The Ifa Divination System

UNESCO: Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – 2008 URL: www.unesco.org Description: The Ifa divination system, which makes use of an extensive corpus of texts and mathematical formulas, is practiced among Yoruba communities and by the African diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean. The word Ifa refers to the mystical figure Ifa or Orunmila, regarded by the Yoruba as the deity of wisdom and intellectual development. In contrast to other forms of divination in the region that employ spirit mediumship, Ifa divination does not rely on a person having oracular powers but rather on a system of signs that are interpreted by a diviner, the Ifa priest or babalawo, literally the priests father. The Ifa divination system is applied whenever an important individual or collective decision has to be made. The Ifa literary corpus, called odu, consists of 256 parts subdivided into verses called ese, whose exact number is unknown as they are constantly increasing (there are around 800 ese per odu). Each of the 256 odu has its specific divination signature, which is determined by the babalawo using sacred palm-nuts and a divination chain. The ese, considered the most important part of Ifa divination, are chanted by the priests in poetic language. The ese reflect Yoruba history, language, beliefs, cosmovision and contemporary social issues. The knowledge of Ifa has been preserved within Yoruba communities and transmitted among Ifa priests. Under the
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Skepticism and Alternative, Spiritual and Divination Practices

Keeping an open mind, but deciding for yourself

It's healthy to have a little bit of skepticism when learning about alternatitive practices
It's healthy to have a bit of skepticism when learning new things

I recently got into a bit of an argument with a forum owner who I shall not name, that posted some healing and psychic art (using radionics, something I know only a little about).
I stared at the picture as directed and it did not have much effect, except that I felt a little sick, so I noted this on the forum, and asked if perhaps I was doing something wrong.

Unfortunately the forum owner got very defensive for some reason, and named me as a skeptic, which is rather ironic since I am a practising Pagan, healer and diviner among other things, own a Wiccan and Pagan shop, and have a team of psychics!

I responded politely saying that I was a little skeptical, but also open minded and ready to be shown differently, and pointed out the value of a little bit of scepticism.  He took offence and tried to start a flame war with me which was shocking to me, firstly as the forum purports to be about healing and I was very upset by the interaction, and secondly, being a very peaceful and also diplomatic person, I have never had that reaction before!

Anyway the reason I bring this up is because sometimes when I talk with friends who are not into alternative and spiritual practices such as myself, they assume that I believe everything I hear without questioning.  Actually I am quite a sceptical person, (but I’m not a sceptic which means something different!) and so when looking into a new practice (eg tarot card readings, astral travelling, seeing auras, reiki healing) I do keep an open mind, but won’t totally believe it until I’ve seen the results for myself. (which I have for all those things).

Psychic Girl with a Radio MindThat doesn’t mean that I think that just because something doesn’t work for me, it doesn’t work for anyone, but the point I’m trying to make is it is good to be a little sceptical, as long as you can keep enough of an open mind to give things a fair chance.

Don’t just accept what anyone says, (including me!) listen carefully and have an open mind, try it for yourself and then decide!!  Most psychics usually are quite sceptical people, that’s how you know when something really works!

I’m currently learning Pendulum dowsing from Sig Lonegren and his pendulum diving kit (highly recommended!) and he sums it up nicely, under a chapter called ‘Think for yourself’

“In order to think for yourself, you must first be able to listen to others, then make up your own mind to the validity of what you have heard.  I am open to what you have to say, but ultimately I’ll make up my own mind, thank you.”

What are your thoughts? Have you been called a skeptic? Do your friends think you believe in everything and anything?  Do you think some scepticism is healthy or not?

Find out more about my Psychic Readers

STORMJEWEL

When choosing a psychic reader, its important to pick someone who can really help with your problem or situation, and to choose a reader who you can connect well with.

On many psychic sites you will find a very brief description of the psychics and clairvoyants.  Whilst it is certainly possible to find a good reader this way, it really helps if you can find out more details, and discover what methods of divination they specialise in, whether that be tarot cards, crystal balls, clairaudience or whatever.

Maria

Because of this I have put down very good details about my small psychic email readers. Find out about amazing Maria who has had her gifts since she was child and has had many satisfied customers. You can also read more about Evie who specializes in the matters of the heart and offers very empathetic readings. Or you can even know more about me and my journey with Tarot Card readings and how I have now fully embraced helping others by providing them readings.

