Mind_Body_Makeover_Oracle

“The fact is, most makeovers don’t last because changes from the ‘outside in’ rarely last. True change is an ‘inside’ job. If we don’t learn how to mold our mind and body into healthier ways of feeling and thinking, then our outer experiences will get stuck in a rut.” –Mona Lisa Schulz

Neuropsychiatrist Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D. has created the Mind/Body Makeover Oracle Cards to help you rewire the emotional patterns that increase your chances of succumbing to physical illness, depression, and anxiety. This 70-card deck features oval cards which contains three different sections:

The emotion or feeling that needs healing

The Healthy Thought pattern (regular text, upright position)

The Unhealthy Thought pattern that can precipitate depression, anxiety, anger, and painful life events (reversed text in italics)

The Mind/Body Makeover deck is constructed to be an oracle, and includes ten different suits. The five Feeling Suits are made up of Sadness, Anger, Fear, Love and Joy and the five Action/Health Reaction Suits are made up of Self-Esteem, Goals, Relationships, Society, and Healthy Body. There are seven numbered cards in each suit that represent arenas in which we can experience a feeling, a mood, and its consequence:

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Families and Organizations

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Relationships, money, and creativity

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Responsibility, work, and competition

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Partnership and nurturance

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Communication, will, and timing

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Perception, morality, life purpose, and spirituality

The 99 page companion booklet advises shuffling the deck, allowing for reversals, and then quickly pulling out a card and laying it face-up on the table. If the reversed statement is on top, it indicates that an unhealthy pattern is predominant. Reverse the deck so the healthy statement is visible, and then repeat it to yourself as an affirmation. Schulz encourages you to write the healthy statement ten times a day, while repeating it aloud.

For example, the upright healthy pattern on Healing Anger 6 says:

I love myself unconditionally; I accept both my strengths and my flaws. Even though I love myself just as I am, I accept the parts of myself that need to change and grow.

The reverse says:

I frequently find fault in myself. I’m not trying hard enough.

The companion booklet elaborates on each card, containing practical information and advice based on brain chemistry, psychology, and metaphysical principles.

Another example is Healthy Relationships 2:

True love and partnership always encourage unlimited expression of creative and spiritual growth.

The reverse, reflecting the unhealthy patterns, says:

If I try my best and succeed, I may lose the love of people close to me.

The oval cards of the Mind/Body Makeover Oracle are made of sturdy, thick card stock with a glossy veneer. The side with the statements is rather bland, with subdued colors like russet, cornflower blue, pale yellow, sage green, salmon, and camel; a decorative border surrounds the reversible statements. The image on the back is not reversible, and shows a picture of the Mona Lisa with an anatomically correct brain in her lap.

Because of the card thickness and shape, this deck is very hard to shuffle. I have a version of the deck that doesn’t include the word “oracle” in the title, even though the companion book indicates that it is meant to be used as such. In my opinion, it was a mistake to try to make the Mind/Body Makeover Cards an oracle deck. Dividing it up into 10 “suits” and 7 numbers makes the deck confusing and unwieldy—especially if you’re used to thinking along the lines of Tarot suits. The information and wisdom included in the cards and companion booklet is very solid, practical, and helpful—great for a meditation deck. In fact, just about anyone could benefit from using this deck for meditation and self-inquiry. But by making this deck an oracle, the messages get lost in the distracting presentation of reversals and suit titles.

While the image of the Mona Lisa is fitting considering the author’s name, it is an overused one. The brain in her lap certainly isn’t attractive, and feels gimmicky. I was also put-off by oft-mentioned term “medical intuitive”. Ever since Caroline Myss brought the word into healing circles, psychiatrist like Judith Orloff, Mona Lisa Schulz and others are jumping on the “me too!” bandwagon. They are not just intuitives; they are “smart psychics” because of their education (so Schulz says in the back of the booklet)—and feel a need to separate their “medical intuitive” practice from their “normal” psychiatry practice.

The Mind/Body Makeover Oracle Cards contains vital medical, biological, psychological, and intuitive information for breaking unhealthy patterns like sadness, fear, and anger by replacing them with empowering beliefs. Yet, I feel the presentation obscures the wonderful wisdom contained in this deck and companion booklet. If you’re looking for an attractive, easy-to-use oracle deck, you may be disappointed. However, if you’re looking to examine the beliefs and attitudes that keep you disempowered and defeated, the wisdom of psychiatrist Mona Lisa Schulz may hold an important key to your personal freedom.

Below are 6 images from the deck: