You can even invent your own system and it will work for you. You can scry into a black mirror, a crystal ball, a bowl of water or a sink full of dishwashing bubbles. You can read the future using tarot cards, ordinary playing cards or baseball cards. You can read coffee cups, tea cups, wine glasses (if there are dregs) or cereal bowls. I can already feel your skepticism about the dishwashing bubbles, baseball cards and cereal bowls. Where is the glamour? Where is the pomp and ceremony? Who would believe me? Divination is a serious business but there is no reason it shouldn't be fun too. Enjoy yourself. Relax. This is the best way to let your intuition shine through. As with anything, if you love what you are doing, you will do it well.

Fortune telling seems to be a dirty word at the moment. Unless you are perceived to be asking deep spiritual questions rather than petty (except to the querent) questions, the assumption is that you are spiritually bankrupt. I have found that petty questions often are just the warm up to establish trust before the big issues emerge. It is sad that parlor divination has become the pariah of the divination world. I argue that true spirituality is the connection to the divine that you can feel at will at any time of the day or night. It is the intent and the ritual that transforms a humble cup of tea into the Japanese tea ceremony. An ordinary cup of coffee with close friends becomes a window into the immediate future: a connection to the divine. Grand rituals and expensive methods do produce good results but so do humble methods and small, personalized rituals. In both cases, the belief and the intent create the link to the divine. The only trickery involved is fooling the conscious mind to accept an illogical process and allow intuition from the subconscious to shine through. Some people find that, at first, tarot cards work better than playing cards because the conscious mind sees them as meant solely for divination. When using playing cards for the first time, especially those that you have used for games, it is hard to expect an answer. Doubts crowd in and before you know it, it is almost impossible to interpret the cards, even if hindsight shows how accurate they were. The more trivial and simple the items used, the harder it is to expect and believe that you will receive accurate results. But accurate results are what you will get. You can tell your own fortune but it is very difficult to hold onto any kind of objective viewpoint. Hands up all those who re-dealt the cards when faced with a negative and disappointing answer, rationalizing that maybe you weren't concentrating hard enough the first time? You would never do that with a stranger. Before you start reading for other people, you need to explore how you feel about karma, will and destiny. Do you see the future as unchangeable or do you believe it is a probability or even just a possibility? The popular view of the moment is that free will can change the future. Whether you agree or disagree, you had better work out exactly where you stand before the tough questions are asked. Most important of all, can you keep everything you hear confidential? Your reputation will be on the line. What is your motivation for reading for other people? Money is fine, people get paid for their time and skills all the time. But if you do not respect or care about your clients, your performance will be poor as the vital connection between reader and querent will be missing.

What is this connection? It is a flow of compassion and humanitarian love that occurs when you sit down to help someone who needs guidance and answers. It is hard to describe but a sudden sinking but calm sensation in the chest area and an ability to block out distractions comes close. When the reading is finished, be thankful and don't get carried away with a swollen head if the reading went brilliantly. The querent is an active participant in a reading, even if they don't say much. They have the ability to open up or completely block the reading. By all means pat yourself on the back, enjoy the glory, but recognize it for what it is: collaboration between yourself, the querent and the divine.

So if you are interested in divination, choose what most appeals to you. Do you enjoy relying on intuition alone (reading coffee grounds etc.) or do you prefer formulaic answers (forms of cartomancy, I Ching etc.)? Does the idea of an ancient tradition appeal to you (dice, face reading, geomancy etc.) or do you relate more closely to more recently developed methods (the modern card systems)? Does elaborate ceremony and mystery appeal to you or do you prefer to be able to do your readings on the fly? You can visit my site and explore the different methods of divination I have covered so far. Experiment and have fun with the many varied forms of divination that exist. Have a go at inventing your own system of divination. There is no better way to discover the limitations and amazing capabilities of divination.

And above all, enjoy your connection to the divine and have fun!!