Happy Saturday! For this week’s challenge, Divining Differently , I decided to try my hand at charm casting.
What is charm casting?
Charm casting is a divination method that uses objects to represent different things. They can include bones, charms, dice, pretty much any small object you want to include. These charms are then thrown onto a surface and where/how they land is interpreted.
It is believed that charm casting may have evolved from osteomancy, or divining answers from bones. There are no rules when it comes to charm casting. You can use whatever objects you want, decide what they mean to you, and interprete them how you feel called.
What do you need?
- Charms, trinkets, small objects to cast
- An object to stir or shuffle the objects, such as a box, bowl, or bag
- A surface to cast your charms on. This can simply be a table or you can use mats/paper with sections on it. It’s recommended to use something that has some wall or form of containment to keep the charms on the casting area. I often use my mat on a tray I found at Dollar Tree.
How many charms do I need?
Simple - however many you want! From my research, it’s recommended to start casting with only a few charms. While you may have many charms in your box, you will only select a few to cast. I have been doing a small handful that ranges from 5 to 15 charms. You will want to make sure you find a charm to represent yourself in the casting as well.
Write your charm meanings
Once you have your charms, you want to designate what they mean. Some may be literal, such as a house charm to represent your home. Others may give you a different meaning when you are working with them. While there are a lot of resources on the web that give recommend meanings, it’s ultimately up to you to decide what they mean. I used Emerald Lotus Divination’s charm list as a starting point.
Reading a cast
You have your charm meanings and have cast a few charms on your surface. Now what? There are a couple approaches to reading the cast.
1. Start with the “me” charm. Find the charm that represents you in the cast and start reading in a clockwise direction from there.
2. Start with the charm that catches your attention. If you don’t have a “me” charm or it wasn’t included in the cast, or just because, you can start with the charm that grabs your attention the most. From there work in a clockwise direction.
As you read the charms, pay attention to:
- Groupings: which charms are grouped together? Are there some ontop of others? Groupings generally tell a story of the charms together. For example, in my cast below, I have several charms that form a chain. Starting with the notebook, I read this as keeping track of myself (notebook on the Self position), I will build my confidence (crown) and peace of mind (sun). This process will allow me to nurture my relationships (lovebirds).
- Charms with direction: some charms have the ability to “point” towards others. Below, the Raven is touching the snake w/ moon charm pointing towards the leaf. To me, this means I need to use my courage (Raven) to overcome fears (snake w/moon) which leads to the end of cycles (leaf), likely negative cycles as the leaf is upside down.
I hope that this “lesson” on charm casting has been informative. I’m excited to continue exploring this method of divination and see where it leads me.
And so accessible too, I imagine most people have some type of trinkets or collection around they could use for charm casting.
Really great work! 
