Tarot with Lady Saoirse- Reading without Tools
Bright Blessings,
The season of Yule, Winter Solstice, and Xmas is upon us. Many of you are scurrying about, gathering gifts for loved ones, decorating in a modern way that fuses classic Paganism with whatever is pretty at shops, and planning for something else wonderful- New Year’s 2026. You are probably thinking of gifts for everyone but yourself, but for New Year’s, I want you to give yourself a gift as someone who does divination. Learn to do readings without any tools- at all.
The first time that I saw someone do divination without any divination tools was probably about 15 years ago. I was friends with a Priestess who was much older than me, and she had been practicing for quite some time. She went into a form of trance, invoking a goddess, and all of a sudden, she could tell us everything. I was floored by that and decided that I wanted to learn how to do it, but I had no idea how to begin. I didn’t really do any tutorials or study with anyone, I just opened myself to it.
A realization came to me though. I realized that classic Tarot has multiple interpretations for each card. There is quite a range of card meanings, some of which don’t especially revolve around any particular theme. One reader told me. the specific meaning that you choose depends on which cards are next to the card, but that made absolutely no sense to me. Then I read something from an occult author that really got my attention.
Konstantinos is a writer who has authored multiple books and was world famous for his knowledge by the time I started practicing magic. In one of his books, he basically said to set the interpretation book of your cards aside and just basically let the cards speak to you. I did exactly that. That was listening to my inner psychic voice, my intuition. If you’re not using your intuition to do divination, you can’t do divination. You’re just spouting off memorized meanings of cards, and truthfully, the cards don’t really relay a message the way that we would think they will.
The cards act as a tool representing messages. They’re kind of like a compass or some type of a guide, almost like a map. The map isn’t the road, but the map tells you the way. So, if you can, use your intuition to know what the cards, or the map, is trying to tell you, you can do a reading with no cards at all. I can’t think of any other way to explain that. Your natural instincts have to do the reading. Inanimate objects just function as tools helping you to get in touch with your psychic abilities. So, at a certain point, you should be able to lay your cards, staves, runes, crystal balls, pendulums, or trinket bags aside and do your reading on your own.
The way to do that is to just get started. Instead of doing a tool based reading, call it a spiritual counseling session. Have a conversation with someone about what’s happening in their life and what their question is. As they open themselves up to you, you should be able to sense their energy, the energy of what’s going on, and the energy of what you need to tell them. If you are someone who can tell if people are bad news or good news the first time you meet them, you’ve got one damn strong sense of intuition. Some parents can automatically tell whether their child is lying to them, if their child needs them, or if something just isn’t right. Some women can sense if their husband is cheating even if he’s not giving any outward signs.
That natural intuition, also called our sixth sense is natural to all human beings. It’s not something that few people possess, but something that we all possess. We tend to deny that because our culture has divorced us from the psychic, the magical, and the truly spiritual. Our culture relies on memorized rituals of mainstream religion, medical and scientific fact, or believing what someone who is more of a so-called expert than you says. People who belong to Earth based indigenous cultures have not forgotten how to use their sixth sense. Colonized mainstream people have.
So, if you’ve not done it yet, I want you to give yourself the gift of unlocking your natural intuition. Every day, no matter where you go, there are little hints. You might get this gut feeling that you shouldn’t go to a certain store. Don’t go there and wait a few days to see what happened. You might get a strong feeling to pick up the phone and call a friend. Do it, because they need you. You might feel something drawing you toward a stranger, and find out they’re not a stranger after all, but someone who you’ve lost touch with, and you’ll be very glad to see them again. Don’t stifle those gut instincts. Listen to them, and your intuition will grow stronger and stronger.
It’s difficult to have faith in that, though. So, what you will need to do is set up little tests. Your friends can help you with this. Especially friends who are also experimenting with their psychic abilities and getting used to doing divination. Do test readings for each other without tools. Write down what impressions that you get, and then see how these impressions stand the test of time. For example, if you’re both single, do an intuition reading for each other about what the next 60 days will be like for your dating lives. Write it down and then revisit that after six months and engage your accuracy.
Don’t give up if you don’t get perfect results immediately. Sometimes, you will. Other times, practice makes perfect. You will have to learn how to separate strong opinions from your sixth sense. It’s also helpful if you ask one another questions about things that you don’t know yet. If you know your friend is a serial dater, for example, who always ditches people after the second or third date, have them ask you a question that does not coincide with their dating life, because you might automatically assume that the same thing will happen that’s always happened. Have them ask you about their finances or their health or their career.
Disengaging your emotions from giving a reading is very important, because sometimes our emotions lie to us. Our emotions are plugged into our fears and hopes. If you are hopeful that something is going to happen, you might think that it automatically will. So, learn the difference between an emotional knee jerk reaction and an actual intuitive message. Again, the way to learn this is to write down what your impressions are and then go back and check your journal. Once things reveal themselves in real life, you can see how accurate you are.
There’s going to come a time when someone needs your advice, and you don’t have your divination tools with you. You can certainly tell them to wait until you get your tools, or you can tell them to have a seat, and you’ll do divination without tools. As Pagans, Witches, or whatever magical path we walk on, our psychic abilities are one thing that makes us stand out from a lot of people, and from a lot of other faith traditions. So even though an atheist can practice divination, a big part of being what we are is using our psychic abilities for divination.
In 2026, give yourself a gift of learning how to do divination without tools. It will be one of the greatest gifts that you give to yourself, and a gift that you can help other people learn to embrace.
Blessed Solstice,
Blessed Yule,
Merry Christmas if you celebrate,
and Blessed Be.
I will see you all next year!
Lady Saoirse is a practicing witch, and initiated Wiccan of an Eclectic Tradition.
A recovered Catholic, she was raised to believe in heaven and hell, that there is only one god, and only one way to believe. As she approached her late 20’s, little things started to show her this was all wrong. She was most inspired by the saying “God is too big to fit into one religion” and after a heated exchange with the then associate pastor of the last Xtian church she attended, she finally realized she was in no way Xtian, and decided to move on to see where she could find her spiritual home.
Her homecoming to her Path was after many years of being called to The Old Ways and the Goddess, and happened in Phoenix, Arizona. She really did rise from her own ashes!
Upon returning to Ohio, she thought Chaos Magic was the answer, and soon discovered it was actually Wicca. She was blessed with a marvelous mentor, Lord Shadow, and started a Magical Discussion Group at local Metaphysical Shop Fly by Night. The group was later dubbed A Gathering of Paths. For a few years, this group met, discussed, did rituals, fellowship, and volunteering together, and even marched as a Pagan group with members of other groups at the local gay Pride Parade for eight years.
All the while, she continued studying with her mentor, Lord Shadow, and she became a Third Degree High Priestess in 2022 and is a Priestess of the Temple of the Goddess. She belongs to the Black Dragon Clan. She does readings, Sabbats, and classes in her hometown in Ohio. She has been with PaganPages.org since 2016 and writes for SpiritualBlossom, and Mysticsense.
