divination

Water Gazing
The simplest technique is known as gazing or scrying, in which water is used to create symbols of
the future. To perform this ancient rite, pour water into a blue ceramic bowl. Ask your question. Sit
with your back to the light in a darkened room and gaze into but not at the water. (Some people
add a few drops of blue food color or ink to the water to darken it; this is particularly useful when
using a light colored bowl.)
As with a crystal ball, the water may cloud. Eventually you may begin to see symbols within its cool
depths. Make note of any such symbols. When no further symbols are seen, begin the process of
interpretation.
Some water gazers prefer to have the light of a candle reflected on the water surface. Others take
the bowl outside on a cloudless night and, capturing the moon's reflection, divine by its appearance
on the water.

Floating
In addition to scrying, water has been used in a number of ways to determine the future. One of
these has been in use since ancient Greek times. Take a specific object- a slice of bread, a leaf or
some other light object- to a lake or spring. While asking a yes or no question, throw the object into
the water. If it sinks, the answer is yes; if it continues to float, or sinks but rises and is washed up
on the bank, the answer is no.

Steam
Steam can also provide divinitory responses. This form requires a mirror hung on a wall and a low
table placed before it. Fill a large pot with water and heat to boiling on the stove. Remove the pot
and place it on a hot pad before the mirror. As the steam rises, it will cloud the mirror. You may
gaze in the misty mirror, or wait for the steam to condense and drip down its silvered face. The
drips may form themselves into a letter or letters, which can then be interpreted.

Fire Gazing
This ancient technique can produce surprising results. Sit before a roaring fire. Ask your question.
Gaze into the flames while the fire burns down. Within the flames, or in the sparkling, glowing coals
below them, images of the future may appear. Interpret them with symbolic thought. It's best to limit
gazing time to about five minutes, but there's no need to check your watch. Allow the images to
come to you for an appropriate time.

Burnings
Write a question concerning the future on a small piece of paper. Place it face down on a flat,
heat-proof surface. Light one corner of the paper with a match. If the entire paper burns, the
answer is yes. If only part of the paper is destroyed, the answer is no.

Candles
To perform any of the following rites, choose a room not usually subject to winds or drafts. Night is
the preferred time, and it's best to lower the lights. Use whits candles except where otherwise
indicated.Light a candle and place it in its holder. Sit or stand before it and search for signs from
the flame itself and its wick. If the flame seems dim, it may be best to hold off on plans for the
time being. An extremely bright flame is a sign of good fortune, but if it quickly grows smaller, the
luck will be temporary.
If the flame waves about, bad weather may be coming, or a great change in circumstances is
foretold. A spark visible in the wick indicates the imminent arrival of good news. If the flame turns in
a circle or seems to form a spiral, danger is forecast. Finally, a halo around the flame indicates an
approaching storm.
Another method of reading candles involves watching the manner in which the molten wax drips
down the candle sides. Place the candle in a holder. Ask a yes or no question while lighting the
wick. Watch it for some time. If the wax drips only on the left side, the answer is no. If on the right,
yes. If equally on both sides, no response is possible. If no wax drips down, ask again later.
A rather unusual form of candle divination involves the remarkable properties of fresh lemon juice.
Obtain a clean, non-ball point or felt-tip pen. (The type used for calligraphy). Since neither an
ink-filled pen nor a pencil can be used, a sharpened, short stick may be substituted.
Squeeze the juice from a lemon into a small bowl. Lay three, five or seven pieces of paper on a flat
surface. Dipping the pen into the lemon juice, (write) a possible future on each piece of paper with
the juice; the juice here acts as the ink. Since lemon juice is invisble and difficult to write
with,reduce these futures to just a few words. Allow them to dry.
Light a candle. Place the slips of paper into a bowl. Mix them with your left hand, then choose one
at random. Hold the chosen piece of paper close enough to the flame to heat it but not enough to
burn it. The heat will reveal the future written on the paper as the lemon juice darkens. This will
determine the possible future.

