Randomness

In the following tutorials, we will cover several tools which extend the medium's abilities, and how and why they do so. Recommended :: opening the inner eye

Divination allows us to obtain information or guidance from higher consciousness. Through this method, we can safely and effectively converse with God, our higher self, angels and guides, or other entities of our choice. It is a skill available to all, and can be performed in many different ways. Higher selves of other beings can also be contacted this way, such entities express love and are often available for guidance, it is part of their purpose. The main "ingredient" of divination is randomness.

On divination artifacts

It doesn't matter which vector is used to support divination, it only is a vector. The more randomness to the act, the more room for spirits to manifest by changing the outcome. The more creativity to the act, the more space for talent to ascertain precise information. Divination was used millenniums ago, for example to elaborate a therapeutic system acknowledged by the World Health Organization, acupuncture.

The basic idea here is : divination always is a creative act. Even better : it always is a co-creative act. In many forms, it consists of using an entity (such as God, or Universe, or higher self, etc.) as a relay, asking that particular spirit/consciousness to perform investigations and return feedback to us. Simply try this : think about a person you love, open up your inner eye (silence your mind), and draw something. You will probably get results, symbols, locations, elements tied to the person you were thinking about.

On randomness and the divine

Strangely, it is through maths that I observed the magick of Tarot. I got started using it because of my tantra mentor. He was fond of it and I wanted to check it too in order to gather archeological/historical data. But there was another reason. I've always wondered about randomness, does it truly exist, or is everything causal? Tarot was a great tool to explore that. It allowed me to test how many times the advice I received would be coherent, helpful. And it allowed me to question whether everything was causes leading to effects, or if our reality was more flexible than a domino play.

As It turns out the answer is : "both".

Statistically, from the perspective of maths and information science, randomness is too complex a phenomenon to be summed up. The part of interest to us here is that - truly random events are extremely rare. It is difficult to create a system to generate random number sequences. Science as we know it exists on the premise that most events are possible to control or comprehend, after all.

Then, we may ask, is there even a single event, in nature, which clearly exposes absolute randomness? The answer is yes - there are events we cannot predict, at quantum level. But the exact opposite also exists : natural sequences supposed to display a certain degree of randomness, which violate laws of statistics and demonstrate an unexpected order within an otherwise "chaotic" system. And with this, science confirms another ancient mystical truth : "chaos" or randomness contains creative potential, and a hidden order within itself.

And I found out that Tarot, typically, does not follow the statistical maths of randomness. It does not give a damn, as opposed to poker for example, about how many times it is "allowed" to feed you an answer repeatedly. Tarot delivers mostly based on who is asking, and how they are asking.

Unlike automats, slot machines, unlike gambling or gaming devices, tarot gives accurate answers consistently - you may ask the same question 100 times, and 80 percent of the time the result will be the same guidelines, same feedback, same cards. One has to test this in order to completely verify it for themselves (due to the amount of data to collect), and Princeton University is currently investigating the phenomenon of consciousness influencing randomness with the "Global Consciousness Project". Clearly, science now wonders if there is a consciousness behind randomness, divination will show you there is - there are many, even.

The Creative Process

So why do Tarot and divination work?

Tarot works because there are causes and effects, this is true. Basing the following on what we said about randomness and causality, the fundamental causes are : attention and intention. Focusing on an outcome and working actively toward that outcome. ...But the whole range of what, from our perspective, looks like "true randomness" - is not random.

It is also the result of attention and intention, and therefore, the effect of causes. And although these causes impact the physical world, the attention and intention given to them often does not come from physical "sources".

Randomness as we know it is the space where the consciousness of divine guides, angels, and other beings manifests to the physical world. It is where their observation can bend the quantum collapse of an event and make the future happen, with our help. It is where the "possible" is filtered to result in something tangible.

So when talking to those spirits, in this case with divination, the more randomness produced, the more room they have to co-create an interesting discussion. Then there is another major "component" of divination, other than understanding randomness, I call it the "creative process".

