Divination

“Genius is composed of two sides; the active and the passive. The power to execute the Will is but blind force unless the Will be enlightened.” Aleister Crowley Magick Part III Chapter 18.

An individual’s divinatory skills may be accurate or elsewise. Not everyone can play the piano either and even if they can, there are styles as diverse as Mozart and Joplin. Nonetheless, most aspiring diviners destroy their innate ability before they even begin. This is extremely easy to do. Just purchase a book on divination!

Magick is a personal system, not a theology – although there are still some who think so. Therefore, there is little to be gained – at least initially – by learning someone else’s ideas, prejudices and practices. “The answers to one’s questions in divination are not conveyed directly but through the medium of a suitable series of symbols. These symbols must be interpreted by the diviner in terms of his problem.”

Aleister Crowley Magick Part III Chapter 18.

It begs the question as to why someone else’s interpretations deserve your attention. This is not to suggest that you re-invent the wheel – although some have tried. Those beginning in divination should at least initially work out their own understanding before programming someone else’s ideology into their head. After all, someone had to write the first Tarot or I Ching book and where did they obtain their arcane knowledge? From the same place you should!

Meditate long and broad and deep, O man, upon this Wheel, revolving it in thy mind!... Then, when thou know’st the Wheel of Destiny complete… thou art past through the Abyss.” Aleister Crowley Liber 333 Chapter 78

Experiment with your own methods of consulting your chosen divinatory system. Make notes in your Magickal Diary of divinations you have performed and their accuracy. Only at this point should you purchase other people’s books– because when you are being spoken to by a superior intelligence it's rude to ask someone else what is meant.

“Symbols are easy to come by; any system can be used – the difficulty lies in forging the magic link…It [the symbol] should become a basis for lateral thinking (or intuitive guesswork) rather than as a final answer to be mechanically interpreted.” Liber Null (Liber LUX Divination) Peter J. Carroll

The divinations of the Officer, the Digger, the Statesman and the Whore differ. They ask questions according to their expectations. Not so the Magus!

Considerations

1. Whichever divinatory system you decide upon can be approached in any number of ways. If you were to ask a surgeon, a nurse and the patient about a surgical operation that was about to be performed you would get three distinct sorts of replies. All would be concerned with the same event, but all would bring to the description their own perspective. The same is true of divination. You can use your system as an interesting amusement at parties or you can consult the oracle as a King or Queen seeking wise counsel. Either way will yield the appropriate results!

2. The Tarot is a system most appropriate for spiritual matters. It has a long timeline upon which to advise. The I Ching is more constrained and practical in its approach to questions. Although both the Tarot and the I Ching can be consulted for any manner of inquiry and although both will yield accurate results, the former can often do so from on high, while the latter answers with clarity more attuned to the mundane.

3. An analogy of the difficulty that faces Intelligences called upon to answer divinatory inquiries is that of Professors who agree to give a one-hour lecture and answer questions, only to discover their audience are infants. The Professors will do as best they can, but their audience will not understand much.

4. I knew a guy who fashioned for himself three wooden cubes and a black velvet draw-string bag. Upon the seventeen sides he carved and painted symbols with his own blood. Then he finished them with bee’s wax. The Symbols where: ?, !,  ., …, “” ,+, -,x,÷,Yes. No

5. There are many different divinatory lay outs for Tarot cards and Runes. As most sheeple are comfortable within the parameters of the herd they do as they are told. As an individualist, the practitioner of the Left-Hand path is mandated to develop their own systems. This can include divining for a single card to advise upon the coming day or the inverted pentagram spread where a Tarot card or Rune is positioned at each apex of the pentagram.

                                                                 4              5

                                                        3                              2

                                                                        1

Work out your own meanings for the inverted pentagram and the relationships between each card, rune, etc.

The Septenary System

                                                                       7

                                                                6             5

                                                                       4

                                                              2                 3

                                                                       1.

1.Unconscious Factors

2.-3. The Past (the unconscious becoming more conscious)

4. The Present

5.-6. The Immediate Future and Beyond

7. The Outcome

1,2,5: Are negative Elements/ Energies

1,3,6: Are Positive Elements/ Energies

1,4,7: What needs to be done to bring The Outcome into reality, or prevent it from arising.

I knew a magician who used whatever small change he could lay his hands on. He was a sage of the Tao and I Ching!

Active Taro

The cards represent energies, inter alia. If You can find a deck that you wish to work with as talisman then go for it. Even an inexpensive, lightly used second-hand deck could be used.

I don't use plastic. For me plastic just doesn't allow the energy to pass through. Maybe you will be different in that regard. Anyway, take the second-hand cards from their box, wrap in aluminium foil and bury for at least twenty-four hours in your backyard, park or similar. Doesn't work if the soil is contained, as in a flower pot or window-box. Unearth and charge by way of dedication and sacrifice - the setting apart and thereby making sacred.

As the cards represent energies you can tailor-make the energies you wish in your life by selecting a card or cards and placing these between those cheap picture frames made of two pieces of flat glass (or plastic if you can work with it) and help together by metal clips. There are various sizes. Then charge your Taro talisman by whatever method you use. When finished with the operation just dismantle frame, store cards and create another Taro talisman.

DON'T use the cards you divine with as talisman. If you do you'll screw up their energies. You'll start picking cards not because you were meant to but because these cards were charged.

The deck to use is one with the requisite symbolism which when charged will attach the energy or energies sought. Lee Bursten's & Antonella Platano's 'Gay Tarot' doesn't cut it for me. Maybe if I were gay it'd be a different story. 'The Baroque Bohemian Cats' Tarot' is also pretty bad – as is the 'Granny Jones Australian Tarot'. What these decks lack is the symbolism required to attract energies – whether from the deep subconscious or externally.

The other element is that you must have a feeling for, an affinity with the art and symbolism of the deck you're using. The Golden Dawn gave birth to the Rider-Waite and Thoth decks. Two different decks: similar energies. These designs have stood the test of time. Nonetheless, if you don't like the particular deck, it'll be next to impossible for you to use that deck as talisman. No connection.

A number of Magicians use runes to divine and to create Magick via rune-binds and carved rune script. A number of left-hand path groups employ runes both passively and actively.

Hardly anyone uses Taro as active Magick. Why is that?