Recently, I’ve been exploring correspondences and energy work with objects, and learning more about casting charms for divination. I was familiar with the idea of “casting bones”, and the folk tradition of tossing a spoon, but until I researched more deeply I didn’t realize how widespread and variable the practice of casting items for divining can be. In fact flipping a coin is a form of charm divination that almost everyone is already familiar with!
I really love how tactile and personal a charm collection can be, and wanted to share this as a topic for discussion here, and maybe even do some different castings or spreads.
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What is charm casting?
The ancient practice of casting charms for divination generally involves tossing a collection bones, teeth, charms, and other symbolic items - and interpreting how they fall. Each item carries its own meaning, and their positions in relation to each other provide insight into questions, situations, or guidance from the spirit world. -
What does a charm kit consist of?
Charms can be cast on their own or used with tarot, oracle cards, runes or anything else you wish. All you need are a handful of small charms or objects, a way to shuffle them (like a cup, bag, or your hand if there aren’t too many) and a surface to cast onto. Many people like to use a casting cloth with or without markings or a “spread” layout on it. I highly recommend trying out different spreads on paper and will try to get into that a bit later in this thread.Your charm kit can be as large or small as you like, and you may have a large set, but only throw some hand-picked items for a particular reading. A minimum working collection needs only include enough items to ‘jumble up’ to your own satisfaction. I prefer at least a dozen items at a minimum, but there is really no set number that is preferred or considered the best.
When choosing charms, you can include common symbols, personal signifiers, directional items, tokens of deities or spirits you are working with, mementos, anything that feels meaningful or symbolic. Making your kit can really be a treasure hunt of its own and an evolving part of your journey. You can also find etsy sellers and other vendors who specialize in charm kits or scoops to get you started.
You may be surprised how many items you already have in your house from tool kits, trinkets and old game board pieces to things you find on walks or new charms appearing to you as you go about your life. For me this is a big part of the joy & magic of using charms! -
What’s so great / unique about this type of casting?
Charms are very tactile objects, which makes them unique to work with compared to cards. They are not identical items and each has their own shape, material, physical weight and feeling in your hand and in the casting that can give so much additional information.
It all comes down to personal preference, as cards, runes, charms and other tools each have their own appeal and may speak to different people, or inform different facets and cycles of your practice. -
Finding meaning & using charm casting to inform your practice
Once you have collected some charms, you have to figure out how to interpret or read them, right?
One of the first ways I may determine the meaning of a charm is to simply hold it in the palm of my hand. Study it under the light. Think about where it came from, what its made of, what it might have been used for and what it means to you. When casting, the position an item falls in (how it points, whether it is upside down etc) brings in even more possibilities to interpret meaning from.For example, I have a brooch in my kit that is shaped like an arrow. This is an obvious directional indicator. It is also made of shiny metal with a pearl embellishment and has been owned by at least two other members of my family. So it may carry some extra layers of meaning for me there. And if it lands among or pointing to a cluster of items, say next to a coin, candy, and colorful items I may interpret that it is jewelry and precious, and the associations of wealth, abundance, etc are especially strong in that reading. Maybe the arrow has landed between a symbol of change and the clustered items that symbolize abundance, indicating a fresh opportunity on its way or a goal to work toward, and I may also have the blessing of my ancestors to pursue it or pointing me in that direction.
As you work more with your charms, the intricate dance of patterns and relationships between them will begin to unfold.One of my favorite ways to work with my charm collection is to draw and cast them with a question as a prompt for journaling or meditating on. I may have a question of personal significance or simply be open to messages, and working in this way you may notice patterns like certain items coming up very often while others rarely appear, or items appearing together often.
You may find that a certain item always falls outside the casting or always lands face down. Is that an item conveying a message, or is it not suited to be in your casting collection? Totally up to you!
You might prefer to keep a smaller collection like dice or tarot card tokens for casting separately or using only with certain castings.
You might even draw or print out a picture of each item as you add them to your collection to develop a personal key of their meanings.Another useful exercise is to write out some useful meanings on paper and then draw & place charms to correspond with them.This can help you assign meaning, and also develop a checklist for building a collection or figure out what may be missing from your collection. Apparently, I still need to find a good key charm, among others! This also allows you to be fairly precise while still flexible and personal in your readings.
Here is a blog post [Osteomancy Charm Chart by Suburban Refuge] with a simple checklist and layout that I got the idea from, but you can make your own with whatever meanings you want or need. For example if you’re using a casting cloth with quadrants for past, present, future and action needed, then you may not need charms for those things.Here is one I did recently with some of my charms:
And lastly, I recommend keeping around a list of common correspondences for things like stones, colors, symbols, dream imagery, etc simply a printout or page, & many books also include helpful sections of various correspondence. Here is a link to an etsy digital download that I use - Charm Casting Basics Booklet
There are many to be found right here on Spells8 too. Have fun exploring and building your personal dictionary and language of symbols along with your charm kit.One cautionary note: it can be appealing (especially as you get started) to add lots and lots of symbols and items you love while not including ones that feel negative, so consider that these all work together in creating pattern and meaning.
Balance is important. You probably wouldn’t want to regularly use a tarot deck that attempts to omit all the ‘bad’ cards, or one that includes one of every card but five copies of your favorite symbol, or a die that can never roll a one, would you? In that way, its important to make sure you have a good balance and diversity of items to read in your collection. I think of mine kind of like a balanced diet - lots of variety, many foundational symbols, and the occasional glass gummy bear as a treat. -
Disclaimers and additional information:
If you’re experienced with divination you will already know the basics of cleansing items and spaces before use. Remember the power of divination lies in your interpretations and how you choose to act and direct your energy, not the items or methods themselves. Always take messages you receive with a grain of salt, and do not use them alone to diagnose or determine major life decisions. Don’t take divination too seriously, especially as you work with new tools. Have fun exploring them and getting a feel for the method. There is no right or wrong way here.That said, if you want to explore different methods of divination, or are a magpie or corvid-minded person who already loves to pick up the odd rock, button, bead or lost trinket, then please consider joining in exploring charm casting with me! If you already collect charms or have tried charm casting, please join in and share your experiences! I would love to see what others include in their collections, spreads for casting, whatever you are up to and am sure it would make this thread more informative and inspiring.
The first of the two threads linked below, by @Amaris_Bane has some really wonderful information about assembling a collection, determining the meaning of charms, and casting and reading so I definitely suggest reading that as well.
Blessings, Rebecca aka Briar Rainwood
RESOURCES
Some previous threads here about casting charms -
An experiment with charm casting - Weekly Witchy Challenge Entry
Using charms with Tarot card readings?
Some useful videos about charm casting -
✶ CHARM CASTING ✶ An In-Depth ✶ MASTER GUIDE ✶ from Bits and Bobs divination
Charm Castings playlist from Emerald Lotus
Correspondences -
Osteomancy Charm Chart
Charm Casting Basics Booklet