The Creative Process : art is divination

Any and all artworks contain, to a degree, transcendental truth corresponding to how they've been "impregnated" and marked by the creator's spirit and energy. Simply think about : "Jules Verne" or "Da Vinci", for example. This is also true of many other works, be it movies, paintings, comics, novels, music... The spectrum is broad, and all these may act as divination artifacts or devices - think about the way your favorite song touches your soul, or how a given movie changed the way you see the world. When art touches us, it becomes a doorway to the divine. And our own works of art, in any medium, offer us another opportunity to tap into transcendental truth and awareness.

Creating is part of unconditional love. Anytime we perform a creative act, it is an act of Love to the creation - the universe acknowledges it as a tribute. If we perform it with an empty mind (see - The Inner Eye) we invariably align all our levels of existence. Tantra and Buddhism believe that we always exist on all levels at once, from Buddha-form to physical form - and that an empty mind aligns all levels of consciousness. Other mystical schools share this belief. Thus, full abandonment to artistic creation (or ANY form of creation), when it comes from the heart, is a form of channeling, and recovers information from higher levels of existence. And not only this : drawing upon such resources from our inner world allows us to co-create our outer world, in partnership with the divine. And pulling Tarots to create a new layout is.. guess what? Tapping into the creative process.

Tarot

This tutotrial will explore the Tarot and related divination methods in greater detail. If you have not already read the Divination : Overview tutorial, please do so first. 

History and role of Tarot

But, where exactly does Tarot fit into that act of emptying one's mind and allowing, this way, a flow of information from a higher source to a given media? Well, they favor doing just this, Tarots are "helpers" coming from a long legacy of mystics, among which were the "Hermetic orders". One of the most influential of these orders was the "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn", inventors of the classic Rider-Waite tarot deck.

Basing their researches on some of the most ancient religious texts and traditions known at the time, Hermeticists preserved and explored knowledge from the early Jewish Kabbalah and refined it through, among other things, regular practice of astral travel for over a thousand years.

But more importantly, the Hermeticists, who survived over time as "secret societies" or disguised as religious Catholic orders, and who founded most of what is today wicca and occultism, are named after "Hermes Trismegistus". Hermes the "Thrice-Great", also known as Thoth, and the alleged author of the Emerald Tablets - a very particular document translated by many bright minds throughout history (all the way to Isaac Newton).

I rarely recommend artifacts, and this is particularly important with Tarot, because I believe they create a dependency. However, I often do use Tarot, with respect and care. For it is meant as a tool to assist in getting in touch with one's higher self, and not primarily a "see-through-time" tool.

It is not there to help you "battle destiny", as I will cover in the best practices section. While tarot can be used to divine near-future possibilities and potential outcomes, it is in actuality a tool for co-creation, reminding us that we play a large role in creating reality. It is meant as a handy, safe, and subtle tool to communicate with the spirit world, among other things - and primarily, with your higher self : it is intended to help you raise your consciousness, not "fight the future". And as we will see, this impacts both usage and accuracy of results.

Structure of the Tarot

Most decks contain 78 cards. Each card represents a state of reality or quality of being, and, in and of itself, is defined by a central concept, while containing a collection of associated wisdom and correspondences. Each card is also associated with a definition which elaborates upon the state it represents, and/or a description of its meaning and symbolism, which helps one to expand their consciousness as well as to derive guidance or practical solutions.

The deck is ususally split into two groups: the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. There are 22 Major Arcanas, representing the major transitions and emotions of life (death, catastrophe, hope, love...). For those with a knowledge of Kabbalah, each Major Arcana card represents a path between the Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. 

The Minor Arcana consists of 56 cards, divided into four Suits of 10, plus the associated Court Cards. Each suit is represented by an element and a "magickal weapon or tool" which symbolizes the power, qualities, and teachings of that element. The four suits are Wands (or Staves), Swords, Cups, and Pentacles (or Coins).

The court cards are represented by four archetypal figures - Page, Knight, Queen, King, or some variant thereof.  All of these Minor Arcana cards represent the elements in a particular state of manifestation.

Wands are Fire, Swords are Air, Cups are Water, and Pentacles are Earth. Kindly note that these terms refer here to spiritual concepts, not the immediate literal application of each word. Fire represents creation, passion, and divine inspiration; Air represents truth, mind, and intellect; Water represents purity, love, and compassion; Earth represents power and material manifestation.  

