Interview with Barb Horn and Randy Crutcher: The Divine Dog Wisdom Deck

Today’s interview is with Barb Horn and Randy Crutcher, authors of the Divine Dog Wisdom Cards.

Barb is a Certified Alchemical Hypnotherapist (CCHT), SoulCollage© Facilitator, Cosmic Clown, Toe Reader, Mentor, Ceremonialist, Inspirational Emcee, and Levity and Laughter Coach. She is also the founder of the All Embracing Change (.com) community, which supports individuals in a journey to uncover and claim their wisdom, voice, and power.

Randy is an author, psychologist, counselor, personal and professional development coach and organizational facilitator. He is certified as a Passion Test Facilitator and Master Trainer working with people around the globe to help them help others lead lives of passion, purpose and fulfillment.

1. The guidebook says, “You will always pull the card which matches the vibration of your question.” Please say more about this.

The term “oracle” deck is misleading in that you are the oracle calling out to the deck you are using with your question and vibration.  Your wisdom knows what vibration to send to the deck, that then responds with a card.  You may not even be aware of the vibration you are sending the deck.  When we say “vibration,” we mean the energy of the sometimes less conscious thoughts or feelings you are having to have an influence on what card you attract when you ask a question before picking a card. This is verified when someone doesn’t even ask the deck a direct question and just pick a card.  They are then surprised to discover the card they picked has a connection to a feeling, experience or situation they are currently engaged with, shedding light on what is moving inside them. So the vibration works in reverse too.  Card users keep telling us this and it mirrors our own experiences using oracle decks.

2. Please share a bit about your backgrounds. How did you decide to work together?

Co-authors Barb Horn and Randy Crutcher produced this special EnlightenUp product to express some of the highest wisdom gleaned during their many years of living and learning from dogs in order to inspire and uplift dog and wisdom lovers planet-wide.

As a child, Barb put a leash on a life-size stuffed dog and “walked” it around the neighborhood, as a real dog was not an option in her family. In high school she raised two gerbils, named Coca Cola and Pepsi, as dogs. Over the years she has been a loyal companion to many real dogs and is now imbued with the spirit of Dog.

Randy spent his early adult years living in large households with as many dogs as people (one of his homes was dubbed “Dog’s Prairie.”) He spent some good and memorable years camping and hiking on high mountain trails with his dog Hi-Bear, a St. Bernard/German Shepherd /Lab mix. He regularly observed the behavior and habits of his wonderful canine friends and regularly swapped dog stories with his human friends.

(The Above is from our website.)  Barb has lead two simultaneous careers, one helping people save and restore rivers, creating a nationally recognized volunteer monitoring program called Colorado River Watch and the other helping people find their voice and power through SoulCollage®, workshops, retreats and a hypnotherapy practice.  Barb loves to raft, hike, read and create empowering experiences.  Randy has been a mentor, advocate and coach, helping men and couples, is a certified Passion Test Coach and facilitator, hosts trainings, workshops and retreats. Loves to hike, photography, read and also creating empowering experiences.

We have been friends for years, sharing different experiences, from powerful personal and professional development workshops to wonderful outdoor adventures. It was during an outdoor experience with dogs in nature that we were sparked with the idea for the dog cards. It was too good to leave alone, so we decided to create the cards and a company to support their success in helping make a positive contribution to people’s lives.

3. Besides your own, which deck or divination tool would you want to have on a desert island? I’d also like to have the Cosmic Cat Wisdom Deck…..the one now under development! 

We both use several Tarot decks, Goddess cards, Great Masters, Grace deck, Surrender deck, Inquiry cards to list a few.  I have over 20 decks, but a few do stand out.

4. Do each of you have a favorite card Divine Dog Wisdom cards? If so, what draws you do it?

Barb: oh that is hard, I fell in love with all them as we created them. Right now I think I would pick Honor, Significance and Accountability – for the same reasons Randy lists below.

Randy: I’m fond of so many of the cards, their striking images and poignant themes. Right now, the Breakthrough card has particular significance for me as I feel it is a time of both personal and global change that invites us to engage with new ways of being and doing.

5. How did you decide to use dogs as the subject of your deck? What quality or qualities that dogs possess do you most value? How do you see yourself embodying that (those qualities?)

Barb: I have always felt in communion and communication with animals. Having a dog brought it closer to daily life and my personal life.  Some have called me a dog whisperer.  Both my dogs transition (one the day we launched this project) – and I wouldn’t have been able to navigate that pain without having talked to them on the others side.  I believe our pets pick us and as such they are our teachers – so using dogs as our subject felt like an extension of living for me. For me, the qualities I value most right now are unconditional love, compassion and forgiveness.  How do I embody those?  It is a challenge every day and my life goal – I do it whenever I can as much as I can, starting with myself.

