I often recommend this set of tarot cards as a starting point for those wanting to learn magic. It is the most beautiful set I've ever seen with the sweetest faces on the characters. I also like the cards being quite small so they are easy to deal with in my hands, and they are easy to carry around in a pocket. I likewise value the little hardcover book that comes with this particular set of the Hanson-Roberts tarot deck written by Mary Hanson-Roberts herself. I believe she understands the true meaning of her cards considerably better than the instructions you might get from someone else when you buy her cards alone.

Properly used, tarot cards work the same way as the "Sharpen" button on an art program. The Sharpen button works by replacing gradual changes from one shade to another with abrupt changes from one shade to the other, making it much easier toolsfor the human eye to see the image as "focused" and allowing us to more easily recognize small details.

The cards do the same thing in the mind of the card reader by bringing into sharp focus things the mind already knew but was not specifically conscious of until the cards triggered an awareness.

Often, the reader is actually reading the mind of the client, seeing things the client already knows deep within but has been hiding from himself due to the subject being painful. Therefore, a bit of caution should be used when revealing what one sees, lest the client become overly upset at hearing the truth. The focus should be on helping the client move into a more accurate awareness of reality as well as acquire the tools needed to work with what is real in their life.

Runes have been around for nearly 2,000 years. They form an ancient alphabet that was used for writing in a variety of languages in Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden prior to the introduction of the Roman alphabet we use today.

Each rune was given a name with a specific meaning, such as "strong ox," "gift," "ice," "harvest," etc., that has allowed them to be used for divination from the time of their creation forward. The art of divination is their primary use today.

Divination with rune stones is done by strewing them out in front of you, then considering what their positions imply as to the relationships between various stone meanings.

They are a guidance tool that works with your subconscious to help solve problems by fielding your consideration of potential outcomes. Many users narrow down their meaning by asking a specific question before laying them out, then seek meanings related to the question.

To give an answer, your subconscious influences how your hands cause the stones to fall as well as what comes to mind when you see their landing positions, making this a very useful system of divination to bring deeper understanding to the forefront of your consciousness.

In any system of divination, it is important to learn from a true teacher, one who speaks from an awareness of the deeper realities of past, present, and future. Such awareness comes from having a deep subconscious connection with Spirit. Ralph H. Blum, who wrote The Book of Runes included with this set, is one such teacher.

Lucid dreaming is the ability to become aware of being asleep and in a dream while maintaining enough mental clarity to take control over your dream. There are many websites, books, and forums dedicated to teaching and sharing the art of lucid dreaming.

However, the problem with most tests used to learn whether you are awake or in a dream—such as pushing the finger of one hand through the palm of the other hand—is that they are designed to be impossible to do while awake, but they can succeed (or fail) while in a dream. As one practices this test again and again during the day, the mind learns the experience of failing the test so well that it causes the test to fail while dreaming as well. In other words, the finger of one hand will not go through the palm of the other hand in the dream any more than it did while awake, so the dreamer will believe he has just confirmed he is awake and thus will not take control of his dream. This happened to me several times before I found a better way.

What's needed is the opposite kind of test—a test that easily succeeds while awake but cannot succeed while in a dream. In that case, the mind will learn how easy it is to always pass the test and be sufficiently surprised into lucidity when you are unable to pass the test during dreams.

The sight of a rapidly flashing light such as the one shown below is the perfect test, for your mental "dream screen" responds too slowly to be able to replicate rapid flashing. Practice with this light repeatedly during the day. Watch the tips of these fibers as you hold them all together in a small circle in front of you. Focus on this circle's rapid flashing as you ask yourself the question "Am I awake or am I dreaming?" When the light fails to flash properly, assume you are in a dream and observe additional factors in the environment to verify it really is a dream.