Online
Pagans Magazine
Issue 2 – September October 2010
Editor: Ben Gruagach
Published by WitchGrotto Press at Smashwords
Copyright 2010 WitchGrotto Press
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Editor’s Note
By Ben Gruagach
Welcome to the second issue of Online Pagans Magazine! This issue is dedicated to the memory of our ancestors, elders, mentors and family who have gone before us. A special thanks to Isaac Bonewits (October 1, 1949 – August 12, 2010) for the amazing work he did in the Druid, Wiccan, and larger Pagan community. He rests now with the Shining Ones on the other side of the Veil after a courageous battle with cancer. He will be greatly missed.
We hope you enjoy the included articles, poems, and artwork. They are given as offerings of our creativity and hard work to our mentors, elders, ancestors, Gods and Goddesses, to you our readers, and to the Pagan community at large. May they inspire you to create your own!
Our magazine is available in a variety of formats. Electronic formats are available for free, and a full-colour print version is available for the cost of printing and shipping. Please check out the menu options at the top of our website http://www.onlinepagans.com to obtain your copy. All our magazine content is also available on this website for free.
If you would like to submit content for a future issue of Online Pagans Magazine please email us at submissions@onlinepagans.com
Communion
By Fyrsweord
By whatever term your tradition uses to describe the date 31 October is fast approaching. It is a time when many feel the dead walk the earth. A time when one can more easily connect with the ancestors. A time when one should protect from the not so well meaning entities that may reside in the night shadows. A time when kids dress up and go knocking on doors to supply a sugar fix for the next month or two. A time when parents check all the candy under the guise of making sure it is safe, when in fact, we are looking for our favorite candies to snitch.
There are Christians who avoid this date and all it entails, as in their beliefs it is the night of evil. The devil walks the earth and all god-fearing people who will save their souls from hell's torment pray to themselves and judge those who revel in that night.
There are pagans that perform rites to honor and reach those that may walk amongst us as shadows or wraiths.
I am going to move away from the traditional Halloween ghost stories, things that go bump in the night and how we can scare ourselves silly. Or the number of people who think paranormal investigations are best done on this evening, or the media that hounds said groups for ghost stories, and evidence that they can scoff - depending on the slant the reporter takes.
I am going to take a road less-travelled by most non-Christians at this time of year. I am going to deviate from the traditional paranormal investigation findings, and pagan rites to contact the dead. I am going to share with you an experience I had a year ago and then continue with this narrative. Why? Because I learned that any time, or any day of the year one can part the veil - one can commune with the ancestors, or the dearly departed.
My story. My coming home.
The author at Double Ditch - site of large Mandan settlement - Mandan ND
Last summer I was at a site on the Missouri here in North Dakota that is basically made up of burial mounds. It is a beautiful area. The visit was not meant to desecrate, and off on a brief tangent, I find areas such as this more cleansing and peaceful than anything else. It is also important – I think – to note that this site is a few miles away from Fort Lincoln . This is the fort that Custer was stationed at when they headed off to the Little Big Horn in Montana .
Whenever I think we will be going anywhere where I may encounter something of a spiritual nature I bring an offering. I brought an offering of dried white sage, sweet grass and tobacco leaf.
Okay, there was this one mound, a bit off the beaten path that really drew me. That happens also sometimes – a mound – an object – a picture of a long dead person – draws me in. So, I presented my offering and a request that I be allowed to lay there on the mound with no malice intended. I did not get any ‘bad vibes’ from the request. Quite the opposite as it felt even more welcoming. My friends were wandering off so I basically alone. So I lay down and closed my eyes.
Missouri River as seen from Double Ditch
Now, I admit I find these places wonderful for meditation so I started to match my breathing with what I felt was the pulse of the earth and I went in really quick. It usually takes me at least a half an hour to get to that state. This time it took maybe a handful of minutes. I suppose it should also be noted that I tend to let myself go where I will or where I am lead.
Okay, so the beginning and the end tends to be much clearer than the middle. Admittedly, I do have to wonder if I imagined it all.
Anyway, I am drifting and I sense mist rising around me or fog or smoke. Out of this mist walks an old man with a stick? A staff? He had long white hair and was wearing a leather tunic with beadwork. I think. I knew him to be Native American. Which tribe I can’t say as this area has been the home to the Mandan , various Sioux tribes, some Cheyenne – I even think the Apache made it this far over the centuries. What is really odd is I can’t describe him more than as being elderly, with a stick. What caught me was when he got closer to me he was holding out his right hand, palm up. In his palm was my offering. He clasped my hand with his and the offering was held by both of us.
This is where it gets terribly fuzzy. It is like snippets of memories. I can remember it being vivid for all that I could not catch it and record it correctly. There were scenes of children playing and laughing. People were playing games. There was hunting on foot and horseback.
