By Frances
A Junk Oracle is just that, reading junk or found objects. Sounds odd, I know but stepping out of your comfort zone of a familiar deck or oracle is fun and exciting at times and it stretches your mind and intuitive muscle. Reading different items builds your psychic pathways and takes you to places you never knew you could go.
I dove into casting through pessomancy and lithomancy which are casting pebbles and stones or gems and crystals. At first I would just grab a handful of stones into my cupped hands, think of my question and drop them on a dark cloth and read the pattern they made. My method is a form of augury very much like reading tea leaves “tasseomancy” or coffee grinds or sediment from red wine or even a flock of birds or some clouds. I began with pebbles I found at the beach or around our home but as time went by my method evolved and I added crystals and shells and other natural objects. I realized I didn't need to limit the medium, I could literally grab a handful of anything and read it. I read the image that emerges, the picture and the flow of the items so what does it matter if it is a stone or a candy heart?
My first readings utilized pebbles that were not polished so they didn't reflect light, their colors were muted and while there were variations in color there were no dramatic differences. While I paid close attention to the shape of each stone there wasn't much to interpret with color and light. However, when I added polished crystals and gems to the mix I added light and color and a new dimension to my readings. I love crystals and embrace their magic and as such their specific meanings also seeped into my readings.
When I first tried my hand at Junkomancy I looked around my home in search of …... what? My only criteria was that it be smaller than a quarter. I like shiny, colorful, pretty things but I didn't limit my search, I collected whatever I felt was small enough to be mixed into a bag. I have a 6yo daughter at home so you can imagine the treasure trove I found in a matter of minutes - a dolls shoe, a dolls panties, a small poodle, a metal leaf, a tiny mirror, marbles, shells, tiny money, a clothespin, toy birds, a snake, bat, tiny playing card, thimble, beads, skeleton, stamps, etc. I add to my pile of junk all of the time. Just the other day I found a couple of loose buttons and added that to my bag. When I add an item I look at it for a moment and think about what it could mean. One of the buttons was green it reminded me of Venus. Last night I found this tiny Lightning McQueen race car – perfect!
There are many ways you can approach Junkomancy. You may pick a set number of items and assign finite meanings to them or you may just grab a bunch of junk, drop them on a cloth and leave it up to your mind to map out. Some people create a unique casting cloth with specific patterns and they pay close attention to where an item lands. The pattern may be an astrological wheel or the image of the Qabalistic tree of life or a map of chakras or it may be as personal as a wish or dream board. They read the spot on the cloth as well as the item and then the combination of the two. I am a freeform kind of gal and despise putting any limitations on myself and my gifts, so I choose to reach in my bag, pick a handful of random junk, drop it on a blank cloth and see what I see. Remember that there is NO wrong way to do this - if there is another method that resonates more with you, than by all means, go for it. My method is far more simplistic and in my opinion, a highly intuitive approach ..... clear your mind, breathe, still your thoughts, think lightly on the question or subject, shake the items up in your cupped hands and drop them on a blank cloth. What do you see?
With Junkomancy I still read the pattern the throw makes but I also incorporate meanings I associate with different objects, with where they have fallen on my cloth, how they interact with each other, with colors, with how the light hits an object and anything else that hits my eye. Each object may mean something different to each of us and it is this unique set of meanings that sets our readings apart from one another and makes the whole process personal and extraordinary. You may look at something and it conjures deep archetypal meanings or you may just remember where you found the object and that may become it's meaning.
For example, I have a green butterfly that to me speaks of spring and creation. There is a glass bead that I have that looks like there is a dragonfly imprinted on it. There isn't but that is what I see. In some cultures dragonflies are frightening, harbingers of evil. To me they are whimsical and symbolize purity, strength and power. They are tenacious and represent change, renewal and self realization, also stopping and being present and in the moment because that is what happens when I see one. I stop and watch for a moment and forget where I am. This is what they mean to me, what do they mean to you? It is also important to remember that while this is what I may associate with a dragonfly on it's own that may change when I see it in a throw with other items. It may take on a more sinister meaning or something all together different. I might just focus on the blue color of the bead rather than the imagined dragonfly. Keep your mind open. Sortilege is deeply personal. It is what you see, associate and feel.