Divination, destiny, & the field of possibilities

I do divinations, which, technically, is any form of divining. I mostly use runes, various decks of cards, and ogham sticks, and intuitively do bird, cloud, and water auguries for what's what.

I still have my yarrow stalks and I Ching from 1970, with stains of cred on its hand-stitched cloth covering. I was just a girl in the woods then, and I don't do the long process of the yarrow stalks for hexagrams these days. 

It's an ancient gig, being an oracle, augurer, or reader of signs. It goes with the territory of being a seer. Traditionally, it's been summoned for foretelling the future. Myths of old are full of it. Usually, the oracle is obscure AF and the king or whoever misinterprets it, and goes to great lengths to keep it from coming true; all of whose efforts, in fact, bring it about. I love that irony.

As a shamanic practitioner, I often get asked what will happen? or what should I do? types of queries, and that's what this blog post circles: I'm not a fortune teller. And you don't want to think about your destiny or your future in those terms anyway. It doesn't really work that way.

Outcome—any outcome—depends on a lot of interconnected actions in a lot of interconnected worlds in a lot of interconnected dimensions in a lot of interconnected multiverses. Quantum physicists will back me up on this. The field of possibilities is endless, and the person who asks for guidance receives, from a divination done truly, information that can be helpful in navigating the energies of the time. As we move in the direction of our chosen wish, goal, or outcome, many things come into play, and our decisions and actions ping off them, creating more possible outcomes. 

Often, what we thought was our desired outcome turns out to have been something to steer towards, attracting our energy, that instead brought us into play with other factors and forces that move us forward in what we might call destiny. Being aware of the energies present and available to us at any given time is really the salient feature of divination, from my energy wrangler job description.

I did a divination this week for my birthday: I like to check in and see what energy patterns are affecting my life, and birthday energy zings up the silica in us and activates more DNA stuff. These days, my go-to long divination method is the 15 card Thoth deck spread. It's comprehensive, to say the least. The cards are beautiful and highly symbolic, packed with meaning.

What I really like about the spread are the patterns of energy that can be seen in the quincunx. A quincunx—one of my favorite words—is a pattern or alignment of four points of a square with a point in the center of the square, making five points. Three-card groups are drawn in a quincunx pattern. I won't go into each card's significance here. The energy patterns of each card, and the patterns in relation to the cards in its triad, and its positioning in the quincunx, are powerful, palpable, and memorable.

The art of divination is exactly that—an art. While you can get a deck and a book and use them, reading the complex patterns of energy that interconnect, and being able to synthesize that energy into an oracle that will be useful to the client, relating to their query, or concern, takes a bit of mastery, and the intuitive powers of the practitioner.

In my case, the patterns start lighting up and moving and singing and showing me in many different channels what is available, what is transforming or can transform, what can come and what can go; what is being asked of you—the client, and what you might not be aware of. Interpreting and articulating that to you well is part of the art.

It's all energy, as noted on my welcome page. What you do with the energy and the information and your capabilities and desires at any given moment is up to you and free will and intent, belief and courage. What outcomes are possible are myriad. What is possible is, well, open. Knowing you have energies and forces of the Universe within you and without you supporting your quest is empowering. Being aware of energies that you're susceptible to, and fears/beliefs you hold that block or entice your actions, is empowering. Knowledge is power! 

Scientia potentia est

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