THE TAROT CARDS AND THEIR MEANINGS
I usually follow E. A. Waite’s system of divinatory meanings for the cards — but they don’t always yield a coherent story. I am gradually edging into what I call “folk Tarot,” the system or systems of meanings handed down in families of card readers over generations. There aren’t any books on it — you have to learn it from people who know it. This is often a piecemeal process.
I don’t use a particular “spread” or arrangement of cards as many Tarot readers do; I simply have what catherine yronwode calls a “conversation with the cards,” laying them out in groups of four. I sometimes assign these cards the following values:
PAST
PRESENT
NEAR FUTURE
LONG-TERM (or OBSTACLE or UNDERLYING FACTOR)
…. except where the cards don’t lend themselves to that interpretation.
Sometimes a little group of four cards will tell two stories, often with a story of conquest or success on one side and the story of failure on the other.
At other times, the four cards simply form a “snapshot” of the situation.
THE BIBLE
Bibliomancy is an ancient art, possibly even older than the Bible itself. I open the Bible without looking at the page, and allow the Spirit to guide my hands to the verse you need to hear. Often, the meaning we divine from the verse has little or nothing to do with its original context. Other times, the whole story in which the verse appears is relevant to your life.
THE CRYSTAL BALL
The popular image of crystal ball scrying is the use of a transparent, colorless crystal ball in which the diviner sees pictures of the client’s future. Many diviners actually do this, but others, like myself, prefer figured stones, such as the one in the photograph. This is a 1-inch-diameter sphere of amethyst. I use the cracks and inclusions to see signs, something like cloud gazing, only more relevant to you.
THE BONES
In some cases a bone reading is appropriate. This is an ancient form of divination which involves contact with ancestral spirits. To put it briefly, I ask “my people” to talk to “your people” and bring their collective wisdom to your situation. The arrangement of the bones shows their collective wisdom and intent.