I am a hard and fast materialist and skeptic. I don’t for a second believe in the supernatural. But, I am very interested in the occult. In my studies, I have looked at the Tarot in great detail and I actually use them. Before you think I’ve gone off the deep end, let me explain.

Any divination tool can be used in two ways. The first is for fortune telling. This is what you get at the carnival sideshow, when you are told that a tall and dark stranger will meet you next week. This use, in my experience, is complete bullshit and no different from the cold readers who talk to your dear departed relatives. The other use for these tools is for divination. Divination is an attempt to get at currently unknown information. Most Tarot card users claim that this information is gleaned through a paranormal source or method. Of course, I don’t believe this. But, I do believe that Tarot cards can help in divining.

Imagine you have some issue in your life that you are troubled by. You try and you try to find a solution, but for whatever reason, you can’t find one immediately. When this happens to me, I find that I get trapped in a very deep mental rut. Every time I think through the issue, my thoughts end up following the exact same thread. When this happens, I take out one of my decks of Tarot cards and do a reading. Usually, with one reading, I come to a different and more satisfying solution. But, if it isn’t magick, how does it work?

When you get stuck in a mental rut, what you need most is a way to generate new ideas. A system of divination does this by giving you a series of symbols with somewhat generic, yet still somewhat specific, meanings. You then need to take these symbols and their meanings and try to fit them into your life and the issue you are thinking about. This process forces you to make new connections between the various thoughts in your head. Any symbol system that has a set of symbols with generic meanings can be used in this way. Simply making a random selection of symbols and trying to fit them into the problem you are contemplating can open up many other possible solutions.

So, if you have a stubborn issue, give divination a try. You might be able to find a solution that comes completely out of left-field.