The Reclamation Oracle
Let's Play the Medicine Circle Game
You never know whose card will answer your question.
Some of my favorite memories with these cards haven't happened alone.
They've happened around kitchen tables.
On living room floors.
At birthday parties.
Around retreat circles.
In the middle of family dinners.
I've watched complete strangers become delighted friends around these cards.
I've watched facilitators use them to open extraordinary conversations.
Children have invented their own versions of the game.
I've even watched cats pull cards.
Yes…really.
Somehow they've all worked.
Because wisdom seems to like good company.
And it turns out it likes to laugh, too.
How it works
Everyone arrives with a question.
Not because anyone has the answer.
Simply because something is alive.
Sometimes people say it out loud.
Sometimes they keep it quietly in their own heart.
Then someone pulls the first card.
Read the teaching together.
When the practice is available to you, do it together.
Then the next person pulls.
And the next.
Until everyone has been held by the circle.
Somewhere along the way something lovely usually happens.
The card that belonged to someone else suddenly sounds like it was written for you.
Someone laughs.
Someone cries.
Someone blurts out, "Well…I wasn't expecting that."
And everyone nods.
What you'll need
You'll want the practices.
The cards begin the conversation.
The practices are where the conversation starts living in real life.
They're what turn "That was interesting…" into "I think I'm going to remember this for a while."
You can find them three different ways.
The deck and companion book
Shuffle. Roll the die. Open the book. Pass everything around the table. There is something wonderfully ordinary about wisdom arriving between cups of tea.
The New Moon Circle
Every New Moon the practices open. Friends all over the world are pulling cards, rolling dice, writing, laughing, moving, breathing, practicing. It's one of my favorite rhythms.
Practice Anytime
Sometimes life doesn't wait for the moon. Sometimes Tuesday is the day you need the practice. That's exactly why this exists.
If today's card on the website is all you've ever known — you already have something beautiful. One card and its teaching can stay with you for days. When you want to bring the practices into the room with other people, these three doors are waiting.
A few ways to play
There isn't a right way to play.
- Gather around the dinner table.
- Take them camping.
- Start a retreat with them.
- Close a retreat with them.
- Pull one before a staff meeting.
- Bring them to a birthday.
- Welcome a new year.
- Sit on the porch on a rainy afternoon.
The game changes every time because the people do. That's half the fun.
A few gentle agreements
You're simply listening.
You don't have to explain your card.
You don't have to be insightful.
You don't have to fix anyone.
Please don't interpret someone else's card for them.
Simply listen.
To yourself. To one another.
Notice what surprises you.
That's enough.
Playing on a screen
Don't have the deck?
Wonderful.
Pass one phone around the circle.
One person. One card. One conversation.
Then the next.
The cards seem perfectly happy on a kitchen table, a living room floor… or balanced on someone's slightly cracked phone.
Every card, hand-painted
Each one carries a single teaching.
Before you begin
Don't try to make it profound.
Really.
Bring your curiosity.
Bring your sense of humor.
Bring one honest question.
That's enough.
Meaningful enough to matter. Light enough to enjoy.
May your friendships deepen.
May your conversations surprise you.
And may someone else's card answer exactly the question you forgot you were carrying.
Play right now, free · the Reclamation Oracle →
The deck and companion book, if you'd like them in your hands · the Shop →