Now divination is one heck of a juicy topic to get into! There are so many forms of divination, from tarot to oracle cards, pendulums to dice, water scrying to candle or fire scrying, and many others that haven't been used in centuries.
The most well-known forms of divination are tarot cards, oracle cards and pendulums, possibly because they are the most used forms when doing readings for others. Personally, I quite enjoy using runes because while they can appear complicated, they aren't that way to me. Admittedly, runes were the first method of divination that I used because I was gifted a set made of rose quartz about 10 years ago. However, for the first part of this topic, I used a tarot deck and my rose quartz pendulum, because I already have a relationship with runes (and partly because we were asked to only use tarot and a pendulum).
I used the Forest of Enchantment tarot deck as I have a closer relationship to this deck without referring to a guidebook when compared with my other decks. I received my rose quartz pendulum from the February 2020 Witch Casket and while it is the only pendulum I own, I've never really felt confident in my ability to use it accurately when doing readings for others.
We started with an exercise that was more of a 5 card "interview" with the deck, followed by making any notes on what the cards could mean. I rarely do any readings on myself so I kind of took this reading as a general look at my personal situation right now. While I said 5 cards, I got 4 cards for the first two card slots so I ended up with 7 cards instead of just 5. I opted to make notes on just one of the cards for the exercise but I did write them both down so that I could look at both cards afterwards.
The first two cards were the Ten of Challenges and the Child of Spells. The Ten of Challenges is a card that I associate with focusing too much on the negatives or challenges that are being faced to the point where any possible escapes from the situation are not being noticed or taken. This is something that occurred for me recently (see my Shadow Work Musings post) but I have somehow managed to not repeat the action of this card, which may or may not have been a karmic cycle within my life. I learned that I need to be optimistic and hopeful for the future, safe in the knowledge that I do not have all the answers but that I can learn at least some of them over the course of the rest of my life, like the Child of Spells. The Child of Spells is full of spring-like energy wanting to know the answers and be able to do things like an adult, but it's also about having patience and the determination to carry on learning regardless. It's all about not yet being ready to bloom but also not being far away from blooming or blossoming as a person as well. I spoke about this with a friend and they said that the Child of Spells was also indicating what I've done since the beginning of the year by kickstarting my life as a new version of me, that I'm actually allowing myself to bloom in my own time rather than forcing myself to be a certain way or grow before I'm actually ready.
The next two cards were The Oldest One and the Three of Challenges. The Oldest One spoke to me of learning from nature because plants and trees are the oldest magickal teachers that I have access to as a witch. It also spoke to me that a tree can't grow if it isn't allowed to put down roots. This card always reminds me of a particular Grandmother Willow who always taught from the heart about intuition and following it. The Three of Challenges is about having to leave people alone, even if it's difficult and emotional for me but they have their own karmic and life lessons that they need to learn on their own without me. This card also speaks to me of leaving family behind sometimes for the good of all concerned, even if it is hard to walk away from those you are related to. But this card also says that there are two sides to any situation and while we may know one side (like the story of Hansel and Gretl), we may not be privy to the other side (their father).
My third card was the Seeker of Spells. This is one of my favourite cards because it speaks to me that power is not outside of oneself because it is within instead. It talks of hope and of not giving up in any search within life because the thing that is being searched for may be right around the corner. This card also mirrored The Oldest One's message about nature being full of magick. This card also reminded me of a quote from a film: "The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all" ("Mulan", 1998).
My fourth card was the Seven of Boons, which is all doors. This card is all about having options and needing to choose between them without rushing. Each door leads to a different goal than the others and it's all about needing to find clarity on what it is I want so that I can open the "right" door for me. The doors depicted remind me of a certain circular door of a home whose inhabitant goes off on an unexpected journey - life is a journey with no set destination.
My fifth and final card of this part of the exercise was Starlight. This card is all about having hope, that even in the darkest of nights, there is light, and guidance, still to be found. It says that darkness will only last until sunrise, that the smallest pinpoint of hope will make way for a bigger source of hope. We can always listen for the "song of hope" that is sung by the stars and by nature. This card also reminded me of a part of a story where even white trees can grow in the unlikeliest of places to carry on reminding people to have hope.
In the next part, we were given the opportunity to do a more specific kind of spread that used three cards. I opted to ask three semi-related questions: Where am I now? Where am I going? What will be my biggest obstacle? I didn't get just three cards - I got 5 cards (I seemed to have a slight issue with getting just a single card for this entire exercise). Again, I did the exercise with just three cards but I made a note of all the cards so I could reference them here.
