Prompt Prophecies: Crystal Divination

Give your tarot cards a rest and create a one-of-a-kind divination tool: a bag of crystals you can use to do readings. It is very easy to do. Collect together the stones you have picked up on your travels, and keep your eye out for crystals as you go about your daily business. You can also acquire relatively inexpensive stones, such as garnets, agates, amethysts, and tiny citrines, at your favorite metaphysical shop or you can buy them online. Ideally you would have all the stones listed opposite, but if you don’t, you should have at least a dozen to start with.

I have used this divination tool for matters ranging from career, wealth, health, love, and travel. Once I asked about staying at a job where I was increasingly unhappy and pulled out tiger’s eye, amethyst, and quartz. The crystals were telling me that dishonesty was involved on some level and a shift would soon be revealed. That was all I needed to initiate a new job hunt as quickly as possible. Happily, and with the help of prosperity magic in this book, I landed a more lucrative new position. Shortly after I left, a former colleague contacted me to say that bankruptcy was in the works because of years of financial chicanery. Listen to the messages of crystals!

Select a favorite velvet bag, and when the need arises, turn to crystal visions for your enlightenment. Most of us cannot afford diamonds in our bag of crystals, so substitute with clear quartz here; for emeralds, switch to peridots, and garnets can substitute nicely for rubies. Some New Age stores and online sources also have “rough rubies” and “rough emerald” pieces for just a few dollars each, so it is possible to find these spiritual stones at reasonable prices.

Casting the stones is as easy as one, two, three:

1. Shake the bag well.

2. Ask a question.

3. Remove the first three stones you touch, and then interpret them with the following guide.

 

Gather Round the Fire: A Community Needfire Ritual for Winter

Without fire, there would be no life. For this ritual, gather together members of your community to participate in honoring the life-giving power of flame.

Supplies:

• Altarspace
• Wood, matches, kindling, and a safe place for a fire
• Candles
• Cauldron or large pot
• Ice cubes, water
• Drums
• Fire tool or poker
• Apples, apple cider, or apple ice cream
• White ice cream
• Spoons and bowls
• Bowl with tarot cards in it

1. Place the bowl of tarot cards on the space designated as the altar.

2. Ask for a volunteer to be in charge of the fire and to be the leader of the ritual. The fire maker should then select three women to represent the Norns (a.k.a. the Three Fates). One of the fates will be in charge of “giving fire.” With a candle in the cauldron, she keeps the fire safe and gives it to the fire maker. Another fate reads out the future to ritual participants with a one-card tarot reading. The last fate gives life in the form of the ritual foods—the apples, hot cider, ice cream, and so on.

3. The participants should get as cold as possible before beginning the ritual—take off your coats and sweaters, and open all the windows and doors if you are inside. You need to feel the winter deep in your soul. The leader should pass around the ice cubes so the participants engage in a sensory way with freezing cold and the need for fire.

4. While the participants get good and chilly, the leader should start the fire. People who really want the totally authentic experience of firemaking can try to create fire from sparking with a fire drill, but the ritual could then take hours unless the fire maker is well practiced in the art of making fire.

5. The following is the chant to be spoken while the fire is being made. The ritual leader should pass out the drums and begin leading rhythmic sounds to underscore the chanting.

    Winter winds howl and wail.

    We feel the cold in our bones.

    This is an old familiar tale.

    The ice binds and surrounds us all.

    Fates above, please hear our call.

    Fire thaws the ice.

    Fire creates the water.

    The heat warms our bones.

    Fire and ice bind our lives.

    Now feel the fire!

6. Holding hands, everyone should dance slowly around the fire sunwise, feeling the life-giving warmth. Next, repeat the chant.

7. The fate of the future goes around the circle with the bowl of tarot cards and performs one-card readings for each individual. If time allows, she should also do a reading for the group with the full set of tarot cards about the future of the community.

8. Last, the fate who gives life serves the group celebratory food— the ice cream and other cold foods are a remembrance of the cold of the icy times, and the hot cider and other hot foods represent the life-giving heat of fire. The head of the ritual should lead everyone in a discussion of the importance of the ritual of the needfire and any other topic important to every participant and the community.

Throwing Stones

Give your tarot cards a rest and create a one-of-a-kind divination tool, a bag of crystals you can do readings with. It is very easy to do. I have stones that I tumbled as a child and others I have picked up on travels. Even yesterday, I grabbed some garnets, agates, and tiny citrines as the Psychic Eye on Fell and Gough Streets in San Francisco to add to my bag of goodies. I have a favorite blue velvet bag, and when the need arises, I turn to crystal visions for my enlightenment. If you are like me, you cannot afford diamonds in your bag of tricks, so substitute them with clear quartz; for emeralds, switch to peridots. Garnets substitute nicely for rubies. I was happy to note that the Psychic Eye had rough-ruby and rough-emerald pieces for $3 each, so the real deal is more available all the time. It is as easy at one, two, three: 1) shake the bag well, 2) ask a question, and 3) removed the first three stones you touch and then interpret from the following guide:

• *  Agate: Business success and notoriety are near.

• *  Amethyst: Change is coming.

• *  Aventurine: New horizons and positive growth are ahead.

• *  Black Agate: Monetary gain is certain.

• *  Blue Lace Agate: There’s a need for spiritual and physical healing.

• *  Citrine: The universe offers enlightenment.

• *  Diamond: Stability is sure.

• *  Emerald: Look for lushness.

• *  Hematite: Examine new prospects.

• *  Jade: Life is everlasting.

• *  Lapis Lazuli: Harness heavenly fortune.

• *  Quartz: Receive clarity where there was none.

• *  Red Agate: Expect long life and health.

• *  Red Jasper: Notice the need for grounding.

• *  Rose Quartz: Love is in your life.

• *  Ruby: Dare for deep passion and personal power.

• *  Sapphire: Time for truth.

• *  Snowflake Obsidian: Your troubles are at an end.

• *  Snow Quartz: Make major changes.

• *  Tiger’s-Eye: The situation is not as it appears.