Parting the Mists

Alright, this is a very appropriate card as we near Samhain, a time when the Veil is thin and divination techniques may yield stronger results than normal. It is also traditional to do some sort of divination at All Hallows. Apples feature in many of these customs; in fact, bobbing for apples was a marriage divination. The first person to bite an apple would be next to marry. Another old tradition had young women lighting a candle and peeling an apple while sitting before a mirror. While she peeled, her future spouse was said to appear in the mirror. Yet another apple peeling one was that if you could peel an apple in a long peel, you would have a long life. On the flip side, if you peeled in short pieces it did not bode well for your longevity.

Apples or not, I recommend giving a little time today for some intuitive work like divination.

Blessings!

Thistle

SCRYING – Intuition

Scrying is the divination technique of seeing unconscious images (or images from the divine or supernatural) appear upon or within a surface. People scry into a crystal ball, a black mirror, water, even the surface of ice. It is a very ancient technique and one traditionally enacted on Samhain (Halloween).

The keys to effective scrying are being as relaxed as possible, minimizing possible distractions, softening your gaze and allowing.The enemy of effective scrying is distraction, both from inside and out. Turn off the phone, electric lights anywhere you can see them, any music, and if you are scrying outdoors, take the time to setting into the environment and listen to all the noises so that your mind will not need to break your focus later. It is also vitally important to settle the mind as much as you can.

If you regularly meditate, you may wish to use those techniques or otherwise you can simply shut your eyes and focus on slowing your breath – this is usually very effective. If you have a specific question for the scrying medium, state it up front. Then, when you feel relaxed, turn your focus inward. Imagine pulling your energy within you and then you focus on the third eye point (the chakra point on the center of the forehead, just above the eyebrows) and imagine opening it. Then gaze in a soft unfocused way at your scrying surface and simply allow images to form and observe what present itself to you. Do not engage your rational mind – this is about receiving and not thinking!

Should you pull the Scrying card, I suggest you try it for starters. It also indicates that you may wish to develop your intuition further and not rely solely on the logical part of your mind for all the answers. It takes a balance of logic and imagination and intuition for true wisdom.

The Halloween Oracle by author Stacey Demarco and artist Jimmy Manton