The scents of cooking food. Hides being worked. What I think was being in a sweat lodge that really hit me as I felt I was given a glimpse into something truly sacred. Men around a fire speaking. Then wagons and dugouts and sod houses and white men and buffalo herds turning into smoke and the deer would run away… Women were crying and the chanting. That was one thing that stuck with me later. It was a singsong cadence but it got stronger. Almost deafening and I wanted to break away but the whole time this elderly – Shaman? Guide? Was with me and he wouldn’t let go of my hand and I don’t think I could have let go of his when I think back on it.
Missouri River at dusk
I remember angry voices and calm voices speaking a language I didn’t know. Men around a fire, and lots of color by now. And the strangest smelling smoke that I liked. A pipe? Then there were horses and guns and men. Screaming, cries, anger, pain, despair and blood. There was lots of blood. Thick, suffocating air. Satisfaction and vengeance and despair because it was the beginning of the end.
Then I am back at the mound with the gent and he gestures with a smile and the mist/smoke starts to part and a black wolf with the greenest eyes runs passed me. The wolf is followed by a white mare with a lightening blaze and sparks from her hoofs. He lets go of my hand and starts to walk into the mist and I don’t want him to leave. But I hear a screech in the sky above me and there is this large golden eagle and he is tilting his wings and loses a feather and I watch it float down to my feet.
What does this have to do with the 31st of October you may ask. It is a bit convoluted but stay with me here. The premise that the veil is the thinnest at this time of the year, that we are more able to contact those that have gone before us is not necessarily true. What happened changed me in a myriad of ways that I still cannot fully explain. I have found that I do not need the dark of night, I do not need a full moon, or any special ritualized means to reach out to the past and learn. To hear and see those that have gone before me with a clarity that was not matched by experiences prior to my vision.
I have found a place physically that draws my soul into the earth and the past as surely as if I lived there.
Perhaps I did.
I have found a place within that I did not know existed and have found myself experiencing more encounters with the nether-world then every before. Sometimes it befuddles me, sometimes it scares me, sometimes it brings me amazing moments of clarity. Regardless of the nature of my subsequent encounters all of have enriched my spirit. I bring the premise of All Soul's Night with me twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
As this special night approaches may you all touch that which we tend to block during the hustle and bustle of our daily lives. May you all see the beauty of the natural and spiritual around you. May your lives and spirits be enriched.
Magi-Media Views And Reviews: Mentors In Pagan Fiction
By Toriach
A note on terminology: Since this column is meant to offer views and reviews on all media, not just books or movies specifically, fiction is used to mean any story told in any medium.
One of the most popular themes in Pagan fiction is the idea of a character meeting an older wiser figure who serves as their mentor.
This is something that sometimes is an incidental part of the story as is the case with the original Star Wars. Sometimes it is the whole point of the story as is the case with the recent movie starring Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Before we go forward perhaps we should talk a bit about what is a mentor.
Well a
pretty typical definition found at Dictionary.com says,
“–noun
1.a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.”
This definition is good for giving us a base to start from.
Another
definition more specific to Paganism could be,
“One who seeks
to pass on occult knowledge to another.”
Finally
to fuse the two gives us,
“A wise and trusted counselor or
teacher who seeks to pass on occult knowledge to another.”
However not all mentors are created equal, neither in real life, nor in fiction. In this article I am going to be talking about four different kinds of mentors that one will generally find in Pagan themed fiction. Obviously there are always exceptions but in my experience these four are the most common.
1: The Classic Mentor.
For the longest time this was the kind of mentor most commonly encountered in fiction. The classic mentor is often more of an archetype than a fully realized character. They might have flaws, or quirks, but these usually only serve to make their powers and other worldly ways all the more striking. The classic mentor is almost totally selfless, dedicated only to teaching the initiate. Furthermore they have no ulterior motive, or if they do have one it is still ultimately related to the well being of the initiate either directly or indirectly.
Three of the best known classic mentors, are also arguably three of the best known characters in all of fiction.
They are Merlin, from the Arthurian legends, Gandalf from The Lord Of The Rings, and Obi Wan Kenobi From Star Wars.
The classic mentor often will give their life literally for their charges. This will sometimes be followed by a rebirth, as in the cases of Gandalf, or a transition to another state of being, like Obi Wan. Sometimes though the classic mentor will have to suffer what is perhaps the worst fate that can befall such a character. Having to stand by and watch as their charge fails and even dies.
A few other classic mentors include Albus Dumbledore, and Minerva Mcgonagle of the Harry Potter novels, and Granny Weatherwax of the Discworld novels.
As is the case with many things in fiction, great changes have taken place in the way the mentor character is thought about and presented, the classic mentor giving way often to...