Smoke
One method is known as "smoke reading." Light a candle. Pass a plain white card through the
flames three times while asking a question. (do this quickly to avoid setting the card on fire.)
Interpret the resulting carbon deposits left on the underside of the card with symbolic thought.
There are many older techniques. For example, build a fire outside in a safe place while asking a
yes/no question. Watch the smoke. If it rises straight and lightly into the air, a positive answer has
been received. If, however, it hangs heavily around the fire, the reverse is true.

Ashes
Collect ashes from dead fires or the fire place. Outside, in a place where the wind usually blows at
some time, scatter the ashes to a good depth in a rectagular shape on the ground. While asking
your question regarding the future, use a finger to write the word yes in the ashes to the right and
no to the left. Leave them undisturbed overnight.
In the morning, study the ashes. If both words are clearly legible, no answer is possible at this time.
If one has been erased by animal tracks, the wind or by some other force, the remaining word
reveals the answer to your question. If both words are gone, again, no answer has been given.

General Plant Divination
Fill five flower pots with the same kind of dirt. Plant in each pot a seed of the same type of flower,
on the same day and at the same time. Ensure that they have the same exposure to sunlight. For
best results, do this on the day of the full moon.
On a small piece of tape, write an expected or hope-for future and apply this to the side of one pot.
Continue until all five pots have been designated with five different features. (Small signs attached
to sticks or twigs may also be used, thrust into the earth near the pot's side.) Water as usual. The
seed that first germinates determines the event that will most likely occur in the near future.

The Apple
Using a silver knife, peel an apple so that it comes off the fruit in one unbroken strip. (If the peel
breaks while paring, try again at a later time and eat the apple.)
When you've been successful, ask your question and throw the peel over your left shoulder. It will
produce a shape on the floor behind you. If this shape is anything other than an O or U, the answer
is yes.
Another apple divination is related to the daisy rite described below. It exists in many variants; here
is one of the most popular. Find an apple that still has stem end attached. Ask your question. Hold
the apple in your left hand and, with your right, begin twisting the stem. With each twist, say yes or
no. The word that you say when the stem twists off (or directly prior to this occurrence) signifies the
answer to your question.

The Daisy
This is perhaps the best known of all plant divinations. As you probably know, it consists of
removing each petal from the daisy while saying "she loves me, she loves me not." (The masculine
pronoun is used where appropriate.) The sentence stated as the last petal removed reveals the
truth. Any daisy-like flower can be used for this technique.
A second form of daisy divination isn't limited to matters of love. Ask a binary question. As you
pluck each petal, say yes or no. As the last petal falls, the answer has been given.
This type of procedure represents a genuine form of divination, proven effective during many
centuries of practice. However, few persons today (especially the children who constitute its usual
practitioners) are probably aware of this technique's great antiquity.

The Dandelion
Use this technique to discover whether a wish will come true and how soon. Find a dandelion that
has gone to seed. Ask whether some desired wish will come true. Blow hard against the seeds. If
all the seeds fly off, your wish will be shortly granted. If a few of the seeds remain, a bit of time will
be necessary for this to occur. If many of the seeds are left, your desire will not be granted.
An alternate method consists of thinking of your husband, wife, or mate, while blowing on the
dandelion. If all of the seeds fly away, the relationship is stable. If not, problems may be on their
way.
A third method: blow away the winged seeds, while asking a yes or no question. If they
immediately fall to the ground, the answer is no. If they float away on the wind, yes.

Leaves
Find a suitable leaf. Write a question upon the leaf. Place it in a safe spot. If it quickly withers and
dries, the prospects aren't rosy. However, if it remains fresh and dries slowly, the sign are
favorable.

