More Divination: Augury Birds, Psychic Writing, and Pendulum Use

What is augury and what are augury birds?

Augury can basically be described as an omen of the future shown to a seeker. There are different forms of augury, as one could imagine; however, the particular type of augury that we will be discussing today is augury in the form of birds' flight (or augury birds).

This is a form of divination that has been used for thousands of years, and particularly the ancient Celts used augury birds (birds' flight patterns) as a means of foretelling the future - most likely they were predicting if war was to come, how prosperous the crops would be, and things of this nature. But times have changed since our ancestors roamed the earth in animal skins, haven't they?

When learning the divination form of augury birds, you will want to keep it simple at first. Obviously if it's winter time and you live in a cold region of the world, you might not get to use this form of divination until next Spring or even the next time birds' migrations occur (until that time, read & learn!) Fortunately for me, I live in the South so I've been able to see many flocks of birds in their migratory patterns these past couple of weeks.

The way I began with augury birds divination is that I envisioned a particular question in my mind such as, "will tonight be calm or stressful?" And then I sat quietly and gazed up at the birds passing by in the air above me (I even did this while sitting in my car if you can believe it). The augury birds above me were flying in a particular direction; however, they were flying in and out of each other...creating swirling flight patterns that seemed to be quite chaotic. So I interpreted that to mean that though my night will be a typical night, there would be at least a little chaos and stress to go along with it. And...that interpretation was dead-on for that night!

Seems like a simple thing to do, right? Give it a try. You can interpret the augury birds' flight patterns as what comes naturally to you or you can look up particular interpretations in a book. A great book that discussed augury in one of the chapters is Cassandra Eason's "Complete Book of Magic" (amazon link posted to the right).

Psychic writing (also known as automatic writing) is another form of divination, mainly thought to communicate with the spirits or one's higher self. Many people believe that psychic writing can aid in one's communication with one's spirit guide; however, many more knowledged psychics will tell you that psychic writing is not a form of divination to "play around with" as it can open doors that might not be able to be closed (very similar to the ouija board).

If you are thinking of trying psychic writing, I say go for it; however, you most definitely want to do your research on psychic writing first. Also, before attempting psychic writing, you'll want to center, ground, and even envision a circle of white light around you for protection against negative energies or spirits. I think this is the mistake made by people who are merely playing around with psychic writing.

Psychic writing is the act of holding a pen or pencil (or even using a computer keyboard) and letting your mind go completely blank, writing without thinking. This act is believed to channel a spirit into one's hand or hands, or contact one's higher self for answers to certain questions.

Directions for psychic writing are fairly simple:

1. get a pen and piece of paper or journal (or computer keyboard)
2. use the opposite hand for psychic writing (or both on keyboard)
3. write (or type) your question at the top of the paper (or doc)
4. let your mind go completely blank (as if you are meditating) and hold your hands up off of the paper or keyboard (so that they are in the air and not laying on something)
5. let yourself write or type, without thinking of what's going onto the paper or computer doc.

That's it! Sometimes it takes a long time for anything to happen and many people say practice makes perfect with psychic writing. Again, be careful what you believe while psychic writing, and always protect yourself beforehand. Don't leave yourself open to negative energies or spirits to use you for amusement.

Pendulum use is one of the easiest and most readily available forms of divination out there, in my opinion. You can purchase a pendulum from a local metaphysical shop or online, or if you don't have the money to do so, you can simply use a necklace with a heavy pendant.

Pendulum use is a form of dowsing (another form of divination). Many people use a pendulum to determine if spirits or energies are present in certain environments, while others use penulums to answer specific questions about the present or future.

Pendulum use is simple, see directions below:

1. hold the pendulum or necklace in your projective hand (whatever hand you use most); let the pendulum or pendant hang down.
2. clear your mind. Once it's clear, visualize your question or purpose for this pendulum use.
3. try not to move your body or arm at all.
4. the pendulum or pendant will usually begin to spin in a certain direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise).
5. many people say that clockwise is a simple "yes" and counter-clockwise is a simple "no", but how you interpret the swinging of the pendulum is entirely up to you.