Dispatches from a Diviner: Part 1
A candid photo during a Divination. The stick is reading the “korkor” piece, which represents work and abundance.
A Taxi Driver For Spirit
My teacher sometimes describes the work of a Diviner, is like being a taxi driver for the Spirits. We do our rituals to open the space, which is like flipping the switch that lights up the “Taxi” sign, showing we’re open for business.
The person receiving a Divination sets the course through the information they’ve infused into the coin.
And then, whatever spirits have messages to share to help illuminate the path ahead, jump in the back of the cab for a part of the journey, whisper their teachings into the ears, heart, and mind of the Diviner, and we do our best to transmit the information with our limited language.
There is no guidebook to be a Diviner. There are no sign posts to chart the path. And if you ever get flummoxed enough to ask a specific question, like “what am I supposed to do with this situation?!?” The answer is almost always, “Have you asked the stick? have you spoken with the shells? Trust the Stick. Listen to the Shells.”
So, it’s easy to doubt ones self on the journey of becoming a Diviner. To wonder if I am just making this stuff up as I go, or if I just have a very active imagination. It’s a fair question, and a well placed critique for those that may be skeptics.
This article, shares a few poignant stories, that helped me to build trust in my own medicine, and illustrates some of the strange ways that spirit flows through this work, and our lives.
Special Delivery
Soon after initiation, the new Diviner is required to host a ceremonial gathering, inviting all of their friends and family to celebrate the new Diviner in the family. I chose to host my gathering at my Grandmother’s home, in my home town, and I set up a little Divination station between my late Grandfather’s workshop, and the beautiful garden that my father still tends for my Grandma every year.
At the gathering, while folks are arriving, breaking bread, and socializing, I stay in my Divination station all day, doing back-to-back Divinations until I can’t continue - or until there is no one left waiting for a Divination. I did about 12-14 Divinations on this day, over the course of about 10 hours.
I was Divining for a woman friend of mine, when something very powerful began to be revealed. Her husband, also a friend, was at the gathering also but it was just me and her in the session.
The korkor piece was speaking. About work. About sustenance. About abundance. But it wasn’t speaking about career. It was speaking about motherhood. But as far as I knew, she wasn’t a mother. And she hadn’t told me she was pregnant. And I was really hesitant to go out on a limb with this kind of an “update” to her.
So as eloquently as I could, I shared the information that spirit was showing me, wrapped in a metaphor about tending the seeds we plant in life, about how the work of life is so much more than what we earn, but it’s what we create from our depths, and so on… It landed well, we shared as sweet hug as the session ended. All was well.
The next person to come for Divination was her husband. As the Divination began, the same piece, korkor, came thru, also speaking of work, and the struggle for balance in his life. And as I dialogued with him, to understand more about what wanted to be revealed and opened, he shared with me, that he and his wife had just learned that they were pregnant, and the new baby on the way was creating an immense shift in the energies of their life.
Hearing this, I immediately asked his permission to have his wife join the remainder of the session, and I shared with both of them that I was reluctant to share it during her session - but that spirit had shown me very clearly, that they had a baby on the way, and that there was much to share about this situation that was coming through for both of them.
I can’t really explain how profound this experience was for me. To have what felt like a premonition about pregnancy, and choosing not to share it directly because I didn’t trust myself enough - only to have it revealed by them directly only minutes later - affirming that the sometimes hard to grasp or difficult to reveal truths, are quite often based in reality. Though I may never know how this really works.
A Whispered Quest
A good friend of mine was launching a campaign for public office. He came to me for a Divination to help wayfind through some difficult decisions along the way.
Just days before this Divination, I had just activated a new Shrine, and integrated an entirely new and unbelievably powerful being into my “unseen team.” The being is the sky god, the keeper of the rains, the gatekeeper of the realms beyond Earth.
When I learned about this being, I could not help but be reminded of the Egyptian God of Wisdom, Djehuti, or Thoth. In esoteric traditions, he is referred to as Hermes Trismegistus.
So, in this Divination, as a very potent transmission was coming through about my friend’s Grandfathers, that were needing his support to liberate them from an energetic tunnel of sorts in which they were trapped - I could very clearly sense that much of the transmission was coming through this new being in my team - not just from his Ancestors.
