"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." 
~Albert Einstein~ 1879-1955

Sometimes we mere humans need to call upon the depth of understanding that various Oracles and Divination Tools make available to us.  An Oracle calls up Intuition around difficult questions and problems that logic alone can't handle, giving timeless advice from a universal perspective, as it has for thousands of years.

Offered below is some extremely interesting information about SYNCHRONICITY, Divination and its affect and influence on our Path of Life.  One of the tools that SerpentineMoon will encourage her protégés to take advantage of in their daily decision making is the Oracle and related Tools of Divination.

The Oracle in Context
"Every event we experience and every person we meet has been put in our path for a reason. When we awaken to this fundamental truth, we begin to understand that a benevolent force of energy is available to guide and direct our lives. I call this energy the unmistakable touch of grace."
Cheryl Richardson

Intuition, including intuition stimulated by oracles like Delphi in ancient Greece and the Book of Changes, or I Ching, throughout China's long history, has always been a key component of the most important and difficult decisions, including some of the greatest scientific discoveries. In fact, it was the great scientist Albert Einstein who, together with his friend, the founder of depth psychology, Carl Jung, coined the term "synchronicity."  This ancient divination system (approx. 4000 years old) is the most intricate numerically-based oracle ever devised. Most commonly experienced in the form of a book consulted by tossing coins or stalks, it is a system for pegging and interpreting patterns of change, based on a profound understanding of the dynamic processes of Nature that is beyond the daily consciousness of most of us.

 Essentially, the Oracle is used to trigger insight into dilemmas and problems. The system interprets which numerical patterns and which responses "like to go together" with what questions are posed at a specific moment in time. The founder of depth psychology, Carl Jung, studied the embodiment and operation of the Synchronicity Principle in the Book of Changes for 30 years. He examined the arrangement of universal principles represented by the 64 main readings and their permutations and demonstrated that the system was a self-contained holism. Like Confucius, who reportedly said he wished he could devote an entire lifetime to its study, Jung's conclusions were positive and enthusiastic. He recognized the universality of the I Ching's 64 "archetypes" and how the entire system comprised a complete and balanced set of human situations.

Since the Oracle reflects what's going on within the user at the moment of consultation, based upon the pattern created by the subconscious (the patterns produced by tossing the coins or whatever implement is used), it's up to you whether to use it for clarity and decision-making or entertainment. The Oracle is an intuitive consultation system so ancient that it predates organized religion altogether.

Carl Jung's Work on the I Ching
Carl Gustav Jung is the founder of what has come to be known as "depth psychology." The breathtaking scope and depth of his work still commands the highest respect in psychological and academic circles. His postulation of universal principles, or "archetypes" operating in the field of what he defined as the "collective unconscious," as well as the synchronicity theory, make for fascinating study. As for the latter, Jung explained "This ... involves a certain curious principle that I have termed 'synchronicity' - a concept that formulates a point of view diametrically opposed to that of causality. Since the latter is merely statistical truth and not absolute, it is a sort of working hypothesis of how events evolve one out of another, whereas synchronicity takes the coincidence of events in space and time as meaning something more than mere chance, namely, a peculiar interdependence of objective events among themselves as well as with the subjective (psychic) states of the observer or observers." According to Jung, synchronistic thinking is "field thinking," the centre of which is time, a moment in time. From a synchronistic point of view, the important question is not why has something occurred, or what factor caused this effect, but rather what likes to happen together in a meaningful way at the same moment. What types of events, including psychological events, happen together in time?