Evie

It’s also great to see what others have said about my psychics, so take a look at their glowing testimonials when you scroll down to the bottom of this page.

I hope me and my team can help you better! I hope to see you soon!

Blessings

StormJewel

Text a psychic service now open!

Hey all

Update:

My Psychic Email Readings site is doing pretty well and we have been getting very good feedback. Me, Maria and Evie have been getting many orders for a 500 word reading, 1000 word or 1500 word email readings. I also do Love compatibility report for those who need know if their stars are lined up with someone.

Now for those looking for an indepth look into the coming 12 months, they can get a look by ordering a 12-Month Astrology Report from me. In connection to that they can also get an indepth psychic advice, tarot card reading and numerology from Maria.

On the other hand, I also provide a quick and easy way for those who are in the UK to get a one question, one answer text reading!

Why might you need psychic advice by text?

You want to know if:
You will be famous or your band will be signed
Your crush likes you back
If you can trust someone
If you should take that job or look for a new path in life
Where to meet that special person
You will be rich

Or any other question that comes to mind! For a detailed reading its best to order from our site, but for a bit of fun or a quick answer, send my text team a message – please visit my psychic readings website for more details or to try some free online mini readings, yoga lessons, what method of divination is best for you, feng shui tutorial and more!

Tips and Tricks for the Tarot

Is the Tarot for you?

The Tarot is an excellent tool and method of divination for most people as it combines pictures and stories. If you are wondering whether you will be able to predict accurately, the answer is most likely yes as we all have intuitive powers, it’s just a question of developing them and finding out the best way for you to channel that intuitive knowledge into something you can interpret.

The tarot cards offer a space and place for the imagination, somewhere where imagery and dreams can be explored for divination, for meditation and for therapy and will provide you with lots of entertainment and a method to gain and give advice and if you decide to take it further it can even be a way of making money.

There’s lot’s of information in books and on the internet so here I’ll try to give you some key points and tips that you may not find in other places – remember that a lot of things are subjective so you may end up reading different things in other books and you will soon begin to see which ideas you identify with and which you don’t.  Although each card does have a general meaning and feeling, even the interpretations you read will differ, and the most important thing is to pick the card meanings that feel intuitively right for you.  The more you do the tarot, the more you will become in touch with your intuition and so the better at readings you will become.

If you are a beginner I highly recommend my best selling item, the Tarot Box – it has a great book that teaches you how, a board that has a spread pattern and a brilliant easy to use deck for beginners.


How does the Tarot work?

But to take a step back, here is my view of the tarot.  I mentioned intuition and in my view what the tarot really is, is a means of interpreting what you or the person you are doing the reading for (sometimes called the querent) already consciously and/or subconsciously knows.  Though sometimes you will predict something that will really surprise you as no-one could have known it in advance, but even so your intuition is sensing it.  A lot of times if people come to you for advice (from the tarot or otherwise) they already know the answers but they just don’t know they know, or maybe they need someone to talk things through for the answers to come to the surface, and the same goes for yourself, mostly you probably do have the answers to your questions but they are obscured by the various things in life that make things unclear.

By using your intuition you can tune into this knowledge (and I will give you some tips on how to do this) and the tarot cards are thus your tools for making sense of what your intuition is telling you.

One thing that it is important to remember is that the future is not fixed.  The cards are best used to ask advice – and you can find out what is going to happen based on the actions that are currently being taken, but if you don’t like the answer you have the power to change the future by acting differently.  The tarot is great for exploring possible outcomes to situations, allowing you or the person you are reading for to choose the best course of action to take.

Ok so now that you have your cards what do you do?

For the cards to work best they need to have your energy attached to them. The more you handle them, the more your energy gets attached to the cards (a bit like the way jewellery worn next to the body absorbs some of your aura).  So as you are learning the meanings make sure to handle them a lot.

