diviner
Divination And The Element Of Air
Various ancient cultures, metaphysical traditions and mystical teachings identify five elements that constitute the world we live in. In Western occult traditions, these elements are typically arranged in the hierarchical order of spirit (aether), fire, air, water, and earth.
Spirit or aether is the nonphysical element (or ‘fifth element’) that serves as a bridge between the physical and the metaphysical realms. Spirit is the bridge between the body and soul.
Fire is the masculine element representing inner strength, transformative power, courage, protection, purification, and assertive action.
Air is the element associated with creativity, knowledge, learning, mental intention and the universal life force.
Water is the feminine element of emotion, intuition, inner reflection and the subconscious.
Earth represents grounding, stability, fertility, family roots, and the cycles of death and rebirth.
Air is my favorite element in spiritual practice, as is associated with ideas, concepts, inspiration, and innovative thinking. It is also the element of wisdom and divination.
Working with the air element sharpens ideas, enhances experiments, and paves the way for new inventions. Musicians and artists are typically inspired by the element of air. Air is however a fickle element as it can come as a gale-force hurricane, or a calm, soothing breeze…just like our thoughts.
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:
The Key Elements Of A Successful Psychic Reading
Recently, I was drawn into an interesting conversation about what is required to deliver a successful, accurate psychic reading. First up for discussion was the different psychic abilities, techniques and methods that readers use to obtain and convey information during a reading.
Psychic readers can basically be categorized into two groups: diviners and channelers. Diviners use divination tools and methods, such as Tarot cards, runes, bones, tea leaves, astrology charts, and so on. Channelers, on the other hand, is what I simply refer to as ‘no tools’ psychics. These individuals ‘see, hear, and feel.’
Is one better than the other? I don’t believe there is much difference – not as far as giving the client meaningful and useful information that is intended specifically for them. I personally see the two reading processes as very similar. What really matters in the end is accurate interpretation, as well as the skill and experience of the reader. These are the key elements, not how the information is accessed.
In my view, reading Tarot cards in a spread is no different to interpreting, for example, a stream of visual images ‘seen’ in the mind’s eye. In the same way Tarot readers associate certain symbolic meanings with different cards, ‘no tools’ readers similarly rely on a personal set of psychic symbols, such as visual images, clairaudient sounds, empathic feelings, and so on. It is not how the information is accessed, but how well it is interpreted that matters most.
I find that my personal ‘catalog’ of psychic symbols is constantly expanding and evolving, as I do more and more readings. This has made it increasingly easier for me over the years to interpret and convey psychic information to my clients.
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.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
In 2015, my friend and colleague on Psychic Access, Salome, peacefully departed from this life. This blog is a tribute to her legacy and the important lessons I learned from her.
Before I met Salome, she had already made a name for herself in the pagan community. She was talked about in almost reverent whispers.
“Have you met her?”
“Isn’t she the psychic who helped the police find that missing girl?”
“You should take a class from her, she really knows her stuff.”
When I finally met Salome, I remember thinking that there was an almost regal bearing to the way she carried herself. Her posture always seemed completely correct, her make-up flawless, not a hair out of place. She seemed to know who she was and was confident in everything about her person, her talent, and her work.
As we got to know each other, she soon recognized something in me as a diviner that she felt needed to be nurtured and encouraged. So, she decided to mentor me. She watched how I handled my Tarot cards and how I applied them to the questions being asked. Her wise guidance added more depth to my readings and boosted my confidence. She also helped me get my first professional psychic job online.
Over the years she became my sister, my confidant, my counselor, one of my very best friends. Every time we met, I learned more about our craft, about being a better psychic reader, and how to practice Wicca, and the consequences and responsibilities that go with it.
She taught me how to connect with my inner guidance and listen to my guides. She taught me how to read auras and what the changes in colors meant. She taught me about energy work, the chakras and how to cleanse and balance my energy flow.
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.
Throwing The Bones
Before studying various Western disciplines of healing and divination, I trained to become a sangoma some 30 years ago, on the borders of Mozambique and Kwazulu-Natal in Southern Africa, where I learned among other things the divination method known as ‘throwing the bones.’
A ‘sangoma’ casting the bones is the African equivalent of the Native American shaman, the Old Norse rune reader, or the European Tarot reader. To uninformed Westerners, indigenous African methods of divination are often thought of as ‘witchcraft,’ but just like there is good and bad in all cultures and professions, the true calling of the African diviner or shaman is a spiritual one of seeking advice through the wise ancestors. In the same way modern Western diviners rely on spirit guides, angels or the ascended masters for divine guidance, so the African diviner relies upon the ancestors.
My training came about after I consulted another sangoma and was told it was my calling to become sangoma myself. She also cautioned me that until I took up this calling, I would repetitively become ill – and how right she was!
Eventually I heeded the ‘calling’, as unusual as it was at the time for a young English woman to enter the mysterious realm of African mysticism in the country in those days. Training was harsh and intense with my mentor and included coaching in various disciplines, such as divination, dream interpretation, ritual, indigenous medicines, and herbalism over a two and a half year period.
One of the divination methods I was taught is known as ‘throwing the bones’. Since the beginning of recorded history the notion of throwing tokens, casting the dice or drawing lots to interpret the divine will of spirit and the ancestors has been viewed as symbolically linking the diviner to his or her mission. Casting or throwing the bones is an ancient practice native to many regions of the world, including Africa, Asia, and North America. In Southern Africa it is a long-standing ritual among the sangomas of the Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa and Ndebele tribes.
Each bone or token used for casting is part of a kit the sangoma carefully selects with the guidance of spirit, initially with the help of a mentor. Spirit and the ancestors instruct the seeker as to the symbolism and meaning of each sacred item in the collection, and precisely shows the student where to find it and which one to use in a divination. In Southern Africa, a mentor assists the thwasa (trainee sangoma) in the process of learning to receive information from the bones, and in reading the patterns in which the bones are likely to fall.
