Znaki div development
2 May 2016 16:55![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
savveirEvery so often I go back to poke at my symbol set for my pisanki based/inspired divination. The symbol set I'm currently using is from an old website that has now vanished and had little to no referencing, that said, I found it worked pretty well for me. My aim has been to research and develop my own views on that symbol set (which is what I have been doing so far) and to eventually tailor it and add to it.
So far I have 21 symbols, they're a mix of animals, plants, abstract symbols and representations. I have finally gotten around to making a small clay egg for each symbol, roughly quail size so I can read them better (I was using scraps of paper). I generally read by pulling 3 eggs, looking at the meanings and how they relate to each other, pulling more for clarity etc. Pretty standard. Eventually I'd like to develop my methods for reading them more, but I think I'll focus on the symbol set for now.
SYMBOLS
1/ Ancestor Cross: The Ancestors, learning from the past, honour those who came before. So fairly straight forward, I really dig that this particular cross looks rather Christian, as that is part of my ancestral background, rather religious polish folk, and there's a fair bit of overlap between Slavic magic practices and Christian trappings (check out The Russian Bathhouse at Midnight). I feel that there's also a bit of "learn form your mistakes/the mistakes of others" here as well. Also I figure it can be a bit of a kick to go refill the water for the ancestors and listen for advice, kinda like the div system is delegating to them.
2/ Apple/ Apple Tree: Knowledge, health, fruits of ones labour. The knowledge thing is imo related to the apple of knowledge and trees that bear that fruit. It can also be a reminder to look after your health and well being, but generally in a positive way, referring to good health. Another positive aspect is the fruits of your labours, things coming to a head etc.
This is a symbol that I think can be impacted by what it is drawn with, thinking of it becoming more of a bad apple in the cart, but I'm not sure I have the kind of symbols in the current set for that.
3/ Bends/swirls: Defence, protection, safety, something guarded. This reminds me of creating mazes or intricate patterns to confuse spirits/to create barriers, winding streets to get lost in etc. I think it can also represent confusion, walking yourself in circles, and getting lost in your own head.
4/ Circle: Completeness, unity, continuity, cyclical nature of life, victory over darkness. Again pretty straight forward meanings for circles, except for the last bit. Victory over darkness makes sense to me, no corners to hide in, a complete whole with no room for darkness. It goes along well with unity and completeness. I generally see it as a positive symbol, expanding the victory to current/future circumstances etc. I also see this as permission to breathe when you feel like you're going in circles, life can be cyclical. The unity aspects are still quite important, encouraging a holistic view of the reading.
5/ Dog: Lunar symbol (apparently?) Protection against evil, spirit of grain(???). This one needs a bunch of research, I have not yet made sense of the lunar or grain aspect. Protection against evil I get, guard dogs etc. I would also add loyalty, faithfulness and trust to this, but that would be based on my opinions of dogs in general :P
6/ The Embattled Line: Something contained, shielded, something hidden, an enclosure. This one can suggest that something is hidden somewhere, or something needs to be protected or contained, being able to contain a problem and such. I think that this symbol reflects on the other symbols that are drawn with it, containing them, or shielding an aspect, suggesting part of it is hidden etc.
7/ Goose Feet: Warning! Be alert, danger. This one always reminds me of whole Roman guard goose, pay attention, be wary. This can also relate to other symbols that have been drawn.
8/ Hen Feet: Protector of the young, Guidance. I relate this one to a mother hen, fierce protection, but also guiding the way, teaching and learning. Also relating to family.
9/ Ladder: Reaching beyond your grasp, rising above petty problems, moving upwards on your path. I also feel that this can represent bridging between places, particularly with regard to death and crossing.
10/ Meander/Waves: Harmony, motion, water, immortality, eternity. I also associate this with the ocean and the unrelenting waves. A reminder to step back and realise that the waves and ocean will still be there, in it's immensity. Also reminds me of the feeling of floating on waves, the meditative movements and harmony. A reminder to let go.
11/ Periwinkle: Love, marriage everlasting, evergreen. I definitely feel this as a symbol of love and lasting relationships, periwinkle flowers are a rather sentimental to me and my SO. I feel it can extend to various kinds of love beyond romantic, and the evergreen aspect refers to a constant love, but with fluctuations, budding, blooming, flowers withering, but all with the underlying green plant life... I may like plants a little bit much.
12/ Pine: Boldness, growth, strength, steadfast. I am really not sure what to add to this, it's pretty clear to me.
13/ Pussy Willow: Health, beauty, love, wealth. A very beautiful plant with fuzzy catkins, fits well with the traits listed. I am not sure how wealth connects, and will need to research the plant more fully, I feel like it fits somehow though.