2: The Postmodern Mentor.
The postmodern mentor, is usually a more rounded and fully realized character. The postmodern mentor usually has a life outside of their duties as a mentor, a life that those duties sometimes can interfere with. Also the postmodern mentor is often bound by a hierarchy that never seems to bother classic mentors. Dumbledore, might have to put up with the Ministry Of Magic, but they seem to exist to throw obstacles in his journey on the path of right doing. Never does he seem to truly take their wishes into account or ever put them ahead of the well being of his charges. The same for Gandalf. Saruman might be an obstacle, but only as an opposing wizard, never does he try and actually force Gandalf to not help Frodo, through any means other than brute force.
Perhaps the single greatest example of a postmodern mentor to my thinking is the character of Rupert Giles from the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series and comic books. Giles as he is usually called, on the one hand is singularly devoted to his charge. At the same time he has The Watchers Council that he must answer to, and when he chooses the well being of the Slayer over their wishes he is punished for it.
With Giles we also see that there is more than one kind of sacrifice. He loses people he loves, and basically has no meaningful personal life because of his commitment to the Slayer, and even takes up a moral debt on her behalf, committing what amounts to cold blooded murder to protect her.
As different in many ways as Giles may be from the classic mentor, he is still a mentor true because his focus is on giving his charge the knowledge he has and helping her to stand in the world.
Another excellent example of a postmodern mentor is the character of King Mob in Grant Morrison's comic series The Invisibles.
But there are other kinds of mentors that are not so positive. One kind means well, and the other kind means anything but. We'll look at the former next.
3: The Unready Mentor.
The unready mentor is one that believes wrongly that they are prepared to take on a student, and because they are not, they wreak unbelievable havoc in both their own life and the life of their charge.
Usually the unready mentor has only the best of intentions, but they simply either are not skilled enough or they do not have the patience and foresight needed. In many ways the unready mentor could be seen as the shadow side of the postmodern mentor. One well known example of the unready mentor is Morpheus from The Matrix Trilogy. In the first movie he quickly hits a wall, beyond which he really does not know any more than Neo does, and even has to rely on Neo to save his life after getting captured by the machines. In subsequent movies Morpheus always seems to be full of good intentions, but easily thrown off by all the things he doesn't know.
Another good example of unready mentors come again from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Willow tries to take Buffy's little sister Dawn under her wing during a time that she herself has become addicted to raw magic, and in the seventh and eighth seasons we see Buffy trying to act as a mentor en mass for what amounts to an army of Slayers and things often going very very wrong, resulting in many characters dying, or being harmed in other ways.
As dangerous as the unready mentor can be though, it must be remembered that they are still trying to do what they believe to be right, they are just failing miserably at it. Unlike...
4: The Dark Mentor.
A true mentor works to bring out the best in their charge. To give them the tools to face the world and the confidence to do so. The dark mentor however is really only interested in the aggrandizement of self, or some other agenda. They want a copy of themselves, or they wish to remake their student into a particular type of person. They have no boundaries, and will use lies, violence, seduction, whatever they believe it takes to achieve their ends.
Two of the best examples of a dark mentor I can think of are Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) from the Star Wars Hexology, and Jadis The White Witch from The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe. Both of these individuals take a young boy under their tutelage, under the pretense of freeing them from the shackles of spiritual oppression. But in both cases they care less than nothing for their young charges. In the case of Jadis she perceives Edmond as the weak link that she can exploit, and use as her cats paw in her war against Aslan. In the case of Palpatine, he sees Anakin's Force potential and is determined to make him into a weapon for the Sith, and in doing so deprive the Jedi of one of the few remaining hopes for saving their dying order. In both cases, their greed blinds them to the realization that the ones they thought of as mere pawns have grown wise to their agenda and have turned against them.
Another example of a Dark Mentor is arguably Grace Branagh in Alan Moore's Promethea, although she is more thoughtless and selfish than truly evil.
I hope you've enjoyed this overview of the four basic types of mentors in Pagan fiction, in a future issue I will be revisiting this topic by looking at some of the best mentor characters from Movies, Television, Comics, and more.
Peace
And
Long
Life
Toriach
Thou Art Fair My Lady
By Mystic Fool
Thou art
fair my Lady;
Gazing at the skies at night,
yearning for the
silver touch,
to bathe in thy purifying light.
I seek
for thy face
as the mist descends;
Whilst the creatures of
night
abide your commands.
I lie on
the earth,
awaiting for thee,
as dew soaks the grass,
to
thee I plea.
Where art
thou Fair Maiden?
Enchantress of beauty untold;
Usherer of
beginnings new,
Thy mysteries of youth enfold.
Cradle me
in a maternal embrace,
abound with power divine.
A fertile
Spring art thee,
procreation is forever thine.
