Make Your Own Divination System

I have discovered that the universe will talk to us in any language we understand. All you have to do is define your language. It can be as complex or as simple as you like. The important point is to make it meaningful to you.

I've used Tarot cards, runes, I Ching (coins and sticks), Ouija, astrology, the flight of birds, ordinary playing cards, random signs, crystals, and the pendulum. I've consulted mediums and gone on Shamanic journeys. Except for the crystals and the pendulum, they all worked for me.

Probably the best example of variable meanings is Tarot cards. Over the years, I've used three decks: Rider Waite, Motherpeace, and Circle of Life (which is the one I use now). I learned a lot about the meanings of the decks. And you should. Deck creators have specific symbols and meanings in mind when they make the decks. Also, you should study the cards to get clear on what the images mean to you. As my understanding or interpretation of a Tarot card changed, so did the answers I received.

There's a great book for delving into your personal meaning of the cards: The Heart of Tarot a book by Amber and Azrael Arynn K. For plunging into historical symbol construction try The Ancient Tarot and Its Symbolism by David LeMieux. There's an online class offered through DailyOm, Create Art for Your Soul, that guides you in constructing your own cards from contemporary images.

Symbols
Choose symbols that mean something for you: stones, cards, pictures, sounds, odors, the direction of the wind, etc. Important to get in touch with your intention. When you develop this language for the universe, you need to be clear on what the symbols intend. Think of Lyra and the Aleithiometer. One symbol, a bee, can stand for industry, community, communication, food, etc. Don't lock down your symbols. Leave a little fudge factor because language is imprecise.

Yes/No
A simpler system is yes/no or heads/tails. You could use coins, sticks, or beads. Those prayer beads commonly used by Buddhists are divination devices as well consulted by shaking, random grabbing, and counting down (an odd number remaining means "no" and an even number means "yes"). Yes/No divination is what the I Ching is based on (yin and yang lines). You can do Yes/No with the Tarot by pulling three cards at random and letting the appearance of a Court Card mean "Yes." No court cards means "No." And there's the old standard flip-a-coin: heads=yes, tails=no.

Get Answers
Once you have your system, find a way to let the symbols come to you randomly. This opens your system to the universe so it can use your language. A caveat about answers: they are not final or inevitable. You always have choice. Think of your answers as warnings, advice, hints, or possibilities. Use the knowledge wisely. Don't over ask or ask the same question repeatedly. The universe may give you garble out of frustration. And don't ask a question to get a particular answer. Keep your mind open to possibilities. As a friend once said to me, "Sometimes the answer is neither A nor B but Q."

Following a Pattern

Back on the left. Sleeve on the right.

I can't believe I have knitted the back and one sleeve of a sweater. I usually struggle to finish caps and scarves. I've fallen into crochet and knitting the way I fell into spending days with my grandchildren and making day trips to Yogaville. It's the only path open to me.

Sure, there are other things I can do and have done. I still have novels, poetry, blogs, landscapes, and other art. Somehow, none of those activities are as compelling. Handcrafts seems more important to do right now. Like spending time with my grandchildren was important. The way falling into a variety of spiritual experiences was important.

Like knitting and crocheting, tending children and practicing spirituality are crafts that accrue through small accomplishments over time. The relationships builds as does the practice. Slowly accruing anything has been near impossible for me.

Jumping to conclusions, seeing the big picture, dreaming, visioning—all of these are easy for me. I can see things coming a mile away. Or even further.

I'm enjoying looking closely and seeing what is right in front of me; taking it one step at a time.

So, anyway, I have two parts of a sweater now. I've been helped along the path to steady accruing by the Lion Brand Knit Along which I followed on Ravelry. Thanks to the Lion Brand instructor (who offered a lot of excellent tips) and all of the other participants (who offered a lot of great photos of their progress and more great tips), I actually finished a vest that fits. I got the correct gauge and only made one serious mistake: a dropped stitch on the back and I was able to fix that.

I don't know where crocheting and knitting will take me. It simply seems important to do right now.

One Mystical Boat

In her book, The Wisdom of No Escape, Pema Chodron writes about sticking with one boat, going deep along one path instead of shopping religions every time you come up against pain. During one of my recent stays at Yogaville, I had a consultation with Mataji (Swami Gurucharanananda) who advised me that “sampling here and there is not a path.”

My first path was Catholic. I had nothing to do with that. I was born Catholic and followed that path for 18 years until one day I looked at the genuflecting congregation and saw that they were just following a routine. There was no spirituality involved.* They had this memorized routine for mass: words they said, sitting, standing, kneeling. None of it was spiritual. I could see right through them. That was when I decided to go on a spiritual quest.

I began my quest by partying because I was a freshman in college and that’s what freshman do. After a couple of deathly experiences, I began investigating the Mormon church because my best friend and everyone we knew were doing that. So, I “investigated” and “prayed about it” and “received a testimony” that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the one true church.

I transferred to Brigham Young University. I met a man and got married in the temple and brought my children up in the convenant. I was a Mormon for 18 years. And then one day it hit me that there was no spirituality in my path and I left that church.

