Dedicating my Bone Set

It starts with smoke.

As promised, I am resurrecting this blog. Hopefully, after such a long hiatus, we still have some readership! Today's post is the first in a series all about one way I divine. 

Divination can be done by reading the clouds, listening to animals (I tend to watch crows) or other nature spirits, Tarot cards, Runes, pendulums, or other miscellaneous items (often called "bone casting" or "reading the bones", as many of these systems contain animal parts). I do all these things, as oracular work, divination, and spirit communication are my jam. So I have tried them all and do many on a frequent basis. 

Smoking my casting basket.

What is divination? Many people have a mistaken idea what it is and isn't/ When you do it correctly, spirits speak through you. You are a conduit of information and the tool that you use is not the message- it is the tool to garner the message. For example, when I first learned to use a pendulum, my teacher told us to talk to our particular tool and say "show me your yes, no, and maybe". Many students took that to mean that the pendulum was somehow speaking to them and a different pendulum may have a different way of stating yes, no, or maybe. NOPE.

Soaking in salt water.

Bone reading is done worldwide by many cultures including in Africa (and by African descendants in the Americas), in Siberia, in Eurasia, and Pacific Islands. It seems to be one of the earliest forms of getting messages from spirits/gods besides actual trance/possession/channeling (whatever you may call it). The awesome thing about this system is it is ever-evolving and highly personal.

Today's post is about my bone reading set: assembling, cleansing, & dedicating it so that it works well with me, the Witch. Since this system requires myriad items collected from animals, the earth, the sea, and the like- getting them to work together for you is a project. As an animist, I know that all these items have a spirit and a message. It's not always the same message each time (for example, a coin always means money). I have to learn to listen as much as they need to learn how to speak to me. They also have attached memories sometimes- and that memory of how I acquired them often goes into how I read that item.

Some of my set.

I also know that perhaps how this item came to me was not awesome for that item. Crystals being ripped out of the earth are often cursed by earth spirits (and why should they not be?). Animals who were killed for sport and not respected in their death often have issues to reconcile. I need to pay the coin, make amends, and gain the ear of these items so that they work with me. I, the Witch, offer them a purpose after their trauma and they see me through my traumas. We become allies.

Smoking to cleanse.

I am working on my own reading cloth, for example- which reflects my worldview as a traditional witch. It will be different than a Sangoma surface (which is often a circle and cross pattern drawn in the dirt or painted on an animal hide), different than commercially available cloths. Some of the items in my set are like items in others' Sangoma sets, as that symbolism resonates with me- but other items have been removed) yet my set is unique as a whole and no one on earth has a set that contains all my items.

Some examples: I have a wishbone from a turkey consumed by me and my Witch Kin at a Yule feast. Wishbones traditionally imply luck, chance, etc. But this one also has the celebration, kinship, and tribal feelings attached to it. My skull means the ancestors as well, but the skull in my set has dozens of friends scattered all over the world. I bought a whole set and gave them to initiates and apprentices in my tradition over the last year. The humble pockmarked quartz stone in my set is from the front yard of my oath mother. It means family, oaths, and loyalty.

Stay tuned for more posts about divination and this ever-evolving set!

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For those that are interested, the smoke I used for this purpose was not made by me! While I often create incense blends for ritual purposes, there are others that make awesome blends too. The large round jar is a Lilith blend made by the Sword and the Rose in San Francisco. They create amazing self lighting blends. The formulary is well researched and finished while in trance with the spirit that they are creating for. I have several of their blends. I also used "Summoning Spirits" and "Divination" by Rosarium Blends of Washington State.

Review: The Mary-El Tarot

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OK, I have to let you know up front. I have been a fan of the Mary-el deck for years, even before it was released. I have been following the amazing work of Marie White, who began painting her interpretations of tarot cards in 1997. I discovered her site with the paintings of most, but not all, of the deck several years ago. I eagerly waited for new paintings/cards to be released and often posted on Facebook when a new one came out.

I was thrilled to see the deck finally released this year and immediately asked the publisher for a review copy. I was thrilled that I managed to get one. So I am letting you know, that I was expecting a wonderful (free) deck but I got so much more than I anticipated. This deck and its accompanying book are so symbolically complete, so artistically rendered, so Witchingly accurate in its symbolic representations of the cards, that it is now going to be my sole deck.