Randy: Dogs are so intertwined with our own species over millennia. It’s even possible that human cultural evolution without dogs might have been quite different. Dogs are many things for humans and we tend to project a lot of our own desires, expectations, feelings and thoughts onto our companions and helpers. We wanted to reach humans dealing with the struggles and challenges of life through the medium of dogs because they are our teachers, sometimes more potent than other humans.

The qualities of unconditional love, loyalty, friskiness, curiosity, passion are just a few qualities or characteristics that come to mind for us when we think of dogs as a whole.

I like to think that these are qualities I express in my life, though I know that unconditional love is a pretty tall order for us humans.

6. Can intuition be honed? How has accessing your own intuition helped (each of) you personally? Professionally?

Barb: Yes.  We have to first be willing and committed to listen to it. Second we need to build habits that allow us to hear it. Our inner voice can’t compete with constant motion, doing, noise and inputs. We have to take time to be quiet, still and listen.  Third, we have to be willing to hear—we may not always like what we hear so we don’t listen. As you create a relationship with this inner wisdom you hone in your ability to discern thoughts and emotions, stories and beliefs that do not serve you—and then you are not ruled by them.  My constant lifelong learning commitment to know myself and love myself and value my gifts and wisdom has helped me own my power, my shadow and as such I don’t project it on others, create unnecessary drama and trauma, etc.- but I am still human.

Randy: Intuition or that inner sense and guidance system of what is true for us and best for us is probably hard-wired for humans. Paying attention to it, listening to it, then acting from a place of trust in that inner knowing is a lifelong challenge and practice.

7. Your deck has a playful sensibility. How does playfulness influence your approach to using the cards?

The Divine Dog Wisdom Cards were generated in a mood of creative playfulness. And that I believe is the first way in which humans learn to navigate and negotiate their worlds– through play, both structured and unstructured. Our attempt to make knowledge and wisdom available in the most playful way possible, along with giving people many choices about how to structure that play and learning is what makes our deck highly accessible to all humans, of any age.
We are playful in our own nature. We wanted to design a deck that would be fun, and would attract people not exposed to oracle decks—and give them the opportunity to go deeper and learn more. Likewise, the healing modalities can be too serious or forget fun, laughter and levity as a healing tool- so for those folks they can just have fun too! Because the deck is light and deep simultaneously, it lends to using in it many settings that one might not ever bring an oracle deck.

I in particular like the shadow cards. I don’t feel a deck is real if it doesn’t meet me where I am and sometimes that is in my shadow, or feeling angry, betrayed, a victim, guilt, shame, etc.  What I love about dogs is we project those on to them, maybe the feel it, but if they do not for long, the transmute it. So we have shadow cards and it has been one my favorite feedback comments – is when someone picks one, they of course don’t like it – but then read it and find the gift in it and are able to have a different perspective or energy about and that helps them move forward.

8. Are there particular divination spreads that you most like to use?  Please share one or two.

I like picking one card or two if I have a specific question. If not, I like the 3 card, challenge, ally and where this is leading…..

9. You reference numerology, messages, dreams and guides in the guidebook. Do you use other forms of divination? If so do you each have favorites?

I use astrology, numerology, ghost writing, dreams, vision quests…..

10. What books or resources do you recommend for a beginner who wants to use oracle cards or Tarot cards? Which books or authors do you feel influenced you?

Randy: Decades ago I was particularly drawn to Vicki Noble’s MotherPeace Tarot cards and used them. I was also able to listen to her present her work. It all made sense, it elevated my interest and made me realize there was something beyond the traditional tarot which for me was a bit too arcane, dark and recondite to be immediately useful to me. My wife, Karin Lubin, a certified SoulCollage® practitioner like myself, has purchased and used dozens of oracle card decks over the years. Each have had a different twist but they all accomplish the same things, as do our own personalized decks of SC cards—to garner greater insight into our multi-faceted inner worlds, help us make better sense of our lives and external circumstances and relationships, and connect to the divine.
For Tarot I would look at several and see which call out as a beginner. For an oracle deck I would again go and see which call to you, I think it would vary for people.  Since making my own SoulCollage® deck, that is special because it is my wisdom talking to me, so that is not only fun, but inspiring and powerful.

11. Do you identify with a particular breed or type of dog? If so, please share.

Randy: I like golden retrievers and labs for their size, energy and consistently loving nature. That said, many a mutt has won my heart.
Barb: mutts. I had chows (not my choice) and grew to love them. I love each of the breeds and what they have to share and give.

12. What would you like people to know about Divine Dog Wisdom Cards?

Go to www.enlightenup.biz to learn more about the cards themselves. Our intention with the Divine Dog Wisdom Cards and guidebook is to make wisdom cards available to those who might not normally purchase or use an oracle deck. The central message is that you have one life to live and you can make it the best, while having fun growing older and wiser.

Barb: When we know ourselves we can share ourselves fully and be fully present for others.  DDWC help you know and love yourself so you can give more of you to the world, and we need you!