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| The Divination Nation Divas: Crystal Ravenwolf and Pleasant Gehman |
Welcome to the brand new
Divination Nation blog, and thanks for joining us on our "Fool's Journey"!
We are a duo of divination divas, “spiritual sisters from another mister”. Both of us are life-long Tarotistas, and absolutely obsessed with all things esoteric and paranormal. We’ve created this blog to share our knowledge and to connect with the vibrant worldwide metaphysical community.
A little bit of
background on us: we met and bonded in 2009 and the mutual affinity was so strong, we
haven’t looked back since! Crystal’s initial knowledge was handed down via
family heritage; Pleasant began her journey independently at age thirteen,
saving baby-sitting bucks to purchase her first Tarot deck via mail order. Aside
from Tarot, we practice many other forms of divination and metaphysical
disciplines, including pendulum work and dousing,Reiki and energy healing, crystal work, soul retrieval,
mediumship, and more. We read for clients, write, lecture and teach together as
well as working solo. As cray-cray as
it might sound, we both work “day jobs” as professional belly dancers, and
after our gigs we moonlight as paranormal investigators. Right now, we’re in
the process of manifesting a dream, working on our forthcoming book Walking The Tarot Path and the accompanying
Tarot Alimah deck.
Since we’d love for this blog to be relevant for
metaphysically-inclined peeps at every stage of development from absolute
beginners to seasoned professionals, our posts will range from basic concepts
and info that many of you are undoubtedly familiar with, to stuff that just might
make your head explode!
We hope this blog is as fun for you to read as it is
for us to write...Enjoy!
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| Pleasant's altar is equal parts vintage "Crazy Auntie" and "Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves" |
No matter what metaphysical genres you
practice, creating a sacred space for your work is hugely important. By setting
aside an area devoted solely to practicing your craft, you’ll enhance your
focus and clarity. Creating an environment that pleases your aesthetic; with
all your necessary tools within reach will help you to feel much more grounded,
enabling you to connect to your work mentally and emotionally.
There’s no specific right or
wrong way to create your unique space because our needs are all as individual
as we are. What works for one person could drive another person crazy. While some might prefer working in an orderly
modern space, others want a lush area fragrant with exotic incense, piled high with
pillows and completely cluttered with statuary and crystals.
It’s all about creating an environment where you can perform to the best of your abilities.
It’s all about creating an environment where you can perform to the best of your abilities.
Your space doesn’t need to be huge,
either. If you’re lucky enough to have
an extra room in your house functioning as your workspace, or actually have an
office or reading room outside your house, then you’re set! But for those who
are beginners or who don’t have this luxury, there are many ways to set aside
a small area that will be used specifically for your work.
Many people like to set up an altar in their
working area. If you’d like to do this,
it can be tucked away into a corner, or up on a shelf, or even on the top of a
dresser. Again, your altar can and should reflect
your own personal taste; there’s no specific way to make one, and it’s not a
requirement, either. It just provides a pleasing visual element that can help
you access your concentration and tune in to your inner voice. Your altar can
include candles, special talismans or charms, fresh or dried flowers, framed
art, statues, rocks and crystals, and personal mementos such as photos. We’ve seen some gorgeous altars that featured a small running fountain, and
many which are more religiously-oriented or that also included offerings to
ancestors, spirits or deities such as coins, jewelry, herbal sachets, pictures of saints, and the
like. Some people also like include their
tools for divination and magick on their altar, others keep them separate but
nearby.
Try to make your sacred space as
quiet and private as possible... it's not always easy to do this if you live in an urban area or have a large family, but even just the visual of the altar itself will provide some serenity.
If you’re doing card readings or performing any
sort of metaphysical practice for others in your home, it’s imperative to keep
the needs of your clients in mind because you want them to feel as comfortable,
relaxed and receptive as possible.You’ll definitely need a
table and a couple of chairs. You might
feel just fine kneeling at a coffee table or sitting on the floor to read, but
your clients probably won’t! Top your table with a pleasing tablecloth or
pretty piece of fabric, a couple of candles, and you’re good to go. If you live in a small abode, invest in a
sturdy folding table and a couple of chairs for your home readings
because not only can they be put away, they can double as portable
equipment when you’re doing readings outside your home. It’s a good idea to
keep a bag or small suit case with a couple of candles or LED lights and a tablecloth
stored with them- and don't forget to include your business cards- so you don’t have to scramble for appropriate
mood-enhancing accouterments when you’re on your way to a gig.
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| LA-based Tarot reader Lady Aquamarine working at her portable table |
We’ve seen reading or bodywork
areas in houses or at retail establishments that are cordoned off with
tapestries or beaded curtains, but this also isn’t a necessity. You do however, want
to make sure that there aren’t any unattended children or animals running
around, cause that’ll break the mood in two seconds flat! Also, bear in mind
that some of your clients may be allergic to your pets, so if you’ve got
animals, make sure you check with your clients prior having them over. Same goes for having fresh flowers or flowering plants
in your work space- some people are sensitive to them, and you certainly don’t
wanna have your client sneezing and sniffling their way through their reading! That being said, it’s always a good idea to
keep a box of Kleenex nearby, because many people can become quite emotional
during the course of a reading. Have some water or freshly brewed tea on hand for your
clients too, they’ll appreciate it, and it’s a nice hospitable gesture anyway.
Another thing to consider
when having clients come to your home is keeping your sacred space looking inviting
and exotic, but somewhat spiritually
neutral. It’s important to realize that certain objects many of us see as
“average” décor or as beautiful symbols of our beliefs might actually be off-putting to our
clients. Many customers, though
interested in having their cards read, chakras re-aligned or getting healed,
might be quite devout or raised in a standard
religion and they can potentially become genuinely frightened by seeing what they
consider to be symbols of Devil worship or
“evil” occult practices.
Case in point:
for years before Crystal had her own reading room set up in her house,
her living room was totally taken over by her vast array of divination tools, a
reading table and her altar, which contained her personal talismans, such as a
large crow’s wing and some other… shall we say… bits of nature. Oblivious to
the unusual look of her house, at one point, Crystal started wondering why her
teenage son wasn’t bringing girlfriends home to meet his mom. She knew he
was dating, and she fretted about the scenario for a while before finally
confronting him. When she finally asked why he never had his sweetie over, his
blunt answer shocked and amused her.
“Mom!” he said in
exasperation, “How can I bring girls over here? What the hell am I supposed to
say- don’t mind the pieces of dead animals
all over the place, my mom’s a witch?”
So if you happen to have a
lot of pentagrams, giant statues of
Baphomet or... uh... pieces of dead animals laying around, you might consider
moving them- at least temporarily- to
put your clients at ease. Of course you
should stick to your own beliefs, but consider those of your clients as well, especially if you’d like to make them
regular return customers!
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| Crystal reading in the elegant, spare space at at her home-away-from-home, The Cosmic Corral in Hanford, CA |
Visit our website: www.thedivinationnation.com
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