As I’ve immersed myself in this world of intention, & a spirituality that exists within and animates each and all of us, I’ve begun experimenting with different divination tools: oracle and tarot cards and the I-Ching. I’m not an accomplished reader, & I wouldn’t dream of reading for someone else, but when I get muddled and can’t hear the answers being handed to me (rather, more often being lovingly shouted at me), I find it helpful to focus my intention and my question on a favorite of these tools, and sometimes the effort of that focus alone is enough to bring me back to center.
The tool I’m loving right now is the I-Ching. The Chinese I-Ching, or “Book of Changes” is an ancient well of wisdom that teaches us how to create and work with change in ways that bring about our greater joy. Culturally, change seems to be one of the things we fear the most, and yet -- how insane is that? Change is what we’re here for. To adapt a favorite phrase from Shakespeare, “change itself is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.”
I work with two versions of the I-Ching: one a gorgeous recent translation of the original -- perhaps 3600-year-old -- text by Margaret J Pearson, and the second is an iPhone app. How’s that for integrating old worlds and new? The thing I love about both versions is that they present options to whatever fear is clouding my vision at the moment, whatever it is that’s getting between me and hearing my own inner truth. They put me back into a frame of mind where I’m choosing my response to events I have no control over.
As a final note, I recognize the cultural notion that these tools are “evil,” that they’re the work of the Devil. To that, all I want to say is that I believe you’ll find the Devil wherever you look for it. If you bring Light to your divination tools, you’ll see Light. Intention is, if not everything, then damn near.