I'm a natural, lifelong learner. Really, when it comes to courses and books and things that'll enrich and improve my life, I'm a bit of a magpie grabbing at shiny things. But I'm going to lay it out here: a lot of my business is just beginning, my goals are just starting to be planted and to sprout. There are a ton of things I want to learn and do and take part in. And I can't do them all right now - I have to be very, very discerning. I can't make any big investments the way I'd like to unless I know they're The One.

And the one big commitment I've made is in Leonie Dawson's work.

I've already spoken a bit about Leonie Dawson in the past, but I did want to give you another look at some of the transformative power of what she creates. There's such a giving, sunshine-y spirit behind what Leonie creates for women, and she's constantly creating and giving others a powerful boost all the time. 

For those of you just tuning in, Leonie Dawson runs the Goddess Circle, a seriously awesome group of women who want to celebrate their inner goddesses while connecting in the form of a virtual women's circle. Yes, this is an affiliate post - but I wouldn't promote anything I didn't 100% use and love myself. Through the Circle, I've already met an awesome variety of women, who are willing to support each other in business (blog trading and website review), creativity, or if they just need to vent. That'd be worth the $199 a year for membership alone - but Leonie has a huge assortment of course and meditations about business, creativity, health, chakras,  you name it. And she offers all of that free to anyone who joins the circle. A lot of sites tout how they're giving thousands of dollars worth of content away for just (insert whatever arbitrary price here). But I legitimately believe that's what Leonie is doing, providing a great price for a ton of great work.

Through Leonie, I've been turned on to so many awesome women, and given so many new ideas about ways to improve my life and awaken my inner goddess. She hand-paints the ebook pages of her courses, and infuses them with such a gentle, supportive spirit that you can feel her giving you a lift through the page. In just six days, she'll be beginning her six-week Creative Goddess e-course, and I'm super excited to be taking part. If it's anything like her business course, and her 30 Days of Goddess course, it provides a lot of excellent information while giving a big lift to the spirit.

I'm unable to offer you a full review just yet, but I did start the Creative Goddess course a little bit early, feeling the need for a creative boost. Along with a beautiful boost to my creative juices, the first week's 30-minute meditation gave me a huge feeling of tranquility and inner power. It taught me to contact my inner older, wiser self, a concept I'd never really explored before. That's something I want to return to again and again, any time I feel not-enough for whatever I want to accomplish... and I know we've all had that time.

The Creative Goddess e-course is $89 dollars if you don't want to join the Goddess Circle and get everything else that goes with it, $199 if you do. And it is seriously, seriously worth it. 

I have a confession to make, and it's one I've been putting off for a long time.

I've been experimenting...

With oracle cards.

The Doreen Virtue Goddess Guidance cards, to be specific, with the sparkly gold edges the pretty, soothing pictures of gorgeous women. The sweet, "non-threatening" messages.

And okay, okay, I jest. There is nothing wrong with oracle cards - they're lovely! And fascinating! There's so much variety! But I was always a bit skeptical about Ms. Virtue. Not because she's doing it wrong - no one is doing it wrong. But I didn't know if she was for me.

I don't know if I believe in Indigo children, you see. Angels and faeries do incredible things for some people, magickally and spiritually - I've met just as many people who say these are powerful forces you don't want to mess with idly. (I've got no idea how they got such a different set of references.) And then there's Doreen Virtue's Tarot deck, in which she claimed she'd removed anything "threatening" or "scary" - when really, the only thing scary about Tarot is how it might tell you there's things in your life that need a little work. Why would I want to avoid anything that might tell me the truth? 

But I kept running into these cards, over and over again. Different readers would pull them to supplement a reading. They were out for display at my favorite occult shop, and I couldn't stop staring at them. And finally, a financial windfall came my way to treat myself to some Amazon goodies, and I put them on the order list. 

