READING WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING: SITUATIONS WHEN DIVINATION PRESCRIPTIONS FAIL

I had a conversation with a dear colleague and diviner a couple of days ago where she shared the frustrating phenomenon where someone comes for a reading, receives advices and a prescription from her spirits—then chooses not to comply. I shared that she is not alone in this. I encounter it too. I think some of this has to do with the fact that people come to an indigenous (especially ATR/ADR reader) and expect fortune-telling. A lot of people have gone to spiritual fairs (myself included), and the majority of fair diviners read this way. In all the times I have gotten these types of reading, not once was I given any prescription to address my situation or problem as they saw it. I felt like they wanted me to be amazed by the accuracy of their reading alone. But the spiritual culture I belong to does not settle for the oohs and aahhs of fortune-telling alone. Indigenous readers pair divination with prescriptions. Telling the future is sometimes part of it, but the most important part is receiving concrete guidance for life.

The second part of this, of people not following through on what was advised, is more on us readers to be up front about how these traditions work in consultation. Some of us are not, and that’s part of the problem. That issue aside, the important thing to realize is, when you read with us, once the prescriptions are given a clock begins to tick on your situation. We call the phenomenon “being marked.” Once the solution is marked, it needs to be addressed in short order. When a person blows this off, nothing is going to change for the better. The problems will linger and likely grow in strength and intensity, especially if a spirit is the culprit. That spirit will see what you’re trying to do and dig in harder.

I do know and understand that money is tight these days. Sometimes a complex ritual is costly. If you know coming to a reading that you are in this situation, state this up front. Then the reader can account for it and check with their spirits for alternatives on your behalf. But if this is not part of the conversation and the situation gets marked, then the options become limited. Not doing the work also means that when you do get around to deciding you want it done, now the situation has to be read again. The delay of response on your part has the same aforementioned consequence in that that what was indicated before may not work because things have been allowed to negatively marinate. Hearing all of this, I would advise a person to go only when they are ready, willing and able to do what it takes to fix their situation.

In conclusion, most spiritual workers know things change. The more complex a working is, the more we have to attend to it like a vigil. This is similar to what happens during a reading like this. Things don’t typically change during a reading, because that reading is like a snapshot on your situation. But delaying the work can put you in a situation where circumstances change to an extent that you have to start from scratch. That juice just is not worth the squeeze.