The Synchronicity Principle
We have some notion of a tendency of events to cluster around a moment in time in our own culture, as evidenced by folk sayings like, "Good things (or accidents) happen in threes," etc. This only exists as a superstitious kind of popular awareness. Nevertheless, it has long been evident that there is a tendency for several scientists at the same time to make the same discovery completely independently. And, in histories of science, one can observe that there is a tendency for certain ideas and inventions to crop up in different places at the same time. Or, on a more mundane level, one has been known to wonder why the most needed library book is always the one already checked out? Although a synchronistic point of view would seem to fly in the face of "scientific method," designed to support the value of statistical truth and predict cause and effect, the principle was strongly validated by the micro-physicist, Werner Heisenberg's discovery in 1937. In the proof of his Uncertainty Principle, which still stands, Heisenberg demonstrated that, in the realm of sub-atomic particles, everything has an influence on everything else, including the perceiver's influence on what is perceived. This is another way of saying that everything that happens in a given situation at a given time participates with everything else. So, as far as we know now, there is no such thing as "scientific objectivity," statistical probabilities notwithstanding. As Jung put it, "every process is partially or totally interfered with by chance, so much so that under natural circumstances a course of events absolutely conforming to specific laws is almost an exception." 

Benefits of using the Oracle of Changes
The Oracle can help you:

• make decisions that logic can't handle  

• reduce stress around changes and decisions 

• better manage sensitive relationships & office politics 

• access creative insight and intuitive power

• achieve success on the highest levels 

• develop superior timing 

Oracles and Divination Tools
The world consists of physical, quantum and virtual realms of existence. The physical realm includes the material world and our physical bodies. The quantum realm includes the forces and subatomic particles that underlie the material world, as well as our thoughts, feelings, emotions and beliefs. The virtual realm contains personal, archetypal (mythical), and universal domains. Our soul is in the personal domain, which uses the seeds of memory and desire in shaping how we perceive and interpret our current reality. 

Our personal soul is the manifestation of archetypal themes. It is through our attention and intention that we determine which theme, which story, which interpretation to manifest. Moment by moment the virtual realm actualises through our thoughts. Every thought is either a memory or desire. Unconsciously, we weave stories around our memories and desires and act out these stories in what we experience as our everyday life. The same phenomenon is at work in our dreams, only during dreams we are not engaging with the outer world. 

Oracles, such as Tarot and I-Ching, allow us to become consciously aware of what is going on in the virtual realm. Depending on our own spiritual awareness, we may access the personal, collective or universal domain. An oracle is not a substitute for spiritual evolution or spiritual disciplines. It is however, an excellent tool, particularly when we are practicing a meditation discipline. With meditation we find the appropriate interpretation that will enable us to be conscious of how our soul is acting out its stories, recognizing that every interpretation is unique.

Spiritual disciplines and oracles reinforce each other. If we meditate, we are better able to prophesise, and we have greater access to the virtual realm. Through spiritual disciplines we can go beyond the personal to the archetypal and ultimately get in touch with Spirit. 

The virtual realm is beyond space, time, and causality. Depending upon the depth we reach, we can know it as the immeasurable potential of all that was, is and will be. All time lines, all event lines coexist as possibilities. There is no linear time. This is the domain of awareness that is available in meditation and that can be also accessed through the oracles. 

Oracles like the I Ching and Tarot Cards help us access our intuitive response. Intuition is a form of intelligence that is contextual, relational, holistic, nurturing. It doesn't have a win/lose orientation. It goes beyond linear cause/effect relationships. It is your mind eavesdropping on the mind of the cosmos. The essence of the intuitive response is revealed in the New Testament in the words of Christ when he says, "Seek and you shall find. Ask and you shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto to you." The great Sufi poet Rumi says, "The whole universe exists inside you. Ask all from yourself." The self that you ask from is not your ego self but your soul, which is part universal consciousness. I Ching and Tarot cards are tools that allow you to access this deeper domain of universal consciousness. You and I may get the same reading, but will have different interpretations because the interpretations are a result of the meanings, contexts, relationships and archetypal themes of our individual lives. In other words, they are derived form our karmic software. 

Whenever you approach an oracle, sit for a few moments with your eyes closed and allow your awareness to settle. Bring your attention into your heart and ask Spirit to provide you the guidance you are seeking. Cultivate an attitude of curiosity, innocence and openness, and you will be able to interpret the information that emerges in a way that is most evolutionary for you. The more open you are to hearing the clues provided through the oracle, the more likely they will guide you toward greater meaning, creativity and fulfilment in your life.