14/ Rake: Harvest, reap what you have sown. Aka "that damn rake" and "you already know so why are you asking" symbol. The meanings are fairly straight forward, but I've found that this one comes up when the system is being sassy because yes, I do know already. It's about keeping it going, persevering, doing the work and finishing what you start.
15/ Ram: Perseverance, dignity. Simple, strong, dignity. I really need to research this one more.
16/ Rose: Elegance, perfection, divine will, fate, happiness, prosperity, hope, giver of light, Sun. The reason for the mix of meanings is that the rose symbol also signifies the sun (as I have found in my research) It has to do with the 8 points in the design as well. I'm probably not explaining well. It's useful to have a divine signifier, however I'm not sure that this would work for deities that aren't solar or at least sky related.
17/ Snake: Guardian of the home and hearth, transformation, vivid change, sudden occurrences. I really like this one and it's associations really sit well with me. Snakes and change are reasonably common ones, I am not sure why it's a guardian of home and hearth (perhaps basking on rocks relates to a warm hearth fire). I also associate this card with a particular deity in my practice, but your mileage may vary. Useful card, transformative signifier are useful.
..... life stress has picked up, the rest of these might be a bit minimal.......
18/ Stag: Leadership, joy, masculinity, grace, agility. Take charge, do your duty, sovereignty.
19/ Sunflower: Summer, wealth, spirit, growing, reaching upwards towards the sun. I've wondered why this isn't the main sun symbol, rather than the rose, but I figure this is a reflection and representation of the sun as a catalyst for growth. Wealth makes sense to me, given the volume of seed, colour and I dunno, I like sunflowers?
20/ Universe: Awe, wonder, respect, vastness, humility, trust. The universe is an immense thing, we can get snippets of that immense feeling when around massive things, like the ocean and mountains for example. I really relate this card to that feeling, the humbling, awe inspiring, timeless, immensity of things.
21/ Wheat: Earth, soul of the clan, family, hearth and home. There had to be a grain in here somewhere. I feel this is pretty straight forward tbh, I don't feel a huge connection to wheat in it's plant form as pictured in the symbol, rather I associate with flour and bread, but a pile of flour isn't as pretty. I would also consider adding wealth to this card, but in the sense of having enough. Enough to always have bread on the table.
Well that's it for now, main goals are to do some research, and try to find where there are gaps. I feel like there are probably some concepts/symbols/representations that I might need to add to flesh this out as a div system. Open to suggestions :)
So far I have 21 symbols, they're a mix of animals, plants, abstract symbols and representations. I have finally gotten around to making a small clay egg for each symbol, roughly quail size so I can read them better (I was using scraps of paper). I generally read by pulling 3 eggs, looking at the meanings and how they relate to each other, pulling more for clarity etc. Pretty standard. Eventually I'd like to develop my methods for reading them more, but I think I'll focus on the symbol set for now.
SYMBOLS
1/ Ancestor Cross: The Ancestors, learning from the past, honour those who came before. So fairly straight forward, I really dig that this particular cross looks rather Christian, as that is part of my ancestral background, rather religious polish folk, and there's a fair bit of overlap between Slavic magic practices and Christian trappings (check out The Russian Bathhouse at Midnight). I feel that there's also a bit of "learn form your mistakes/the mistakes of others" here as well. Also I figure it can be a bit of a kick to go refill the water for the ancestors and listen for advice, kinda like the div system is delegating to them.
2/ Apple/ Apple Tree: Knowledge, health, fruits of ones labour. The knowledge thing is imo related to the apple of knowledge and trees that bear that fruit. It can also be a reminder to look after your health and well being, but generally in a positive way, referring to good health. Another positive aspect is the fruits of your labours, things coming to a head etc.
This is a symbol that I think can be impacted by what it is drawn with, thinking of it becoming more of a bad apple in the cart, but I'm not sure I have the kind of symbols in the current set for that.
3/ Bends/swirls: Defence, protection, safety, something guarded. This reminds me of creating mazes or intricate patterns to confuse spirits/to create barriers, winding streets to get lost in etc. I think it can also represent confusion, walking yourself in circles, and getting lost in your own head.
4/ Circle: Completeness, unity, continuity, cyclical nature of life, victory over darkness. Again pretty straight forward meanings for circles, except for the last bit. Victory over darkness makes sense to me, no corners to hide in, a complete whole with no room for darkness. It goes along well with unity and completeness. I generally see it as a positive symbol, expanding the victory to current/future circumstances etc. I also see this as permission to breathe when you feel like you're going in circles, life can be cyclical. The unity aspects are still quite important, encouraging a holistic view of the reading.