Keeper of
wisdom art thou,
Crone of age undefined;
To drink from your
knowledge I seek,
in you, life and death are entwined.
The wheel
of life you spin,
revealing the future in signs;
The story of
man you weave,
in intricate alluring designs.
Be it
waxing, waning or full,
the Moon of thy presence reminds;
As I
make my way trough this life,
my hope in your bounty abides.
Blessed
be the Maiden fair,
Blessed be, Mother of all,
Blessed be oh
Crone so wise,
In your presence I enthrall.
Un Lourd Secret
By Sunil Narayan
Mdvanii
spoke to her brushed chienne when he
whimpered at the sight of a
still empty bowl: “Il est
toujours par voie de douleur que l'on
arrive à plaisir”
To be given grapes and bread is a reward not
a
privilege
One must starve for as long as his master deems
fit
Mdvanii is the master of all couturiers!
Her
coiled black whip is made from the skin of
deceased orphans
Oiled
each day by her esclave’s sweat
It shines under the dusty
ceiling light
With one lash she frightens her shivering putain
Aldric
begs for a lengthy bruising by the chipped
paddle
Unfortunately,
Mdvanii will not relax her firm hold
on his body this time
She
is in control of the narcissistic esclave’s ego
Its skin is
punctured by the heels of her ruby-studded
shoes
A few
nights ago it dawned on her: great pleasure can
be achieved if one
walks all over this vermin’s chest
Ripping bits off the skin
with her glue-covered red
heels
He will scream as a torrent of
blood flows down his
chest
A poor old German seamster being
forced to endure
heightened torture!
Dragged
by his owner across the muddy floorboards
Aldric’s hair is
pulled harder with each grunt
The scalp rips off an unwashed head
every time!
Mdvanii reminds him a good designer never succumbs
to
arrogance: afin de connaître la vertu,
nous devons d'abord nous
familiariser avec le vice
The room
is made out of solid steel to keep the crying
of a belittling
artist sealed
It is un prostitué’s screams of enlarged
pleasure
drowning out the neighbor dogs’ barking
Mdvanii puts
cotton balls in her ears when the nipples
of her fat cochon are
stretched to the waist by two short
chains with unpolished
hooks
This toy is attached to a block of cement stained
covered
with his tears
Aldric
cleans dirt off the floor with his tongue, exposing
his scarred
derrière
His chest swells and dries till skin sags from the
bones
A pêche freshly picked from the nobleman’s garden
becomes
mushy right before the farmer’s eyes
Perhaps Mdvanii is a
domestique, tilling the soil of
centuries worth of bitter pride
It must
be broken and put back together so the world
will lower their
heads in respect
Flaming torches shall no longer melt the king’s
palace!
Instead, they will turn on the noblemen for
betraying
their loyal domestiques!
Preaching of false notions
for an ideal reality
A calm
muse sits in her chair to read a newspaper on
politics
She is
interested in the behavior of noble rulers and
tyrants
To her
their power lay in the twisting and beautifying
of the
people
Everyone becomes a victim of another person’s
ignorant
mind or the partaker in the fruits of carefully
constructed
labor
It is a
world so tightly wound yet absorbing all the
sweets and stale
bread one can get their hands on
Functioning as a monstrous
machine with oil flowing
from one end of the pipe to the
other
Devouring the human essence as if it were un gâteau
aux
fraises
A field covered in white balls of joy disappear with
each
grab: l'ordre social au détriment de la liberté n'est
guère une
bonne affaire
Our dear
Antonia tortured by self-destructive authority
A poor Austrian
girl who simply wanted to fit in
No one could stand looking at the
images of her dressed
luxuriously like Déesse Vénus
She was a
symbol of unfiltered disgust
The clock struck midnight and Mdvanii
must retire to
her opal chamber
She bids goodnight to Déesse
Diane for her friend
Remains hushed when the screams of Aldric
fill
fill the foggy streets of Paris
He finally falls asleep
despite having not been fed
scraps of old sandwiches
Our
grande dame never tires herself of debasing elite
couturiers
She
is a humbled secret covered in diamond dresses
Only those with
greedy claws can unveil the violent
nature of a cursed muse
If
they are daring enough to rip her skin off that is!
