The Value of Divination (in my opinion)

 Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

I first picked up a deck of tarot cards when I was about 12 years old, a friend of my mothers had the Rider Waite pack which I was shown one night and it entranced me immediately. I subsequently borrowed books on the subject from the local library and even clumsily painted my own deck, since I had no money to buy one. I would say that this was my introduction to the occult, and more importantly, to the qaballah. 

Following from this, I explored other areas of divination, the runes and various other types of throwing stones, dice, the sticks and coins of the I-ching, geomancy, probably other things as well. Scrying came a little later when I was exploring witchcraft and experimenting with magical circles and other accoutrements of the craft.

Of all of these methods, the only one that I retain and always have to hand is a deck of tarot cards. I use the same rather worn Thoth pack that I received for Christmas at some point in the early 1990's, which was really my introduction to the depths of qaballah and Crowley's system even before reading any of his books. After about 28 years of experimentation I have reached some conclusions about the tarot and divination, based purely on my own experience, which I would like to set out here.

My first observation: 

Divination doesn't work.

That is quite a bald statement, and seemingly at odds with my claim to still use the tarot. Let me clarify: objectively, my predictions made using the tarot over all of that time, both for myself and others, have never been significantly different to what I could have guessed, either about another person or about a situation in my own life about which I might consult the tarot, without simply sitting back and paying attention. Others will disagree, and some might even foam at the mouth at the heresy, but that doesn't matter. I've yet to see evidence of consistent and accurate divination results, at least in myself or those I have worked with, so pending further data I classify predictions using tarot or other methods as inconclusive at best.

So, if it doesn't work, why do it? Simple, the training of the mind, or perhaps the taming of the mind puts it better. Students practicing divination are classified as walking on the path of Qoph, that is the realm of the subconscious mind, which is open partly for the Neophyte, but brought to a higher pitch later in the grade work and so of increasing importance as we progress. 

Swimming in that sea of images, thoughts, feelings, the lower astral, often touching the shells, we need to learn how to navigate. Five minutes of meditation will show a shower of images. Astral and etheric work multiplies this, opening the floodgates, and learning to navigate these straits is critical. Divination teaches how to define images, recognise structures and complexes of imagery and emotion which are the very stuff of the mind at this level. In addition to this, tarot provides a useful filing system, making it the most valuable of the various options in my opinion, we are able to use it to classify and analyze the images that arise. 

But experience and the words of the sages throughout the ages tell us not to accept any of these images as 'true'. I know I've made that mistake a few times. Others have and will continue to accept personal revelations based on astral imagery, visions, and 'spiritual experiences' as true, ignoring the warnings of the Chaldean oracles:

Stoop not down, therefore,

Unto the Darkly-Splendid World,

Wherein continually lieth a faithless Depth

And Hades wrapped in clouds,

Delighting in unintelligible images

Precipitous, winding,

A black, ever-rolling Abyss

Ever espousing a Body unluminous

Formless

And Void.

 This warning cannot be stressed enough I think. Not that one should be terrified of the subconscious, or the astral, on the contrary, fear only feeds fear. But we must train the mind, the intuition. It should never be forgotten that the goal of the Outer College is the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, not the entertainment of the ego or hanging around in the lower astral like a young man about town. Without a sharp intuition and a clear sense of purpose this is impossible, and instead ones own dark images and phantoms will happily take the place of the Angel, and lead you along their own paths. The same can be said of astral work, which really approaches the same area in a different manner. The aim is not divination, or astral travel for its own sake, the aim is always the Angel, the unification of mind and body, self and other, one and all.

The practice of divination serves as training for the greater divination, that of understanding one's own life and the path one is on, that is, the name and form of the Angel. These known, all that is necessary is known. These unknown, the initiate is a blind animal groping in the darkness, prey to every whim and passing amusement. The path is not a matter of speculation and logical reductionism, but nor is it a flight into fantasy and following ones bliss.

(Other spokesmen of Thelema, the occult, and the A.'.A.'. have championed "following your bliss". I respectfully but strongly disagree). 

It is a matter of accurately seeing both the world and oneself as they are, unvarnished, the very person you are in yourself, and your life, as it is, with its potentials and possibilities, in the clear light of day, not the darkling light of fantasy. Divination can be a dangerous tool, since if taken incorrectly it can actually make matters worse, one starts to believe ones delusions, and rather than obtaining the result, we end up getting sucked into the moonlit worlds of our own delusions, following the will'o the wisps of imagination, calling that True Will, never realising the mistake, we end up mistaking the first 'entity' that presents itself as an angel of light.

The correct method, I feel, is to practice divination as a sort of game, let the method itself lead you along storylines, allow the intuition to make connections and weave narratives, not judging them but also not attaching much importance to them. While we must always keep the central purpose in mind, to seek too ardently for an answer, accepting any that comes along in our divinations or early magical work, as universally valid is a good way to get entrapped in our own delusions. There is always the danger in divination, astral and magical work, and in life as a whole of mistaking ones own ideas for objective reality, so the correct method of divination can be a real help in overcoming this, an important part of the Great Work and the most common stumbling block on the path.

I would always advocate that initiates persist in the work in a systematic manner, just as a researcher, however pleasing the preliminary results may look, will nonetheless continue his research to its end and await the whole dataset before reaching a conclusion. So the initiate should, all the while enjoying the ride, abstain from concluding anything until the work is complete. 

Love is the law, love under will.