KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

July 19 through July 25, 2021

We're in for a parade of astrological events this week, as Venus moves into Virgo on Wednesday, the Sun enters Leo on Thursday, and the Moon waxes full in Aquarius on Friday. So basically, a triple-header! Before the shifts occur, however, we'll need to embrace the purpose-filled energy of Monday's Scorpio Moon, attending things that have sat on the back burner for the last few weeks to clear a space for new energies. We could end up working late that day or find ourselves having to delegate to get everything on our list completed. Tuesday's Sagittarius Moon will cast a more light-hearted energy over the week, making harmony and fun an underlying theme as we move forward. Venus will move out of fanciful Leo and into more grounded Virgo on Tuesday, reminding us to be more humanitarian-based than self-focused for the next few weeks. It will be easy to tell when the Sun moves into Leo on Thursday, as we cast off the dog-days of summer (or dark days of winter in the southern hemisphere) and start to sense a higher energy and purpose to our movements. For the next four weeks, a heart-centered and ego-centered tone will move us forward, evoking our generous sides and promoting greater self-love and self-care. Friday's Aquarius full Moon arrives at the perfect time, as it promotes release and letting go of any ideas or mindsets that are holding us back. If we embrace this process and shift our thinking, it will be much easier to move into August with renewed hope, passion, and purpose.

How to Use Everyday Objects for Folk Fortunetelling, by Cory Thomas Hutcheson

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

When you imagine someone "fortunetelling," what images come to mind? For a lot of people, it's a crystal ball or a stack of tarot cards. There's absolutely nothing wrong with those methods when handled with care and thought, but as many witchy folk know, divination goes well beyond what so often gets portrayed by Hollywood. For those inclined towards folk magic, the tools of prognostication and metaphysical diagnosis are often both a bit strange and incredibly commonplace. That's because divination is so commonplace in North American folk magical practices, and therefore it makes use of commonplace objects. Diviners, however, often use those objects in uncanny and unusual ways, which renders them powerful tools for gaining insight into worldly (and Otherworldly) problems.

Below I offer an exploration of a variety of folk magical divinatory methods making use of common objects. What you find here is drawn from the pages and practices of American folklore (a subject about which I am deeply passionate, as evidenced by my rather massive book on the subject). No matter who or where you are within North America, chances are there are similar practices around you and within your own communities if you look for them.

