{"id":13530,"date":"2017-03-01T01:10:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T06:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=14199"},"modified":"2017-02-25T12:51:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T17:51:17","slug":"seeing-the-signs-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2017\/03\/01\/seeing-the-signs-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing the Signs"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } A:link { so-language: zxx } --><br \/>\t<\/style>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">To See or Not to See: What is Your Preference? <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14200\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/divination.jpg\" alt=\"divination\" width=\"668\" height=\"668\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">I was going to write more about Runes for this month\u2019s column, having worked diligently with my new set all month long and even found a way to use my pendulum with them. But yesterday I read an article in The Guardian that made me think about divination in general and I want to discuss that today. <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"> The Guardian is one of my favorite sources of news nowadays \u2013 like The Huffington Post, it posts articles that were originally posted on another site. The article I read, \u201cWant to Know the Future? Most People Don\u2019t, Study Suggests,\u201d by Rachel Rettner, was one of these \u2013 I saw it posted it on the Guardian site but when I clicked on the article, it took me to the LiveScience site here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/57939-knowing-future-psychology.html\">http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/57939-knowing-future-psychology.html<\/a> . The Guardian showed a picture of Tarot cards (which is what attracted me to the article) and the LiveScience article had a picture of a crystal ball and candles but after reading the article, I found that neither of them really had anything to do with divination per se. However, the concepts brought forth in the article does matter to anyone who uses divination for themselves or as a way to make money or even just for fun. <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"> The study, which was conducted in Germany and Spain, said that 85 to 90 percent of the participants wouldn\u2019t want to know \u201ccertain negative events in their lives\u201d. Well \u2013 honestly \u2013 that really isn\u2019t any kind of news. Isn\u2019t that why almost <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><i>every single <\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">Tarot deck &amp; book<\/span><i> <\/i><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">out there dances around the meaning of (for instance) the Death card \u2013 saying that it\u2019s \u201cnot about\u201d death but \u201ctransformation\u201d instead? The IV of Sword is the same way. It\u2019s <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><i>obviously <\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">a crypt in a morgue \u2013 <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><i>obviously <\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">the querent or someone near the querent is dead or mourning the dead \u2013 but <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><i>every last <\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">booklet will say it\u2019s about \u201crest\u201d and \u201crestoration\u201d. My very first Tarot book \u2013 by Eileen Connolly, which I no longer own \u2013 said straight out to <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><i>never <\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">give your clients \u201cbad news\u201d. Personally, I think that\u2019s like a doctor who never gives his patients a true diagnosis. If Death or the Tower or some other so-called \u201cbad\u201d card shows up in the reading, there\u2019s a <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><i>reason <\/i><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">for that! <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"> What really surprised me was that only between 40 to 70 percent said \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t want to know about certain positive events.\u201d I\u2019m not sure why that is but maybe that\u2019s because they were afraid it wouldn\u2019t really happen? I know in my own case, whenever I thought something wonderful was going to happen, it rarely did and even when it did happen, it was usually messed up in some way or never lived up to my expectations. Still \u2013 I thought that was pretty amazing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"> Only 1 percent \u2013 one measly percent \u2013 said that they wanted to know about their future. <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"> As someone who reads the Tarot on almost a daily basis \u2013 who is learning to read the Elder Futhark Runes \u2013 who rarely goes anywhere without her pendulum \u2013 who casts her own horoscope and knows about the movement of planets and stars and what they mean \u2013 who watches the changing of the seasons and the patterns of the clouds and the birds and every little thing \u2013 I find such willful ignorance of one\u2019s life and the lives of those around her truly deplorable. I suppose most people leave it to the \u201cwill\u201d of their higher power. Personally, I have never been comfortable leaving my life in the hands of anyone else or to