The Art of Divination

Divination is a process which begins with the study of a given oracle, an initiatic modality, a book of wisdom - may it be written in words or painted on cards, or engraved on stones - ; so, as divination begins with the study of the symbolic structure of a traditional revelation, it is always better if we take it as it was given and presented in its original form, as it was channeled in the first place, through a preservated form or an accurate reconstitution, to avoid whimsical distortions and second hand interpretations.

This being said, we can recognize the Tarot as one important representant of the Primordial Tradition, deserving the same rank as other great initiatic modalities and inspired oracles, such as the chinese Yi King and it wheel of transformations, the hebrew Torah - its Tree of Life and HaShem (Yod-Heh-Waw-Heh, the radiant sphere of Primordial Spirit), the hindu Vedas and Tantras with the Mandala of the Gods - same for the Buddhist Mandala -, the amerindian Wheel of Medecine and the Inipi, etc. All these traditional revelations are given as tools to train our faculty for divination, so what we gain by training such a way with a traditional oracular modality, is the capacity and hability to do the same with the great Book of Life, of which these cultural modalities form a quintessential representation.

Though, we can consider that the Tarot's original mandala, with all the traditional (and undistorted) 22 major arcanas at their initial place, is a book of wisdom in pictures. This is the original form of the book of wisdom named Tarot, and studying this original sequence, this original placement of the cards forming this very special book of wisdom, is by itself an act of divination, because by doing so we learn how to recognize the natural and living links that exists between all things and beings, deriving of their fundamental unity in the absolute plane ; by doing so, we train our spiritual faculties and learn to perceive (to perce and receive !), to extract the secret meaning of life, or to let it flow and reveal by itself - just we learn to be receptive and attentive, and to keep our sight open to life's messages -, and this is divination. Plentyness, fullness, abundance, oneness of our primordial nature is to be discovered, revealed, perceived, recognized... in one word, divined. Recognized as such, as it is already divine ! To conceive of this, is to enter the non-conceptual field of Primordial Awareness... this resurection or restauration in the primordial clarity, in the natural flow of life grounded in a firm and limpid discernement, is what is symbolised by the arcane XX of the Tarot. The Hermit of arcana VIIII is entering and getting out of the last IUGEMENT, by passing the "door" of the Popess, means by studying the confirmation given by the Book of Wisdom in the course of his process of recognition (of the Path), means divination (of the Primordial Ground)...

When you read a sacred book, may it be written in words or draw in pictures, it is good for you to know there are different levels of meaning ; some are gross and apparent, some are subtle and even "secret" (because sacred, so very precious !), and for attaining the subtlests levels of insight one need to explore the grammatical roots, the numerical values given by the arythmolgy, etc. etc... and doing so, go deeper and deeper in deciphering the code.

Because a sacred book is always a code : a codex in latin.

This means you have to use some method and have some key to decipher it; it's not about just holding the gross apparent meaning and get stuck there, going further in you reading without real understanding of what you've just read. In that last case, it would not really be reading, or it would be just blind reading, as there is no revelation, there is no divination, there is no discernement and for such a reader who stay at the surface, the meaning is necessarily incomplete, and the light evanescent. In the sameway, living your life without any care for what you live, for your relatives, for the people and situations you meet, for the things and beings around you and the messages they convey, with no care about your spiritual elevation in any way, staying stuck to gross and apparent levels of materialistic existence, would not really be living your life, or it would be a very poor and dry way of living it. The goal of life is to be alive, not dead, even if death seems to awaken some imperative : maybe, we should not wait too long for beggining to learn what means to be alive ! To be really alive, you need to spouse life in all its aspects, you have to engage and experiment, to learn and extract some good juice, so you can also inspire others to do so in their own style. The Tarot, or any other authentic initiatic modality, is given to us to train and learn how to that in Real Life ! So it is better to know it is not given for us staying at the surface. It's a tool for going deeper, for awakening inner sight and channel inspiration, for finding inner guidance and discovering the sense of our life. This is the best use of divination, and this is the real meaning of this word.

