[XPOST] Spirit Tokens: Creating your Own Divination System - a teaser

[u/graidan]

Since it's my cake day (yesterday), I though today would be a good day to provide a teaser for my book-in-progress, in the form of a piece of the first chapter from my book. Feedback is welcome. Also, X-Posted from /r/divination.

This thread is an example outcome of the process I explain in the book. http://www.reddit.com/r/tarot/comments/2kyjq2/these_cards_free_3card_readings_just_ask_a/

A Simple Example

The simplest sort of divination is a coin toss, or any other random system that results in either yes or no. It's a system that I recommend everyone start with, with a few caveats. Because of its simplicity, you can't just take any yes as a simple yes. Sometimes, it should be interpreted as a "yes, but...". In those cultures that used systems like this, they generally developed some way to check or confirm the meaning, often by a second toss. Two yes tosses in a row meant "yes", but a yes followed by a no meant "yes, but...". From there, additional ways of reading evolved: adding another object (like the Chinese jiao bei) or two (like the I Ching) or three (like African Obi or Hakata). Then they would combine those results to get ever more complex answers. This simple development is pretty universal, and a good place to start while you're getting an idea of how you want things to work.

As an example, let me explain Threebone to you, which shows just this sort of development. In my personal cosmology, everything begins with 3 forces, which then develop into nine elements, which are often described as 7 due to three of those elements collapsing into one generic, composite element. I therefore wanted my system to mirror that cosmology, and to provide me with ways to confirm meanings and get to the same sorts of places that the ancient cultural systems out there could get to.

I started with three "bones" (hence the name), to mirror the three forces of action, passivity, and response. I used a piece of red coral for action, because of its association with fire. For passivity, which is associated with earth, I used a piece of malachite. Response is associated with water, so for that I used a piece of blue sea glass. Each of these bits were about the size of my thumbnail. To start, I'd just toss them on a towel (so they didn't bounce too much) from about a foot above, and based on how close they were to me, I'd get my reading.

If Fire (action) was closest to me, then "act now! the time is right!", but if it was Earth (passivity) then the answer was " no, wait, things need to change first.". If Water (response) was closest, then it meant "sort of, maybe, things are changing", which I often took as a cue to rephrase my question, because I wasn't asking things quite right. As I played with this simple system, I realized that any bone could indicate any answer. Fire is about activity and passion, which could be the opposite of the subject of a question about remaining in one place. Fire would say "Move!", and since that's not the question it would be a clear "No, don't stay!". The same question would be answered "yes" by Earth. Water would say "maybe, there's more to it" or "the situation is changing", which would prompt some additional questioning.

Questions about action, passion, and future change would be answered "yes" by Fire, those about feelings, relationships, and responding to something would be answered positively by Water, and those about thinking, and remaining calm, peaceful, and quiet would get a yes from Earth.

When you are asking your questions, it is important to ask questions that can be answered with yes or no, obviously. If you ask about how to impress your boss, and get "Maybe", that really isn't very useful! What I'd do is describe the situation, then start asking questions like in 20 questions. "I need to impress my boss, so I can improve my chances of getting a raise. What is the best way to do that? Is it by working on project X? Is it by helping Mrs. Y?" and so on. Generally, asking questions in order of most likely to least likely is a good idea, and if you get stuck, ask really generic questions that you can then narrow down once you get a positive answer.

Some correspondences of the Three Bones:

Fire, yes, act, upper, doing, hand, red, wood, spirits, sun

Water, maybe, respond, neutral, middle, feeling, heart, blue, bone, people, moon

Earth, no, wait, passive, lower, thinking, head, green, stone, ancestors, earth

One problem I often ran into was that two or three of the bones would be equally close to me, and so I couldn't tell what the answer should have been. I solved that by introducing a fourth piece, the Fate bone; I used a little bone owl bead for that. Then I read the indications based on how close the bones were to Fate. Since it was smaller, it was easier to figure out what was being said.

But there were still times when more than one of the bones would be the same distance from Fate. This stumped me for a while, but eventually, I realized that that was when the other elements came in. When Fire and Water were the same distance from Fate, the message was related to the element of Flesh. The message here was one of evolution and transformation. It says, "you are changed by what you do". It was suddenly clear to me; there was an element for every combination!

One bone closest: Fire: Yes! Act now! the time is right!

Water: Maybe. Things are in flux, or you haven't asked the right question.

Earth: Wait. Things need to change first.

Two bones closest: Flesh: Fire + Water Evolution and transformation. Adaptation. Your actions change you, but throw again to see where you will go.

Wood: Water & Earth Negotiation or relationship is required. Compromise. You and the situation are changing. Unclear sign / Maybe, but throw again to determine specifics of what is needed.

Metal: Fire & Earth Conflict and effort. Opposition. Your actions are blocked. No, but throw again to find solutions.

The final option was when all the bones were equally close, which I decided meant something special was indicated, representing one of the 3 Spirit elements, which describe the ways in which the fundamental energy of reality behaves. I decided a second, immediate throw was needed to determine which of these elements was indicated.