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I expected the amazing paintings put into a deck format. And the publisher did an amazing job- the heft and size of the cards, the accurate colors on the paintings, the amount of coating- it's all perfect for someone wanting a high quality deck. But they went above and beyond and also published Marie's 192 page book, "Landscapes of the Abyss" on the deck as well and put it all in a fantastic box that you will want to keep. (Although I am still searching for the perfect bag for the deck...)

The symbolism on this deck rings more true to me than any other deck I have loved and worked with before. I am one of those people that have never found that "perfect deck" for me (until now). In the eighties, I colored my own BOTA deck as I learned the symbolism of the tarot and how to work with it. I have had Rider and Universal Waite decks that served me well. I had a "Daughters of the Moon" round deck back in the early nineties (Yes, I was a Dianic for a while there). I had an artist designed deck once before, called the Sakki Sakki deck. In the last 6 or so years before this deck, I constantly wavered between the Greenwood, the Thoth, and the Cosmic Tribe decks for different reasons.

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The Greenwood seemed to be best at representing my religion, as it had no Christian imagery in it, which cannot be said for most decks. The Thoth is by far the best researched deck in terms of symbolism and correspondences- which you would expect from its intellectual powerhouse of a creator, crazy uncle Al. And the Cosmic Tribe is pro queer, pro sex and more modern (and I know several of the models for the deck personally). But none of the previous decks suited me enough to keep me from searching. Until now. Most decks are too cutesy, too fluffy, or too cerebral (leaving the embodied experience of Witchyness behind in lieu of "high Magick" claptrap).

I needed a deck that celebrates and accurately portrays the symbolism and correspondences we all need in order to use tarot as a real tool, but never forget that the cards should also act on a gut level, too- and embody the experience of what they represent for the reader.

Marie must have had an amazing journey creating her deck these last 15 years, because in addition to the research that she did to create amazing paintings, she wrote a book that is stunning in its depth and explanations of the cards:

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Just as the Fool is nothing, the Magician is everything. It contains everything and everything flows from it.The Magician stands between the primordial mother hidden beneath the surface of the water, and the primordial father with his sun, and the infinite lemniscate. The two trees are a doorway between the spiritual and corporeal world and the Magician, cloaked in Earth, is handing you a Metatron's cube (or a Phoenix's egg)....- from the first two paragraphs of the Magician card description.

The Emperor takes the diversity and abundance of life from the Emperess and he organizes it and puts it in order, imposes law on it. He is number 4 and as such he is extremely stable and is the embodiment of the idea of earth. He is the earthly father archetype and king of kings, ruler of the four quarters of the earth, the four pillars that hold up the heavens, the four sides of a pyramid, stable and square. He imposes order and harmony on the elements. He is the manifestation of spirit into earth. LIke Kind Arthur, or the fisher King of legend, he IS the land..." -from first paragraph of the Emperor card description.

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She goes on with just enough ceremonial magick to please the geek in me, stunning visual imagery that resonates with the Witch in me, and never once abandons the original symbolism the tarot contains. Indeed, she based her paintings and deck around three important pillars of tarot: the Raider Waite, the Thoth, and the Marseille decks. It is obvious that she was working hard to create something new within a very old and respected framework, rather than creating a whole new oracle deck rooted in nothing. Her self-imposed task was much harder, and took lots of brains and passion to complete. She succeeded!

The book, Landscapes of the Abyss, is so dense it is going to take me weeks to read each page and stare at the corresponding card. And after getting such a gorgeous deck, I want to do just that. Off to play!

Witch Mom is busy!

These days, I am keeping myself pretty busy. So busy, that sometimes I get a little overwhelmed. I am in school of course, and going 3/4 time with two classes. My classes this semester are fascinating: "The Jewish Liturgical Year in Diaspora" and "The Sacred and the Substance".

For my final papers/presentation in the Jewish class, I am presenting a "Jewitch" ritual, including a seder. While I am not of Jewish ancestry (that I know of), I know many many folks who identify as both Jews and Witches and will be presenting my theological ideas to them before presenting the final product to class. In the Sacred and the Substance, I will be writing a paper on the use of substances in modern witchcraft- from entheogens and flying ointments to herbs for oracular divination. You know, ordinary master's degree topics?!

