#divination set

[somnambulant-seraphim]

I’ve finally been able to make myself a set of Elder Futhark runes! <|:^D It took a little while for me to figure out what to use to make them, since I needed a proper amount of small (somewhat uniform) objects. 

But then, when reorganizing my room, I remembered that I’ve got my dried up chestnut collection! So I drew the runes on them with a permanent marker. I mosty used the bigger ones, too try keep the sizes sort of similar. 

And to go with my new rune set, I made a drawstring pouch as well. I also figured out some bindrunes and handstitched them onto the fabric before fully assembing it. 

[ittybittydragonfox]

The Art of Creating Your Own Divination Method

Divination is not a cookie-cutter technique. It’s not one-size-fits-all. It’s not just tarot cards, rune stones, and pendulums. Divination has had thousands of methods across the world, and just because there are traditions doesn’t mean we have to follow them.

I often hear from new diviners that they’re struggling to read for themselves, or that they just don’t feel they’re connecting with the methods they have access to. So why not create your own? When I give this suggestion, I get a look of shock, awe, and sometimes even confusion. Real life shocked pikachu face. How would you go about it? What do I do?

Well, let’s talk about it. This here is a guide to help you get started.

What does “custom” mean? The first thing you need to realize about a customized divination method is that it belongs to you. No one else. It’s power is yours, it should serve you. Try things out until they feel right. And what feels right to you, is right for this system. What works for you is not for others to decide.

You know everything about yourself. More than even tarot will ever know. So use that knowledge to create a method of divination that plays on your strengths, mitigates your weaknesses, and turns your natural abilities and inclinations into an asset.

Deciding a Method Divination comes in many forms. Are you a physical person? Maybe you need to be shuffling cards or throwing stones or flipping coins. Are you an intellectual? Maybe you need to be interpreting the meanings in puzzles or creating patterns out of numbers. Whatever it is you’re good at,  make it a key aspect of your practice.

I, myself, am naturally a physical person. I can’t sit still. I need my hands to be doing something. So I chose a technique that involves movement. I have to shake my dice, and toss them around. But I’m also very good at seeing connections. So the proximity of the dice to each other on their given spaces on my mat changes the meaning of how I read.

Deciding on Tools Do you collect things? Do you assign special meaning to numbers or pictures or objects? Does your practice consider something to be sacred? Use those things in your new divination method.

As a child, I used to collect rocks. All rocks. I gave them names and meanings and would throw them around my room. Where they landed and what “face” they were showing (that rough patch on the side? that indent on the top? what about the smooth, shiny spot in the center?) told me what they were trying to say to me. In my new method of divining, I refined this with dice, and each number on the die is treated like the face of a stone. But it’s still just a glorified version of my stone throwing. And the spaces in my room are replaced with a hand-made mat, that has zones for certain aspects of a situation. I think in broad, sweeping strokes and refine my ideas later. The mat represents those broad strokes, and the dice are the intricate details.

Deciding on Mechanics What are your strengths? Lean into that and make your divination into something that turns them into an asset. Even mechanically. Are you naturally good at categorizing things? Create a mat with zones. Are you good at interpretation? Then leave a lot of room for it in your method. Good at finding pictures in the clouds? What do those pictures mean to you?

What are your weaknesses? Do you struggle with applying things to yourself? Create a method you consider objective. Do you love something so much it’s distracting? Find a way to either avoid using it, or to mitigate the distraction it causes.

I personally work in medicine, and I have a deep love of mythology. Both play an important role in my divination. And, I’m a Shinto-Pagan. Eastern philosophy (sourced from Japan, not western interpretation of it), is a key part of how interpretation works, on a fundamental level, for me. But, because I’m using a set of D&D dice, two dice have the number 12. Which is my favorite number. Whenever I see it, I play much more attention to it. Even though the associations with 12 have no more weight than any other number in my method. So to mitigate that hyperfocus, I’ve taken one dice and given it “positive” connotations, and the other “negative” for the number 12. So if 12 does pop up, it’s not always a good thing, and my urge to hone in on it will result in a more balanced reading, rather than an always-good one.

Give It Purpose Divination tools always have their strengths and weaknesses. Tarot is great for a detailed look at broad topics, but practitioners debate about whether “yes and no” questions are really best for it. So in what parts of your life do you need answers? What’s not covered in what you’re already doing? Do you want it to specialize in something or do you want a general tool?

My personal set is good for overlooking situations, and understanding the people around me, but it is not a “yes or no” type of set. It’s great at making lists of factors and seeing things as they are with clarity, but it doesn’t hand out solutions to problems. I use it to see where I’m at, rather than where I’m going.

Make It Yours This is the part where a lot of people just kinda give up. They hunt for the lore to back up their style, or for the traditional correspondences to line up. And I’m here to tell you that none of that matters. None of it.

What do you feel about the things you’ve chosen? If you want a method that will speak to you, you need to put yourself into it. What memories are invoked when you think of the symbols you’ve chosen? What do you associate with those animals you painted on those rocks? There’s your meaning. Use it. This is literally all about you!

If you want those traditional aspects to your divination, that’s okay. Just make sure they resonate with you, and that you’re not just adding them to feel legitimate. You can’t be an imposter when you’ve created something new and yours.