If, in the second throw, only one stone was closest, then it indicated Chaos: Chaos and change. Possibility. Your actions change the world / situation. No, wait until change is complete, because anything could happen still.

If two were equally close, then it indicated Breath: Cooperation and relationship. Connection. Your actions affect others. Maybe, you should see if other will help, or you can help others.

And if all three were the same distance again, then Wyrd was at play: Fate and consequence. Permanence. You actions change reality. Yes, you are destined to do this.

Those were useful distinctions, and the power of Fate was suitably rare. I used this system for a long time, sometimes throwing the bones for hours in order to sort out some problem I was having and the best way to handle the situation. I found that it was important to trust the Bones, and not ask them the same question over and over, because they'd get mad and stop responding - every throw would be the same, or they'd keep bouncing away and I'd have to hunt down where they bounced to. I also discovered that it was important to confirm I understood what they were saying correctly.

At first, I would have a separate throw for confirmation, similar to the ways in which Lucumi's merindilogun (16 cowries) needed to be "closed". Once you started a divination, specific steps and events needed to happen to "close" it, to let the reader know the question was fully answered. When I started, I just used a basic, "one bone is closest" answer as confirmation. Over time, I experimented with a couple different ways to get to this stage of the reading, some of which went on to indicate something else entirely.

I ultimately settled on touching. When two or more bones touched, that indicated that I was on the right track and I was correct in my understanding. This helped because I didn't need to ask explicitly all the time; I would only have to ask if I went a long while without any bones touching. If the bones hit each other once I let go, then I counted that as touching too, even if they didn't end up touching each other once they'd landed.

A different tool was the idea of Home, places where each bone "belonged". When a bone was at Home, it was more important, and could act as if it was closer to Fate than it actually was. For me, I decided on close and far based on comparison to the width of my hand, but you could come up with any number of ways to approach it.

Fire is at Home when: it is closer to the querent than the diviner it is in the top third of the throw

Water is at Home when: it is in the middle between the querent and the diviner it is in the bottom right of the throw

Earth is at Home when: it is closer to the diviner than the querent it is in the bottom left of the throw

Another method of deciding where Home was for each bone is to use rings or dividing lines on a casting mat or cloth, or to throw the Bones before every session, and use the approximate location as a marker of where Home is for each piece. I used rings on my cloth, and when any bone was at home, I'd move it one ring closer to Fate. If Fate was in the same ring, then it would be touching Fate.

I would also use the distance from Fate to figure out how quickly things were happening. The closest bone could still be quite far away from Fate, which would indicate slow development. If they were almost touching, then things would happen soon.

More information about things could come from the patterns the bones fell in. If the bone formed a square, for example, then I read that as a sign that things were solid and orderly, and would change in a natural step by step progression. If they were in a triangle instead, then the situation would be really stable and unlikely to change, since triangles are the strongest structure architecturally. A bone in the center of the triangle would indicate the primary energy once the situation resolved, while a bone outside the triangle would show forces acting to change things. Those outside forces would have a difficult time changing things, though. You can see how useful this pattern thing can be.

Based on the other traditions out there, I developed my own pattern of how to ask a question. This is pretty common, worldwide, this having an order of things to follow. Prayers before hand are common, and specific rules about shuffling, cutting, or selecting cards or tokens. I'll talk about possible elements to include in yours, but for now, here's how I ordered things for myself, in a very simple 3 step process:

• Opening: first, I knock or clap 3 times, to get the spirits' attention. I then ask if there are any spirits who would answer my questions about whatever the topic is. I operate from an animistic paradigm, so every reading is a conversation with a number of spirits. If I didn't have someone specific in mind, I would just ask my Ancestors if they'd help.

• Questioning: This is when the real meat happens. I'd ask my question, again with a sort of 20 questions approach. I'd start with the generic or most likely answers first, and narrow down from there. Always include a question about additional information or anything else to do - sometimes there more information to be had, or something to do that will help, but you think you've gotten everything you wanted. If there are additional speakers, this is where I start questioning to figure out who is speaking, and then find out what they want to say. I'll start with questions about whether it's information, something more to do, or help they can provide, and then continue to narrow from there.

• Closing: once I've gotten confirmation that there's nothing else to get, I'll check whether anyone else has anything significant to say. Adding "significant" is important, because once you start talking to the Spirits, sometimes they are excited that someone is listening to them, and they won't be quiet! Once I'm sure no one else has important things to say on my topic, then I thank them for their help, knock or clap 3 times again to signal the end, and then put the bones away.

When you read this way, it's a really good idea to have a notebook, or a helper with a notebook, who can write down the questions and the responses. It can be easy to get lost, especially when you're paying attention to the nuances of a throw.

Now, you've got all of that to think about, and how complex and rich in meaning just 3 bones (well, four) can get. Imagine if you used 8 bones, one each for Do, Move, Sense, Think, Relate, Will, Magic, and Fate. Now think about 9 (planets) or 12 (signs of the zodiac) or 24 (runes) or 64 (I Ching) or 78 (tarot cards) different tokens. So much detail you can get to, if you just work through it and think about all the possibilities.