For years I wandered with no path until I met a group who had decided to make up their own religion. So I did, too. I created my own goddess. From there I began investigating the basic and ancient religions, and acquiring gods and goddesses. After 12 years of snatching the best bits from other religions, I finally wanted to know what I really believed. I took the famous Belief-O-Matic quiz and learned that I was first of all Neo-Pagan, second New Age, third a Liberal Quaker, and fourth Unitarian Universalist (UU).

I had heard murmurings of Neo-Paganism in the various online discussion groups over the years but figured that real pagans were hard to find——what with the Inquisition and all. I felt I had a grasp on New Age and wasn’t interested in Liberal Quakers because sitting around not talking didn’t seem like a good way to investigate spirituality.** There was a UU church I drove by frequently and that seemed a convenient place to start.

In the Sunday services I found the first spiritual lectures I could relate to. The minister spoke from experience with facts and research. It was a thoughtful approach with nuggets of wisdom that catalyzed my quest. I joined the local UU congregation and plunged into a plethora of small groups investigating various spiritual paths i.e., Taoism, Buddhism, Humanism, and Yoga.

This led me into the wider community where I joined a local Buddhist group, a local pagan church, and a Shamanistic journeying group. This has been my path for five years: investigating and living various paths in an earnest effort to walk my own personal path. Which is what led me to Pema Chodron and Sri Swami Satchidananda. UU reorganized and focused my spiritual quest.

I am in one boat. A boat of my own device. A boat that lets me investigate creeks and rivers, canals and oceans. With it I’ve discovered there is only one path: the path to my own true nature. This is what Buddha, Jesus, Patanjali, Guru Nanak, and Mohammed were all talking about. True spirituality is the path to one’s true nature. The one and only boat. Or in Yogaville parlance: Many Paths. One Truth.

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*As part of my investigations through my UU membership, I have reclaimed the parts of Catholicism that are good and precious to me.

**It’s ironic about my aversion to Quaker silence because that’s a big part of my practice now: meditation. Sitting around quietly, breathing and noticing. Also, the Richmond Quakers sponsor the Dances of Universal Peace. Shows what prejudice will keep you from.

About Those Flowers ...

I might be done. And done with the whole Make Something 365 thing. I did make a lot of things for a lot of days, including the years I did the daily Morning Pages which were quite liberating and which I recommend for everyone, whether you believe you're an artist/creative/writer or not. In fact, creating something unique and expressive that responds only to your rules is the best thing a person can do every day.

That and meditate. Or at least have some kind of spiritual practice.

Which makes it difficult to admit that I have done neither for two days now. I'm just sort of hanging out, writing a novel, watching shows and movies, and crocheting and knitting. The whole crocheting/knitting thing is sort of like making something everyday. And then when I'm done I'll have a thing: a scarf, a hoodie, a shawl, a pair of leg warmers. Kinda cool.

Dried gourds, photographed and enhanced.

Just thought you ought to know.

Temporarily Off Grid

There hasn't been a Flower-A-Day for five days, so far. I've been off-grid in Yogaville. And my phone died. If I had thought about making photos of the lovely flowering plants at the ashram, I couldn't have anyway. The Yogaville phone system was also offline and I didn't inquire about using the internet as I was totally offline myself, deep in spiritual experiences and in recovery from clearing out and leaving my home. I plan to post today's flower later and continue this fun and inspiring daily series.

Flower 46

Spirit Boat - 8

I have another long render going on. Didn't think it would be so long!

I'll probably do a lot of these ethereal washes. They appeal to me and they emphasize the spirit aspect. Luminosity is a kind of symbol for emanation.

Spirit Boat - 1

This is the beginning of a new 365 Make Something project (aka Morning Pages aka daily creative. Take your pick.) The new theme is Spirit Boat, taken from the old Viking idea of the spirits of the dead heading out on boats. Since the Vikings were all about the sea, most of their analogies involved sea-going vessels in one way or another.

I first become entranced with spirit boats in 1992 while researching artistic concepts for a typography class. I saw a photo of a Viking spirit boat sculpture while leafing through a magazine. There were little primitive figures in the boat to show the dead heading out to the spirit world. I was stunned by the concept of activating and manipulating the spiritual realm through the creation of a physical object. Don't ask me why the Egyptians didn't do this for me. They just didn't.

Seeing the boat sculpture, led me to look at just about any container as a mode for transporting spirit. The designed page (and art) had an intention that could be described as a carrier, or boat, and message expressed through color and form. I played around with what I remembered of plastic space seeing that as the expressive form of spirit.

While meditating today, I focused on the spiritual in my work, which has always been there in one way or another. Indeed, my process is based on inspiration which comes from the moment. To explore spiritual aspects more directly, I will be making at least one spirit boat each day. And I mean boat in the most abstract sense as a carrier or container for spirit(s).

Those of you interested in Viking ships, there's a museum in Denmark where you can learn to make and sail Viking ships.

Sketch from my notebook - 11/1992

0128 - Words and Art

you are the spirit. you are the life. i am that spirit. i am that life. without me there is no thought or life or reason. we are life. we are reason. we are the spirit. what a responsibility. (1998)

Anger and Boredom (2004)

Random Sky 4 (2004)

A visit with the moon

The moon and Jupiter.

Urban moon.

The moon and my red solar light.

Uban lights as fireworks.

The moon as sparkler.

Yes, that's my minister ..