I am wondering if you could help me figure some things out. I have been reading tarot cards, palms and crystal balls for many years. I started when I was in sixth grade and I am now in college. I have become quite skilled at it, but over the years, I have many times heard people say that these things are evil. Are there ways that divination can be evil, and others ways it can be good? If it's not evil, why do so many people think it is? Thanks!
Jess (birthday: January 19)
Dreamchaser:
Jessica, of course there are ways that divination tools can be used for evil. ANYTHING can be used for good or evil. I can use a knife to cut meat to feed my family, or I can use a knife to kill someone, in which case the knife is not "bad," my actions are. It is like that with anything.
Tarot was originally created as a way to pass along knowledge of the Old Ways; it was sort of a pictorial history. The Catholic Church considered that to be very dangerous, as it was trying to impose its own belief system on the population. The Church realized the power of the Old Ways, and since it wanted supreme power, it proclaimed tarot "evil" along with lots of other Pagan symbols and tools.
A good example is the God of the Hunt. A man would put antlers on his head and creep closer to the herd so that the animals could be hunted more easily for food. This eventually led to a Pagan God named the God of the Hunt, who was depicted as having horns on his head and hooves. Can you guess what the Christian Church turned THAT image into? Yes - the Devil.
Also, Christianity was not spreading fast enough, so during the Crusades, the term Pagan was mistranslated from the original meaning of "country dweller" to "unbeliever" by the Church. Anyone who was an "unbeliever" is to this day considered evil and hell bound by the Christian church. As a result, the term Pagan and anything associated it with it now carries negative connotations for most people. I do not want to digress into a lesson on the origins of Paganism, however - that is for another day.
If your intentions while using a divination tool are positive and you mean to harm none, then your tools can NEVER be evil. Bless them when you first receive them and be sure to cleanse them properly. Whenever I am burning sage, I always let the sage smoke encircle my tarot decks. I feel that it helps. You can do whatever you want to keep your tools "clean." The only other thing I do is put them away in a box when I am not using them. I have mentioned before that I just buy inexpensive kids' plastic pencils boxes. They are the perfect size and stack up easily.
I wish you knowledge of all that is GOOD.
*****
Astrea:
Many unenlightened/ ignorant people believe in devils and demons because of their superstitious upbringings. People have been burned as heretics for as long as the Christian Church has been in business, and before Christians, Pagans slaughtered one another over differences in belief. All of this happened because what people can't see and don't know about they fear, which leads to beliefs that certain people and objects are "EVIL."
Nowadays a good bit of the Church's objection to psychic readers is actually financial. The Church doesn't want people giving money to readers and psychics and witches, because they feel that should be money the CHURCH could use better, so they label those things evil.
I'm not saying that ALL Christians think divination tools are evil. The most open-minded people I know are often the real Christians - those who don't judge other people for what they think, see or use. There are plenty of faux Christians who will say that divination tools and related items don't come from God, and that God is the ONLY ONE who can plan or predict the future. Personally, I believe that we're divinely given the gift of FREE WILL to make choices and experience the consequences of those choices, and that nothing IS unless we do the work to MAKE IT SO. It's a little simple-minded to pin all our troubles on demonic forces!
Tools are tools, whether they're used for plumbing or for divining. If the plumber using the tools doesn't know what he is doing, then chances are the plumbing won't be fixed, and things could actually get worse. If a psychic READER doesn't know what SHE is doing, things can go wrong there, too. You've been reading as long as I have, so chances are the EXPERIENCES you've had doing it have taught you to believe in what is RIGHT for you.
People who don't understand what you're doing may be afraid of it, and so it becomes very easy for them to label it all as "EVIL" or "SATANIC" or "WRONG." What you do is wrong if YOU feel that it's wrong, and no one else should judge you for anything that you believe, say or use. As long as you feel "right" with the Divine Force in your life, everyone else can go jump in a lake!
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.