divination tools
How To Do A Fearless Tarot Reading
Each psychic reader has their favorite tools, and what suits one reader does not necessarily work well for another. In all my years as a professional psychic, angel oracle cards have always been my primary divination tool of choice. Nevertheless, I am also well-versed in reading the Tarot. Surprisingly, I have had a few clients over the years who have asked me not to use the Tarot for their readings, often because they feel uncomfortable with, and even fearful of some the occult symbols and imagery found in traditional Tarot decks.
In fact, just recently I had a very worried lady contact me about a Tarot reading she tried to do for herself. She attempted a four-card spread, and three of the cards she pulled now had her very worried: The Devil, Death and The Hanged Man. She was very anxious what this might mean and begged me to help her make sense of it all.
She confessed that she had considered reshuffling the cards and starting over, but I advised her against this. It is not at all wise to try and make a reading ‘fit’ simply because you don’t like the cards you drew. Instead, one needs to look at what the original cards are conveying.
I also explained to her that it is essential to consider the order in which the cards fall in a spread, as it often reveals a narrative or pattern of events. Furthermore, Tarot cards are directive, not simply predictive. The cards point us in the right direction or reveal the best path to take to arrive at a desired destination, and achieve the best possible outcome.
I then helped her to interpret her four-card reading as follows:
How To Work With Oracle Cards
I like to use oracle or angel cards when I do readings, because they provide the client with a visual element. This makes the process of reading seem more tangible, and less intimidating. In fact, these user-friendly cards are so accessible that they can be used by anyone in their daily spiritual practice.
My regular clients know that I use the terms ‘angel cards’ and ‘oracle cards’ interchangeably. They are basically decks of cartomancy cards similar to traditional Tarot, but they tend to have more positive messages, images and symbolism than the Tarot.
The many ways one can use oracle cards in your personal practice are only limited by your imagination. For example, you could pull a card and use it as a journal prompt, and then use freewriting or brainstorming to explore how you’re feeling about a certain topic or issue.
You can also ask a question, hold the cards to your heart, and then select the cards you feel most drawn to for the answer. Once you have selected the cards, I advise clients to truly ‘listen’ to the story the cards are telling you. What thoughts, feelings and intuitions do the images and words evoke? How do they correspond with the other cards you selected? What are the common themes?
If it’s helpful you can place cards in a divination spread, or you could pull just one at a time. A simple oracle spread you can try uses only three cards. The first card indicates the past, the second the present (the anchor card), and the third reveals the future.
Sometimes, when a particular card doesn’t seem to provide an instant, clear answer, take a closer look at the different visual elements of the card. For example, what is the person in the picture wearing? Are there any images in the background that provide additional insight or inspiration?
The Metaphysical Mysteries Of Numbers
The esoteric symbolism and divine significance of numbers has a long history in metaphysics and spirituality. Christianity, for example, features many numbers of divine significance, such as the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the number 144,000 representing the number of souls that will be saved with the Second Coming. There are also many numerical references in Buddhism, especially in the Sutras. The number 108, for example, is an important number in Indian mysticism, symbolizing spiritual perfection.
I have been using Numerology as a supplementary tool in my psychic readings since the early 90s. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do incorporate some aspects of Numerology into my readings with great results.
My first introduction to the metaphysical mysteries of the numbers was at a weekend Numerology workshop I attended with a friend. I was instantly fascinated and recall the excitement of sharing readings with the other students at the workshop, and the accuracy and fun we had exploring this method of divination.
Subsequently, I also had many friends and acquaintances asking me to do Numerology readings for them. It was great to get so much positive feedback, particularly from people I didn’t personally know very well.
Over the years, working with clients all over the world, I have noticed a steady increase in questions about Angel Numbers showing up as repetitive signs, especially as double-digit or master numbers. Personally, I have been seeing the numbers 1111 almost daily for quite some time now.
Universal Psychic Symbols Versus Personal Symbology
Meaningful symbolism is everywhere, including in our dreams and subconscious minds. The earliest symbols known to modern man can be traced back to paleolithic caves of the early Stone Age. Spontaneous artwork done by both adults and children in a psychotherapy session often includes many archetypal symbols. Symbols are not only present in mythology, art, religion, and occult practices, but also in chemistry, road signs and even on the product packaging in supermarkets.
Symbols can convey a powerful, instant message and this is why people, often the young and vulnerable individuals, can be easily influenced by the media and the subliminal messages contained in the cleverly encoded symbols in political campaigns and advertising, for example. The everyday subliminal influence of symbolism in our lives is profound. Symbols speak to our mind, body and spirit.
