The mind is the nexus of body and spirit. I believe that every part of the body contributes to that mind. I also believe that the universe has a mind, and sometimes call that mind Magic or even God. The rational mind communicates with the empirical senses; sound sight, touch, etc. The irrational spirit through images, sounds, emotions. At the nexus where the two meet, we use symbols and music to express what might otherwise have no expression, so that rational and irrational may understand each other.
Divination is the right and responsibility of a Witch, Magus, or Sage. It is an attempt to communicate information between the Divine and the physical realities. We may use dreams, pareidolia, mathematics, or symbols to share that information. The avenue of communication will always be the mind.
The tarot deck is an outgrowth of the Qabala, whose traditions came to maturity in the thirteenth century. Her roots are probably as old as the Hebrew people. While the clergy and ruling class of the time could read written words, this was not the only way to share information. Mediaeval artists could share a wealth of information is a single picture. They could show the knighting of a lord by having the said knight pointing as all his possessions while looking at the king, and the king pouring dirt on the knight’s head. Others who where less important to the image would be smaller, throwing our modern sense of perspective out of shape. A picture could tell the “Illiterate” everything without reading a single word. It is with this in mind that the Tarot was born.
The images within the Tarot are born of the impersonal, community consciousness, that includes our genetic memories, called instincts. The authors of the decks will employ images from many cultures. Yet, the basic stories of each card remains rooted in the traditions of the Qabala. The reader will decide for her or himself what the images mean, what their context is, what to interpret. To do so properly, the Magus must know what is inside, and must trust her or his intuition (instincts guided by experience). I the end, if you must ask how, then practice and study are the best teachers. Locked within these pictures are the images from philosophies, ancient and modern. These are the wisdom and experiences that can guide both Magus and leader in their duties.
According to the many compilers of the I Ching; “to know the future, one must know the past.” Divination does three things:
There is another aspect of divination. While most use divination as a “telegraph” from the gods, it can also be a telegraph to those gods. Arranging a spread according to one’s favorite context, one may use any tool of divination to project onto the Universal Mind some wish or demand.
Have you seen any of those special books … the ones where you come to the end of a section and it asks you what you would do next? It then directs you to the next section of the story. Well, the Tarot is an unbound picture book. When you begin the ritual that will climax with the dealing, you will choose what the context of the reading is. Will each card be a word in a sentence, a paragraph in a chapter, a chapter in a book? The rest of the ritual will place your mind into that context, and prepare the deck for her message.
Created on ... November 22, 2002