September 6, 2008
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Divination and Magick
Shortly before my hard drive crashed this summer, and I lost all the data on it, I had posted the first part of a projected series on Tarot and Esoteric Initiation. Response to that post suggested that I would need to expand on the concept and explain the difference between using Tarot cards for divination and using the symbols of the Tarot for esoteric initiation and magick. The hard drive crash pushed the whole thing from my mind for a while, and now….
I hesitate to say that every tool that can be used for divination can also be used for magick. Runes definitely can be, and so can Tarot. There is some evidence that their use in divination came after their use in magickal work. Words referring to divinatory methods frequently end with “-mancy,” such as cartomancy (card reading), chiromancy (palmistry), and pyromancy (scrying with fire). At wordinfo.info, I found sixteen pages of definitions for -mancies. I would guess that many of these would lend themselves to magickal conjuring or manifestation, some better than others, but runes and tarot are the ones I know best, so I will stick with them for now.
In divination we look for knowledge about the unknown. The “random” or synchronistic turn of a rune, or fall of a card is read, and through intuition is interpreted, to gain information about what is or what will be. For most people, this is the use generally associated with the Tarot. In a magickal operation, the process is, in a sense, reversed. One deliberately chooses a rune or a card that represents what one desires, and by focusing the consciousness on that symbol, manifests the desire.
The initiate’s journey through the 22 major trumps of Tarot, which I started in June with The Fool, is a magickal use of Tarot distinct from the divinatory use. The objective is a sort of alchemical transformation of oneself into an esoteric adept by following the steps outlined in the ancient symbols of the cards. Now, again, I am issuing this invitation to anyone who wishes to take that journey with us here.
I’ll be back soon, with more on The Fool, the starting point for the initiation.
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Comments (7)
I’m looking forward to the resumption of this series.
“magickal” - Oh my, is that the legacy of Aleister Crowley rearing its pyramid-adorned head?
@Apocatastasis - probably not — Most people think of it as simple disambiguation, since “magic” means prestidigitation.
@Apocatastasis - Was it Crowley who introduced that pseudo-Shakespearean spelling?
@Scriveling - According to Wikipedia, Crowley, “repopularized” the terminal “k” to distinguish the magic produced by an act of will from stage magic.
I am intrested in participating. I have several decks of cards, and books that explain the meanings, but just haven’t began to feel comfortable with my own intuition. And i have a crappy memory and can’t seem to memorize the general meaning of the cards. I also have runes. The first t ime i used runes was with a girlfriend of mine. SHe had them in a velvet bag and asked me to put my hand into the bag and pull 3 runes. I put my hand into the bag a was amazed at the energy I felt inside that bag. At first I yanked my hand out, gripped in fear as I grew up conservative christian and that bag represented the devil to me. I have since changed my views about god and spirituality, and no longer view these things as devils play… more tools god gives us to commune with ourselves. I really love reading both your pages.
Thanks, Darla
@Scriveling - Pretty much what KaiOaty said. Crowley needed a specific word that was not as broad as the term ‘magic’, so he brought back “magick” from ye olde English and gave it a more specific meaning – or something like that. Similarly, he deified what was once only a minor egyptian goddess.