Tarot, in essence, is closely tied to personal evolution and transformation. There is a story, sometimes called the Fool's Journey, which relates the journey of the individual through each Major Arcana card in a successive progression. Each of these cards is numbered (thereby containing numerological significance as well), and represents the major "events" or rather, "states" of life (hope, death, transformation, catastrophe, etc.), and that story, also, is a very important metaphor of the spiritual progression of an individual. *Follow the fool's journey and find yourself contemplating the same world, with new eyes.*

Each tarot deck comes with its own specific book or booklet, which provides the texts, meanings, and symbolism corresponding to each card. Hermeticists wrote many of these texts and correspondences with the aid of Kabbalistic analysis, as well as through an astral travel technique known as Pathworking. They would explore the astral worlds and realms that corresponded to each card, and interacted with specific entities and energies that were associated with these parts of the universe, thereby deriving information and inspiration for the development and in-depth understanding of the Tarot. As a result of these inherent correspondences, when the deck is selected randomly, as is possible on http://www.facade.com, and certain entities are addressed by name, they will express their preference for the deck that best suits the expression of their personality.

How to use Tarot

First, there are two modes with which to draw cards : with or without reversals.  The former is accomplished by splitting the deck in half and then flipping one half of the deck, so that some cards come up reversed, which changes their meaning. Often to the opposite meaning, but not always. This is the procedure one shoudl follow :

1) Form the question in your head

2) Open the inner eye

3) Create randomness by mixing and shuffling

4) Lay the cards flat before you and pull out the ones which call to you, or feel "warm" or "different";  or, alternatively, cut the deck in the place(s) in which it wants to naturally divide, using the first card(s) that is uncovered by the cut.

5) Arrange the cards, in order, in a selected, predefined layout.

Different layouts serve communication and reveal information about different situations. For example, relationships, closed questions (yes/no), past, present, and near-future... Again, these can be tested using some decks at : http://www.facade.com

Additional tips

• When no entity is specifically addressed (God, Horus, the flying spaghetti monster...) it's first come, first serve. Generally, good entities, but not always. As such, addressing a specific entity of your choice within your query is highly recommended.
• Tarot can be used to communicate with any spirit entity, including one's higher self or other person's higher selves. Or other living beings' higher selves.
• Always be polite. Often times, if I am using Facade, I just say *Thank you*. They reply with a useful tip.
• When beginning, always try to ask for clarifications when a riddle is too hard.
• The more aware you are, the more complex the riddles get.
• Reading the cards itself is a learning experience.
• If you try to live too much in the future, Tarot will insist on bringing you back to the now

And probably the most important one : Tarot gives only a snapshot of what is likely to happen and how likely it is, given the present conditions... NOT an absolute truth or revelation set in stone, and only with 80% accuracy in my case - eight times out of ten when I pull them, the answer is usable, the rest is gibberish. (Higher accuracies may be possible through exploring the vast array of Kabbalistic and magickal correspondences which each card holds - the more you know about each card, the deeper and more complex the information it can speak to you). As always, remember that Tarot offers us an opportunity to co-create reality in partnership with the divine, to shape a future of beauty in accordance with the will of your Higher Self. The best answers come from truly listening to your heart, but Tarot can definitely be a great asset and is also beautiful and colorful. An art in and of itself.

Final word

Many other divination means exist, including, but not limited to : iPod random function (it gives me songs as advices of sorts, which fit a context) or any other media player set to random, such as Winamp; painting, music, I Ching (a classic Chinese text and divination system similar to Tarot); bibliomancy (randomly selected passages from sacred texts such as the Bible); Oracle (such as conventional playing cards used like Tarot), runes, and many others.... Some are usable in virtual form at Facade, and Facade is just as reliable as a real deck. It is US who create the divination act, never the support you use, so find what suits you best among all these possibilities. 

A last note about contacting some divine guides : A couple of them, like Maat or Thoth, should not be contacted directly - ever. They will let you know if you try, but to contact those, you should ask Anubis first, who bridges the worlds of matter and spirit, and will gladly assist you in contacting them if required.