Divination Tips for Beginners

A list of general things that may help in performing Divination

1. Find a place and a time where you will not be disturbed for the length of your work. It is entirely possible to do a divination accurately in the presence of a lot of people, but that can be a distraction to the ability to concentrate. Especially in the beginning, it will help you to work on divination in a relatively quiet and comfortable place.

2. Practice. Divination uses a particular skill set, and like with any developing set of skills, regular practice will help you get better at it.

3. When learning a particular system it helps to find ways to integrate it in some way into your regular schedule. Make it a habit. If you were studying runes, I would suggest drawing a single rune at the beginning of the day concentrating on a simple current question like "How should I approach this day?". Similar things can be done with the Tarot and other forms of divination.

4. If you are using a system that gives it's answers through a set of already determined symbols, work on learning the meanings of those symbols.

5. Don't be afraid to look everything up in several different books as you begin to read. Do that until you are feeling a stronger sense of the meaning of each card or rune.

6. Pay attention to the way symbols correlate to one another. Different parts of a given system interact with one another in a way that is easier to interpret when you understand how the different parts function. In the suits of the Tarot, for instance, each suit has an elemental correspondence and each number of each suit has a particular function. Overlaying the functions of the numbers on what you know about the elements may tell you more about the meaning of a particular card.

7. Once you are feeling that you have a sense of the meanings of the symbols you are working with, start relying on your intuition more and more. Start interpreting readings by yourself, and then pick up a book about your art and see what it says. Think about the similarities and differences you find.

8. When you find that your own feeling is different than what your books may say, think about it. You may find that you did not understand a particular card or symbol, or that you misremembered one for another. As you practice more and more, that will change into a new level of confidence. You may find that when you get a different sense of a symbol, you are intuiting the meaning of the symbol in direct relation to what you are reading about, and that means that you're getting somewhere.

9. You may wish to do a short period of meditation before you read. It helps to read when feeling comfortable, centered, and focused. Above all, remember that Divination is about looking to the Divine for council. It helps to light a candle and some incense, say a prayer, and do a blessing of the self.

by Nicolette Stevens, Reprintable with credit to and permission of author-
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