Dice Divination
The message received is said to usually come to within nine days. It is not recommended to
attempt dice divination ona Monday or Wednesday. The Oracle itself determines the message (that
is, it won't answer a specific question). Use your own insight to broaden the dice's divinatory ability.
To proceed, place three dice of the same size either in a cup or in your hands. Shake them
vigorously and allow them to fall onto a flat surface. Add the numbers that appear on the upper
surfaces of the dice, then determine the readind according to this list:

Three: The smallest number that can appear. Pleasant surprises in the very near future.
Four: Unpleasantness of some kind may occur.
Five: Plans will come to fruition; a wish will be granted.
Six: A loss of some kind is forecast.
Seven: Possible difficulties in business, money troubles, gossip and so on.
Eight: Expect criticism.
Nine: Marriage; unions.
Ten: Birth, either of a child or new project.
Eleven: A parting, which may be temporary.
Twelve: A message of importance will soon arrive.
Thirteen: Sorrow.
Fourteen: Friendship; help from a new friend.
Fifteen: Begin no new projects for a few days.
Sixteen: A pleasant journey.
Seventeen: A change in plans may soon be necessary.
Eighteen: Success, a wish will be obtained. This is the very best number to appear.

Crystal Gazing
Crystal Gazing is best performed at night, ideally on the full moon or during its waxing. Lower the
lights but leave at least one candle burning; the room shouldn't be comletely dark. Sit with your
back to the light source.
The room should be absolutely silent. Sounds will jeopardize the possibility of seeing anything at
all, for they will distract your mind from the process.
Ask your question. Questions asked can be about the past, present, or the future. Gaze into the
sphere, not at it's outer surface or at any reflections from the room that may be visible. Let yourself
go. Blink when necessary- there's no reason to strain your eyes. Also, don't concentrate. This is
precisely the opposite state which you should be. Open your awareness.
The first sign that something is happening will be clouding of the crystal. It may seem to be filled
with a milky white substance that swirls around within the sphere. Relax and keep gazing. The
milkiness may change from white to other colors but not all seers have experienced this
phenomenon. Eventually it will turn black.
Images will then appear within the sphere. Words will not be seen within the sphere. The symbols
created within the crystal will usually relate to your question. Remember what you see- this is vital
for later later interpretation. Don't attempt to unlock the message while actually gazing; focus on
the symbols themselves.
Eventually, the meassages will disolve into the mist, and the mist itself will seem to disappear, as if
a curtain had been drawn across the ball. This always marks the end of the gazing session.

Sky Divination

Star Gazing
1) Go outside at night when the sky is clear. Ask a question. If the stars seem to glow brighter, or if
a shooting star races across the sky, the answer is yes. If nothing seems to occur after fifteen
minutes, or if clouds blot out the stars, the response in no.
2) Before going to bed, walk outside, look up at the sky and say the following: "Stars, stars, show
me the future." It will appear in a dream that night.
3) Wishing on a star is a popular practice. Outside, look at at one particular star for several
minutes. State your hoped-for future. Close your eyes for three seconds. If, upon opening your
eyes, they immediately fix on the same star, your future is as you wished. If you can't find it at
once, your future will be different.

The Moon
On the new moon (that is, when the moon first appears in the sky as a thin crescent), go outside
and point a dull-bladed knife (preferably silver) at the moon. Say the following words:

New moon, true morrow, be true now to me
that I ere the morrow my true love may see.

Place the knife beneath your pillow. Speak to no one as you prepare for bed. Remember your
dreams.

Lightning
Go outside on a night that will probably bring a storm. Stand facing in any direction and wait for the
first flash. If it appears to the left, it's a sign of trouble and heartaches. If, however, it appears on the
right, this portends a happy, prosperous future. If it's directly overhead, a mixture of both. (This is
also a sign that it might be best to take cover.) If you've asked a specific question it's answered in
the same manner: to the left, no; to the right, yes. If it appears directly overhead, no answer can be
given at this time.

Egg Divination
Fill a clear, tall glass with water. Using a pen, prick a hole in the egg's smaller end. Hold the egg
over the water until the white begins to drip into the glass. Ask a question, if any. Watch as the egg
whites diffuse and create shapes as they hang and float in the water. From these shapes and
through the use of symbolic thought, determine the future.

Needle Divination for Healing
After exposure to Western European ways, Cherokee Shamans started using needles in
divination.
The Cherokee used needles to determine the prognosis of ill clients. A new white bowl eight inches
in diameter was filled with water. After a prayer, two pins were floated on the water about two
inches apart. If the needles maintained this distance or moved farther apart, the client would
recover. If the left needle drifted toward the right needle, he or she may not be healed.