5/ Dog: Lunar symbol (apparently?) Protection against evil, spirit of grain(???). This one needs a bunch of research, I have not yet made sense of the lunar or grain aspect. Protection against evil I get, guard dogs etc. I would also add loyalty, faithfulness and trust to this, but that would be based on my opinions of dogs in general :P
6/ The Embattled Line: Something contained, shielded, something hidden, an enclosure. This one can suggest that something is hidden somewhere, or something needs to be protected or contained, being able to contain a problem and such. I think that this symbol reflects on the other symbols that are drawn with it, containing them, or shielding an aspect, suggesting part of it is hidden etc.
7/ Goose Feet: Warning! Be alert, danger. This one always reminds me of whole Roman guard goose, pay attention, be wary. This can also relate to other symbols that have been drawn.
8/ Hen Feet: Protector of the young, Guidance. I relate this one to a mother hen, fierce protection, but also guiding the way, teaching and learning. Also relating to family.
9/ Ladder: Reaching beyond your grasp, rising above petty problems, moving upwards on your path. I also feel that this can represent bridging between places, particularly with regard to death and crossing.
10/ Meander/Waves: Harmony, motion, water, immortality, eternity. I also associate this with the ocean and the unrelenting waves. A reminder to step back and realise that the waves and ocean will still be there, in it's immensity. Also reminds me of the feeling of floating on waves, the meditative movements and harmony. A reminder to let go.
11/ Periwinkle: Love, marriage everlasting, evergreen. I definitely feel this as a symbol of love and lasting relationships, periwinkle flowers are a rather sentimental to me and my SO. I feel it can extend to various kinds of love beyond romantic, and the evergreen aspect refers to a constant love, but with fluctuations, budding, blooming, flowers withering, but all with the underlying green plant life... I may like plants a little bit much.
12/ Pine: Boldness, growth, strength, steadfast. I am really not sure what to add to this, it's pretty clear to me.
13/ Pussy Willow: Health, beauty, love, wealth. A very beautiful plant with fuzzy catkins, fits well with the traits listed. I am not sure how wealth connects, and will need to research the plant more fully, I feel like it fits somehow though.
14/ Rake: Harvest, reap what you have sown. Aka "that damn rake" and "you already know so why are you asking" symbol. The meanings are fairly straight forward, but I've found that this one comes up when the system is being sassy because yes, I do know already. It's about keeping it going, persevering, doing the work and finishing what you start.
15/ Ram: Perseverance, dignity. Simple, strong, dignity. I really need to research this one more.
16/ Rose: Elegance, perfection, divine will, fate, happiness, prosperity, hope, giver of light, Sun. The reason for the mix of meanings is that the rose symbol also signifies the sun (as I have found in my research) It has to do with the 8 points in the design as well. I'm probably not explaining well. It's useful to have a divine signifier, however I'm not sure that this would work for deities that aren't solar or at least sky related.
17/ Snake: Guardian of the home and hearth, transformation, vivid change, sudden occurrences. I really like this one and it's associations really sit well with me. Snakes and change are reasonably common ones, I am not sure why it's a guardian of home and hearth (perhaps basking on rocks relates to a warm hearth fire). I also associate this card with a particular deity in my practice, but your mileage may vary. Useful card, transformative signifier are useful.
..... life stress has picked up, the rest of these might be a bit minimal.......
18/ Stag: Leadership, joy, masculinity, grace, agility. Take charge, do your duty, sovereignty.
19/ Sunflower: Summer, wealth, spirit, growing, reaching upwards towards the sun. I've wondered why this isn't the main sun symbol, rather than the rose, but I figure this is a reflection and representation of the sun as a catalyst for growth. Wealth makes sense to me, given the volume of seed, colour and I dunno, I like sunflowers?
20/ Universe: Awe, wonder, respect, vastness, humility, trust. The universe is an immense thing, we can get snippets of that immense feeling when around massive things, like the ocean and mountains for example. I really relate this card to that feeling, the humbling, awe inspiring, timeless, immensity of things.
21/ Wheat: Earth, soul of the clan, family, hearth and home. There had to be a grain in here somewhere. I feel this is pretty straight forward tbh, I don't feel a huge connection to wheat in it's plant form as pictured in the symbol, rather I associate with flour and bread, but a pile of flour isn't as pretty. I would also consider adding wealth to this card, but in the sense of having enough. Enough to always have bread on the table.
Well that's it for now, main goals are to do some research, and try to find where there are gaps. I feel like there are probably some concepts/symbols/representations that I might need to add to flesh this out as a div system. Open to suggestions :)
