Magic Forums
Many people ask what divination is and how it works, and just as the number of times the question is asked there are just as many answers.
Here I will explain what it is and how it works according to how I see it, know it, feel it, live it, and practice it.
Divination is first and foremost not an exact science or art with guided procedures and instructions. If you think there is a a concise manual to successfully teach you to become a seer, oracle, prophet, or fortune teller; then I suggest you keep reading.
Divination is more than just foreseeing the past, present, and future. It involves a lot of study, hard work and effort, practice; and it also requires a lot of patience, meditation, visualization, and the ability to expand your mind beyond the limits of ordinary thinking that goes beyond the boundaries of logic and reasoning. One of the most difficult things in divination is being able to do the following and at the same time have a great sense of logic and reasoning but being able to know when and how to separate the two from each other when needed and even at times how to interconnect the two.
While divination is used to see past events, present events, and future events it is also a lot more than that. It is a way of life or a part of some ones' life; it can also be about communing and reaching the divine, finding a sense of connectivity to the higher realms. It can be about becoming intertwined with your self and the spiritual self. There are many forms of divination that go beyond reading tarot cards, oracle cards, runes, using a scrying mirror, or reading tea leaves or palms. In fact there are hundreds of divination methods.
Intuition and understanding or having a greater perspective on life and behavior are very important aspects of divination. Take cartomancy or tarot reading for example. Today most tarot decks have books that accompany them explaining different spreads and how to use them; and what each card means, whether the card is upright or reversed. However to fully grasp the purpose and understanding of how tarot works and and how to reach better answers and conclusions one must not take everything at face value. Just because the book says the card represent a particular aspect, you have to use your own intuition and understanding to incorporate your own interpretation or meaning into that particular reading.
Over times as practice and use tarot or runes or whatever tool or method of divination you use, you will gradually find your own set of meanings and representations for each card or rune etc. And you will also be able to more easily interpret each meaning more personally into the reading you are giving, rather than having a generic or set answer for each card etc. The more personally connected you become with the reading and the Querrant (The person being read), the more aligned and balanced you will become and feel, you also may find your intuition becoming stronger and stronger.
Another important aspect about doing readings for other people whether it be in person or over the internet, whichever, is your presentation and your communication skills. Being able to effectively communicate and come across as confident and intuitive is important for your own benefit and for your Querrants. You have to get to know your Querrant so you can be able to talk in a manner which suits them, and so they can understand your reading. It's very important to make a personal connection as said before. Try not to be overly generic and bland, you don't want to say the same thing over and over, especially when explaining the card or whichever because each card has a different meaning each time it is chosen. It also depends on the reading and the questions being asked, but the same card may be drawn more than once in a session and if you repeat the same answer over, it may seem like your just reading the cards meaning from a manual and being impersonal. It also may look as if you are inexperienced and only looking for a profit or being untruthful and misleading, and even perhaps manipulative.
I like to personally keep a record of all the readings I do whether it be readings for other people, for myself, or for practice and in general. I keep detailed records of everything I do from the reading itself, for example a tarot reading, I would record the questions asked, the cards themselves the meanings and interpretations that I got, the conclusions I drew, the time and location, the environment whether it was inside or outside, was there distractions or were there other people around or was I alone etc. But keeping records is important at least in my opinion because it will help you progress if you can learn from your mistakes or find areas in which you can improve, no matter how good you think you are or have become.
Everything I have stated is mostly and primarily about fortune telling and reading, using tools such as cards and runes etc. However, divination also includes people that are Oracles, Prophets, Seers etc. And everything I have said above can also be applied to the aspects of divination that don't include items and tools. For example if someone had a vision, depending on what it was and what the circumstances are they could either choose to share it with someone or others; or they can chose to keep it to themselves. Visions and Prophecies can be very complicated to explain, yet alone to understand or even comprehend even for the seer of such. But I still find it extremely important to record and document these aspects of divination as well. Record where you had this vision or which ever, the time, the day, your surroundings and environment, and everything that I have stated earlier in this article.
I won't explain the differences between the various and different methods of divination and the tools involved, other than what I have mentioned already. However the purpose of this was to explain what divination is and how it works, explained by the way I see it, and this may have answered your questions, helped you have a better understanding, and even given you more questions, which I would hope it does. But for now ponder the aforementioned things that you have read, take time to reflect or contemplate, to grasp and try to understand that divination is more than what most people see it as, and think about some of the tips that I mentioned. I hope that if you have more questions you ask them, or that you find what it is you seek.
Many blessings and Peace be with you,
~Moon aka Illy