This is a perspectives prompt that was offered up recently by one of the Discord servers that I’m a member of. Question: “How do you think divination works? To give some context to the question – there are various models I know of. For instance, some say that your tarot deck connections to The Universe. What do you think?“

I get this question often with long-term clients, and the thing is? That “where does the message come from?” question is actually pretty common when you read for others. The thing is, the answer is different for everyone depending on their beliefs, their skillset, and their sensitivities. Some options are…

1) The Universe – This includes but is not limited to God, other deity, divinity of all forms, and other “universal” energies or personalities. The way that I see divinity is that it is essentially the energies of creation, evolution, and balance in all things. People interpret these energies differently depending on their belief system and to parse out what “parts and pieces” of these energies they specifically want to deal with.

2) The Dead (whether it is the individual or their residual energy) – Mediumship is a thing. There are those that receive messages from the dead as their main source of divination. There are others that the dead surely influence their readings without them even realizing.

3) Guiding Spirits – This could include the dead and ancestors, but also includes the Fae, angels, demons, and other entities that are there in the background to help guide and protect you.

4) Other Entities – Sometimes mischief makers can influence a reading. These aren’t guiding spirits so much as entities out for their own agendas. Most people who encounter this issue, in my experience, find that they were divining just fine and then suddenly find that their deck/pendulum/etc is “acting up”. They cleanse the deck and in the process end up repelling the entity regardless of the fact that the entity is probably not residing in the tool being used.

5) The Subconscious – Our brains are busy working things out all the time in the background, and we don’t even realize it. Sometimes the messages we receive from divination come straight out of that dark inner working of gears, no external influences involved. This also includes communicating with your inner child and other parts of your past and present self.

6) Our Intuition – That mysterious “inner knowing” we all have. Some tap into it more easily than others, and some use divination to translate what their intuition has to say.

7) Clair-senses and Other Abilities – Much like with one’s intuition, sometimes these “other” abilities can be hard to understand and interpret without a little help. Divination can often provide that intermediary / translator needed in these situations.

I see divination as a bridge between languages. The languages of the above sources… and your conscious mind and understanding. Whether it’s pendulums, tarot cards, scrying, automatic writing, etc… the divination method is meant to help you better understand what needs to be seen, heard, or understood. It’s there to help you communicate with yourself and these other entities, elements, and energies.