But I didn’t share that with him, it was new, and vulnerable for me to even feel this energy activated in a Divination.
About a week later, I received a letter in the mail. It was the quarter that he spoke into for the Divination, with a note attached, explaining to me that directly following our session, a series of unexplainable messages were shared with him.
He couldn’t really explain what it was, but he “heard a voice” speaking directly to his mind, and he was certain that this voice was the Roman God Mercury, or Greek God Hermes, also known as the Egyptian God Thoth.
And this voice gave him very specific instructions, to go to the Rosicrucian Library, and search for a hidden text on the Rites of Memphis (an obscure ritual in Freemasonry, in which this friend is a 33rd degree Mason).
The voice was directing him moment by moment. Go to this place. Ask the librarian this question. Not that book. Keep looking. Ask her again, a different question. And eventually, through following this guidance from beyond, listening to the voice of Mercury, he discovered a hidden history of Freemasonry in the San Jose, CA area.
Even more profound, he discovered that his Great-Grandfather, was a Freemason, and had been known for having brought the Rites of Memphis to the USA generations ago.
As if that wasn’t enough, the journey continued for him. The voice continued guiding him in how to complete his rituals. He was running for County Assessor, the position that governs the real property surveys and valuations of all land in the County. And he needed to do a ritual on a mountain, to let go of an old story, and ask the mountain to help him bring a new story to life.
And the place where this voice guided him to perform the ritual, was near the summit of Mt. Diablo in California. And in the process, he stumbled upon the Mount Diablo Meridian. A survey point, established in 1851, which became the primary land survey reference point for most of Northern California, and all of the State of Nevada.
I couldn’t attempt to make-up a more far-fetched story about how Divination can lead to profound discoveries in our lives.
The Stone From The Wild
Just days ago, I had met the woman that would become my beloved, but at this moment we were still just getting to know each other. Everything about our meeting and encounter seemed almost too good to be true.
In our first conversation, I was sharing a bit about my work as a Diviner, and how I communicated with the unseen spirit world, to connect with Ancestors and open the way for healing.
This information was a bit unsettling for her. She shared that in most cases if someone started to speak of magic and spirit, she would run away. Partly out of fear, and also disbelief.
About a week into our journey, we were on her back patio late at night, talking again about Ancestors, healing, and Divination. When out of nowhere, a stone about the size of a walnut seemingly fell from the sky.
Her patio was open to the elements, but fully covered under a roof structure. It was very disorienting to understand how a fairly large stone could just fall from above.
Then, I saw it. A large gecko, peering at me from a rafter above. Clearly watching to make sure that we noticed that the stone didn’t just fall from above. It was a gift from the wild.
I told her what I saw. She looked up and saw the gecko also. And after being seen by both of us, the gecko disappeared into the night.
I shared with her that in Dagara cosmology, stones carry the element of the Mountain, the keeper of our stories. And I told her that it seemed that this stone was gifted to her directly by the Wild, so that she could begin to understand the story of her relationship to magic, Ancestors, and Divination.
I invited her to consider that this may be a sign that it’s time for her to receive a Divination. In the moment I said this, a huge lightning strike lit up the sky behind me. “Look, lightning!” she said.
As she decided that she was open to receive a Divination, I started to ask how to make this happen. I did not have my kit. I didn’t have my Divination tools. All I had with me was my bell and my shells - two tools I always travel with.
Then I remembered a story from another Diviner, who was called to do a Divination while traveling abroad, and she was guided to create drawings of each piece, and Divine with the images in place of the pieces.
It just so happened that my soon to be girlfriend was a talented artist. So I suggested that she help me to illustrate the pieces as I described them. Another lightning strike as I said this. It seemed that spirit was blessing the conversation and decisions step by step.
All of this initiated by a stone from the wild.
These are just three small vignettes illustrating some of the profound experiences that have helped me to cultivate a deep trust in this work, and my path as a Diviner. I’ll share more over time, in this series of Dispatches From A Diviner.
A Sacred Effort to Open the Way
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