What is Charm Casting?

And what kept me from getting into it?

I've got more charms than commonly suggested for beginners. There are more than 30 here - keys, jewelry charms, odd tiny knick-knacks and doodads.

While I intend to talk about more divination methods than just charm casting here, that's the big one for me right now. I'm not an expert. This is as much a journal of my exploration of it as an information source for anyone else.

But what is charm casting?

It's a form of cleromancy. Cartomancy uses cards (and not just playing cards), tasseomancy uses tea leaves, osteomancy uses bones… It's a long list of mancies. Sometimes they overlap. I think, but am not certain, that some forms of osteomancy are also cleromancy. It's divining with small objects that are randomly tossed or rolled out onto a surface.

Yep, that's it. Take a handful of random tiny items out of a bag, toss 'em out on a cloth, and start reading meaningful messages in how they land.

Charm casting is done with collections of small items that often are jewelry charms. Some practitioners go to a craft store and buy charms from the jewelry making supplies. A charm set doesn't have to be restricted to jewelry charms, though. I've got dice, a compass, a few keys, a tiny bottle with stone chips in it. It may be that less than half of my charm set is actually jewelry charms.

In future posts, I'll be going through the items in my set and talking about how I assigned meaning to each of them. How I got all the pieces is a short bit of information, though. I went through boxes and drawers to pull out little items I've collected over the years. You can build a set with things you find or already have around the house. Do you have a cool rock you picked up once? Maybe that could go in your set. Eraser that broke off of a pencil? Small luggage lock that you don't know what to do with because you don't travel or even own a suitcase? Those can be charms in a set.

If this is all so individual and fascinating, why did it take so long for me to start doing anything with it? I'll be honest. I fell into the mental trap of elitism. The Internet was a lot more limited when I started learning tarot, and not every major bookstore had at least one shelf full of decks. It was all weird and mysterious! I didn't really feel cheated by it becoming more common, though. That made it easy to find people to talk about tarot with. Doors were opened and opportunities offered for me to learn other forms of divination, as well. Still, there was always some element of, “This is for people truly devoted to divination!”

Random cheap items that most people the information was being targeted to could gather up in an afternoon? And then you can pretty much immediately start doing readings, without years of studying symbols and histories of methods? No thanks, I'm only into the serious stuff.

I finally started looking at why I felt that way about it. I didn't have a problem with using dice.

Yes, but that has a long history that goes back to sheep knuckles and…

I didn't have a problem with playing cards.

Yes, but that has a long history, and can be shown to actually predate tarot and…

I didn't have a problem with bones, even though I didn't learn a specific system. In fact, I'd pretty much be doing the same thing if I used charms.

Yes, but bone divination has a long history, so even if it's not exactly the same…

I certainly had no problem with tarot, which is not actually as “ancient” as some people make it sound.

Yes, but it's an esoteric system and…

All of my “yes, but” responses were just revealing how ridiculous my excuses were. While being someone who is generally opposed to the hypercommercialization of these things, I had fallen for one of the tactics used in that. The elitism made me feel, on some level, like I was special because of my tools and the systems I had studied.

There's also a long history of people using whatever is available. And a long history of using common items, at certain times and in certain places, to disguise what they were doing from authorities. I don't have a good reason not to use these little items I've collected. In my way of doing things, a tiny rubber Pokémon figure is just as valid as a chicken bone.

We'll soon start breaking down how I've put my current set together, what meanings different items have, and how I read with them. I'll offer advice and inspiration for building your own set and developing your own ways of reading. I won't be telling you which items to collect and what they should mean, though. I'm doing this in an individual and intuitive way. I can tell you what an item means for me, but it may have a very strong and completely different significance for you.

Oh, and you don't need to already have a set of your own to continue on this journey with me. If you do and are looking for new ideas on how to use your tools, that's great. If you don't already have a set, then I'll remind you this is about exploring the process as much as anything else. I hope reading how I do things will give you some inspiration for gathering items for your own set.