people usually take is to request guidance on a particular issue or their life in general. In the Odyssey, the framework for requesting guidance corresponds to the ancient tradition of the tarot. With a question or issue in mind, choose a framework (also known as a tarot spread) and pull cards from a deck of cards representing the major and minor arcana of the tarot - either a deck you have created (we do this in the Odyssey course) or one you have purchased - for each aspect of that framework.

ASTROLOGICAL - The Astrological framework is popular for a getting general guidance on all aspects of your life, represented by different cards that correspond to signs of the zodiac. See the Astrological Guidance page for more detail and a PDF of the Odssey worksheet.

CELTIC CROSS - The Celtic Cross is one of the most popular issue-based frameworks. Each aspect refers to some component of the issue you want guidance on. See the Celtic Cross Guidance page for more detail and a PDF of the Odyssey worksheet.

RELATIONSHIP - The Relationship framework is useful for a getting guidance on the elemental aspects of a relationship - for you, what/whom you are in relationship with, and for the nature of the relation itself. This framework is usually used for relationships between people, but can be used for relationships with vocations, institutions, ideas, etc. See the Relationship Guidance page for more detail and a PDF of the Odssey worksheet.

EXTRA CARDS - If you want more guidance on a particular aspect of any framework, you can always just pull another card. The guidance is the integration of all cards pulled for a particular aspect.

REVERSE - It DOES matter if the cards are right-side up or up-side down. If a card is displayed up-side down for a particular aspect, you are encouraged to consider whether you are resisting, opposing, or moving into or out of something related to that quality of that card in relation to that aspect. Contemplating this reverse/backing into situation is often a creative way of re-thinking the ways we might be stuck.

SUMMARY - It is useful to use the worksheets on each framework to keep notes on the guidance you get from the cards and to summarize the entire spread in a variety of ways. Calculating how many "change" cards (major arcana) and how many "enduring qualities" cards can give you a sense of how you might think about the amount of change or stability you have or want in your life. Calculating the number of reversed cards that appear might suggest how you might think about your approach your life - resisting? backing into? or meeting head on?

Now you want to mark all the relevant growth cycles and the cards that turned up in your request for guidance on a blank map of the Tree of Life that you either make yourself or download. This will be the route of your journey.

REFERENCE - You might want to make notes on the map about which sephirot or channels are marked for which aspects of guidance or growth cycles - maybe writing notes about the aspect, making an R for reversed cards, or marking different cycles and guidance in different colors. This will make your map an easy reference document when you are traveling.

DIRECTION - A true Odyssey journey mimics the macrocosmic journey the ancient mystics traced through the Tree of Life - from Malkuth to Kether to gain wisdom from a higher power and then back down to Malkuth to demonstrate that wisdom at each sephirot and share it with others. You need to select a route for your journey according to the following rules:

• Visit every sephirot at least once. Ideally you would visit each sephirot on the way up (to collect relevant questions) and each on the way down (to disseminate relevant wisdom), but this has a tendency to take a lot of extra time. If you choose not to visit all twice, consider re-visiting ones that turned up in your guidance during the return journey.
• Travel on all the channels you have marked. It is fine to travel on channels you haven't marked (it is inevitable in order to get up and down the tree), but be sure not to miss any from your growth cycles and guidance.
• Do not travel on any channels more than once if it can be avoided. If you must travel a channel more than once, do not travel it in the same direction the second time.

DOCUMENTS - Using your route map as a guide, go through your route and review the relevant sephirot and channels in the order you will encounter on the journey. Go to the relevant pages linked from the Elements section of the Odyssey website. Print out the PDF page for each element and write in the aspects of your guidance where that element turned up. Put all the documents in the order of your journey in some sort of binder, notebook or folder.

SYMBOLS - Go back through the various elements and determine which archetypes and symbols are relevant for your specific ethnicity and orientations. If you are of Nordic descent, select archetypes and symbols from Nordic mythology for each sephirot or channel and write your selection on the appropriate page. Ideally you would do a little research on the relevant archetype/symbol and jot down some notes of things to think about when you are at that place in your journey.

YOURSELF - Review the Journeys page for details on how to select or create your geographic odyssey and how to assemble the clothing, materials, tools, talismans and food that you will need for the journey.

TIME - Give yourself enough time to complete the journey. It's probably not recommended or possible to do the entire journey in one day. If you want to do it all at once in a geographic space, it is recommended that you find a place to remain overnight near your Kether location. That evening gives you a chance to rest and reflect, ideally over some good sustenance with trusted old friends or sympatico new ones. Having an evening break allows your subconscious to process what you experienced during the day, which gives you an opportunity to engage the following day with the potential for new insights.

ENGAGEMENT - There are general instructions for activities on the journey found on the Journeys page and detailed instructions for each sephirah and each channel of your journey that are found on the individual pages for those elements. Of course you don't have to do those activities, but the more engaged you are, the greater the potential for insight and transformation.

RESPECT - Respect the environment and beings around you as you travel. This is your journey, but there is no need to be isolated about it. The universe speaks to us often through other people, even unpleasant people. Sometimes we do not know who we are until we are in the presence of that which we are not. So travel with open eyes, sure feet, a light heart and helping hands.

PERSONAL - Hopefully you will be keeping notes on your journey about things you have encountered, ways that you have felt, insights you have gained, answers you have obtained and questions that have emerged. You will find it extremely useful to take some quiet time after your journey and summarize the entire experience. This does not mean necessarily to recount every event - you have your journey documents with notes for that. A summary distills all the experiences into a few basic truths. The summary can be one sentence (proverb) or a few pages long (no more). Of course if you want to write a book about your journey, that's great. But be sure to take time to do a summary as well.

FRIENDS - Be sure to share your experience with at least one or two trusted friends or family members who know you well. They will understand the significance of some of your insights and will ask good probing questions that only people who know you well will be able to do. This will help you to gain more out of the experience than you will have seen at first.

COMMUNITY - If you are willing and able, it would be greatly appreciated if you could provide some advice to future travelers. It can be general advice about the process or the journey, or specific comments about certain sephirot, channels or preparations. Go to the Community section of the Odyssey website to share your experience and advice. We will get your contributions to the right location. If you decide to contribute in the form of a narrative, it will be added to the Stories page. As our community grows, this section will include a forum and tools for arranging meetups.