Specific symbols make up a universal language and people with speech disabilities, or those with difficulty in communicating, use symbols and symbolic languages as an alternative method of communication. When doing animal telepathy our pets pick up the images and symbols we project to them, as opposed to words we might try to send them. Hence the need, for example, to send our animals happy images of being reunited with us if they are lost, rather than fearful images of them being lost and alone.
Symbols are the foundation of divination. Every Tarot, Rune or I Ching symbol, for example, has a documented, universal meaning, as well as a personal interpretation for the individual diviner. This is why it is important for a psychic reader to relay any symbol she receives during a reading to the client, because it may just be of great personal significance.
Combining Cartomancy With Pendulum Dowsing
Every psychic is different on how they do readings using divination tools. I like to challenge myself and push the envelope. I have developed my own divination method by combining the use of a regular deck of playing cards and a pendulum to do psychic readings.
A pendulum is a weighted object at the end of a string or chain and it can be used for both dowsing and divination. The ‘bob’ of the pendulum is usually a crystal, piece of metal or some other gemstone. Pendulums have different sizes and shapes and they come in many colors. I use a quartz crystal pendulum with a 12 inch chain. Divination with a pendulum can be done in many different ways, including using charts. You can even use a simple chart you draw on a normal sheet of paper.
The idea to use a pendulum and deck of cards at the same time came to me many years back, when I felt the need for a new psychic challenge. When I do psychic readings with playing cards, I find it helps to open up my psychic abilities even more.
You may wonder how anyone can use an ordinary deck of playing cards, instead of the Tarot or oracle cards, to do readings. Well, I can feel the energy or ‘vibes’ better by using ordinary playing cards when I do a reading.
When I was younger I used to give readings to friends, and I discovered the cards give off a very strong energy for me. I am guided by spirit when I read, and when my psychic abilities kick in I feel a ‘heat’ or I feel my hand drawn to certain cards. I get an even more accurate result when I use a pendulum, instead of my hands.
The Divine Magic Of Manifesting
We cannot always control our environment, but we can be an active force in how things play out in our own lives. Through our actions and choices we impact our personal universe, even without any occult practice.
However, this changes once we become aware of our metaphysical ability to manifest, and we realize we have already been doing it our entire life as spiritual beings in human form. And once we become aware of our innate power to manifest we simply need to improve it and have a deeper conversation with the many layers of reality.
Our minds and, in particular, our expectations already influence the world around us. We do this unconsciously every day, and without direction. Sometimes we let our fears run wild and then we create dark mirages that end up taking shape in our material world. Yes, indeed, these are mishaps of our own creation.
We all want to guide, foresee, and control life, but for some of us this possibility has always eluded us. There seems to be too many variables and our judgments appear to lack the clout required to guide even our own most basic wants. Maybe reality is simply too complicated? Perhaps we just need more resolve? Or maybe ‘magic’ may teach us something about that.
The magic of manifesting is a technique or method, as well as a spiritual path. It is a tool for self-discovery, since it rearranges our perceptions of reality and it is a path because it leads us to personal revelations and inner realizations. Furthermore, it assists us in seeing how malleable our life really is, which is unquestionably the first step toward personal transformation.
Magic as an occult tradition has a bad reputation. It may appear that anything related to so-called magic is supposed to be dark and dangerous, even evil, but this is not the case at all. Instead, the magic of manifesting brings our true desires into reality. It is a continuous process that teaches us a lot about our minds. We actually become more aware of our most difficult personal aspects by engaging with the things we desire. In the pursuit of magic we often discover how we are sometimes our own worst enemy.
Becoming Aware Of Psychic Signs
We often get so caught up in the technical aspects of divination, in the textbook definitions of our methods and tools, and in the intellectual pursuit of spiritual wisdom and esoteric knowledge gleaned from scholars, teachers and gurus, that we forget to employ the most basic of all techniques: our own awareness and observation of signs and synchronities in our environment.
Now, I’m not questioning book-learning, and the like. Studying our metaphysical craft is a necessary scaffolding on which to build a solid practice. It takes many years for the apprentice to become an expert. And after much practice, the diviner finds a comfortable stride, with their unique voice and style of practicing being sought after by clients who resonate with their unique skills.
The more we practice the esoteric arts, the more intuitive and attuned we become, and a wonderful blending occurs between right-brain and left-brain awareness. This is how we increasingly deliver powerful messages and truths to our clients. This is why it is indeed important to have the foundational training, and the necessary skills and life experience, to offer solid advice and guidance.
But, it also extremely important to be mindful and pay attention to our environment at all times. Not every moment in a reading can always be a profound channeled truth for the client. Sometimes the messages come in much subtler tones that we must tune into in order to appreciate their significance.
Something as simple as the sunlight bursting through a cloud at the moment a question is asked, or the sudden twinkling laughter of a neighbor, can deliver increased awareness to the diviner from her environment.