It is always wise to get a consultation before casting a spell. For the witch there is perhaps no greater consultant than that of divination. Divining before casting a spell can give you insight on whether you have the green light to go or whether you should go back to the drawing board and re-craft your spell. One of the quickest forms of divination for a spell is simply to consult a pendulum for “yes” and “no” questions. Pendulums are great “training wheels” for learning to listen to your intuition and trusting it. After working with a pendulum for a while, you’ll find that you already know what a pendulum will say before you use it.

However, if you’re looking for the best channels of energy to plug into your spell, divining with a more complex system can help you come up with the best “plan of attack” and help troubleshoot your spells. It should be no surprise that my preferred tool of divination is tarot. I thought I would share how I “spell-check” before performing a spell to ensure success. I begin by getting into a meditative state and shuffling my cards, focusing on my desired goal. For example, if I wanted to do a spell to receive a job promotion I would focus on that goal of a job promotion itself while internally projecting out a petition prayer. This is the one that I use, but feel free to adapt it to your spiritual path:

“By He and She who move as Ze
I shuffle these cards seeking clarity. 
Gods and Guides with eyes to see
Reveal the best path of magick for me.”

Then I lay out the cards into five card spread:

Position 1 – Which Type of Magick
Position 2 – Advice on the Magick
Position 3 – Possible Blockages
Position 4 – Best timing for Spell
Position 5 – Outcome if you perform the Magick

For position one, I divine the type of magick to perform based on the elemental suit that comes up. This helps me get a general idea of what the cards are recommending and incorporate it into my spell. I gain further insight based on the card itself. If I get a Major Arcana card, I refer to it’s astrological attributions and then translate that to the element that rules it. Here are some example of elemental associations with types of magick:

Pentacles (Earth) – Herb Magick, Crystal Magick, Poppet Magick & Knot Magick
Cups (Water) – Potions, Elixirs, Flower Essences & Washes
Wands (Fire) – Candle Magick, Sex Magick & Servitor Creation
Swords (Air) – Chanting Spells, Incantations, Petition Spells, Mantras & Meditation

For position four, best timing for the spell, I just simply refer to the astrological associations of timing associated with the card. If a spell isn’t seemingly working after a period of time, I’ll consult the cards and draw 3 cards meditating on the spell and asking for troubleshooting insight or what went wrong while projecting out the petition prayer again.

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