Moonlight Mishap

As a native Chinese, I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with Westerners who do not possess even a basic grasp of the Chinese language tossing "I Ching" around as if it's nothing more than charm casting, dice, numerology, and hexagrams.

I'm working on a post about the virtues of using an oracle before spellcasting, but I decided to make this one first so I could link to it later on.

(I don't want to be doing any of this writing... I want to play video games... send help)

Basically, divination and spellcasting go really great together, and this post is about a simple way to start practicing that :)

If you'd like to have some fun with practical magic in your day-to-day life, and simultaneously practice divination for spellwork, try this!

Keep an eye out for little situations in your day to day life where you could work a spot of magic to make your day better. Keep an eye out for:

Personal irritations (ugh, this again…)

Nerves (oh yeah, that thing is today…)

Wants and whims (you know what would be great right now?)

Quality of life needs (if I just had a bit more energy…)

Inner chaos goblin (you know what would be wild? If…)

Whenever you have the thought, “oh yeah, I could do magic on that!” try using your oracle and intuition to judge how the situation will turn out if you do magic it.

Ask yourself how the situation will go if you magic it. Pause, and see if your intuition flows forth to provide an answer. Remember your impressions and feelings (write it down if you can & want to).

Use your oracle. Draw a card, a charm, etc. Interpret your oracle.

Compare your oracle to your intuition.

Optional: Do the magic and see what happens!

Before you start step 1 with your intuition, you may or may not want to formulate the actual magic you’d hypothetically employ. For example, I could generally ask, “what would happen if I spell this coffee?” Or, I could think, “what would happen if I put a spell on this coffee to make my manager so distracted that he forgets the deadline to file my pink slip?”

Quick and Dirty Tarot Supplement: Magic Oracle, with Ease!

Tarot sucks for practical, everyday questions. Or is that just me?

If tarot is still something you’re learning, or even if you’re quite good at it, it’s not going to be the easiest oracle to use for practical magic questions. “What happens if I make my manager distracted…. Judgement? What does that even mean?”

So here’s a quick DLC for your tarot cards. Feel free to use it when you want quick answers as to the outcome of magical operations.

Modify this DLC to your heart’s delight, it’s purely UPG and if any meaning doesn’t “click” for you, please feel free to change it in any way you like before trying it.

Major Arcana

Ignore reversals unless reversals have special meanings (Wheel of Fortune, Moon).

Fool: Risky proposal with unintended consequences; poor omen.

Magician: Your work will be powerful; good omen.

High Priestess: Your work will provide insight; neutral omen.

Empress: Your work will bring what is desired; good omen.

Emperor: Your work will bring what is needed; decent omen.

Hierophant: Your work will bring necessary education; neutral omen.

Lovers: Your work will put you on an unexpected path; decent omen.

Chariot: Your work will be successful with serious side-effects; neutral omen.

Strength: Your work will be powerful, side-effects may occur; good omen.

Hermit: Your work will fail; bad omen.

Wheel of Fortune, if upright: Amazing outcome, all success upon you; good omen.

Wheel of Fortune, if reversed: Awful outcome, woe be unto you; bad omen.

Justice: Success if your working is honorable; neutral omen.

Hanged Man: Your work will bring necessary insight; neutral omen.

Death: Your work will not manifest; bad omen.

Temperance: Your working will go very well; good omen.

Devil: Your working will go disastrously; worst omen.

Tower: Your working will cause destruction but plant the seed of something good; poor omen.

Star: Your working will not manifest immediately, but will still work later on; decent omen.

Moon, if upright and you are conjuring: Excellent outcome, all success upon you; good omen.

Moon, if upright and you are banishing: Ineffective, your spell will not manifest; bad omen.

Moon, if reversed and you are conjuring: Ineffective, your spell will not manifest; bad omen.

Moon, if reversed and you are banishing: Excellent outcome, all success upon you; bad omen.

Sun: Strong and clear outcome; good omen.

Judgement: This working will have serious consequences, beyond what you expect; bad omen.

World: Perfect manifestation; best omen.

Elemental Suits

Read the number of the card as order of magnitude or intensity. Aces may be high or low – choose ahead of time (in other words, the ace of a suit may be the weakest card, or the strongest. It’s up to you).

The pictures on the cards don’t count for this system! In order to keep it very simple, we’re reading elements and numbers, and that’s it.

Fire/Wands: Energy, spoons, passion, creativity, excitement, motivation, sex and sexual relationships. Opposed to water/cups.

Air/Swords: Intellect, rationality, reasoning, punishment, justice, boundaries, business relationships. Opposed to earth/pentacles.

Water/Cups: Emotions, romantic relationships, personal feelings, psychism and intuition, dreams, sleep. Opposed to fire/wands.

Earth/Pentacles:Money, household and job, comforts, prosperity, platonic relationships, luxuries, physical necessities. Opposed to air/swords.

Pip card rules:

Ignore reversals.

If the intent of your spell matches the element you drew, that’s a very good sign. E.g., you are asking for the outcome of a magical coffee for extra energy (Fire!), and you draw a Wands/Fire card, that’s goodand indicates a desired, successful outcome!

If the intent of your spell is opposite of the element you drew, that’s a negative outcome. E.g., you are asking for the outcome of a money spell (Earth!) and you draw a Swords/Air card, that’s bad and indicates an unsuccessful manifestation or bad side-effects.

If the element you draw is neither matching nor opposed to your spell intent, that is neutral. E.g., you are asking for the outcome of a candle spell to soothe your sleep (Water!), and you draw a Pentacles/Earth card, that indicates mixed success or a different-than-intended outcome; the kind of outcome is revealed by the suit (if I draw an Earth card for my dream spell that might mean I will sleep many hours without feeling rested; if I draw a Fire card it may mean I sleep deeply but feel drained by vivid dreams).

The higher the number of the pip card, the greater intensity of the outcome: a two-card is a very modest outcome, a five- or six-card is a very decent, expected outcome, and a ten-card is an intense and powerful outcome. Again, choose whether aces are high or low.

For example:

If I ask about an Earth-category spell and draw the 5 of Pentacles, that is a very good omen for success.

If I ask about an Earth-category spell and draw the 2 of Cups, that probably means really nothing is going to happen one way or another.

If I ask about an Earth-category spell and draw the 10 of Swords, that means this spell is a really bad idea.

Court Cards

Here, read court cards as a set of behaviors. If the spell is cast upon a person, it will be their behaviors. If the spell is cast around an area or is more generalized, it will be the behavior of the spell itself. Check the element of the suit to gain additional insight. As usual, ignore reversals.

Page: Subtle influence; learning, developing, watching, spying, and first steps of understanding.

Knight: Powerful force but perhaps applied incorrectly; rapid movement; quick development; little opportunity to correct the course.

Queen: Strong but gentle influence; wisely applied; room for changes or nonconformity.

King: Strong and evident influence; applied with no wiggle-room; things which cannot conform will act strangely; authoritarian forces.