What strikes me first about these cards is the artwork. It's so lush and also so varied, in different styles and forms of expression that let you really feel the personality of each goddess as the cards express them. You could use these cards meditatively if you like, delving into the details of each image and seeing what stands out to you. Or you could just treat the goddess in each card as a friend and a guide, as the deck encourages you to do. That'd trouble you, obviously, if you come from a faith that views these figures as literal beings who want to be called on and honored in a specific way, but as I'm more from the "facets of the same diamond" camp, I see the cards as having a unique energy that they bring with each individual message.

In general, oracle cards tend to be more specific than Tarot, more on point. That doesn't allow for a reading of more than a few cards, and it doesn't delve into complexity, but it provides an excellent springboard for deeper work. Reflecting on the energy of a single card can provide a lot of journal fodder, or maybe researching the nature of that goddess beyond the surface, learning the deeper aspects of her particular message. (I do wish the guidebook provided a little more insight into each individual goddess, and the legends that informed her message.)

There really is a lot of variety for "gentle, non-threatening" messages. Ishtar encourages you to set healthy boundaries, and Green Tara tells you that this may be a time to avoid harsh situations or environments. Kwan Yin tells you to be compassionate towards others, but most of all towards yourself. I realized very quickly that giving yourself kind, careful messages doesn't always mean avoiding truths. Certainly a few daily draws have already given me a lot of food for thought. But much like Tarot, it's up to me how deep I choose to go, whether I do the reflective work on what a particular card might mean to me. That provides a bit of extra responsibility on the part of the seeker, but I can't think of anything less coddling than that.

While Tarot's definitely my one true love as far as divination's concerned, I think I can count this experiment a success.

When I first entered online business, it didn't take me long to discover the "guru train". Everyone has a free hour-long call telling you how you absolutely need their coaching. Everyone has the top five mistakes you can make if you do things the hard way. 

There's nothing wrong with that. Marketing is marketing - I care if what you're selling works. And so many of their insights have been smart and valuable and helped me along. 

But there's so much of it.  I learned quickly that if I spent all my time learning, and none of it doing, then my time was worth absolutely nothing. So how to pick the right course for me, on the budget I have?

Enter Goddess Leonie. You might have seen her around: colorful hand-lettered banners, showing serene-looking art of women? Or a picture of the lady herself with a smile as huge as the sun? I've seen a thousand business courses out there. But something about Leonie's just tugged at me. With her creativity and her spirit, I knew her course was the right one to choose, and I haven't been disappointed.

Let's get this out of the way: yes, I'm affiliated with Leonie. But I wouldn't be affiliated with anything if it wasn't 1000% fantastic. And in just a few weeks, Leonie's course has been helping me move forward in my business with confidence, creativity, and real, insightful ideas! 

The course is designed so you can leap into it at any stage, with awesome worksheets about ideas for your business, ways to advertise, the practical end of setting things up, and how to care for yourself in the process. Leonie's life-affirming spirit gives real confidence and ease to the whole thing, but it's all working for her: she's making six figures at her own business, living her dreams.

But the best part of Leonie's course is what you get in the process. Leonie gives her entire set of classes away, for just $99 a year. Courses on creativity and self-care, meditations and chakra healing guides, and of course the business course - it's all there! And you get the Goddess Circle, an awesome forum with hundreds of creative, inspiring women working through the courses and sharing their experiences. The support you'll get and the connections you'll make is worth the cost alone.

I've picked now to tell you about this because Leonie is actually raising her rates on July 3rd. You'll still get an incredible amount of content for one fee all year, but the prices are going to be raised to $199. Which is still more than your money's worth for everything she offers - but you can avoid that extra $100! If you enter the Goddess Circle before July 3rd, you're still going to be paying at the earlier rate, kind of like an Early Bird Special. 

And honestly, guys, that's why I'm picking right this second to talk about why the Goddess Circle is amazing - because now's the time to act - but Leonie's work is incredible any day of the year. It is so, so worth it to check her out, join the Circle, and access the incredible body of work she has to offer.

Just click the Business Goddess image in this blog post, or the image on my sidebar - the one that says 'Click to Discover the Goddess In You'. And I'm looking forward to seeing you there!