Nearly a
century ago, her dominating Charles died
leaving her empty of
satisfaction
He taught her to be quiet and grateful for his
kindness
In her heart she always yearned for the excitement
all
women experience when visiting a new boutique de
marque:
lecteurs sensual excédentaire pitié chez
l'homme
It is the
only jewel she held onto during her escape
when he lost himself in
glasses of bière
Mdvanii
begin to hop from couturier to couturier, noticing
the chic girls
were too involved in their looks
Their blue purses and fur-coats
were the new trend of
Paris
Decades ago, all of a sudden a
rainbow splashed the
imagination
Everyone had to own velvet
gloves with gold sewn
into the edges or shoes adorned with a
diamond rose
on the front
Mdvanii
sighed in disappointment at how obsessed
the city became with her
new lover’s collections
There is more to life than luscious
garments or jewelry
made of black pearls
By nature, it is her
duty to dissolve the extravagant
culture imprisoning the wealthy
people of Paris
The pain seamsters both grande and petit
experienced
in the beginning is incomparable to the mutilation
in
the end
She
witnessed generations of couturiers indulge in
yards of bright
fabrics made of crushed gemstones
for the sake of it
Smiling as
domestiques dress them in silk and satin
when their money could be
used to feed the starving
children
The artists of Paris no
longer remember their simple
childhoods
For they excitedly
jumped into the river of fame: ce
n'est pas mon mode de pensée
qui a causé mon malheur,
mais le mode de pensée des autres
The Bile: A Celtic Family Tree?
By James Byrne
The term family tree might be particularly apt in traditional Irish culture where sacred trees have been a symbol of social integrity for larges family groups since before the written word arrived on the island. If rival groups wanted to destroy the heart of their enemies the most devastating thing they could do would be attack the physical trees themselves and cases of that happening were so shocking to Irish people that they are remembered as great crimes in poetry and historical annals. Today the traditional territories of the large family groups are gone for the most part having been diminished by the politics of colonialism and modernity but in some places the sacred trees survive. My family name is Byrne. Like the majority of Irish family names it’s the personal name of a famous ancestor who managed to secure enough prestige and land to found his own family. In the case of the Byrne family name, that ancestor is Bran Mac Mael Mordha; a 10th century King of Leinster who was himself a descendant of the politically dominant Ui Dunlaing family group. Through reading history books, I found the original O’Byrne territory, founded by Bran, was in County Kildare and that the traditional inaugural site of the Ui Dunlaing kings was nearby on at Lyons Hill/Liamhan – Elm Tree Hill and the elms are still around in Lyons village. The elms there are a symbol of the centuries of strength that members of my family showed in defending their territory, actually being one of the last families to keep their territories in colonial Ireland. Before I knew that, my name was just a name, now it’s a constant source of strength in hard times and I walk on Lyons hill with a pride and sense of belonging that I would probably never otherwise have experienced.
Genealogy can change the way we view ourselves and as an expression of historical interest in traditional Irish culture, it’s changed how people perceive Irish families for a long time. Apart from the concerns of sacred sites and trees that really are only accessible to people in Ireland, Irish family names can be of interest to the neopagan outside Ireland; from the late medieval on they can give us ancestral deities through the veneration of the founding member, in my families case Bran Mac Mael Morda and even more interesting might be the otherworld ancestors in early Irish genealogies where it was believed that deities founded the greatest of family lines. It’s a belief that may be in tune with the sacral kingships in early and medieval Ireland where we know from the descriptions of kings that their role was primarily ceremonial and that he was a symbol of familial integrity; literal, political and spiritual. In the cases of the greatest kings they may have even symbolized the divine masculine virility that ensured the success of the harvest through a sacred marriage to the land goddess of the area. A king ritually marries a regional goddess immanent in the land and if he is worthy she makes the crops grow, the cattle fertile and healthy and protects the people in the constant battles they faced. But if he is not worthy disaster falls on the people and one early winter or wet summer could bring both famine and plague at once and the family group might die off completely. It was important that a king be worthy prior to the sacred marriage and a test may have been performed using a symbol of the divine ancestor in the Bile trees in the inauguration.
A king involved in the sacral kingship may have been expected to be at least semi divine through descent from the otherworld ancestor. The bile trees themselves might have symbolized the masculine energy of the otherworld ancestor and their use in the inauguration might have indicated a test of ‘worthyness’ took place prior to the marriage as a preventative. We could view the standing stone at the Hill of Tara as a bile symbol; it personifies the masculine energy of Fergus Mac Roich and folklore presents it as his penis and encourages women hoping to conceive to touch the stone, in literature it was also used to test the 'worthyness' of High Kings. The Bile tree itself is linked to ancestral deities in early Literature; in the life of Patrick when the saint curses a bile tree and the families’ ancestral deity is sucked into hell. We might speculate that the bile symbols use in the ritual was to test the kings’ divine descent through the otherworld ancestor or the ancestral deity specific to the family group and their territory. If we take that as the case the trees which vary in species might be symbolic of a regional deity and a sacred tree, a Bile tree might in the truest sense be a family tree. Through understanding who our ancestors were, who our ancestral deity and our otherworld ancestors might have been we as neopagans can furnish ourselves with a tree totem linking us to our ancestors, both mortal and divine and the essential masculine energy that kept our people alive long enough to conceive our great great great great great grandparents. And as it might do the same for us maybe it could also continue to function as the secular symbol of familial integrity that it might have been for millennia past.
