Divinationis the art or practice of foretelling the future using different methods that the diviner may decide. The art of Divination has been practiced by all countries, cultures and religions around the world for thousands of years. It is the art of revealing hidden knowledge even of the past and present.
It was studied over two thousand years ago in China by the use of cracked eggs for divination. Some of the most popular forms of divination includese tarot cards, runes, crystal gazing, scrying, astrology and dowsing. as well as many other forms. In the past there were times in history when divination was considered a crime and in fact still is in many countries today
Many witches know at least one or more forms of divination and usually specialze in atleast one. My favorites are tarot, crystal scrying, and cloud divination. I would love to work in dream interpetation, some times I can interpret others and mine own so a work in progress.
Well here is the first form of divination-
1) I Ching
In Western cultures, the I ching is mostly used as a way of divination. In China of old, the Iching represented wisdom and philosophy. The Iching is known to be the oldest of Chinese classic texts. It talks about an ancient system of philosophy and cosmology at the center of Chinese beliefs. Traditionally it was believed that Iching had originated originated with the mythical Fu Hsi, one of the earliest legendary rulers of China. In Iching, "ching" means book and "I" means change, so the name basically translates as "The Book of Changes". The Iching has also been studied by a large number of philosophers including Confucius
The I ching does not give you specific answers to your questions but rather reveals patterns which helps you arrive at the answer you seek. Answers are given in 64 hexagrams of solid lines (yang) and broken lines (yin). These represent a state of being.
The most used method to determine hexagrams is to toss three coins three times. The traditional method is to toss a set of 50 yarrow sticks.
The Iching goes back to about 2852 B.C. The Chinese emperor Fu-hsi developed a set of trigrams. Later on around 1143 B.C. the trigrams were doubled to hexagrams. The Iching found its way to western culture in the 19th century.
To best way for me to explain how to do a reading is to refer to this site below in black-
The I Ching (Yijing) trigrams represent points on the compass, forces of nature and seasons of the year. There are eight of them comprising the central compass points. You can use them as guides if you know how to read them.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2099853_read-ching-trigrams.html
Remember that the trigrams are built from bottom to top. At one time, you formed a trigram by throwing yarrow sticks, but today practitioners use three coins. The various combinations of heads or tails indicate whether you draw a broken line or a solid line.
Throw two heads and write a solid line. Throw two tails, and you write a broken line. Throw three heads and you have a changing solid line. Throwing three tails gives you a changing broken line. I Ching means "The Book of Changes," so the thrust of this book is that life is made up of constant change. Consult it with that context
Become familiar with the basic, intuitive meanings of each of the eight trigrams. They include Ch'ien, the creative; K'un, the receptive; Chên, the arousing; Sun, the wind, or wood; K'an, the water or the abyss; Li, the fire; Kên, the mountain and T'ui, the marsh, or lake.
Use yarrow stalks, coins or even your computer to create your trigrams, building from bottom to top, while holding a question in your mind. Create two trigrams, the second on top of the first. Once you've done this, you have the hexagram that can answer your question.
Also this was also explained and shared with me by my HPS in the coven I was in we were going to learn this method, and I got privy to some of her notes:) Which I keep in my online BOS .
Also I wanted to look at the online dictionary as well.
I know I aslo have the information in one of my many books at home, just can't recall wich one.This is complicated in my own opinion . I prefer more simple ways to divine.
Ching divination - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aug 27, 2009 ... Two heads and one tail of the original I-Ching Divination Coins. ..... [edit] Probability analysis of I Ching divination ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching_divination -
Tarot is another form of divination infact very popular.I have included a brief history and how to do a basic reading I have then included some card meanings .Also below is a daily tarot enjoy
History-
DR Arthor,Edward Wait born 1847= died 1942 He was a scholar of occultism. Wait used symbolsim as key to the tarot deck.
The true tarot is symbolism. Symbolism is the language of the tarot.
The true origin of tarot cards remains obscure in antiquity.
Court De Gebelin surmises the tarot originated out of an ancient Egyptian book. ( This is just his theory)
The book you may ask was the book of Thoth. It is from the Egyptians, and early Gypsies it is theorized tarot spread across Europe.