the will of anyone else \u2013 higher power or not. And doesn\u2019t one\u2019s higher power command the stars and the planets and the casting of the Tarot? Isn\u2019t it all along the same lines? <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"> I suppose 1 percent of the world\u2019s population wanting to know their future is enough for spiritualists and occultists to be able to make a living \u2013 depending on where they live, I suppose. My interest is for my own education and edification \u2013 I have never tried to make a living off my limited skills in divination. But I was quite dismayed that so few people \u2013 percentage-wise \u2013 had an interest in knowing their own future. I would really like to see more of these kinds of studies \u2013 perhaps with different kinds of question. <\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><a name=\"_GoBack\"><\/a> <span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"> Next month, I return to working with Runes. Brightest Blessings! <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To See or Not to See: What is Your Preference? &nbsp; &nbsp; I was going to write more about Runes for this month\u2019s column, having worked diligently with my new set all month long and even found a way to use my pendulum with them. But yesterday I read an article in The Guardian that made me think about divination in general and I want to discuss that today. The Guardian is one of my favorite sources of news nowadays \u2013 like The Huffington Post, it posts articles that were originally posted on another site. The article I read, \u201cWant to Know the Future? Most People Don\u2019t, Study Suggests,\u201d by Rachel Rettner, was one of these \u2013 I saw it posted it on the Guardian site but when I clicked on the article, it took me to the LiveScience site here: http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/57939-knowing-future-psychology.html . The Guardian showed a picture of Tarot cards (which is what attracted me to the article) and the LiveScience article had a picture of a crystal ball and candles but after reading the article, I found that neither of them really had anything to do with divination per se. However, the concepts brought forth in the article does matter to anyone who uses divination for themselves or as a way to make money or even just for fun. The study, which was conducted in Germany and Spain, said that 85 to 90 percent of the participants wouldn\u2019t want to know \u201ccertain negative events in their lives\u201d. Well \u2013 honestly \u2013 that really isn\u2019t any kind of news. Isn\u2019t that why almost every single Tarot deck &amp; book out there dances around the meaning of (for instance) the Death card \u2013 saying that it\u2019s \u201cnot about\u201d death but \u201ctransformation\u201d instead? The IV of Sword is the same way. It\u2019s obviously a crypt in a morgue \u2013 obviously the querent or someone near the querent is dead or mourning the dead \u2013 but every last booklet will say it\u2019s about \u201crest\u201d and \u201crestoration\u201d. My very first Tarot book \u2013 by Eileen Connolly, which I no longer own \u2013 said straight out to never give your clients \u201cbad news\u201d. Personally, I think that\u2019s like a doctor who never gives his patients a true diagnosis. If Death or the Tower or some other so-called \u201cbad\u201d card shows up in the reading, there\u2019s a reason for that! What really surprised me was that only between 40 to 70 percent said \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t want to know about certain positive events.\u201d I\u2019m not sure why that is but maybe that\u2019s because they were afraid it wouldn\u2019t really happen? I know in my own case, whenever I thought something wonderful was going to happen, it rarely did and even when it did happen, it was usually messed up in some way or never lived up to my expectations. Still \u2013 I thought that was pretty amazing. Only 1 percent \u2013 one measly percent \u2013 said that they wanted to know about their future. As someone who reads the Tarot on almost a daily basis \u2013 who is learning to read the Elder Futhark Runes \u2013 who rarely goes anywhere without her pendulum \u2013 who casts her own horoscope and knows about the movement of planets and stars and what they mean \u2013 who watches the changing of the seasons and the patterns of the clouds and the birds and every little thing \u2013 I find such willful ignorance of one\u2019s life and the lives of those around her truly deplorable. I suppose most people leave it to the \u201cwill\u201d of their higher power. Personally, I have never been comfortable leaving my life in the hands of anyone else or to the will of anyone else \u2013 higher power or not. And doesn\u2019t one\u2019s higher power command the stars and the planets and the casting of the Tarot? Isn\u2019t it all along the same lines? I suppose 1 percent of the world\u2019s population wanting to know their future is enough for spiritualists and occultists to be able to make a living \u2013 depending on where they live, I suppose. My interest is for my own education and edification \u2013 I have never tried to make a living off my limited skills in divination. But I was quite dismayed that so few people \u2013 percentage-wise \u2013 had an interest in knowing their own future. I would really like to see more of these kinds of studies \u2013 perhaps with different kinds of question. Next month, I return to working with Runes. Brightest Blessings!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}