Divination: How to Get Advice from Hidden Sources
By Ben Gruagach
Divination is a way of getting information. You ask questions, even very general ones, and then see what sorts of responses come back. The responses might be extremely accurate for you or they might be completely off. They might make perfect sense. They might be gibberish or so wrong you’d be a fool to heed its advice. But in any case the information you get back can help you to look at your question in a way that might enable you to make a better decision. Regardless what sort of information divination provides the final decisions are always yours. You can’t blame the consequences of your decisions on anyone or anything else because it’s always up to us to decide what to do with the information we have. Even when we think we are forced to do something we are ultimately responsible for deciding to go along. Divination doesn’t decide things for us but rather suggests alternatives.
How you approach divination will have a lot to do with your ideas about destiny and free will. Personally, I think of divination as a way to see time in three-dimensional terms rather than just as a straight line. Time, to me, is like a landscape, and the present is where I am at the moment in that landscape. I might be in an open plain, on a hill, down in a valley, or on the seashore. The future is where I will travel through that landscape. The past is the path behind me where I have already gone. Divination helps me to get a look around me, looking towards the past as well as the future. I can look to the left, to the right, down at the small area right in front of my feet, or off into the distance. Divination lets me see what is around but it doesn’t make my decisions for me. It’s still up to me to decide where to put my feet. Do I stay in one spot for a while, turn to go a new direction, or perhaps even spin around and retrace my past from a new perspective? Divination could help me see what is directly in front of me and help me decide to change my direction completely in order to avoid what I saw. Sometimes that obstacle is so large in the landscape that it will take a huge amount of effort to edge around it without confronting it. Other things that I might see as obstacles could be deceptive and will turn out to be nothing if I choose to approach them directly. Just like in the physical realm, sometimes we’re in a position where our view is blocked by something and we need to travel a distance if we want to see around it.
No matter how you look at ideas like destiny and free will, we always have choices to make. We can always decide to act, or to refrain from acting. Choosing to do nothing is as much a decision as choosing to act. Decisions can be hard to make but they are always there for us. Regardless how empowered we might feel about particular decisions we will always have to live with the consequences of our decisions. It makes sense to try and consciously work with the options we have and make decisions that will bring us towards the consequences that we desire.
Where does the information come from in divination? Different people have different explanations although to date none have been conclusively proven. Some believe the information comes from entities in a nonphysical realm, whether they are ghosts of people who have died, angels, demons, elemental spirits, or even deities. Others believe the information comes from within the person who is doing the divination. In this explanation, the practitioner is tapping into their own knowledge, perhaps buried in their subconscious, and is drawing it out through the process of divination. Most divinatory symbols can be interpreted in many different ways so the interpretation given in a particular reading might involve significance being applied by the practitioner based on what they already know.
Some Tarot readers believe the cards that turn up in a reading are not really random but are manipulated to turn up so a specific meaning can be expressed. Perhaps this is true, but is that guiding force the reader’s own subconscious or is it an external entity? On the other hand maybe particular cards aren’t forced to turn up but rather the reader is influenced to see in random cards the meaning whispered to them by spirits, ghosts, or deities. Or maybe the reader is just seeing the meaning that they want to see and there’s nothing supernatural about it at all.
From a mechanical viewpoint divination methods that involve seemingly independent motion of an object such as a planchette on a Ouija board or a pendulum only work when the practitioner has physical contact with them. The planchette doesn’t move across the board unless at least one (and usually more than one) person has a finger on it. A pendulum only moves when it’s held in the person’s hand. Scientists explain that the movement of these objects is the result of subconscious motions in our hands and arms – twitches so small that we don’t realize we’re actually doing it. When the planchette or pendulum moves scientists say it’s the result of the ideomotor effect.
Even though divinatory systems such as the Ouija board and pendulum work by subconscious movements of our own bodies it’s still unproven exactly where the information obtained from these sources originates. Perhaps we really are just telling ourselves things we already know or at least suspect deep down. Perhaps we’re responding to messages from outside ourselves and are merely allowing that information to express through us. Maybe those sensational horror movies are right: invisible beings really are present and are moving things around! We still don’t know for sure if any of these explanations are correct.
Regardless where the information in a reading is coming from it’s wise to always practice safe divinatory techniques. Before you start do whatever magickal or spiritual tricks you feel are necessary to protect yourself. Cast a circle or at least purify and bless your space where you’re going to work. Always ground and center to put yourself in a peaceful state of mind. After you’re done your divination, do another purification or banishing in order to clear the space in case there is anything lingering around that shouldn’t be allowed to remain. It’s always better to be safe than sorry!