Give Yourself Room to Grow and to Fail Sometimes we don’t get things right on the first try. And that’s okay. Give yourself that space. And be willing to go back and make changes as you grow and learn how you work with this method best. Sometimes it takes a few shots. Sometimes, it just takes time. I spent six months making mine, even with all this understanding of who I am and what I’m good at. It’s okay to take time, to put your creativity to it’s limits, and to backtrack once in a while. Few things in magic work out in their first iteration; divination is no exception.

And there you go. It’s really as easy or as complicated as you want to make it. And in the end, you’ll have a full divination set, all your own, that speaks to you in ways it will never speak to others. I hope you have fun learning about how you divine, and how you can create something personal and meaningful through magic and your own power.

Happy creating!

Jake

[somnambulant-seraphim]

Here’s an updated version of my throwing divination set. I’ve added some new pieces to it and stitched some more symbols on the cloth mat for more specific readings <|:^)

↓↓↓ ⁂ Longer Process and Information Post Below! ⁂ ↓↓↓

If you don’t feel like reading, you can keep scrolling a bit :)

The stitching on the mat is definitely not the prettiest work I’ve done, the fabric is from an old shirt so it was kinda stretchy and annoying to work with. Also, I ended up having to usejust regular brown string, since I ran out of proper embroidery thread that matched the previous brown lines I stitched on a while ago, so that made things a bit rougher to sew with. I’m also not the best at freehand embroidery, but I’m still alright with the result  ʕ •ᴥ•ʔゝ♡

I’ll list the pieces and symbols and their meanings below, for my sake since I don’t have a final paper copy, as well as if anyone has suggestions on any more pieces for other meanings I should maybe add later ¯\_(●’◡’●)_/¯ 

·₊˚☆☽ ⚘ 𐐪𐑂 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐭 𐐪𐑂 ⚘ ☾☆˚₊·

***The mat has two circles, items landing within the inner circle are more directly involved, important or sooner in the reading. Items landing in the outer circle are less directly involved and items landing outside of both circles bear little to no involvment or relation.

It is also divided into the four seasons, which could literally realate to the season itself, or what the season represents: 

Snowflakes ❅ Winter- Solitude, potential negativity, death, standstill, rest, self reflection

Flowers ❀ Spring- Opportunities, potential, beginnings, life, renewal, hope, love, action, growth

Sun ☼ Summer- Positivity, joy, energy, power, productivity, full potenital, enjoyment, freedom, acceptance, love

Leaf ༄ Autumn- Abundance, work paying off, reaping benefits, wealth, change, maturity, gratitude

·₊˚☆☽ ⚘ 𐐪𐑂 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 𐐪𐑂 ⚘ ☾☆˚₊·

***Some pieces are coins or are two-sided items, which means they have different meanings depending on which side is facing up. Here’s the full list of pieces with meanings: 

Twine Person- The self, represents whoever the reading is for, set at the centre of the inner circle

Green Shell- Positive, affirmative, yes

Barnacle Shell- Negative, no

Acorn Caps- Wealth, materials, possessions

Black Crescent Moon- Emotions, feelings

Acorn Bottom- Growth, development, movement, process, work

Walnut- Wisdom, intelligence, matters of the mind, thinking, motivation, inspiration

Key- Truth, motives, true desires, true meanings, honesty

Penny (Tail Side)- Fate, unchangeable, established 

Penny (Head Side)- Your decision, changeable

Shark Tooth- Old, associated with the past, known, returning

Brown Pattern, Black-Rimmed Shell- New, involved with the future, unknown

Orangey Brown Pattern Shell- Love, sexuality, romance

Green Rock- Health, safety

Brown Rock- Realstionships, family, friends

Small, Stick Figure- Others, people, humanity

Black, Speckled Shell- Masuline, “masuline” traits

Brown, Pointed Shell- Feminine, “feminine” traits

Twenty Cent Euro (Person Side)- Few, less, weaker, milder

Twenty Cent Euro (Twenty Side)- Many, more, intense, stronger

Ammonite (Spiral Side)- Far, distant, slow, more time, approaching slower

Ammonite (Blanker Side)- Near, fast, approaching quicker, close, less time

Screw- Action, decisions, work

☽O☾ Take care, stay safe and have a good day! ☽O☾ ｡⋆₊˚ଘ(୨୧ᵕᴗᵕ)˚₊⋆｡

[somnambulant-seraphim]

Quite a while ago, I made this set of runes based off of the “witch’s runes”, which are a more modern set of runes probably created sometime during the nineteenth or twentieth century. 

I’ve seen multiple sources for these runes, some have more runes, some have less, and some substitute out certain runes for others. So with that, I’ve combined and chosen the information I’ve read to make my own set of witch’s runes. 

For the runes themselves, I just painted the symbols onto some polished stones. For the bag, I sewed a simple pouch shape and had kept it plain-looking for quite a while. Recently though, I decided to do some embroidery of some of the symbols on the outside of the bag. One side is done with grey thread and one side is done with a warm-toned brown thread. 

I would also like to make some more sets of runes in the future, especially an Elder Futhark rune set. But I’m happy that I was able to revisit these and add a little more of a personal touch to the set. 

[somnambulant-seraphim]

I made a little pouch a while ago to hold my throwing divination set, but now I’ve stitched on it for decoration. It’s not the most neat or meticulous work, but I did my best with the thread I had and I like how it turned out. + ☽ ✼ + ⋆ *

[somnambulant-seraphim]

A little pouch I crocheted yesterday. I just stitched the eye and star on with a yarn needle. It holds my pendulum I made a while ago from seashells and string. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out :)