Meet Ges Briggs

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ges Briggs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ges, so excited to have you with us today and we are really interested in hearing your thoughts about how folks can develop their empathy? In our experience, most folks want to be empathic towards others, but in a world where we are often only surrounded by people who are very similar to us, it can sometimes be a challenge to develop empathy for others who might not be as similar to us. Any thoughts or advice?

Deep, deep pain. Growing up I was raised in the Mormon Church in Utah. From a young age guilt and shame were spread thick. At church I was told in various subtle ways that I wasn’t good enough as I was, males are superior because they can possess certain powers that women cannot, and as a female, my value was in my ability to make babies and a home. I also had an extremely toxic and acidic relationship with my mom (which has thankfully since changed). I have always been sensitive to an extreme degree, and have had an overwhelming ability to feel absolutely everything, all the time. I became extremely withdrawn and suicidal. I was hateful, pessimistic, jealous, controlling, insecure, and all-around venomous. Naturally, every one of the few relationships I did have with anybody suffered, and the pain I felt was only perpetuated and replicated in new situations each day for years.

At nineteen I lived in Italy with an Italian family for several months. For the first time I felt culture shock, belonging in a family, compassion towards me, and also extreme anger towards me from people outside of my circle back home. It was in Italy that I remember just crying out to God, or whoever the hell was in charge of this circus, that I desperately needed help and that I just couldn’t do it anymore. I was at my last straw, still at this point fantasizing my shell of a body being flown back to the US without me in it.

Then something happened. Through all of my desperate asking, all of the bottomless pain became mulch and fertilizer for a new seed of consciousness to be born in me. It felt like the clouds spread and the fog lifted. Suddenly, I was bursting with wholeness and joy, much like to the experience written about in Eckhart Tolle’s book, “The Power of Now”. I felt as though I could spiritually see for limitless miles. I felt a deep sense of compassion for my parents and upbringing, because they were simply doing the best they could with what they were given growing up. I felt compassion for the drivers who would cut me off in traffic, because who knows what their day was like. I felt a deep reverence and connection to the trees, and the animals, and all human life. All judgement had dissipated, full acceptance had set in. I woke up each morning just dazzled and humbled with deep gratitude to be alive that day, I’d about my day on a natural high, and I’d lie down to sleep just the same.

I realized that the deepest pain causes the deepest transformation. I see that sometimes life hurts, but when I choose better over bitter, a whole world of unconditional love presents itself in my experience. I realized my ability to feel at a profound level is not a curse, but in fact, is my superpower. Each new circumstance that has put my heart through the wringer has made me softer, wiser, and more empathetic towards the entire human race. It has made me see that love truly is the most powerful force in the Universe. I see that it’s what the world craves most, and that most behavior in others can be boiled down to a desire for being loved for who they are.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

A year ago I started a business making oracle card decks from the thousands of photos I’ve taken since childhood and from traveling the world for sixteen years. After getting fired from an executive role in an international company, I decided it was the Universe’s way of shoving me where I needed to be, since I’d always been walking the sidelines in spiritual practices and felt most fulfilled in this area. Along with the gift to feel deeply, the gifts of clairvoyance, claircognizance, and other abilities have come rather naturally. Traveling solo, especially in places of upheaval, such as my months spent in Egypt in 2013, only helped to fine-tune my intuition.

My goal with my business is to teach others to unpack and use their own spiritual gifts. I perpetuate the message that we all have the answers for ourselves, right here and now. We all have a Higher Self that knows what’s best for us in literally every way, in every situation. I personally tend to disagree with the notion of needing to seek other people or sources for their advice or input, because it tampers with our ability to trust ourselves over time. It can make us override our gut feelings and become more gullible to things on the news, internet, and in our personal lives. I do offer readings in my work, but I strongly prefer others find their own footing with my cards, and I offer 1×1 free sessions to teach others the ropes in how to tune in and use your own intuition with each deck purchase. As I see it, intuition is one of the most powerful gifts a person can use. It strengthens your ability to navigate hardships, to avoid people, places, or things that aren’t good for you, to step towards what is beneficial, and in general it makes life easier when you have that spiritual insight over your own life.

I’ve also been a Usui and Karuna Reiki Master/Teacher for 13 years, I do mediumship, psychometry, and other things related. Right now I am in the process of offering free mini readings on Instagram Live, and am preparing teaching material for strengthening intuition through oracle cards that I will offer once completed. I attend various local markets in Tucson, AZ and the surrounding areas each month. I offer photography sessions, I create photo prints and frames made by hand from desert wood, and am now offering masala chai concentrate; because a happy gut is a happy brain.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Feel your feelings.

We are all feeling creatures, and these feelings tend to make or break us. To speed up the healing process, feel. To shed your skin and evolve, feel. To know that next best step to take, feel. It is so much more than a touchy, woo-woo concept. Our feelings drive our behavior, and if we’re getting results we don’t like, we can almost always bring it back to the feeling aspect. To get unstuck, let yourself feel, and feel hard. No feeling lasts forever, and once felt, they dissipate and clarity sets in.

2. Stop comparing.

It’s easy to compare due to the nature of being in a body. Everything you see is outside of yourself, because your eyes are pointed outward. Each thing has its own form, and with it is the illusion of separation. It’s easy to see other separate beings from yourself and compare your journey to theirs. The fact is, everyone came here with their own mission, and we will never know what another soul signed up for. As long as you are stuck in the perpetual cycle of comparing, the more held back you’re going to be from fulfilling your own soul’s desires. These desires are put in ours hearts from our Higher Selves, and they are what make an individual live their best life; and these soul desires most likely don’t look like what others are doing or what you’ve been told you need to do.

3. Don’t be afraid of rock bottom.

When you hit your personal rock bottom, you’ve touched the roots of existence. In a place of raw stillness, you get to see all that no longer serves you. We tend to collect identities and beliefs along the way, and at the bottom, you get a whole new perspective on what metaphorical shoes are too small and the chance to discard them. This is a place of real transformation, a place where love is an inherent part of the pain.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

When I first read “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, it was astonishing to see that someone else had a similar experience to mine. I immediately knew the power in his words, because I had been there myself.

Of course, the message of his book is that you are not your mind, and that we all have access to real life under our life situation. Life happens now, not in the future, not in the past. Without thought and mind, life is not only easy, but blissful and serene. Our thoughts cause us to judge, narrate, dissect, and fan the pain. My favorite pieces are the notion of entering the present moment through being totally rooted and present in the body, and of listening to silence. One cannot hear silence and lack presence at the same time. This is a book I reach for again and again when my thoughts start to fray.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wildwestoracle.square.site
• Instagram: Wild West Oracle
• Facebook: Ges Briggs Photo / Wild West Oracle
• Youtube: Wild West Oracle
• Other: Etsy: Wild West Oracle

Image Credits

Liz Williams took photo of me giving a reading. All others my own.