A shield is an energy barrier between you and the world. It protects you from harm, provides a safe place to retreat when psychic noise gets too loud and can help when you're around incompatible people.
A ward is the same sort of energy barrier, but it is fixed in place, anchored to a location or an object. (I used to ward my truck and still ward my bus)
The simplest form of shield is to take the energy you centered in the last exercise and push it outward to make a small forcefield around your body. I tend to envision it as a light blue glow about half an inch from my skin. (I shield so forcefully that I fry electronics. I can't wear digital watches. When I worked for RGIS, on one memorable occasion, I went through three fully charged batteries in my handheld scanner, before my co workers needed a single replacement. Hearing aid and phone batteries don't last either.) My mental shield is a smooth, royal blue dome that encircles and protects me. I've known more than one psychic vampire, and can pull that particular trick myself. When Lydia and I go out to eat, we have to specify whether we're eating AT McDonalds or eating A McDonalds.
Wards come in several forms.
Gabriel's particular favorite is to start at the East and envision drawing a circle (or draw it with wand or athame). This is a shield. Then one is drawn one each of the quarters. And one above. Energy is sent into them and they join in a circle around the area and spread up into a dome to enclose the top.
I favor pillar, fence and dome wards.
Pillar wards: Envision a column of light at each corner of the room. Draw it up from the ground, starting at the East or South-East corner. Imagine these holding up the roof. They can spread and form walls as well, if you like. This is good for warding a single room.
Fence wards are often done around property. These are what I use on my bus. Starting in the East, draw a pentacle in the air, envisioning it as glowing, drawing on the energy of the land you are warding, with its lower points on the ground (for fixed locations). Next to it, draw another, its leftmost point touching the first's right point. Continue around the thing being warded. Close the circle of pentacles, and charge them, drawing up energy from the Earth, channeling it into the wards until they glow as brightly as you want.
I do a Dome ward as a pentacle as well. The point faces North. Draw it in the air over the item being warded with the points touching the Earth. Charge it the same way.
Now that we know how to stay safe from hitchhikers, who like our dimension because it is (psychically speaking) on the bus routes and closer to the shops [h/t Terry Prachett], we can begin divination.
Practically speaking, the cards, the runes, the bones, the tea leaves, the stars aren't going to tell the future. They tell you what you already know. They just give you a frame to hang it on for new insight.
We started with Tarot, since we all read the cards.
There are many different decks, and although they are mass produced pasteboard and really shouldn't, they all have different personalities. My Celtic deck is subtle and runs a little obscure. Robin Wood never lies, but unlike Gabriel's Tarot of the Witches, he doesn't slap you upside the head either. (We call Gabriel's deck the FU deck for a reason)
Every tarot deck has Major and Minor Arcana. The Minor have four suits, just as ordinary cards do, but 14 cards in a suit: the ace through ten, the page, knight, queen and king. The Major Arcana have 22 cards, each with a number and archetype.
The suits:
Swords (spades) are the cards of conflict, of intellect. They correspond to the element of Air. A reading full of swords show a person in trouble.
Wands (clubs) are the cards of passion, drive and inspiration, of spirituality. They correspond to the element of Fire. A reading with many wands is about creativity and spirituality.
Cups (hearts) are the cards of the heart and emotion. They are ruled by Water and a reading full of them is a barometer of the querent's emotional state.
Pentacles (diamonds) also called coins or discs are the cards of work and wealth. They are the Earth cards and generally good, although they may indicate materialism as well as benefits.
There are many good sites and books that cover card meanings. My favorite is Biddy Tarot.
We talked about some of our favorite spreads. I have a whole Pinterest Board devoted to this. If you are interested in how the pictured spreads are read, they are linked.
Gabriel demonstrated the Celtic Cross tarot spread
And the Two Path Spread.
A single card is set out, for the querent, and it is crossed with the second, the question
Three are dealt in a line to the left and three in a line to the right.
The first of each of these lines is the option
The second is the influences
The third is the outcome.
This is good for someone with an either/or question.
I use three
1) The Five card spread, good for a very specific question
2) The 16 card spread, for a life overview. We call this the "What You Need to Know" spre
Five sets of three cards are laid out, one set to each side, one top and one bottom and one in the middle. A 16th card is place at the upper right corner.
The set on the left is The Situation as it Stands. This is a summary of the present.
The top is What You Need to Know about the Situation. These are influences that you may not see.
The right is What You Can Control. This reassures the questioner of things they can do
The bottom is What You Can't Control (or Obstacles or Ways Your Brain Will Lie to You). This is the troublesome sector, because these are things opposing the querstioner that they cannot fix
The Middle is the Outcome. This is how it all comes out.
The lone card is the overall tone. It tells what is influencing all the cards.
3) The Wheel of the Year. This lays out sets of three cards, either in a circle of eight sets (for Sabbats) or 12 sets (for months) with an extra set in the middle. The Months are obvious. This is straight-up stuff to look for in that month. The three extra are the general things of the coming year.
Sabbats are as follows:
Yule: What is being born into your life
Imbolc: What is germinating, incubating, but not yet ready
Ostara: What you are planting in this year
Beltane: What you are creating for this year
Litha: What is growing in your life
Lughnasadh: What you are beginning to harvest
Mabon: What has come to full fruition
Samhain: What needs to die in your life.
Overall: The general tone of the year.
This is a complex and introspective spread
The kids' assignment (and yours if you like) was to do a One Card draw each day and meditate on the card.
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