Also, sacred means secret, so one must know there is an hidden sense in a sacred work, always. More than that, a sacred book, a revealed scripture or inspired initiatic work, is always an oracle ; oracle means word, speech, and here it's about a langage through which the essential and primordial Spirit can "speak" to you, and through this langage is able to reveal Itself to you in its multidimensionality. And this langage is always poetic, metaphoric, using analogies to awaken your intelligence and open your inner sight, means to open your mind and your heart; it is playfull somehow, and certainly much more playfull when you have understood this is a game - about that, the Tarot is very clear at least ! All this is a game, but a sacred game, a hyeros gamos in the most noble sense of the term : the harmonization of our spiritual faculties "male" and "female" so that our heart opens to the blissfull light it contains and radiate as... the WORLD. All depends of our vision so it is better we learn to open our sight ; we all have this faculty to divine, so better we experiment it ! For a lot of us, the world maybe looks like the samsara, but ultimately, it is the harmonious Mandala of Enlightened Spirit, the radiant Sphere of Primordial Perfection which is also called in pictorial terms the "Garden of Eden" or the"Kingdom of God".

The discovery of this luminous potential in the actualization of the living forces and wisdoms of Inteligence (Nous) in their free radiance and enlightning game, continuoulsy leading us through a magical display towards the blossoming of the sublime Nature, towards the recognizance of our primordial ground, that is elevation and joyfull expansion by itself, and that is all-illuminating by itself, is the real divination. To discover the divine principle, means the transcendant, non-dual nature of spirit, and how this perfect nature and its infinite wisdom is revealing itself through the display of the world and the specific situations we meet in life - in all our relations, in all what seems to shape our "destiny", putting in pictures the process we are going through ! - is the real meaning of divination. Dicovering, perceiving the divine game, the essential light and haronious dynamism of spirit, through this existential display of names and forms, in whatever situation we meet, means in all circumstances.

 
Though, reading a sacred book, a book of wisdom, a divine oracle or "Godly Word" such as the Torah, the Yi King, the Curan or the Tarot, is an act of divination, i n which one is in principle guided by the very spirit of the oracle studied - that is, consulted - to receive some light, to extract some sense, to have some revelation. And this can happen if you don't read too quickly ! You won't, if you have some curiosity and some sense of playfullness at least, qualities which are required if you want to progress on the spiritual path.

Until that point, I was mainly speaking about a first kind of divination, the one using what I like to call the Book of Wisdom, means when we study and consult the original placement of the cards on the primordial mandala. this is like reading a book from the first to the last page, following the original sequence. This original configuration provides us the "big picture", the "absolute point of view", teaching us all about the universal laws of manifestation, destiny, resonnance, attraction, etc. ; it also gives us the method for the other kind of divination, which is more relative, adaptated to the concerned person, situation, occasion, etc., for whom or which we are consulting the oracle. It like opening the Book of Wisdom in a random way, to recive a special message for the day for exemple, or to receive an answer to a specific question. So, this is more relative.

In TA-OR Tarology, for that particular kind of divination, of course we use the original method for consulting the oracle. Without the knowledge of the original way to open the Tarot mandala for a divination, people invented many methods established on their own conventions and conceptions, but I feel it is always better if we can follow the original method. Now, time is rip and for those who are ready, for those who want to taste the real thing and desire to learn the proper way to use the oracle, Master Tarot is revealing the keys to open its precious secrets. Now we have the original mandala and a good reconstitution of the authentic and traditionnal Tarot "of Marseilles" (as it is now clear that the Tarot was created in Occitany and not in Lombardy), we can discover and use the method which was given at the beginning. Doing like this, we follow the intention and guidance of the great sages who channeled this sacred tool. Through it's study, they continue to teach us there is a precise way to channel the primordial Spirit's wisdom, a precise manner we should respect to receive its guidance and teaching, because this manner to do is in accord with the laws of Harmony.