There are many ways to perform a divination. No matter what method you use, the key is to use a set of symbols that are meaningful to you. Often this involves studying the symbols that make up the particular system whether they are images on cards or something more abstract such as letters or diagrams. When the symbolism of your divinatory system is so familiar to you that it becomes almost automatic it has a tendency to open up new layers of meaning for interpretation. It’s like learning a language – once you are fluent, you will find it easier to understand what others are saying to you as you no longer struggle over each word or phrase and try to translate it in your head. When you’ve internalized the symbolic language of a particular divination system the surface meanings open up like a blossom and reveal deeper significance.
There are two basic forms of divination: freeform and structured. Freeform ones include dreams, crystal gazing, and observing patterns in random sources such as open flames, smoke, tealeaves, or clouds. Structured ones include systems such as the Tarot, astrology, runes, I-Ching, pendulums, and Ouija.
Some people find the freeform divination methods suit them best. Freeform divination such as scrying requires the practitioner to be observant. Messages can come as single images or symbols or as complex scenes. The more detail you can observe and remember about the vision the more material you will have to interpret. The key detail in a vision might not always be the most obvious item in the scene either. Sometimes the most important symbol is the one that was off to the side, partially hidden by other things, but is most important because it triggers a strong reaction in you.
Scrying relies on the practitioner being able to see things clearly with their mind’s eye. Not everyone is able to do this, though, and some are only able to learn how to visualize clearly after a lot of training and practice. Many who practice scrying use physical props such as crystal balls, black mirrors, or bowls of water to assist them in obtaining visions. Some, though, are able to merely close their eyes, relax, and then find visions will come to them.
There are other freeform divination methods though which don’t rely as much on having strong visualization skills. For instance, you can often find symbols or omens in random patterns such as cloud formations, the crisscross of tree branches or leaves in vegetation, the way that sand spills across the floor. Tealeaf reading is a well-known method that works this way. First you drink a cup of tea with a few bits of loose tea leaves in your cup, and then when there is just a tiny amount of liquid left you turn the cup upside down on a saucer and rotate the cup a few times before you turn the cup back up to look inside. The tea leaf bits that are clinging in the cup are inspected for any shapes or patterns they might make. Significance is also usually interpreted based on whether the symbol is closer to the bottom or the rim of the cup. The bottom of the cup usually means farther in the future, and closer to the rim means closer to the present time.
No matter what method is used the patterns or symbols observed are open for a wide variety of interpretations. Different cultures associate different meanings for the same symbols. For instance, in some cultures the colour white is considered to be a pure and desirable colour. In others, white is associated with death so it is considered to be a bad omen. The same goes with interpreting the meaning of animals as symbols. Some might see a dog as a faithful companion, a symbol of unconditional love and perhaps protection. Others might see a dog as more threatening, or in some cultures as unclean. In some cultures snakes are considered to be wise, healing animals that have the secret of eternal life symbolized by their shedding of skin for renewal. Others see snakes as deceptive, poisonous, and threatening.
When doing a divination it’s important to attempt to interpret the symbols in whatever way feels most right to you. What makes sense, especially in the context of the specific question you were pondering for this reading? How do the various symbols in the reading work together to present a message? It often happens that a single symbol, interpreted on its own in a negative way, is actually not really that bad when it’s taken in context with other symbols in the same reading. Look at the whole picture as well as the individual components to get an accurate reading.
Freeform divination methods rely on the practitioner being familiar with their own internalized symbolism. They need to be able to explain the meaning of any symbol that comes up. This is one of the reasons why some find more structured forms of divination to be easier as the symbolic language tends to be more formalized and getting a good reading can be more a matter of learning an established symbolic language than figuring out one’s own symbolic grammar and vocabulary.
One of the most popular structured divination systems is the Tarot. Tarot decks are designed with specific symbolic meanings encoded in the form of pictures and relationships between the cards. Learning to use the Tarot usually involves the practitioner studying the particular deck they have chosen to use, learning the general meanings of the symbolic images, and internalizing that language so that they can interpret the patterns made by randomly turning up cards.
The most popular and influential Tarot deck is undoubtedly the one often called the Rider-Waite or Rider-Waite-Smith deck. This deck was the product of the combined efforts of A. E. Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith, both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the early 1900s. In 1909 Waite devised the symbolism for the cards and Smith illustrated them, and in 1910 the Rider publishing company began mass-producing the deck.