There is more information that comes with each deck you buy
Tarot History
Many have tried for years to find the true origin of the Tarot, they are still unsure who created the first deck. Some believe they were in use as long ago as the early 1300's in Italy. During the late 1700's and into the early 1800's Eliphas Levi, a Catholic Priest, writer, and teacher, created the basis for the most popular Tarot cards still in use today. Although Levi was born and trained for the Catholic Priesthood, he studied many other religions and subjects as well. Levi was also a student of astronomy, astrology, and the metaphysics. When he created his first Tarot deck, he incorporated his knowledge of religions, the elements in nature (fire, water, earth, air), and what were believed to be powerful astrological events and symbols (most of which are still popular today). There are even references to scriptures from The Bible shown in some of the cards. Levi claimed he created the cards as a tool to aid his students in the art of spiritual enlightenment, self improvement, and self awareness.It wasn't until the late 1800's that A.E. Waite realized that the cards could be used to predict possible future events. Waite created the Rider-Waite deck based on the works of Eliphas Levi, and published the cards in 1896. The Rider-Waite Tarot deck is the most widely used version currently in existence.The Tarot was then introduced into the Western culture in the early 1900's, and were extremely popular during World War I.In the 1990's more people are opening up to the idea of Tarot readers, Astrologers, and Psychics, yet there are still some who believe the cards are evil, or hold some kind of evil power. This is simply not true at all. The cards do not possess any mysterious powers, nor can they harm anyone if they are read in the proper perspective. The Tarot cards reflect thoughts and actions in our subconscious and conscious mind. Mind over matter to use the term loosely. They can and should be used only for positive reasons. As with anything else, if used with negative or malicious intent, the negativity (evil if you will) that is created will only come back on the invoker.The Tarot are best suited for learning about oneself, and one's reactions to life's seemingly never ending struggles, to increase self awareness, and possibly to obtain a new point of view of life itself. They can help to clarify past events, understand why the events took place, and possibly give some insight into how to avoid making the same mistakes again, or even how to make the good events happen again. The cards can also predict possible future events. Sometimes, just knowing ahead of time an event may occur, is enough to change the person's path and future outcome.The Tarot cards were not meant to be feared or evil; but it is human nature to fear the unknown or the unexplained. Today, Tarot readers have made themselves available almost everywhere in the United States as well as some other countries, and are helping millions of people every day to cope with life's uncertainties.
Tarot is a form of divination. It offers guidance or guidelines, it can give you insight into the future, In the reading the reader is just interpreting the probable outcome based on the forces presently at work.
It is a highly intuitive processes to me.
The best way to learn is to hold your cards, look at them let them speak to you. Write your impressions down. It is good to read books, and the book with the deck. But it is highly recommended you let your cards speak to you.I have several decks. I started with Rider Wait, but my favorite is The Mystic's Dreamer's Tarot. Also has my name hehe .
There are many lay outs.
But for simplicity ( I like)
I will share two.
1) One card, which I did for myself this morning.
This is to me a present tense card, what is going on with me.
Where I am.
2) The three card read. ( I also like this)
Past -
childhood/past life/early growing up years.
Present-
Where you are today, insight of how yesterday has affected your life
What is happening to day. Maybe choices you need to make in specific areas.
New opportunity/ begining
Future- what is possible, what you can expect if you keep going the path you are going. It also can represent what is coming soon.
Again what are you asking the cards.?
When reading for you or another it is always good to have a q? for the cards
I was also taught another way, but it be easier if I was face to face.
It is you shuffle, ask the cars your question lay three from below to the side,, as this is what is below the surface, then another three above the surface. If you get a court card you want to throw down till you get another card which will give you more information.
To me reading tarot is being able to sense, feel the energy of each card, to see and hear what the symbols in each are saying.
I am practicing on me right now. I believe before you practice, or read for others you should read for yourself. That is my opinion though.
Like anything else I learn by not just reading but doing.
I am now able to do basic readings, although I work mostly on me. I have done readings for co workers, and some over at the pagan store in the next town over.
Some of my sources...
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/
http://www.historyoftarot.org/
Book Tarot of the GreenWitch