• Sieve and Shears: A sieve—a straining device most often used for food—could be suspended on the end of a pair of shears or scissors to answer questions. These were often used in fortunetelling games (not dissimilar to games like MASH or those little paper fortune tellers that kids used when I was growing up). If the sieve began rotating clockwise when a question was asked, it indicated "yes." If it went counterclockwise or fell off balance, that was a "no." In a bygone era, a sieve would have been made from materials like willow withes, which have their own magical lore (as they are often used to bind a witch's broom, or "besom"). The sieve and shears method even appears in Aggripa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, published in the sixteenth century, so the practice has a decent pedigree.
• Bible and Key: The use of a Bible or other book for divination is known as "bibliomancy," and it's a subject I've written about before on my own website in terms of folk practice. In most cases, book divination is done by turning randomly to specific passages and reading the first thing found by pointing at the page, a process known as "scanning." There are more prescriptive methods, too, such as predicting fortunes based on one's birthday by indexing them to particular Psalms based on gender and date. One method, however, that we find imported from Europe and fairly well-known in areas settled by English, Irish, or Scottish-speaking colonizers, is the use of a Bible and key. The key is inserted into a Bible (sometimes at a specific passage such as Psalm 49), then the book is bound up tightly so that the key can't slip out. The person making this charm suspends the key between their fingers, using the Bible as a sort of pendulum weight, and asks questions. The key will begin moving in response to queries, with the reader needing to establish which direction means "yes" and which "no" at the beginning of the divination session. This method is even mentioned in Reginald Scott's Discoverie of Witchcraft from 1584, so it's quite old!
• Coins and Cards: Plenty of people know about using tarot cards for divination, but in recent years a burgeoning vogue has appeared for learning to read fortunes using playing cards. Playing cards derive from the same sources as tarot cards (with most scholarship suggesting all such cards emerged from games involving tiles printed paper cards from places like India and China). So it makes sense that playing cards have just as much a place in fortunetelling as their better-known tarot cousins. There are a wide variety of methods for reading them, ranging from the very detailed and intricate Lenormand card system to the Spanish method involving removing all the Queens to variations found in places like Kentucky or other parts of the American South that were often codified in well-known rhymed verses. It seems most readers had their own particular methods based on years of practice and fine-tuning, so each person's approach might inspire someone else but be distinctly different as well (I am no stranger to this phenomenon, as I have even written a book about my own method for doing readings and then interpreting them by linking them to folk or fairy tales). Similarly, coins are incorporated into divination in a few ways. One divinatory ritual known as the "Calling Circle" involves surrounding a young baby with a variety of objects like coins, a knife, a Bible, and a whiskey bottle, and then seeing which the baby chooses. If they choose the coins, they will go into banking (or, depending on your interpretation, be stingy with money), while the other objects indicate a life of violence, holiness, or vice, respectively. The Chinese fortunetelling system known as the I Ching also makes use of coins in some cases, interpreting them through a process known as geomancy.
• The Egg and Glass: This method is simple enough that you can go to your kitchen and do it anytime (so long as you keep eggs on hand). There are several different variations on this practice. One of the best-known is the limpia found in Mexican and Mexican-American curanderismo. In that system, the egg is usually used to cleanse a person of spiritual maladies by rubbing them and praying. The egg is then cracked into a glass of water and interpreted based on the shapes that appear, such as bubbles or "curtains" of egg whites draping down like ghosts. Spots on the yolk or foul smells can indicate witchcraft or curses as well. This method was also connected to the Salem witch trials, as an account (published a good bit after the trials were done) indicates that some of the young women involved in the early hysteria had been playing a game called a "Venus glass," in which an egg was cracked into water and then read or interpreted to provide information about future husbands.
• Ring and Hair: The last method is one used in very particular circumstances, but one that might be adaptable to even broader work by a clever folk magician. In parts of the rural South and even into the Midwest, a woman can discover the sex of her baby by taking her wedding ring and suspending it by a piece of her hair over her tummy. If it moves back and forth, it indicates a girl, while movement in a circle usually indicates a boy (although some sources wind up reversing these, so it's a good idea to ask the ring to show you which is which first). While this is almost exclusively used in pregnancy situations in folklore, I can easily imagine someone seeing the links between things like marriage, birth, and more as indicative of other fortunetelling possibilities (such as asking the ring to help choose between various potential suitors).

These methods are simply a small handful of the incredible variety of everyday divinatory practices found in American folklore. Truly, almost anything, from dish rags to brooms to broken plates and dropped knives, could potentially tell a tuned-in reader about what they might expect to happen.

What makes these methods so valuable to us today isn't just the actual practices, but the sense of "ordinariness" that we see in them. While it's all well and good to collect tarot decks like they're going out of style (and I do the same with playing card decks, so I'm absolutely not judging!), understanding that everyday methods of divination are valuable and rich traditions of their own can help us figure out what works best for us. You may be the sort of person who can divine based on the way your soup boils on the stove, or the way smoke rises from a candle you've extinguished, or even which song comes up next on your Spotify playlist. All of those are the sort of folk magic our forebears would have turned to, and they can be sources of insight and inspiration to us today, as well.

Whatever method you turn to, I encourage you to look within your folk communities like family and neighbors (and family here can be chosen family just as readily as anything biological). You'll likely find plenty of divinatory possibilities if you just listen, pay attention, and ask the right questions. Which is really what divination is all about, right?

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2021. All rights reserved.

For starters, I'm deaf. As a result of being deaf, I'm very sensitive to energy. (That's my excuse!) I have a coworker I get intense psychic vibes from. I just know when he will appear even when he's not on the schedule. I get this really warm feeling in my chest, which is the same feeling I get when I'm around him. I already know how his energy feels: it's like a tingly heat wave. I know when he's about to enter my space or area. I can feel him when he's looking at me or even thinking of me, and it's bothering me, to say the least. His energy is different from other people's. He gives me the creeps. I get really bad vibes from him that I would classify as a stalker/serial killer vibe, though I doubt he's either. However, I have seen him outside of work on a few occasions. I have brushed those events aside because he doesn't live far from me. It just seems like all of a sudden, I'm afraid of him and I don't know why. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, and if I feel his energy, I just have the urge to run - to get away. If he's at work with me, I just can't wait to get away from him. It wasn't like this before. He's been at my place of work for several years. Why the change in me? I don't know what I'm picking up, but whatever it is, if I see him or feel him near me, I just start to shake. I have stomach pains around him, get dizzy, and sweat. I've tried to shield myself but I just can't shake this feeling from him. I don't know what's going on; I just know that for some reason, this person disturbs me. I don't know if he's actually stalking me or obsessing over me and I'm picking it up psychically or if I'm just more nervous than usual because there is a very strong psychic tie to this person I've been trying to break. I had a dream of him. He pointed to me and said, Maybe it's fate, then the Target store logo flashed. What the heck is happening to me?

