What is divination?

Divination is one of those words that evokes immediate fear and condemnation for many people. I think this has a lot to do with the messaging from the Catholic Church. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, divination calls on help from Satan and/or demons. I don’t have the time or energy right now to go into all the ways organized religion is designed to maintain a hierarchy of power, but I will mention one. Before I do, I want to state, as I have before, that I understand organized religion is a beneficial way for many people to find community and connect with spirit. Organized religion also happens to be a source of trauma for many, which is saddening to me, because in many cases, this causes the hurt individuals to be cut off from exploring spirituality at all.

That said, let’s zero in on how Catholicism divides people into clerics (priests and religious leaders) and laity (“ordinary people”). The priest is the middle man for speaking to God (confession) and holy communion (Mass). This setup, with the priest as the intermediary, disempowers individuals from their spiritual birthright.

So, why might the Catholic Church misinform people about divination? Let’s turn to Don Jose Ruiz’s definition of divination which can be found in his book, The Medicine Bag: Shamanic Rituals & Ceremonies for Personal Transformation.

Divination is a type of language or conduit for communication, whether this is with spirits outside of yourself or with your own intuition. Divination can also help access your deeper, intuitive unconscious so that you can see new potentials and possible outcomes of specific choices or paths and find possibilities that the thinking/judging mind cannot perceive.

A form of communication that gets us out of our analytical minds and connected to our heart center? Yes, please!

There are many methods for divination, because there are many ways of being in this world. For centuries, people have used divination tools to connect with their true selves and higher helpers. Divination is an excellent entry point to developing your spiritual practice. It’s personal and empowering. If the word divination evokes fear in you, I invite you to explore the root of that fear. Fear is constricting. From an energy perspective, fear keeps us in lower frequencies of living. Disconnected from support and feeling disempowered. We are so used to living with fear, it’s become our comfort zone. I invite you to get curious about what’s beyond your comfort zone. What whispers from your true/soulful self could you hear with the help of divination?

On your own or with support, what will come of exploring?