Tarot Cards
Tarot Cards are most likely one of the most well-known divination tools and extremely popular for the budding psychics of the modern age. They began as a card game in medieval Europe, particularly in France. However, during the eighteenth century, these cards transitioned into a way to foretell the future to those skilled enough to know the meaning written in the cards. While they seem complicated at first, any beginner's deck generally comes with a small book for a basic introduction. These pamphlets will not only tell you the methods to arrange the cards while asking a question but will also tell you the meaning of each card, which is of vital importance when learning how to use the cards for predicting the future. Many decks have been developed since tarot has been used for divination. Until you know how to properly use the cards, you might want to stay with a standard or simplified deck that is composed of the traditional seventy-eight cards.
I Ching Divining Coins
I Ching Divination is a very old method for predicting the future. It first arose in China as a way for the sages of ancient China to provide divinely informed consultation to the wealthy and nobles. The earliest evidence of this practice comes from roughly 2700BC. The fact that it has survived this long gives credit to its usefulness in seeing into the time yet to come. There are actually two tools for two different I Ching methods—the yarrow sticks or stalks method and coins. Coins were generally only used by the wealthy during the early years of this technique because they had access to the money. However, coins are considered to be far easier to use than yarrow sticks since it requires less tediousness. This I Ching coin method still takes time as you compose a hexagram using the numbers accumulated from the tossing of your coins—heads indicating yang for three points and tails for yin for two points.
Runes
Runes began as a writing system for Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet. However, early evidence suggests that they were utilized for reasons of magic in addition to their practical writing uses—particularly in medieval times when “victory runes” were carved into swords either in the blade or hilt. Runes are relatively new to the uses of divination magic though, having only been used this way since the beginning of the twentieth century. The runes are printed, drawn, or engraved individually onto tiles. Wood is the preferred medium of the tiles since it comes from the living spirits of trees. The runes are then drawn from a pouch and laid out to resemble the technique of tarot or tossed into the air and allowed to freely land like I Ching coins. Most people prefer to make their own rune set as it leads to more accurate results.
Spirit Boards
Spirit boards, also known as Ouija or talking boards, have been seen in numerous cultures over the ages—including 1100BC in China and 540BC in Greece. Even though it has these historic starts, the late nineteenth century and the whole of the twentieth century tried to turn it into a toy to be used by children at slumber parties. However, the rise in the legitimate uses of a spirit board to seek out unknown answers and predictions on the future have been taking place recently. The board itself consists of a standard alphabet and the numbers zero through nine with several boards including several quick phrases such as “yes,” “no,” and “farewell.” A user simply has to have one of these boards and its accompanying planchette to communicate with beings of the spirit world. However, inexperienced users need to be advised that possession has been known to occur by drawing in evil spirits. Beware.
Crystal Balls
A psychic hovering over a crystal ball in a dimly lit room is one of the most common visions a person thinks about when considering how to see into the future. The use of crystals in divination can be seen as far back in time as the Druids of early Britain. Crystal balls themselves are popular as the crystal part of them is considered to heighten an individual's psychic awareness while the ball allows for an easy way to look for answers without having to learn complicated methods or techniques. For someone just beginning to learn the art of divination or scrying, which is when images given are interpreted for meaningful information, crystal balls are quite useful. It is best to pick out a crystal ball in person though as opposed to over the internet as a crystal is a very personal object. Some people prefer crystals without any imperfections for sterility while others think no coloring or clouding means it is lifeless. If picking up a particular crystal does not feel significant in your heart or spirit, it is probably not the right one for you. Meditation while holding your crystal ball in a calm, quiet setting before looking for images is absolutely necessary if you want real information as opposed to nothing or useless pictures.
Scrying Mirrors
Scrying is basically just a word to describe seeing psychically for divination purposes. One does this through many possible mediums. Scrying mirrors are very common ways to receive images this way. The key is that the surface one looks into is flat, meaning a completely flat mirror instead of a curved ball so that the images are direct instead of skewed. This divination practice is one of the most widely accepted, spanning time, geography, and beliefs. To this day people still practice such rituals as looking into a mirror in a dark room on Halloween to see the face of a future spouse. Having your own special mirror to use for scrying though will purify the act into being something that you can practice daily with this object and this object alone as opposed to using it to brush your teeth and tell the future.
Pendulums
While most people think pendulums are simply used to moderate the seconds in a grandfather clock, the act of using a weight suspended at the end of a chain to point out simple answers on a flat mat or piece of paper has been around for much longer. Many times the end of the chain is connected to some type of hook or handle to keep a person's subconscious from influencing the answer pointed to by the pendant, crystal, or simple weight located at the opposite end of the chain that hovers over what most refer to as a pendulum circle—a circle with yes, no, and maybe written around its edges. Pendulums are best with specific questions since their answers are so simple. Before using the pendulum each time though you must purify it. Dipping your weight of choice in salt water or wafting the smoke of burning sage all around your pendulum are the two most preferred methods of purification.
Tea Cups
The act of drinking a cup of un-strained tea then reading symbols, shapes, or images shown in the remaining dregs is a widely known practice of divination. Some people even like to use coffee grounds or wine sediment for the same techniques. A simple tea cup and tea leaves rather than modern bags can provide a person a way to divine the future without any big frills or difficult techniques. However, sometimes the images can be representative of symbols—meaning that if you read your own cup a working knowledge of standard symbolism (like a mountain for a hindered journey or a snake for falsehood) is very helpful. Also, specialized fortune teller cups have been created that have interior images in the cup to help with the divining with tea leaves. The most three common types of these specialized cups are playing card cups, zodiac cups, and individualized symbol cups.
Dowsing Rods
Dowsing rods are used for a specific type of divination—finding things or places—more so than forecasting the future or seeing future events. The most common types of dowsing rods are used to find metal or ore deposits, gemstones, oil, ground water, or even grave sites. A dowsing rod itself is a L-shaped or Y-shaped twig or rod. The most common is a Y-shaped branch plucked fresh from special trees such as hazel, witch-hazel, or willow. This rod is this held by the user who walks around a target area, awaiting a dip, incline, or twitch in the branch when the item for which the person is searching is just beneath them.
Lithomancy Gemstones
Lithomancy, the way to see the future by analyzing the way a specific set of stones or gemstones arranges themselves when dropped, is one of the oldest forms of divination. Countless cultures throughout history have been known to use it. It is so ancient that its definite origins have been lost to time, leaving historians clueless as to how it began, how the original technique was conducted, or how it evolved into the many methods we see today. Numerous ways to perform and interpret lithomancy exist, but they all need specific stones just for the act. Traditional sets in the most popular way include thirteen stones with six for major topics asked about by diviners (new, luck, magic, health, life, love) and seven for the primary signs of ancient astrology (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn). Newer sets like to include extra stones for the rest of the planets in our solar system.