To give the best readings you need to ‘get into the zone’.  A good way to do this is by use of visualisation. I would suggest planting your feet flat on the floor (being outside is ideal or at least on the ground floor, but if this is not possible don’t worry it still works even if you are at the top of a high building), closing your eyes and taking some deep breaths.  Then imagine that you are a tree rooting yourself into the ground, imagine you have roots stretching deep into the ground and searching for water, or even raise your hands to the sky as if you are stretching to the sun – this may sound a bit odd but it certainly does help to ground you!  With practice you will start to feel your hands tingle – don’t worry if this doesn’t happen straight away. The more you practice this, the easier it will become, I now only have to think about it (mostly of the time, not always!) and I can feel energy tingling in my hands. You won’t have to do this before every reading, or you can just close your eyes when you are sitting down and imagine the same thing if you don’t want to look too weird when you have company! ;o)

Chakras
Chakras

The next thing to do is to visualise your chakras opening up one by one, like a flower – if you don’t know much about chakras have a look on the internet or get a book (although to make this work you don’t actually have to know a great deal about them, just a little bit).  In short, chakras are like energy centres in your body, they send and receive energy and information and are closely connected to emotions – when you feel a pain in your heart because you are heartbroken, this is your Heart Chakra signalling to you that something is wrong, unbalanced.  When you have a gut feeling this is your Solar Plexus indicating something is wrong – this chakra is particularly important for tarot readings as it is the one that links you to your intuition. Other important ones for readins are your Third Eye chakra, and also your Crown chakra (top of your head). By opening the chakras it makes it easier to sense things that allow you to do a correct reading. You can also hold the cards to your chakras to help your energy to be absorbed by them and to help you connect to the cards. Also, most readers (me included) believe that you should not let others touch your cards as this can interfere with the energies. Some readers let the querent pick out the cards, personally I prefer to pick them myself.

IMPORTANT: do not forget to close down your chakras afterwards (you can visualise them closing, and also if you like pass a hand over them). The reason is that if you do not close them you will leave yourself open and vulnerable to other people’s emotions.  I forgot to do this once after doing a reading for a friend that was breaking up with a boyfriend and I felt heartbroken myself all day – ok I was sad for her anyway but I felt as if it was happening to me – until I remembered I hadn’t closed them down, and once I had done that I was fine again.

That may seem like a lot of things to do and remember for readings, but you don’t always have to do all these things, and especially if you are just reading for fun it doesn’t really matter, but remembering these tips will certainly help with accuracy in readings and you can actually do things like open and close your chakras quite quickly.

Which spreads to use?

There are so many spreads to use it really is personal preference and what the situation requires,but here’s something I like to do – I have never read this anywhere but find it works really well.  If you are trying to understand someone better, follow the steps above, then think about them for a few minutes with the cards in your hands, then pick out just 1 card.  I’ve often found it really elucidates your understanding of the person, and is very accurate.  When I want a quick answer or am doing a fun reading for a friend I often use a three card spread – you can choose the meaning of each position of card yourself (before you select the cards from the deck), whether you want it to be past present and future or the current situation, what you should do and what can be the outcome, or whatever feels right.

Ethics and moral duty

When you read the tarot cards for others, you have a duty to be tactful in what you say, just as you would when you give advice. Sometimes the cards will reveal very strong meanings that cannot actually be said to the person/s and this is where you have licence to alter the truth.  I’ll give you an example – A few years ago I did a lighthearted reading for three friends of mine that had just moved into a new house together, they had no real question to ask so we just asked what the future of the house held.  The people were 2 boys and 1 girl. One of the boys (lets call him Jim) and the girl (lets call her Jane) had dated for years, then broke just under a year before moving in together.  At the time of moving in – unbeknown to Jim, Jane and the other boy (lets call him Terry) had got together.  I had an incling that this was going on, but Jim did not.  Well, the cards revealed all kinds of tensions very specifically saying how one person would be jealous as the other two’s connection would grow and much more stuff to this effect!

Well there was no way I could sit there and explain all this to the three of them as you can imagine! So I made something non commital up – the only choice in the circumstance.  I have heard many other tarot readers have similar stories and so the likelyhood is that at some point it will happen to you.  Similarly if you do see a reading with really bad news (I’m not talking about death or illness, this is very unlikely to present itself as a meaning to you) but some other bad circumstance to someone that is in a fragile state, use your judgement and be gentle about the way you tell the reading, perhaps soften it considerably and try to point out the best course of action to avoid it.

A word of advice

Some books will advise against readings for yourself, I disagree with this apart from one thing – I have found it impossible to do readings concerning my love life, particularly if it is a question of if someone likes me or not.  Stron desires and hopes can cloud the ability to read and often in these cases the cards are influenced by what you want to see, or you find yourself redoing the reading till you get the answer you want – of course you may be different, but just bear it in mind!

Finally…

Remember, the tarot cards are not only a fascinating and useful tool, they are fun and will often suprise you with the truths they reveal – enjoy!