Seeing the Signs

divination on Pinterest

Long ago, before the Internet, if you wanted to know about a certain subject, you went to the library. Perhaps you started out with an Encyclopedia – Encyclopedia America or Encyclopedia Britannica, generally – also as we got older, we were taught how to use the card catalog and how to research our subject in a more adult manner.

Of course, people still use the library and they still use the catalog for research, although it’s now computerized – the card catalog is generally a thing of the past. But nowadays, when people want to research a subject, they go to the Internet first, and generally they Google whatever it is they are researching – maybe they use Yahoo or Bing – but unlike the early days of the Internet when there were dozens of search engines, now there are just a few – and most of them are powered by Google.

I don’t want to turn this into an anti-Google diatribe but the problem with Google is that after you do a little research on it, you tend to see the same things over and over again. Which kind of defeats the purpose of research. I mean – I already saw that. Yesterday and the day before that and last week, too. I want to see something new.

If any of you have ever visited my poetry blog, “no commas” at http://www.crystalapplequeen.wordpress.com, then you know that I have been working on a series of poems based on the images of the Tarot. Not only I have been writing poems but I have been making collages for each card – admittedly rather crude and even childish at times, but I enjoy making them and it’s not like I’m trying to put together an actual deck for divination. They’re just illustrations for my poems. But before I work on a particular card, I go to the Internet and search out images to help trip my brain into creativity. Since I tend to see the same things over and over again on Google, I started using Pinterest for ideas.

I am sure many of you – if not most of you – are acquainted with Pinterest. It was launched in March 2010 by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp. I remember getting my invitation to it and not really understanding what it was all about. But I soon caught on. Pinterest is a fabulous tool for getting ideas for almost anything at all – from engagement parties to that special recipe for Thanksgiving dinner to how to clean an annoying oil spot off a beige rug to vintage pictures of your home town. And once you start collecting – it’s like a digital scrap book – you’re given ideas for more collecting – boards and other collectors to follow – so in a very short time, you can have so many ideas for whatever you’re working on that it can be quite overwhelming.

So what does this have to do with divination? Well – on my own Pinterest page, I have two boards, one for Tarot and Oracle Cards, and another for divination. The Tarot and Oracle Card board I’ve had for a couple of years now but the divination board is brand new. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to create a board like this before! Last night I was looking for examples of the Star card for a new poem and I stumbled on pictures of crystals and how to use them and I thought – gee, this is really fabulous. Naturally I wanted to save it, so I created the board. And “pinned” it – and so far, 42 other wonderful ideas for divination!

Looking for things to pin, with Radar

I will still be visiting my local library and using books for reference – I am quite old-fashioned that way. But I love technology and believe that it can only aid us in our quest for knowledge – whether we are researching a subject for school or things more esoteric for ourselves.

And if you see me on Pinterest, friend me! I am always ready to make new friends. Merry Meet!