Many subsequent Tarot decks are based on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. There are many other decks that have been designed with other symbolism systems that differ from the Golden Dawn and hermetic symbolism used in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. For instance, the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and many of its descendants attribute the suit of wands to the element fire, and the suit of swords to the element of air. Other decks, such as some modern ones created specifically for Wiccan practitioners, attribute the sword to fire and the wand to air. If you compare the Major Arcana cards between decks you’ll also find that it often happens that the cards are numbered differently, or some cards will be completely different between two decks. For instance, in Crowley’s Thoth deck instead of a card called Temperance he has one called Art. Instead of Strength, his card is called Lust. Instead of Judgment he has a card called The Aeon. Other decks include completely different major arcana cards although there are usually a few that are common across most decks. The key to using Tarot successfully is to find a deck that uses symbolism that makes the most sense to you so it’s easier for you to interpret and relate to your own deeper wisdom.
In recent times there has been an explosion of other divinatory decks, usually called oracle decks to distinguish them from Tarot, which are based on unique symbol systems or have unique structures not based on Tarot standards. Some of these decks, such as Brian Froud’s “Faery Oracle” deck, are quite beautiful. As with Tarot decks they work best when you understand and feel connected to the symbolism embodied in the particular deck.
Other structured divinatory systems include things such as runes and the I-Ching. Runes are literally letters of an alphabet, although in divinatory methods each letter has specific meanings and is interpreted singly as well as in patterns with other runes nearby. A practitioner could just pull out a sequence of rune stones or cards and see what words or phrases are spelled out, but it’s much more common to look at each rune as meaningful on its own rather than as just one letter in a word or phrase. Sometimes runes are cast like one would throw dice in a game, and the rune symbols interpreted based on the configurations they form, how close or far they might be to the reader, and whether they are displayed upright, sideways, or inverted. You can also draw diagrams such as the astrological wheel and then toss the rune stones onto it, and interpret the meanings based on which rune falls in which house of the wheel.
The I-Ching is a Chinese divinatory system based on the concepts of yin and yang, complementary opposites in a binary system. It’s often performed using three coins that are flipped to produce four possible outcomes: a yin line, a yang line, a moving yin line, or a moving yang line. Three of these lines combined form a trigram with one of eight possible interpretations. Two trigrams are put together to form a hexagram, which has one of sixty-four possible meanings produced by combining the trigram meanings. Moving lines are special in that they are to be read in two ways, so a hexagram that has any moving lines actually has two different configurations, and therefore two sets of meanings that combine for a more complex reading. Each moving line in a hexagram also has specific modifying interpretations that add to the significance of the reading.
The I-Ching is such a complex system that it would take a lot of study to memorize all the meanings for the trigrams, hexagrams, and the six moving line meanings for each of the sixty-four hexagrams. Most modern practitioners keep an I-Ching book handy to look up interpretations rather than rely on memory. It’s much easier to study other structured divination forms, such as runes or the Tarot, and get to the point where you can do readings without having to refer to a book for interpretations. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the Tarot and runes are much more popular among modern practitioners than systems like the I-Ching which require looking things up in a reference book.
Divination, however you choose to practice it, can be a valuable tool for insight and decision-making. It exercises our ability to look at alternatives. It opens up possibilities for us. If we approach divination in a balanced way and see it as providing possibilities rather than destined outcomes it can be a positive part of a magickal spiritual path.
Thirteen Tips for Doing Divination
1. Always protect yourself. Use a protective magickal or spiritual technique such as casting a circle (even just visualizing a basic protective circle or shield) before you start!
2. Ground and center. You need to be in a peaceful, observant, and receptive frame of mind to get the messages and hints you seek.
3. Remind yourself that the information you might receive is just advice. Decide for yourself if it is worth heeding or should be ignored.
4. Look for overall patterns.
5. Look at the individual symbols to see how they fit into the overall patterns.
6. Pay attention to anything that seems to jump out at you! Listen to your own gut feelings. Sometimes a symbol might be clear in its meaning to you even though it’s different from the meaning given in a book.
7. Remember that divination only shows us possibilities and what’s likely. We always have a choice and can change our futures through our decisions. The future is not engraved in stone!
8. If you are confused or unsure about specific parts of a divination’s message, ask for clarification.
9. If a divination is completely muddled and makes absolutely no sense then perhaps you’re asking the wrong question, or things are very mixed so there is no clear answer that can be given at this time. Or perhaps you are just not in the right frame of mind to do a divination and should try later.
10. After you are done your divination, always do purification or banishing rituals to clear the space. It’s better to practice safe divination than to suffer through unwanted after-effects!
11. Don’t abuse your divination system. Do you really need to do a divination to help you decide if you should wear the blue or the red shirt today? Treat your divination system with respect and it will be respectful and helpful to you as well.
12. Learn the symbolic language of your chosen divination system. The better you understand how the system is structured, the more easily you will find interpretation becomes. One you’ve mastered the basics it becomes easy to step beyond the basic interpretations.
13. Beware letting your divination success go to your head. An over-inflated ego can turn good readings into worthless readings just like magick!
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