Episode 34: Beatles, Tarot Cards, & Crystal Balls: How Divination Tools Can Help Us Access Our Intuition

What does a Beatle have in common with tarot cards and crystal balls? On today’s episode, you’ll find out. Host Allie Wagner will tell you one of her favorite stories about her favorite Beatle and how we can use what’s called a divination tool to tap into our intuitive guidance. Plus, we’ll do a little carousel-inspired intuitive reading together. 

Want to learn more about the koala? Check out the Atlas Obscura documentary here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/videos/video-carousel-of-happiness

The Carousel of Happiness is a nonprofit arts & culture organization dedicated to inspiring happiness, well-being, and service to others through stories and experiences.

Check out the carousel on the CBS national news! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carousel-daydream-helped-marine-get-through-vietnam-war-he-then-made-that-carousel-a-reality/

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider visiting the Carousel of Happiness online (https://carouselofhappiness.org/), on social media (https://www.facebook.com/carouselofhappiness), or in real life. Or consider donating (https://carouselofhappiness.org/once-donate/) to keep the carousel and its message alive and spinning 'round and 'round.

If you have a story to share, please reach out to Allie Wagner at outreach@carouselofhappiness.org

Special thanks to songwriter, performer, and friend of the carousel, Darryl Purpose (https://darrylpurpose.com/), for sharing his song, "Next Time Around," as ou...

Transcript

Welcome to the Carousel of Happiness Podcast. I’m your host, Allie Wagner. 

On last week’s episode, I introduced you to longtime Nederland summer resident, Mary Wingate. You learned about how a mother of three transformed this community for the better by dedicating herself to the issues that mattered to her most. Mary was a big supporter of the carousel and as a result of her generosity almost 8,000 people have enjoyed free rides on the carousel since she passed away at the age of 87 in 2020. Thank you, Mary. And thank you to those who were moved by her story and reached out to me to share.

What does a Beatle have in common with tarot cards and crystal balls? On today’s episode, you’ll find out. I’ll tell you one of my favorite stories about my favorite Beatle and how we can use what’s called a divination tool to tap into our intuitive guidance. Plus, we’ll do a little carousel-inspired intuitive reading together. 

Let us begin with today’s story.

GONG

One of my favorite stories about my favorite Beatle and my favorite life lesson is a story about George Harrison. In the spring of 1968, the Beatles had just returned from studying transcendental meditation in India. At the time, George Harrision was staying with his mother and reading an ancient Chinese divination text called the I Ching. In it, he read there is no such thing as coincidence. According to the I Ching, everything happening in this moment is happening for a reason. And anything present in this moment is exactly what is needed to create what is next. 

George was so curious about this idea that all things are interconnected that he felt called to put the belief to the test. Was the I Ching right and everything was indeed connected? Or was life just a series of random coincidences like many in the West believed at the time?

George decided the easiest way he could test this principle was to pull out a random book, flip to a page and find the first phrase he laid eyes on. Then, he’d take that phrase and write a song based solely on it. If what he had read in the I Ching were true, the phrase would be exactly what he needed in this moment to write the perfect song at this time. So he did. He picked up a book at random, flipped to a page, saw the words “gently weeps,” set the book down, and started writing.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is considered one of Harrison’s best songs, and a favorite of fans and critics alike. Rolling Stone ranked it #10 in the Top 100 Beatles songs of all time. 

But why are we talking about it on the Carousel of Happiness podcast?

We’re talking about it because this morning I was in meditation when the memory of that story popped into my mind. Out of nowhere. My mind was completely blank, as is traditionally the goal of meditation, and then all of a sudden – BAM. I was remembering all of the little details about that story. Not because I had listened to the song recently, not because I had even thought about it. Just all of a sudden, boom, there it was.

Why is that? Why did that specific memory surface today of all days? On podcast day.

I, like George Harrison, like the writers of the I Ching, I believe everything is connected. I believe there are no coincidences. There are no accidents. I believe we bump into specific people and have specific experiences all day everyday for a reason. They are not random. I believe there’s a reason you had that conversation with your neighbor last night. I believe there’s a reason you ran into your daughter’s teacher at the grocery store. I believe there’s a reason you locked your keys in the car this morning. 