Abby

Susyn:

I agree that you are very sensitive to energy. Given your deafness, your psychic senses would naturally be extraordinarily strong because when people lose one of their senses, the remaining ones develop further in order to compensate.

Obviously, you are not imagining things, for you are frequently around many other people whose energy does not upset you like this. Even if this man means you no harm, he clearly affects you energetically and emotionally. If you were destined to have some sort of relationship with him, you would get feelings of attraction around him, not the upsetting vibes he tends to evoke.

You may have known this man in another lifetime, and he may have had a menacing role in that incarnation as well. Just because we may have been destined to meet someone does not mean that we are destined to allow them to negatively affect us in this lifetime. This may be a lesson for you about finding the courage to stand up and learn how to protect yourself.

If this were fate or destiny, things would have already moved forward into a relationship of some type. The dream in which he claims this is destiny and then you see the Target logo means that he is focused on you and trying to control you. It is as if he has made a decision that you belong to him and are the target of his obsession. I recommend you stay as far away from him as you can.

It sounds like you are in the habit of doubting your intuition. For example, when you saw him outside of work, you dismissed it because he doesn't live far from you. It is crucial that you trust your feelings in this matter. You are highly intuitive when it comes to people; you need to know that and trust yourself. Even if this man has no history of violence and never gives any indication that he is a threat to you, the important thing for you is to learn to trust your own instincts and honor them by taking appropriate action.

It is difficult to work with someone like this, for you are forced to be around them on a regular basis. I recommend you perform my freezing ritual, which can be found under free downloads in my Kajama profile. This will limit the contact you have with him and eliminate the emotional stress he causes you. Also, if he does approach you and try to engage you in conversation, respond in one or two word sentences and try to mirror what he does.

Mirroring is a great way to maintain your balance with someone. It simply involves doing what they are doing. If he has his hands on his hips while he talks to you, put your hands on your hips. If he is smiling, you smile. Let him do all the talking. These actions will help you maintain your personal space and boundaries around him.

*****

Oceania:

You are experiencing the classic symptoms of a panic attack. When the survival part of our brain perceives danger, blood drains from our head, hands and feet and flows to our arms and legs in case we need to run or fight. As a result of these biological changes, we may experience tingling and dizziness.

Blood also leaves the digestive track, causing stomach upset. Breathing becomes shallow and the heart pumps faster to maximize oxygen intake. We tremble and sweat and feel chilled or flushed. The body can instantly prepare to fight, flight or freeze even though today's world does not usually require such drastic measures!

Because the symptoms of panic feel funny, we may worry that something is physically wrong, which escalates our anxiety. Many people end up in the ER, thinking they're having a heart attack. Prescribed medication can help calm your symptoms, but the best long-term treatment is learning to recognize and calm your anxiety through slowing your breathing, relaxing your muscles, and choosing to affirm I am safe.

There are several possible reasons you are having these reactions. The most obvious one is that your intuition is picking up something threatening about this man. It's always wise to listen to and honor your intuition as a tool of self-preservation!

It is also possible that he is not dangerous himself, but is instead a trigger, meaning there's something about him that reminds you of a past trauma. Once we associate someone with a panic response, they tend to trigger panic each time we see them. You may find temporary relief by avoiding him, but that will keep you on guard and uneasy. If he has indeed stirred up something from the past for you, counseling is indicated.

Another explanation is that you have an issue with someone ELSE in your life, and have displaced those feelings onto your coworker. Obsessing over him may keep you distracted from your more immediate concern. Counseling could help you identify what's bothering you and support you in dealing with it directly.

While this may sound crazy, it is possible that you're actually drawn to this man, and the warmth you feel in your chest (your heart chakra) is the flush of attraction. If you generally feel unsafe in romantic relationships, you may have conjured a cloud of danger around your coworker to prevent you from opening up and getting to know him. In your dream about the Target bullseye, it was suggested that fate is involved; perhaps Cupid's arrows are aimed at the targets of your hearts.

Whatever the reason for your strong reaction to this man, I invite you to see this as an opportunity to heal, grow, and reclaim your personal power.

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.