LESSON 23
The Oracle Stone
In this lesson, you will build an additional magical implement (which will not be a part of your Oratory) and start to get acquainted with the practice of divination. At this point, it is not important to go into the questions of what, exactly, divination is; how it works; or what are the best circumstances under which it may be most effective. All you need to know at this time about divination is that it is a kind of intuitive perception. Divination helps you access information and potentialities that you would not normally be able to perceive or realize. Not with your everyday mode of consciousness, anyway. In short, divination is an extension of your intuitive faculties and your ability to access other modes of consciousness less bound by material life. By practicing divination, you will not only develop important skills for your occult work, but also benefit from a source of guidance in daily life.
First, you need to build your divination tool, which is called an Oracle Stone. Despite the dramatic name, the Oracle Stone is simply a small object that you can carry in your pocket and is able to return a binary value. The most simple and easy to acquire object of this kind is a normal coin. You can, if you prefer, use a different object, as long as you are able to manipulate it in such a way that it will give you a YES or NO answer to a question. You could use a die and assume that odd numbers mean YES while even numbers mean NO (or vice-versa); likewise, you could use a pack of playing cards; you could also make your own divinatory coin from cardboard or some other material. The possibilities are countless. Choose, or make, an object that you feel you will be able to come to think as a legitimate magical tool, and not just a vulgar trinket.
After selecting the object that will become your Oracle Stone, you need to consecrate it in the same way you did your Oratory implements. Use the following oration for the consecration:
Father-Mother of All
Send your light through me
to make this humble object
a true and sacred divinatory instrument
Let this Oracle Stone be a vessel and conduit
of your eternal and universal consciousness
so that I may receive impressions of everything
past, present, future, near, far, inner, outer, large and small
May the Stone guide me in the ways of the Mind
After consecrating the Stone, you will carry it with you at all times (within reason). Your first experiments with the Oracle Stone will be humble: use the Stone to help you overcome indecision over simple choices. Sometimes we waste a lot of time and energy making very simple and almost inconsequential choices. Choosing what to order for lunch, for instance, should ideally be a matter of seconds, not the greater part of an hour. Likewise deciding between two equally attractive pieces of clothing when shopping. Whenever you feel like you have trouble deciding between two options, ask the Stone. When there are more than two possible choices, ask the Stone about each option separately until you get a YES, then pick that one. This all will seem very puerile at first, but there are deeper reasons for acting in this way. Remember, you are not only learning to use a tool, but also working to develop certain abilities.
Spend the next week using the Stone (at least once a day) to make those kinds of trivial decisions for you. Record the uses you make of it in your magical journal. Try to actually follow the counsel of the Stone whenever you decide to use it, but exercise discretion always. Do try to discern the difference between decisions you should not be wasting time on, and seemingly simple decisions that have serious consequences. This perception is precisely one of the mental skills you will be training yourself to develop by using the Oracle Stone.