The traditional method for opening the Tarot mandala for a particular divination, is taught by the Tarot himself, and its principle is very simple. This is the method we follow and teach in the TA-OR School of Tarology. For example, for putting the cards on the structure after we choosed them one by one, we just have to follow the original sequence given in the book of wisdom, and we place the cards we drew one by one, following the same order : the first card we drew have to be put at the place originaly occupied by arcana I, the second card at the place originaly occupied by arcana II, the third card at the place of arcana III, etc. Doing this we follow the path of the "4 Lightnings". There is a way to do, it is taught in detail by Master Tarot himself, so it is better we follow it. Then, the way to "hear" the Tarot "speaking" to us through the dialog of the the arcanas is also given when you study their relationships on the axes in the book of wisdom. You just have to apply the same principles, the same way to connect the arcanas between themselves. Both type of divination : the one leading to the contemplation of the absolutue nature, and the one helping to understand the relative conditions and use them as a vehicule for our spiritual elevation, both use the same principles. Divination is a deep science, but also it is a very natural process, so things become clear when you take time to receive fully the information and let the deep meaning reveal itself. This is divination, a natural process of revelation, all what you have to do is to be receptive, not to be impatient and jump too quicly to the next chapter.

So, when in a special occasion, one uses the original Tarot mandala for a consultation of the oracle, of course the 22 cards will find their place randomly; but if the diviner has knowledge of their original placements in what we call the the book of wisdom, this new sequence can make a lot of sense. Also, remember that ORAT - the inverted anagram of TARO - litteraly means he speaks, but also he prays or even better in that context, he begs us : he prays of beg for we understand what he wants to tell us... and belive me, He his bringing many great and joyfull news about our true nature and the real sense of life !

Also, if we want to read the Tarot and really desire to understand well what he wants to tell us, if we beg him to tell us the same way he begs us to understand what he has to tell us, then first of all it is better to know that what really matters for Master Tarot isn't to reveal future events - "bad news, good news" about vents which may happen on the material level, in the conditionned destiny of the consultant. He can also speak about that, because the seeds of what will happen  on the material level in the future, are now germinating in the subtle plane, and with the guidance of the Tarot, we can guess what subtle forces are at works, and what could be the possible results on the material and psychical levels according to the interactions of these forces. But in fact, if Master Tarot can to reveal  the hidden forces in the elements in action in the present situation of the consultant, if he shows clearly what are their relationships, if he teaches us how to deal or work intelligently with them, it is in order to help us to recognize how the situation can be favorable for our spiritual realisation. Master Tarot simply teaches us how we can consider - and decipher - the present situation as a reflection of our individual spiritual blossoming. That's why the "random" sequence used in a "relative divination" cession is always put in regard with the original sequence, as a primordial "house" with its definite emplacements as hosting "rooms" - like "houses" in astrology. Our ephemeral existence in this world based on limited dualistic view,  is a shadowy reflection of the Absolute Life, so we should connect the two aspects, the absolute and the relative, to expand our comprehension and receive the real meaning of life... 

Our spiritual expansion, the harmonious blossoming of our divine potentiality : that's what really matters for Master Tarot. Because finally, as we are taught in the langage of birds, divination is the path of divinisation.

According to Master Tarot, divination is the way to discover and perceive our secret and true nature, which is divine - that litteraly means you have to divine it ! Divine means transcendant. This is to say, the Pope of the Tarot points the fingers in direction of the stars of the arcana XVII, to show us the radiant principe of our original nature, which is non-dual emptiness and fullness, source of infinite love, beauty, goodness, compassion, and wisdom. To discover our true nature is the goal of life, and Master Tarot teaches us that is is possible to realize now, in the present circumstances and whatever the situation can look like. Though, as far as Original Tarology is concerned, we should always keep this in mind when we do a Tarot reading : this precious tool is a sacred means for spiritual blossoming, a support for inner revelations and a sure guide on the path to liberation. We should respect that and use the Tarot accordingly with this view ; then it can be really, really helpfull."

Omael