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 Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:03 pm
I've been thinking about the ideas I've seen about how one receives a 'first' tarot deck, how one shouldn't buy a deck, shouldn't touch other people's tools, should store them, charge them, make a tool 'theirs.'
I was given my first tarot deck as a gift. It was a Swiss JJ Marseilles-style deck with woodcut medieval art colored bright, garish, blue, yellow and red. The cards never spoke to me and I got rid of them some years later. My second deck was a miniature Rider-Waite-Smith and I received them with a copy of Andrew Waite's book. These were also pretty useless and they are gone now, too. My third and fourth decks, bought by me, a full-size RWS and a Universal Tarot (the Miller one) speak clearly and are still with me. I have read for clients with them.
I don't do any special charging, do not have special bags to contain them or motions I go through, don't have rituals. What I do is reach out, with the cards as an inspirational tool, for a story, a narrative, an image, concerning the question at hand. I may use a setting, set up an altar, use additional tools sometimes but nothing outside of myself is always necessary. Perhaps it is strength of personality or will, focus or intent, but divination works for me, at least most of the time.
I can trace my success to a breakthrough moment, however. I accepted an invitation to be the ritual diviner at a pagan event. In that magical space a door opened and I have never found it shut for long. I was not using a tarot deck at the time. Since then I have met other practitioners and can safely say that they have a 'feel' to them. Not everyone uses tools. No real diviners 'see' all the time or necessarily receive answers that belong to the questions they are asking.
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:02 pm
*kerponders*
I guess I haven't had enough experience with tools to really know all that much about choosing one or letting one choose you. In the odd event I feel I need a magical macguffin, I usually tend to grab whatever's lying around the house.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:52 pm
'Magical' tools are sometimes that way just for the occasion and then go back to being...whatever they were before. The knife, the cup, the circle....the magic is placed there temporarily or, as I would much rather think, or called forth temporarily.
I think of magic as an energy that is always there, that is 'ordinary' in the sense that it surrounds us and permeates us; it just needs to be called forth. Magic is inherent but not contained - it wants to move....
I think of divination as a sidelong relative of magic, sort of like magical images, thoughts, ideas that can be tapped into by some means. I use tools, usually cards or symbols of some sort. I guess there is a certain amount of ritual involved in just shuffling cards but my energy transferance is, well, automatic, now.
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:27 pm
If I had to wait for someone to give me a tarot deck as a gift, I would not have a few years of experience under my belt. My family is purely Christian and believes that the cards are evil, even though the worst thing they've told me to do against my will was the homework that I was neglecting at the time....While I was living with my mother, if she saw my cards, she would either throw them away or burn them. I had to keep them hidden in my desk or out in my car to keep them safe. Most of the time, I kept them on me so I knew they wouldn't be harmed. But I digress....
I know that the cards are a tool for my intuition, but being a typical Virgo, my logic tries to take control over my intuition so it's nice to have the cards as a visual confirmation. It's hard to argue with something right in front of your face.
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Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:25 am
lol, yes, we Virgos need to let go.....not everything can be explained logically, for sure.
Some divinatory methods hide right out in plain sight, good for those who must hide their ritual tools. Scrying with a flame or a mirror (especially a black one), pendulum working, even rune tablets (if subtle) can be used in unfriendly circumstances. Regular playing cards can used like a tarot if you remember your numerology and suit significances. Some people do not use tools at all, using solely mental techniques - I met a Lily Dale-trained spiritualist once and she was quite good.
I, personally, like the idea of tools that have an everyday use and then a magical one. Many of my altar items are like that and it makes me think of magic all around us....
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:12 am
Magic's in everything, to some extent. It just needs to be tapped into or felt to be acknowledged.
I use oracle cards, a pendulum and runes.
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