occult
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:
Modern Misunderstanding Of The Occult
I recently had an interesting conversation with a casual acquaintance about spirituality and the occult. She is new to metaphysics and mysticism, but since these topics are of great interest and intrigue to me, I needed no convincing to dive into it with her.
It soon became obvious that she had some misunderstandings, and even a few misgivings regarding these matters. For example, she believes a ‘spiritual person’ is someone who engages in some form of religion or spiritual practice, such as meditation or prayer. She also believes spirituality is the exclusive domain of humans, as animals do not practice any religion or spirituality – they merely exist in nature.
Many people confuse ‘being religious’ with ‘being spiritual’ – one does not necessarily imply the other. Living a spiritually aware or conscious life simply means ‘living in the truth’ of who you are – a spirit being in human form. One can be religious, but it is not a prerequisite to living your true spiritual identity.
I also explained to her that the creatures of this earth may appear to be ‘soulless,’ but all living, sentient beings, as well as nature at large, are all expression of Spirit, God, Source, Universe, the Divine. How the animals operate and survive in this world is what is inherently true of the inner being of who they truly are. The entire universe is an expression of its sacred origins. In fact, in my opinion animals live with much greater alignment to higher consciousness than most modern humans do!
It took her some time to evaluate these concepts, but she did eventually come to a conclusion that there must be some truth to it. However, the real fun began when I mentioned my life-long interest in the occult. She vehemently protested that everything relating to the occult is “evil and demonic.” I asked her what facts or personal experience she based this opinion on, but her only justification was that this is “what most people believe.”
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.