I wrote a bit about the commercial energy supplies market in a previous post on Astrology and Reiki.So have continued on the theme in this one, trying to keep Runes, Tarot, Crystals and Gems simple. Our lives, destiny and the future is so complex, that seers from several cultures developed easy to use divination tools for us common persons to use. Divination tools, by definition, are simple to use and understand, these are the distilled wisdom of great minds who lived before us. And these tools have worked perfectly over thousands of years. But now, we have the Internet generation in the past 10-15yrs complicating stuff. And businessmen wanting us to spend money on buying more. With very few genuine teachers left who can actually make us understand. Let’s un-complicate our energy-work now!
Runes
I use Elder Futhark runes sometimes, it gives me pleasure to handle these smooth stones marked with the symbols of ancient Norse shamans. Maybe I was one of them in some past life! And then these are also so accurate. It is a clean and beautiful system. Feels like we children are playing with the energies of the Universe. I have used these quite often to read for me and my clients. Am primarily an astrologer but sometimes the client wants just a focussed answer to a focussed question. So I don’t need to dive into their entire lives and their horoscope charts. In these cases, I use runes or tarot as a tool for divination. Sometimes iChing too, but somehow I think iChing is a bit fiddly, I need a pencil-paper and to refer to the reference book all the time. Runes and Tarot or Cartomancy with the Lenormand somehow appeals to me more. These give to the point precise answers.
But the new spiritual consumerism trend is not willing to let even these simple but powerful rune stones alone. A new blank rune named Wyrd has been introduced in these past few years which means ‘nothing’! It actually means ‘Nothing can be seen from the runes, it is in the hands of the gods!’. A system of divination, a tool which has worked perfectly for thousands of years rendered useless by some immature person. Divination tools exist because they read the mind of the gods! I cannot tell my client that the reading means ‘nothing or everything’ because the Wyrd came up!
Then again if you want to use runes, collect a few nice feeling rounded stones from a river or forest or some natural place. Draw these symbols on them with a marker or etch them with a knife. They will work so beautifully because you have made them for yourself. They will resonate with your energies completely. But then we have in the market, runes made of exotic crystals, wood, bones and stuff. There is no need to spend money on runes drawn on amethyst, tiger-eyes and bloodstones to being with. Rather spend time practicing with them. Once you have learnt and experienced them, obviously you can buy whichever crystal rune set you like, they are quite beautiful!
So if you read runes, or intend to learn, stick to the basics and learn them thoroughly, leave the Wryd aside. Odin’s philosophy is quite robust and capable of answering everything! Runes are quite powerful, will post next on how I have used them practically.
Tarot
I love my Thoth Tarot deck. It is the only one I have. I tried reading with the Rider-Waite deck but it didn’t resonate, even felt distasteful in my hands. But now there are more decks than genuine Readers in the market! There are even blogs that tell you what your next deck should be, and what are the 50 essential decks that you absolutely must have. They all are very very beautiful, with fabulous artwork but what is the point of just buying them. Tarot is based on something called the ‘Tree of Life’. It is quite a deep philosophy and every one who is really interested in learning Tarot should compulsorily know it.
There are just 3 tarot decks which resonate and facilitate the understanding of the Tree of Life, 1) The Thoth Tarot, by Aleister Crowley & Frieda Harris. 2) The Tarot de Marseille by Jodorovsky and Camoin, A version of the Conver (1760) deck with clean lines and colours, and 3) The Hermatic Tarot by Godfrey Dowson. Excluding these 3, every deck you see in the market is just pretty artwork, good for casual readings. If you want to really understand or use the Tarot for spiritual growth, stick to these 3.
A small note about the Rider-Waite deck, it is a tool for divination and if your objective is just knowing the answers to the questions it is quite good. But this deck in a very strange way shuts down your sub-conscious, limits it to the images drawn on the cards. You cannot use this deck for delving into the esoteric and the esoteric is the real soul of Tarot.
So for the student of Tarot, do not get caught in this loop of endlessly buying decks. Stay away from sheer consumerism. Stick to one of the 3 real decks and delve deep, study them, contemplate them and even meditate with them! Only then will real understanding dawn. After that you can definitely go and buy whichever deck’s artwork you like. But first understand the basics. And practice!
Crystals
Crystals are a very common item in energy-work. They are just like tiny batteries and can be used to store energy in a variety of ways like energy grids. They are very useful and everyone should learn more about them. But here too commercial ventures have taken over and there are hundreds of obscure crystals labelled with tiny meaning being peddled in shops. It is very easy profit you see. A kilo of tumbled clear quartz stones takes maybe Rs 10/- to manufacture, but it is sold at retail at over Rs 500/-. And more obscure the stone, more the price. And frankly it is not needed in your work. You can do everything you want with the clear quartz / ‘Sphatik’. I have found a few more crystals work for me but even that is optional, I could do the same work with clear quartz. So when you start working with crystals, stick to the bare essentials, try out the clear quartz in every which way, then explore more if you feel like it. I have found these five types to be more than enough for my work.
- clear quartz – your work-horse, can be used for anything and everything
- purple amethyst – helps in clarity stability grounding
- rose quartz – pinkish – balances the emotions related stuff
- tiger eye – gets rid of unnecessary baggage you are holding on to
- citrine – removes negative influences from aura and sub-conscious
Stay away from cancrinite, tugtupite, vorobyevites, trolleites, vayrynenites and other made up names. Stick to the basics. Energy work is basically your mind, focus and intention.
And at the last Gemstones
Gemstones are really expensive crystals, which are used as planetary remedies, Ruby-Sun, Emerald-Mercury, Diamond-Venus, Hessonite- North Node/Rahu, Chrysoberyl-Ketu, Red Coral-Mars, Yellow Sapphire-Jupiter, Blue-Sapphire- Saturn. These are the stones which really work if you can get your hands on them and know how to work with them. But these planetary remedy gemstones are quite expensive, an average person cannot really afford them. So to make even more money, a few greedy astrologers hit upon the idea of ‘upa-ratna’/ substitute gems. There are no ‘substitute gems’ in astrology. Either you wear a Rs 4 lakh blue sapphire or if you cannot afford it, recite the beej mantra of Saturn, you have just these 2 options. And both options work equally well. But now the substitute gems market is flourishing and both the astrologer and the jeweller are minting money. They dont really care what havoc they are causing in the life of their client. They can always prescribe more ‘remedies’.
So if you get caught with an astrologer who prescribes ‘citrine/sunhela’ instead of yellow sapphire as a remedy for Jupiter, please ignore such advise. You would be better off reciting the beej mantra of Jupiter 108 times every Thurdsay.
This was just a quick heads-up for all the students of divination. Always remember it is you the Reader who is reading the tools. The answers come from your sub-conscious, not the tools. To be a good Reader, please learn, study and practice. And always remember that someone, sometime in the future, is going to make a life changing decision because of what you will tell him.
psychologically astrology 