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Remember the silly Blank Rune? At least one person on the net does, since someone was recently ranting about Ralph Blum's rune book in my forum. His new way of beating that dead horse was to insist the problem was "cultural appropriation" rather than that the whole idea of a Blank Rune is poppycock.

For those who don't remember those days: Once upon a time, there was hardly anyone on the net and it was not a place to buy books. The only readily publicly available information on modern day Heathenry / Norse / Germanic paganism was in rune magic books in general bookstores. Rune sets were not easily available for purchase. Along came Ralph Blum with a book on rune magic packaged with a rune set. Of course the market gobbled it up. The trouble was, Blum's rune system was mostly bunkum, and the rune sets included the 24 Elder Futhark runes plus an extra Blank Rune.

Divination has many different forms and is a popular practice. You don't have to formally involve a deity to do divination; many of us throw down Tarot cards, runes, or bones in a somewhat casual way when we feel the need.

But there are times when you need to do something more formal, and when you need some help. The word "divination" includes the divine, after all. That's when you invite the appropriate deity and ask for their assistance. (Note that in MMP we never invoke deities, only invite them and then welcome them when they appear.)

If you want to get the magical community riled up, tell us how divination tools often begin their existence as toys. You’ll see how we quickly split into two factions: one which vehemently denies this, and one which asserts the truth of it (with evidence that is often ignored and bypassed by the former faction). For the former set, I’ve sensed a root assumption at work that makes accepting the mundane, unserious origins of many divination forms so difficult, and even heretical. For them, play is inherently secular and unworthy of a sacred function. Divination, and anything else related to spirit work and religion, must be solemn and sober to have value and efficacy.

Pagans are often a "bootstrapping" sort of people: We do things for ourselves, sometimes because we want to, often because we have to. I'm pretty sure a lot of Pagan resources come into being because someone went looking for something, couldn't find it, and ended up creating it themselves.

That is exactly how the Minoan Tarot was born.

It's deep Winter, and the People are hungry. Even the wisest and most experienced hunters can't agree where the herds of caribou might be just now.

So they throw the bones. The bones say: Here.

The hunters go There, and—sure enough—they do find caribou: not as many as hoped for, but enough, at least, to get us through.

When it comes to the working principles behind divination, I'm of the Projection-and-the-Human-Penchant-for-Seeing-Patterns School myself. I'm a strong proponent of divination nonetheless.

Why? Because when you've weighed all possible actions and still can't reach a conclusion, divination offers a way out of stalemate. When you don't know where the caribou are, it's better to go out and look than to sit around the fire arguing.

Divination makes a good servant, but a bad master. You're a fool if you let the cards run your life. But when you really can't make up your mind, divination can offer a way out of inaction. My father always says, “It's better to make a decision and act, than to dither and do nothing.” I can't help but agree. As a general rule, taking initiative offers a better chance of survival than passively waiting for someone, or something, else to act on you.

Inaction kills. "Going with the flow" is for Newagers. Witches act. You're more likely to get the result that you want if you act, than if you wait to be acted upon.

So “All things being equal, consult divination” is my motto.