I do not know why exactly, of course, but I know there’s a reason. And I also know that if we start paying attention to what we believe is the reason life starts to take on more meaning. It starts to feel more exciting. Life becomes not something that happens to us, but rather something we can start to actively create. 

And that’s what we’re going to play with today on the show. 

Today we’re going to talk about how we can play a more active role in our own lives. We’re going to talk about how we can access our intuition, ask it questions about our lives, and get back an answer we know is 100%-beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt is just for us. Today we’re going to use the carousel as an example of a divination tool.

What is a divination tool? Divination tools have existed for millennia. They’ve been used in different cultures and spiritual traditions throughout time to help human beings access our intuition. Tarot cards are divination tools, as are oracle cards and pendulums and runes and…the I Ching.

Divination tools are instruments and practices that human beings use to gain insight into the unknown. They can offer us guidance, clarity, and a deeper connection to our intuition. 

And while some of these tools might sound very spooky, very Halloween-y, they aren’t that at all. Each of these tools has been used in a different way by different cultures over thousands of years to help human beings connect or re-connect to their innate wisdom, their intuition. 

Each of these systems is different, but essentially they are built on the same premise – ask a question. Get an answer.

That’s it.

And yes, the tarot and the I Ching are notoriously complicated. It takes practice and dedicated study to fully understand the depth and meaning of these systems. But we’re not going to make things complicated today. 

Ask a question. Get an answer.

So, for example, if I have a job interview tomorrow I can ask my divination tool the night before questions about that interview and I will receive an answer.

“Is this position the best option for me right now?” Is a question I might ask my divination tool. I might also ask about what outfit to wear or which route to take on my drive in. 

Then, I consult my divination tool and I receive an answer that is perfect for me in this moment. Just like George Harrison did with the I Ching.

Simple as that.

So, we’re going to try this together, carousel-style. 

I’ve got in my hand a copy of Scott Harrison’s new book, Carousel Soul. If you’ve listened to the podcast, you know about it. He goes through every single carving in the carousel and tells a story about the animal and why he created it. There are little poems and stories about the animal, and we’re going to use this book and its wisdom as our little divination tool. 

Now, what I’d like you to do is think of an issue that you’d like to have more clarity on. That you’d like to understand better. It could be related to your job, your family, your relationships, whatever it is, think about something you’d like to understand better. 

Now I want you to think about a question you might have related to this topic. What is it that you really want to know? 

If you’re not sure exactly what to ask, one of my favorite questions to ask my divination tool is:

What do I most need to know about XYZ right now?

Or, you could ask, “what do I need to do to move beyond X situation? 

Or, “what is my biggest obstacle right now and how can I move past it?”

Alternatively, you could try, “why am I feeling stuck in my career/my relationship/my friendship/my income right now?

Or what is the lesson for me in this situation, event, or relationship right now?

So I want you to pick your question and ask it aloud. Right now. Ask the question that is burning most within your heart. Ask the question that matters most to you in the world. Go ahead, ask it now.

Okay, now you wait for your answer.

If it is in fact true that everything happens for a reason. That means you’re listening to this podcast for a reason. At this specific moment in time. At this specific moment in your life. Just as you are. Right now. And everything you are about to hear is specifically for you in some way. Pay attention.

Now, I am going to turn to three “random” pages in Carousel Soul and we’re going to use the wisdom in these pages as a divination tool. We are going to see what the essence of these animals are, the invitation they have for us, and the medicine they have to give to us.

I have not chosen these animals in advance. I am doing this right now in real time. 

PRESENT TIME READING HERE:

Koala

Fox

Gong

How was that? Did you get an answer? Remember, that what we’re really doing here, really, is listening to that quiet voice within us. That still, calm voice that we have access to always, but it’s sometimes hard to hear.

What divination tools can do is help cut some of the noise between us and our natural knowing. By setting an intention and expecting an answer we find that it’s been right in front of our faces all along. Yes, you could go see a psychic or a tarot card reader. And if you feel called to, you absolutely should. But we don’t need a middleman. We don’t need an interpreter. We were all gifted access to this knowing and tools like these can helps us hear it a little more clearly.

If you got something good, I’d love to hear it. Send me an email, shoot me a text. What did your inner voice say? 

 In the meantime, take care. Be well. And, as we like to say at the Carousel of Happiness, “don’t delay joy.” And we’ll see you next time around.