Years ago, while working at a psychic fair
I watched in amazement/curiosity as a friend set up her reading table. First she placed the candles, then the cards, then the timer, then a reading cloth. Lastly, she pulled a compass out of her bag to ensure that all objects were placed in the cardinal directions. When asked, she told me that unless everything was perfectly place, her readings wouldn’t be any good.
I told Erika the story and she told me how readers at her old shop used to come an hour early to set up. Like my friend, the accuracy of the readings apparently depended on the perfection of the setup. If you know Erika, you know that all she did was go in, pull out the cards and begin reading. And, the only preparation I do before a reading is to light a candle. There’s absolutely nothing magickal about the candle - it’s just a signal to my conscious/ego-driven brain that I’m now entering sacred space.
I’ve thought about this issue a lot over the last week and want to share a tiny - but important - example of how we, the mystics, are the magickal ones, not the tools we use.
It began with playing with charms.
I have very little experience with them, but wanted to see how they might help in my ancestral work. I tossed a handful into one hand, and randomly drew three with the other. They were: ghost, heart milagros, and fleur de lis.
The ghost is obvious - someone in spirit wanted to be a part of my experiment. The fleur de lis is a lily and a symbol long-associated with French royalty and culture - so I knew someone French or with French heritage was near.
It was the heart that I didn’t identify as a milagros even though Carrie Paris and I had included one in our Ofrenda Oracle, and they are quite common where I live.
Instead of the heart, I saw a pineapple. I’m not sure if my conscious mind or intuitive mind translated heart to pineapple, but it happened. And for me, a pineapple appearing this way is a symbol representing hospitality in colonial America. This drawing of the ‘pyne frute’ by John White, governor of the Colony of Roanoke (1587) is emblematic of the European fascination with this ‘exotic’ fruit.
Image courtesy of the British Museum
So what does this have to do with being magickal
and charm casting?
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