Are you stuck on a problem, in a rut, or need a more creative insight to a life challenge? This is a good time for shamanic divination.

Creativity is all about leaving structure, assumptions, and expectations behind and allowing ourselves the freedom to see patterns in a new way. This is what divination is all about. Divination has been used for tens of thousands of years in shamanic cultures to find creative solutions and hidden knowledge in life-and-death situations of the times. It is equally effective today to find imaginative and much-needed approaches to our personal and communal needs.

Divination is different from prophecy in that it does not attempt to foretell or influence the future. It simply gives us a broader view of what is happening around us and the opportunity to respond in perhaps a more useful way than we would otherwise. The best-known form

of shamanic divination is the Journey to meet with healing spirits for their wisdom and help. Divination can also come in many other forms, from reading tea leaves and signs in nature, to casting a “throw” of objects and noting how they land, to reading pictures, symbols, or oracle cards, to opening a book and seeing what sentence catches our eye.

There are two keys to successful divination of any kind. One is have a clear intention or question for the divination to answer, and the other is to have an open and creative mind, unattached to outcomes – in other words, to get out of our own way and allow the hidden  knowledge to come through.

Curious? Give divination a try right now using a simple picture. Follow these steps:

1. Set an intention. It can be a question as simple as, “What do I need to know about ________?”
2. Relax and open your mind to the compassionate wisdom of the Universe.
3. Look at the Stone Beings photograph above, and write down four things you notice about the photo. It could be the subject of the picture, a feeling, a pattern, a color, or a picture within the picture… anything.
4. Then ask yourself how these four things relate to your question. Summarize in one sentence the collective answer they give you.
5. Thank the Stone Beings and the Universe for the help you have received, and put your new information to good use.

Divination is fun and it is also serious business. It can give us answers we have long been looking for and new understanding of challenging situations. It can boost our creativity or simply confirm what we already know. Whenever you fall short of resourceful thinking or need a new perspective, the ancient art of divination just may give you exactly what you need.