Divination as Dialogue

I have filmed a whole 30 minute Youtube video on this topic, but thought it may be interesting to give it a written form as well for those who prefer reading to listening to unscripted thoughts :)

Divination as Communication

I want to talk about divination because I am a creator of oracle decks. That alone is reason enough. Divination is the context in which my work exists, and card based divination is the form I know most intimately. What follows is not meant to be a universal definition, but an invitation to consider divination from a specific angle, one that informs how I practice and why I make the creative choices I do.

For the purpose of this text, I am speaking about divination through cards. Not because other forms are less valid, but because this is the language I work in most fluently.

Divination Is Communication

At its core, divination is a method of communication. If something is communication, it implies a dialogue. And dialogue implies language.

When you approach divination as communication, you stop thinking of it as a system for extracting hidden data and start seeing it as an exchange. One side asks a question. The other responds. The task of the diviner is not to decode a puzzle, but to ask clearly and listen attentively.

Divination is asking a question and receiving an answer in a way you can understand. It is not crunching data. It is not analysis. It is not problem solving in the conventional sense. It is dialogue.

Receptivity Is Not Optional

To participate in any dialogue, you need to be receptive. Divination is no different.

On a basic level, this means entering a state where the ego steps aside. A state where you are not scrutinizing, evaluating, or judging what arises. When you sit in front of a spread, images may come to you, feelings may surface, words may form in your mouth before you have time to consider whether they make sense.

The practice is to let them come and to express them as they are.

The moment you begin asking yourself whether an impression is correct, sensible, or logical, you have left the receptive state. You are no longer listening. You are analyzing. And divination is not analysis.

This receptive state is fragile and overthinking pulls you out of it immediately. The more you try to control the message, the more distance you create between yourself and the dialogue you entered.

Intention Shapes the Language

When you understand divination as communication, intention becomes central.

When you pick up the cards, you are not just asking a question. You are also setting the conditions under which an answer will arrive. One of those conditions is language.

I believe divination should be approached with the intention to receive messages in a language you can understand in your current state. That means trusting that whatever is answering you will speak in symbols, images, or words that are accessible to you right now.

In my own practice, I do not frame the deck itself as the source of answers. I see the cards as a medium. The answer may come from a plant spirit, from nature, from the universe, from a deity, from a patron, or from another entity I trust. Wherever you believe the answer comes from, the principle remains the same. If the intention is set clearly, the message will arrive in a form you can grasp.

This also means that even if a card appears that you have never studied, never memorized, or never formally learned, you can trust that it carries a message you are capable of understanding in that moment. The understanding does not come from prior knowledge. It comes from the dialogue itself.

The Models of Magic and Where Divination Lives

I work with the idea of five models of magic: the psychological, the spiritual, the energetic, the meta, and the informational. I believe all of these models are true to some degree, and that we can choose which one we are operating within at any given time.

You can frame your entire practice within a single model if that is what resonates with you. Divination functions within all of them.

You can work with cards purely psychologically, using them as tools to explore your consciousness and subconsciousness. In that model, the answers come entirely from within.

But divination becomes more profound, and more interesting to me, when practiced within spiritual, energetic, or meta models. In those frameworks, communication happens with entities or intelligences outside of yourself. These entities can offer perspectives, insights, or information you may not otherwise have access to.

Neither approach is inherently superior. What matters is clarity about which model you are working within, and consistency in how you engage with it.

Choosing Who You Are Speaking With

If divination is communication, then it matters who you are speaking with.

Within the five models of magic, we can choose who we address. If the entity, spirit, deity, or higher self you call upon has your best interests at heart, the answer will come in a language you can understand without needing to consult external authorities.

To ensure this, it is best to call upon a specific name.

I often see people refer to their decks as the source of information. As an animist, I understand that perspective. Objects can have spirit. Tools can carry presence. But I do not believe the spirit of a deck alone has the depth of answers people are often seeking.

It is up to you to choose a second party that has the knowledge you are asking for and whose perspective you trust. This may be a deity, a patron, your higher self, the universe, or another entity entirely.

If you ask blindly into the ether, something may answer. And that something may not have your best interests at heart.

Card Meanings Are Vocabulary

Learning card meanings should be approached as building vocabulary, not memorizing a closed system.

Set meanings impose authorial intent. They give you a language that belongs to someone else and it may feel like they require you to memorize it before you are allowed to listen. This can be useful later, as an expansion of flexibility and expression, but it should not be the foundation.

When we learn a spoken language, we begin with basic concepts. Mother, father, love, hunger, need. Yes. No. We do not start with philosophy.

Tarot, especially in its archetypal structures, often operates on a very high level of abstraction. These concepts can be difficult to translate into everyday life without lived context.

Reading cards at face value through imagery, color, scene, and emotional tone allows the subconscious to select the symbols most relevant to the present moment.

Why My Decks Have No Meanings

This is why I chose not to include meanings or little white books in my decks.

I do not want to place the burden of learning a new symbolic language on the reader before they are allowed to begin. I believe you already possess sufficient intuitive vocabulary, associative ability, and lived knowledge to work with the cards immediately. You do not need to become an herbalist or a scholar first.

If you wish to expand your symbolic vocabulary later by studying herbalism, botany, folklore, archetypes, systems, or cultural meanings, that can be an enrichment. It should not be a prerequisite.

Trusting the Answer You Receive

When you post a spread online and ask others (or a guide book!) what it means, you are discarding the answer you were already given.

You are replacing a language meant specifically for you with the expectation of a universal language that everyone agrees upon. This almost always leads to overthinking, second guessing, and distancing yourself from the message that was accessible to you in the moment of the reading.

Divination is personal. Its language is contextual and its meaning is situated.

Meaning is built, not given.