I had an interesting conversation with Theresa Reed, The Tarot Lady, about the latest wave of nonsense claiming the fall of fortune telling and divination. It’s a claim that’s been made by various people over the years. Usually they are trying to sell you their new and improved way of doing things and feel they can’t do that without downplaying and diminishing the traditional ways. Aside from being incorrect, it’s a scarcity minded place to operate from. My beliefs and practices are firmly rooted in abundance. There are lots of right ways to do this work.
I know that as long as there have been thinking humans on the planet there has been divination. I know that every tribe and culture throughout our existence has had some form of communicating with the divine and getting answers by reading the symbols either of specific tools or in the world around them. I know that as humans evolved and became more sophisticated their tools for divination did too. I also know that the old ways still work and work well. Have you ever just asked for a sign? And then received one?
When I read for my clients I start by having them throw stones. We discuss what I can see in the stones, how that lines up with their lives, and the predictions the stones are making about the next few months. Then we dig deeper into specifics by pulling cards. We take a look into the future because we can. Because my clients know it is better to have more information about what is coming to make better decisions about what to do next. When I do this work I’m standing in a flow that has been used for millennia to help us guide ourselves forward. It is probability and possibility and life energy. Most of the readers I know and recommend work in similar ways and look into the future because that’s what people want from us. But I get that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
A reader, whose books I have read, whose work I admire, and in front of whom I made a fangirl fool of myself when I met her, prefers to take a more psychological approach with her readings and her clients. I have a dear friend who explores the Akashic records with her clients. Another good friend only focuses on past lives. There is room for all these different practices and it is not necessary to disrespect another type of work because it is a different focus than your own. And there is no way that a practice that has been around as long as there has been language, is going away because someone found a new twist for a familiar tool.
(Art work: The Fortune Teller by Jehan Georges Vibert)