My son is getting huge and he keeps me busy (I had to pause just then for a toddler dance and cuddle break). He is walking (or should I say running), starting to communicate with us in earnest, and understands simple commands like "bring the keys to mommy". I am astounded at his progress. He is tall for his age and walked early, so many people assume he is older than he is. This is fine until he tries to poke their kids eye out or slap them on the top of the head (we are working on the concept of "gentle"- especially when he is excited). He goes to Pagan Playdate a couple times a month (I host one a month, and his daddy takes him to another). He also sees his best pal, Esme, several times a month (travel and such has kept it from being  weekly lately). We got him a membership to the zoo for his birthday, and we have taken him there several times since. He still loves all animals.

I started several new projects: I am the Bureau Coordinator for Pagan Newswire Collective in the Bay Area. This means I recruit volunteers, edit the content submitted, assign stories, facilitate meetings, keep the project going, as well as write stories myself. I have written two stories so far (we started the project in January). Both are on pagan parenting- this time at PantheaCon.

I have also started a "completely for me" project: I am studying to be a wildlife rehabilitator and get certified! I plan on working with corvids mainly when I am finished. The place I am apprenticing to gets mostly birds (lucky me!) but also some mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. They have a museum attached to the hospital and have several animals that are educational because they cannot be released for one reason or another. Their collection includes many owls (ooh!), a raven (yay!), and even a bald eagle and coyote. I go every Saturday for a while to learn, then I will volunteer regularly in the hospital.

Wheel of Fortune, by Watts

I have been volunteering at the local UU in the kids department. I start out each Sunday in the nursery (where Rowan plays), then go up to be with Club UU (4th-6th graders), then I go to worship myself. It's been great working with kids again, and it has made me consider doing it professionally again.

I continue with my Witchcraft studies and am working with my teacher toward initiation. She often gives me work to do independently, and I also have pet projects in this regard: this year I intend on honing my divination and oracular skills.

I am going to create my own runes (finally!) and re-do a project I did oh-so-log-ago: color my own deck of BOTA tarot cards. Both projects help because you spend a week or so with each card/rune- learning its meanings, meditating on it, and finally coloring or etching it. I will also be working with my mask and other tools to help me be a good, skilled oracle.

Tangible Witchcraft: Divination

What is divination? Well, if you take the word itself, it implies the Divine at work. Every person I know who does this sort of work agrees that they must "open" themselves to receiving messages through the tools that they use.

There are many kinds of divination, but for most people (who don't do this work themselves) they mostly think of "fortune-tellers" using tarot cards, tea leaves, and crystal balls. And those can be wonderful tools. I use some of them. But the way that I prefer and turn to most often is none of these, actually.

Unlike some Witches, I do not read tarot for others normally- and I don't read for money. I will do a reading if asked (usually alone and report back what I discovered). But I usually save tarot readings for my personal check-ins on small subjects that I keep to myself. I also use a pendulum for a quick check in now and again. The same goes with runes. Often, if there is a big question to answer in my life, I will pull an equal number of tarot cards and runes simultaneously so each rune and card correspond and clarify each other.

Scrying is another method that I often turn to- either in a black mirror which is devoted to my patroness or a black vessel that I use only for scrying (dedicated to another Goddess). I love that vessel- when the lid is on, it looks like a pitch black breast, perfect for its use.

I often use the vessel under a full moon. (By the way, for those new to scrying, this is also the method people use when using crystal balls. While there is a crystal ball in my home (that used to belong to two very powerful Witches and was passed onto my partner after their deaths), I don't use that method (or that particular ball!). There is a lot of stuff attached to that item, and I like my tools to just be in tune with me and who they are devoted to.

Ogham

My preferred method these days is dream and trance divination- when I journey to a specific place or to a specific being for answers. I have a gift of "seeing" quite well in dreams and often have dreams for other people or groups of people. I pass these dreams along when I can. After years of practice, I can reach states of trance possession and communicate with non-corporeal beings fairly well.

After having Rowan, it was hard to get a full night's sleep and my dream life was suffering. So my partner and I (who is also a Witch) decided to "trade off" nights co-sleeping with Rowan, and the person who had the night off was free to dream. It's been an awesome arrangement, both of us benefit from the extra sleep and the ability to reach REM sleep.

If you remember from past blog entries, I created a mask for just this purpose- oracular work. Oracular work is divination by contacting one specific being, rather than many or whomever shows up. Using the mask allows me to focus and not be distracted by the outside world. Works like a charm!

Do you do divination? If so, what type?