Witches' Haven

What is Divination? It is completely open to individual interpretation. Is it necromancy? Is it communication with the Universal Unconscious? Is it tapping into some sort of unseen line of communication, destiny, fate? It is up to you, to interpet divination how you see fit.

Again, as with all things spiritual or dealing with the unseen, with the occult, nobody truly knows. Nobody is an authority. You are the only authority you need in this and any other matters pertaining to Craft. Simply because you don't agree with commonly held concepts or practices does not mean you are wrong.

The world is full of kitchens with far too many chefs and no diners...Neo-Paganism and matters of Witchcraft are no different.

Perhaps you feel an affinity to scrying, water or fire...black mirror - that's great. If it works for you, go with it. Personally? My eyesight is so bad that scrying is beyond my capabilities. The blurriness can permit me to see and interpret what I want as opposed to what I am really looking to see.

My deal is the Tarot. Thoth Tarot, specifically. It is, admittedly, a far more difficult road to take but it works for me.

The most important rule of thumb for any sort of divination is your state of mind. It must be clear, it can't be clouded by stressors. You must be in good health, not struggling with a cold, the flu or PMS. These things can alter your readings, your interpretations.

They have an impact on that all-important state of mind. Your greatest and best tool for divination - your mind. Your ability to express your needs, to receive whatever message is there and to interpret this message correctly, without bias.

Don't be bullied into doing a reading for someone, not family, not friend, not co-worker, not friend of a friend who is friends with a friend. This is intensely and should remain, insensely personal.

If someone requests a reading? You are under no oblication to read for them. I have, peronally, refused to read for several people, simply due to the aura surrounding them, that feeling you get, call it first impressions, call it sixth sense or intuition, whatever - if someone doesn't feel "right" to you, then you have no responsibility to expend the tremendous amount of your energy required to do a reading.

From experience, decades of it, I can tell you that the person who pays heed to your reading is a rare gem. People hear and believe only what is convenient for them. Hence the plethora of fortune tellers and their tall, dark handsome starnger predictions. I find it very frustrating and increasingly annoying to spend my time and effort in an interpretation/divination only to see it go unheeded, followed by the inevitable whining and complaining about life and its unfairness. One of the reasons I rarely commit to a reading these days.

Readings are not about lottery winnings or soon to be met loves of life; readings are supposed to be journeys into the soul of the individual - a walkabout in the Ego, their Superego and their Id. A reading is a page from their personal guidebook. When someone is given aid in understanding their own personalities and behaviours then the need to know what lurks behind the next corner is irrelevant.

Harsh truth and one that would put a lot of "fortunetellers" out of business. Readings are about knowing oneself, helping to answer questions that a querent may find difficult due to their lack of self-confidence, or inability to draw on their life experience.

Skeptics will tell you that Tarot readings are fraudulent because the reader can interpret the cards, at will, to satisfy a client/querent. Hogwash. Each card is unique, it's message is unique. Once you are adept with the cards, the individual does not need to even be in the same room with you. They don't need to pose their question to you. The answers will show themselves with or without the individual's physical presence.

Now the sticky part - charging money for readings. I don't. That's me. You are free to do as you please, when you please and for how much you please. My own personal ethics in Craft negate my charging a fee for a reading. Hence the embarassing state of my bank account... I prefer to stay with my own code of ethics, which tells me to charge money is to cheapen the Art. I see divination as a gift and I would be hardpressed to find a legitimate reason require a fee for this gift.

Again though - it is your call. If you see nothing wrong with demanding payment for your time, for your skill and effort? Then you go right on ahead. Be mindful of laws in your city regarding "witchcraft laws" (they are still called this, in many places) or fortune telling by-laws. Do not run afoul of your local or national tax authorities. If you are going to charge, then be aware of the business aspects and abide by them.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Canada License.