The psychology of Divination

We all know of the stereotype of the wise old sage gazing into her crystal ball to see visions of the past, present and future.

 Interpreting symbols and visions is something that most forms of divination seem to simmer down to. Deep introspection and the interpretation of the abstract visions found along the way in the subconscious mind. 

-Pendulums help our subconscious mind manifest into into yes and no responses 

-Tarot cards are all based off symbols and archetypes all found in the subconscious mind

-Crystal ball scrying is more of what I would describe as an interactive meditation with projections of the mind manifesting as visions in the ball.

My preferred divination method is through meditation

I used to regularly consult a shaman and participate in meditation courses where we used methods in meditation to access dream-like visions and also used meditation as a method of divination to answer our deepest questions.  

We breathed deeply until we were centered and entered this “zone”. We would then journey into our subconscious mind. Like a lucid dreaming state. If we had no particular question to ask and we just wanted to access deeper messages and wisdom from within we would just explore.

We would Imagine ourselves as another body within the mind and keep giving this body attention until It feels like you are really there. We then imagine a door to walk through and through that door you are faced with a journey into the subconscious mind containing characters, different settings and themes. Here is an example of one of the meditations that I experienced for example but its not necessary to read if you want to get to the point

Journeying meditation: “the emerald ring”

“I walked up the rough stone staircase and it was cool. There was a slight breeze in the air but it felt nice. At the top of the staircase was a door. It was made of aged deep red wood and the handle was vintage gold. I walked through and there was snow as far as I could see. I was barefoot and I remember my toes going numb and the snow becoming ice under the pressure of my body. I saw something glimmering in the vast white landscape. It was a ring. I picked it up, put it on my finger and kept walking. I heard a voice telling me to take it off and put it down. It told me that ownership is an empty illusion and that the true value comes in the moment. I listened and took the ring off. I looked at it again and I saw a beauty in it that I had not seen before. The loop of gold had a flat surface on the inside and had a gentle even curve on the outside and it was smooth to touch. 4 golden prongs grasped at a dark green emerald. The colors were so rich and the emerald was faceted so skillfully. I stayed here for a while admiring it. I put it down and moved on, still feeling more abundant than I initially felt when I put on the ring reminiscing on that place I had been scrying into the emerald. I kept walking and the feeling faded, I went back to appreciate the ring for a second time on the way back but I could not connect. It was just a ring.”

When I had returned from the meditation I felt wiser than before and this lesson is just what I needed at the time. What I had learned felt profound but how was I able to manifest that wisdom with no prior themes of these lessons consciously coming up in my life prior? 

I experienced plenty of psychic phenomena in these style of meditations including hearing sentences in languages that I didn't understand and had to google translate afterwards to see that they were fluent sentences in polish (my ancestry) and of course when we used these meditations as a form of divination and put each other at the center point of focus, we would pick up incredible insights and information from each other that both shocked the channel and the receiver. We would have visions of architecture, people, events and more from eachother.

Carl Jung made it clear about his beliefs that the subconscious mind reveals wisdom beyond our conscious mind which is a now acknowledged truth which remains mysterious in its depths.

“I am forced to admit that the unconscious is capable at times of manifesting an intelligence and purposiveness beyond our conscious insight.”

-CJ Cw volume 11

When we dig deeper into the unconscious mind, the more symbolic the nature of our understanding becomes as we come closer to our core, many refer to symbolism as the language of the unconscious mind. Through these visions closer to the core come more intuitive insights.

To best explain the journey inwards to greater wisdom I like to refer to the psyche as a circle with a core. The outer layer would be our conscious mind, the inner layer would be the unconscious mind and then there would be the core. The core is the key to expand your awareness and for divination you need to get as close to this core as you can for “clear vision” like focusing your eyes but bringing your awareness inwards journeying through the subconscious mind to get there.

When we are more centred and refine our energy as inwards as we can, this is where we have the most profound visions. Its a practice that takes time and patience.

To add to this, Jung in his book “memories dreams reflections” explored the properties of the mandala as a way to visualize the psyche. He Drew many mandalas describing them as “Cryptograms concerning the state of self” and that  “When I had been drawing mandalas, I saw that everything, all the paths that I had been following, all the steps that I had taken, were leading back to a single point” “It became increasingly clear to me that the mandala is the center” “There is no linear Evolution; there is only a circumambulation of the self. Uniform development exists, at most, only at the beginning; later, everything points towards center”

(for more on the significance of the mandala check out blog decoding the mysteries of ancient symbolism witch cymatics)

To receive these intuitive insights, the closest place that most people journey into the subconscious mind without meditation Is through the visions and symbols in dreams which just goes to show the intuitive power of our subconscious mind and the visions that can be explored here. With a dream interpretation practice you can access greater wisdom just like with a meditation practice through the interpretation of these symbols.

I believe that The depth of the visions that you experience are also determined by your general awareness levels. Day to day information gets stored in your subconscious mind and so with a higher information input due to a greater general awareness then surely that would mean that the symbols found in your subconscious mind would be of a greater refinement and therefore more focused intuition?

This makes levels of intuition something scalable, how far can our intuition reach? This is a matter cant be answered through external calculation. Only introspection. From me to you though, far enough to make it a paranormal matter to those that confine themselves to the material sciences.

We all use our intuition every day unconsciously, whats the harm in bringing it to the light and utilizing it consciously?

Amethyst and quartz merkaba pendulum

Buy Now

1-1 personalised meditation with Misia

Book Now