What is Divination?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, divination is "the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers." As witches, we are often in search of knowledge so it comes as no surprise that divination is so entrenched in the study of magic. With one foot in the waking realm and one foot in the spiritual, I am constantly reading the energy around me when I make decisions. Often, I turn my divination inward to bring to light aspects of myself that needs work that I may often overlook or suppress. It's a tool to piece together my internal motivations as well as external influences, giving me hints that force me to use critical thinking skills and basic intuition.
No matter where you are on your magical journey, you have probably heard of one, if not all, of these forms. While I don't believe you must practice all forms of divination, you would benefit from having a working knowledge of what they are. Try each divination tool at least once to see if you gravitate to any. You may be partial to one form or a few. Like any tool, the more you practice with it, the stronger and more knowledgeable you'll become. Remember, divination tools are simply conduits for the energy around you. They, themselves, hold no power. The better you get at reading the energy, the better the tools will work. Even still, divination is an ongoing skill. I don't believe you ever truly become a master at it, you just get better each time. So if you find them all difficult at first, don't let that get you down. Practice a little bit every chance you get.
It is important when first using a tool to cleanse them and bond with them. To bond with a tool, carry it with you to exchange energies. Allow it to sit beside you while you watch television, or tuck it into your pocket while walking around the house. You'll start to feel a connection to your divination tool, only then can you work with it. It's similar to making a friend. You can't ask someone you just met to do favors for you. You have to get to know them first.
Dowsing
Dowsing is one of the easiest methods of divination. All you need is a pendulum and a piece of paper with "Yes" or "No" written on it. A pendulum can be made of anything. All that is required is a chain and some form of weight at the bottom to hang down. You can purchase a simple pendulum at many metaphysical stores, or you can use a necklace. Just be sure that the charm is heavy enough to give it structure. Ask the pendulum a "Yes" or "No" question, hold the pendulum with your thumb and forefinger, and see if the pendulum moves towards one answer or the other. Try not to move your hand or influence the pendulum in any way.
Drawbacks: While dowsing is very simple, it can only respond to "Yes" or "No" questions, greatly limiting your information. Also, it is very easy to unconsciously influence your answer.
Tasseomancy
This one is for all the tea drinkers in the room. Tasseomancy is the ancient art of reading tea leaves after drinking. Although this form of divination was once also applied to coffee grounds, most modern coffee filters don't allow for pieces to fall through. While you are welcome to use any type of tea you have on hand, the heavier the tea is, the harder it is to get a good read. Most practitioners suggest light-leaf tea such as green tea for beginners. There are also two ways you can read the leaves. The first is with the aid of a specially designed tasseomancy cup. The inside is decorated with symbols that all mean different things according to the cup's manual. The second type of tasseomancy is done using a standard tea cup and reading the tea leaves based on past and future. If you want a full beginner's guide to tasseomancy, read this post.
Drawbacks: While tasseomancy doesn't require a lot of ingredients, it can be very hard to work with for beginners. All of the leaves start out looking like simple blobs and require a lot of intuition and vision to start deciphering the symbols.
Cartomancy
One of the most well-known types of divination is cartomancy. This category covers tarot, oracle, and playing cards. Out of all the divination forms, tarot is the most popular due to the accuracy of the readings. You can get specific answers to a wide range of questions and it's the easiest to use for introspection. There are 78 cards in a standard tarot deck consisting of 22 major arcana cards and 56 minor arcana cards. Each card has different meanings when faced upright or when upside down (reversed); the major arcana implies that it has more energy happening around it than a minor arcana card. Readings revolve around a predetermined question such as "what should I be focusing on?" or "Why am I feeling stressed", etc. You can be very precise in your questions. Then lay out your card. You can pull as many cards as needed until you understand the answer fully.
If you don't have access to tarot cards, a regular deck of playing cards can work instead. Many online resources align the suites with their arcana counterparts. Or you can ask "Yes" or "No" questions, with a red card meaning "Yes" and a black card meaning "No".
Oracle cards are used much like tarot but are a little limiting. While there are 78 cards in tarot, most oracle decks use a lot less. I have one deck that has 52 cards and another that only uses 25. It depends on the specific oracle deck you're drawn to. This makes it excellent for a beginner since there's less to memorize, but you might not get all the subtle nuances that come with tarot.
Scrying
If you've ever allowed your eyes to unfocus while looking at the reflection of a pond, you just might have been scrying. Similar to those old 'Magic Eye' books I had as a child, scrying involves letting your eyes unfocus and waiting for the image to appear. Scrying is defined as the practice of looking into a substance with the hopes of receiving messages or visions. As a child, I would often find myself gazing into my grandparent's pond and just letting myself dream. I was unaware that I was performing any magic, but that's exactly what it was. There are many different ways to scry. Pyromancy is the art of staring into a burning fire or candlelight to receive visions. Or, you can look at a reflective surface such as a bowl filled with water or a black mirror. This is also where the image of a fortune teller with a crystal ball came from. Any surface that can make a reflection can be used. Modern-day witches even use the surface of their cell phones!
Drawbacks: Similar to tasseomancy, scrying can take some time to decipher. If you're having trouble receiving or understanding messages, I suggest adding meditation to your practice. The ability to shut out the outside world and simply 'be' is very difficult for many.
Casting
Casting involves selecting a certain amount of items, throwing them down, and seeing how they land, where they land, and which face they land on. Some casting, such as the casting of beans, bones, or charms, requires a premade chart. While the charts differ based on the practitioner, they generally have themes such as love, family, money, etc. You read them by seeing which area of the chart they fall on, or how many fall in a specific section.
In rune casting, however, the diviner only needs to understand the set of letters on the runes and their meanings. Often the runes are pulled in quantities of 1, 3, or 9. When pulling 9, the caster will often toss the runes down and read only the ones that landed face up. The distance they land specifies when it will occur: the closer the rune, the sooner it will happen. If pulling only 1 or 3, the runes will be read similarly to tarot cards.
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