In the dense muggle-ruled concrete jungle of the internet lies a winding road into the realms of the unseen. Here, the mercury retrograde is responsible for your quarter-life crisis and the lines on your palm reveal your destiny. As woo-woo as it may sound, the intangible aspects of the universe are attracting Gen-Z and millennials alike. Soul influencers are overtaking fashion influencers on social media, and shamans, witches and mystics are the new sought-after guides. The art of divination is emerging as a source of comfort in these unprecedented times.
More than just a way to read the signs and predict the future, divination is also a potent tool for self-realisation. It can help you tune into the wisdom of your subconscious mind and bring answers to the surface—answers that are already within you, lying veiled. Whether you’ve always dreamt of becoming the rebellious tarot card-reading witch aunt of the family or are simply just curious, divination can be practised by anyone. Trust your gut feeling and let intuition be your guide. Tarot aside, here are other forms of divination for you:
1. Tasseography
The practice of tasseography involves reading symbols formed by tea leaves. The process is pretty straightforward—put some loose leaf tea in a wide teacup and add hot water to it and let it steep for a few minutes. As you drink your warm beverage, ponder over the question for which you’re seeking guidance. When there’s just about a tablespoon of liquid left, swirl your cup three times using your non-dominant hand and turn it over onto a napkin or saucer for the remaining liquid to drain out. After a minute or two, turn your cup over and begin to decipher the symbols. Whatever immediately comes to your mind when you see a shape is what your intuition wants you to know. When it comes to timelines, the tea leaves near the rim of the cup represent the immediate future or the present, the middle shows the near future and the bottom represents the distant future.
2. Pendulums
Once used to locate underground water and metals, pendulum divination is one of the easiest ways to get a direct Yes/ No answer to your questions. A pendulum is basically a stone, metal or crystal pendant attached to a chain. Holding it in front of you, begin the practice by asking the pendulum what the movement for ‘yes’ and the movement for ‘no’ looks like. Observe how it swings in response to both these questions. You can then go ahead and ask your Yes/No questions to the pendulum and receive instant answers. Now isn’t that easy!
3. Rune Casting
A set of 24 ancient alphabetic symbols, rune stones are similar in their approach to tarot cards. They are used not to get exact answers but to gain further insight into a situation and foresee the possible outcomes. Like every card in the tarot, each rune symbol has a meaning too that you can look up on the internet. The most common method to cast your runes is ‘The Three Norns Method’. Put your runes in a small pouch and shake them while keeping your question in mind. Once you’re ready, draw 3 runes one by one, and lay them out in front of you in a horizontal line, from left to right. The symbol on the left represents the past and how it affects the future, the middle rune shows the present, and the right stone represents the future outcome.
4. Daily Divination
There are multiple other traditional forms of divination that you can try, however, if you’re looking for something that you can easily incorporate into your everyday life, this is for you:
1. Have trouble making a decision? Flip a coin, let the universe decide for you.
2. Need some cosmic guidance ASAP? Pick up a book that’s calling out to you, turn to a random page and read out the lines that catch your eye—that’s your answer.
3. Put your music on shuffle mode and listen carefully to the lyrics of the songs that come up; there might just be a hidden message for you!
