• Some people use the I Ching, others find a tarot deck they like. Still others meditate and wait for answers to appear in the form of visions or words, gut feelings or a twinge in their bodies. So what method is going to help you the most? I find a combination works best so I don”t get stuck into one way of thinking. This gives me a diverse set of advisors.
  • Because it uses your visual sense, tarot may be the easiest, most direct way to tap into spiritual information. It”s not easy to see pictures in your head, to interpret a feeling in your body or just to trust a hunch. That’s because it’s difficult to separate psychic insight from all the noise in your head. When you stare at a tarot card, however, you have before you an image that is easy to just see. You then only have to allow yourself to conjure a story from that picture, or look up the meaning in a book and the right answers always come to you.
  •  Tea leaves, coffee grounds, and other Rorschach inkblot-type free association tools also use our visual senses to access spiritual information.  With tea leaves, you gaze at an abstract design and allow images to emerge in your mind.
  • While the tea leaf method has been used for centuries, I prefer the added help that the tarot provides because of its archetypes and symbols. The cards are a book of stories of wisdom accumulated over thousands of years. The Trump cards, for example, represent a mythical journey of the human psyche, i.e., the fool”s journey, depicted in archetypes of experience. So when I read the cards, I’m getting advice on my specific question laced with ancient wisdom.
  • When I’m reading for myself and I’m feeling particularly vulnerable, however, Tarot’s powerful imagery can sometimes trigger my fears. At these moments, it’s better to allow someone to read for me, or, if I insist on reading for myself, I turn to books of wisdom, which I open at random. The I-Ching and the Tao te Ching give great advice. A good book of poetry opened at random also works. I like Mary Oliver. Then there is the simple practice of taking a deep breathe and tuning into my own inner wisdom. That is the best divination tool of all.
  • What works best for you? Let us know by leaving a comment.