For the "Where am I now?" question, I pulled The Wide World, the Seven of Spells and the Ace of Visions. With The Wide World, I got the feeling that I am at the start of a new phase of my life that is filled with unlimited possibilities. I can go anywhere and in any direction if I want to. The Seven of Spells is saying that while there may be people who don't understand me, or can't for whatever reason, I need to either rise above their low energies and actions or I need to bide my time and be patient until their potentially come around to my "new" energy and ideas. The Ace of Visions is saying that right now, I need to focus on just being and having the vision of me that others see mirrored back to me in my life. I don't have to be constantly doing things, moving from one project to the next. I'm allowed to just be present in the moment, with the waters of my life becoming still and allowing me to see the me that others get to see.
For the "Where am I going?" question, I got the Seeker of Spells. This card spoke to me that I am on an inner journey to discover the power that is within myself. It also tells me that I need to not give up because the answers that I have been looking for within reach if I am willing to see the truth. While this is a short description of what this card means, it's all that I felt was pertinent to me.
For the "What will be my biggest obstacle?" question, I got the Six of Challenges. This card always makes me think of a moment in a well-known story where a group gets stuck up trees with wolf-like creatures at the bottom. They had to spend some time not panicking in order to come up with a decent plan to get out of the situation (although eagles were their rescuers in the story) - but this is the action that I need to take. I need to take some time and space away from any unnecessary situations so that I can make the necessary plans. This card is also saying that I need to look at the wider situation before jumping into something feet first.
We did split into pairs to do a 3 card reading on each other. I asked for some guidance on this blog but it ended up actually being about another social media that I have - I was also unsure about whether to ask about this blog or the other social media. The reading I received was: past influences (9 of Swords) and a clarifier (Page of Cups), and the possible outcome (2 of Wands). The 9 of Swords indicated that there is a blockage or a weight that has been slowing down the progress, but the Page of Cups indicated that there is some happiness to be found within this situation, finding a sort of serenity whilst in the midst of chaos. The Page seems to be saying that this is the right course of action for right now. The 2 of Wands was saying that I will be able to look to the future and its possibilities for this other social media but not just yet.
I did say that we used a pendulum during this time and we did. At first, I got to know how my pendulum would show a "yes" or a "no" answer, before asking my pendulum a couple of questions that I know the answer to in order to know whether it was giving accurate answers. I knew that I can get accurate answers for my own questions but I just wasn't sure about answering questions for others. However, when we split into pairs to ask each other questions, my partner actually confirmed that I was right with her answers and that was such a shock to me. The reason why my pendulum isn't "accurate" all the time could be because I didn't choose it, because I received it as part of the February 2020 Witch Casket. This kind of makes sense unless you take into account the fact that I received my first rune set as a gift, although the friend who bought me that set said they saw it in the window of a shop and that they felt that I absolutely had to have it.
So when it was my turn to ask questions of my partner, I asked if I should focus on this blog to which the answer was a very definite "yes" and then I asked if I would be able to get my other social media properly up and running by the summer. I got a tentative "no" to this but my partner then said she had the feeling that it might be a possibility for the autumn (she did ask her pendulum and received a "yes" to this). So, as per the cards from the previous reading, I can look to the future and I'm already thinking of other possibilities for what I can post on that other social media.
The final part of the exercise was to use the pendulum to choose 3 cards to answer a further three questions. This was interesting as I'd never used a pendulum like this before and I didn't know it was even possible. I spread my cards out in a straight fan-like way in front of me and used my pendulum to determine which card to take out.
First, I asked "What is blocking my other social media?" and got The Lovers. To me, this card was saying that I was no longer enjoying this creative project because it had become a chore and therefore a weight rather than something I actually looked forward to doing. I wasn't allowing it to bloom and grow on its own because I was trying to force it to grow the way I wanted it to.
Next, I asked "How can I move past the obstacle?" and got the Seven of Challenges. This card spoke to me of needing to be more creative while also protecting my creativity in a way. I am needing to put the work in so that I can inspire others and allow them to take parts of my ideas away for themselves.
My final questions was "Is posting twice a month a good plan moving forwards?" In response to this, I got The Hermit. At first, I didn't understand how this card could answer my question but when I mentioned this, Emily said that I could actually "interview" the card with my pendulum to ask what it meant. I hadn't thought of this as I hadn't thought it was something that I could do and so, now I have tried it. It's different to how I would normally read intuitively but my mind came up with a blank at first about what it could mean so I felt I had to do this, if only just to try it out. I won't tell you the long story of what I asked and then what answer I received, so I'll just give the "results" instead: I need to rediscover my creativity by getting back into doing what I love to do - sharing knowledge and teaching others, partly because my new role in this next phase of my life is to be a guide to others. This other social media's present state is an opportunity as part of my soul's purpose to show the world that I no longer fear my own Shadow Self (for the most part anyway).
So for the time being, I am focusing on this blog to inspire you with my words while I work out how I can creatively post on social media about other aspects of my magickal, witchy life.
Peace and love to all!!
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