Oil Divination
You will need a bowl of water and a jar of oive oil. Put the bowl on a table and sit before it. Ask for a
general reading of the future and slowly pour a bit of oil into the water. A teaspoon or so is plenty.
The oil will rise and float on the water's surface. Watch it for a few moments. Determine the future
according to the following list:

* If the oil divides into two sections, an argument may be in the offing. Or, a negative answer.

* If the oil forms a ring (not a filled circle) and this remains unbroken, a business journey will be
profitable, or the sick will recover. Or, a positive response.

* If smaller droplets of oil emerge from a larger one, it may indicate pregnancy. This is also a
favorable sign for the sick, for it predicts recovery.

* If the oil spreads thinly and covers the entire surface of the water, beware; troubles are ahead.

* Many small, unconnected globules of oil indicate the coming of money.

* A crescent or star shape is extremely fortunate.

Paper Divination
Write questions on five small pieces of paper. Roll them up into tight cylinders. Place these in a
metal strainer and hold it in the steam rising from a pot of water on the stove (or fire). The first of
these to unroll has been affirmatively answered; the other questions, no.

Here is an easier method. Cut two squares of the same size from the same piece of white paper.
Using a black marking pen or ink, color one piece of paper black. Go to an upstairs window and,
asking your question, throw the squares at the same time out of the window. Carefully observe
which square first lands on the ground to determine the answer. If it's black, the answer is yes; if
white, no. (Retrieve the slips of paper and dispose of them properly.)

Alternately, you can cut a five-pointed star from a piece of paper. On each leg, write one of the
following: yes, no, maybe, probably. Leave the fifth leg blank. Write lightly with a pencil, not a pen;
you shouldn't be able to read the answers when the paper is turned blank side down.
Ask your question. Place the star under your pillow face down. Each evening for four nights, fold
over one leg of the star without turning it over to see which answer has been eliminated. On the
fifth night look to see which corner hasn't been folded. This will answer your question.

Pendulum Divination

A simple tool used for communicating and gaining guidance from the spiritual world. This is one of
the easiest methods of divination. When used for divination, the pendulum acts as an amplifier that
signals energy vibrations coming from a spiritual guide or the divine. These vibrations focus their
attention on the pendulum and cause it to move in specific directions, giving you the answers to the
questions you put to the tool.

The pendulum is simply a string or chain, waited by a pointed or spherical crystal or some other
form of heavy object. It is best to use all natural materials in the construction of your pendulum and
its string or chain.

To use a pendulum, sit at a table. Rest the elbow of your writing hand and hold the end of the chain
between your thumb and forefinger. Ask a "yes" or "no" question. Hold your arm and the chain
perfectly still and wait.

The pendulum will begin to swing. There are two different methods of interpreting these
movements. If the pendulum swings in a circle either clockwise or counter clockwise, the answer is
yes; if it swings in a back and forth motion the answer is no. If it refuses to move, to answer is
given.

The second method of interpreting involves only circular motion. A clockwise circle is yes; a
counterclockwise motion, is no.

Sand Divination

Obtain a quantity of fine sand. (Color doesn't matter.) Pour it into a square or rectangular tray to the
depth of three inches. Place this on a table before you. Hold a pencil or similar object loosley in
your hand and place its point on the center of the sand. Close your eyes and state your question.
Breath deeply and relax.

You'll have a strong urge to move the pencil. Let it move of its own accord across and through the
sand. Continue this until the pencil stops moving, or in about three minutes.

Remove the pencil and look down at the symbols on the sand. There may be legible words or
symbols in the sand. There may also be Y for yes, an N for no, or a P for perhaps. Some of the
most commonly seen symbols in the sand include:

Large circle: Misfortune.

Small circle: News, especially pertaining to work.

Triangle: Success.

Square: Obstacles.

A Long Line: A Journey.

A Short Line: A Visitor.

A Heart: Love, relationships, and frienships.

Broken or uneven heart: Partings.

A Flower: Beginnings.

An X: Love.

If other symbols appear, interpret them with your question in mind.