Asking Good Divination Questions

[glaive]

I wanted to share some guidelines on asking divination questions from Caitlin Matthews' The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook. These are obviously meant for lenormand, but I've found them good advice for formulating divination questions generally.

Take time to set a question that clearly frames your issue in the most helpful way. Let's see how the following questions offer certain results:

Will I come back here? Results in a yes or no answer, but no further guidance
What are the consequences of coming back here? Results in a nuanced, complex answer
How can I best sell my car? Results in helpful advice
Give me clarity about the problems at work. Results in an overview

Other questions say rather more about the attitude of the questioner. These ones need to be reframed in ways that will be more helpful:

Should I meet Mandy?
Why can’t I find a girlfriend?

Conditional questions using “should” suggest that you have given up your own motivational powers or that your question is dependent upon another’s agency. You might reframe the first question as, “What will come out of meeting Mandy?" Questions framed in the negative rarely result in good responses, because they are often prejudged by a negative attitude. Try reframing the question in the positive: “How can I find a girlfriend?”

Some questions do not work because they are assumptive or confusing to the oracle:

How shall I spend my lottery winnings? (When you’ve not yet bought the ticketl)
Shall I back Caroline or Ernest in the marathon sponsorship?
Tell me about leaving Manchester, learning marketgardening, and reuniting with Jonathan.

Assumptive questions do not serve us because something in the question hasn’t arrived yet and so the current perspective cannot be the basis for our asking. Either/or questions need separate spreads for each option. Multiple issues need multiple questions, though one spread has the potential to do a lot of work.