The open secret about soothsaying all kinds is this: the soothsayers themselves decide what the symbols mean. That so many of us attach the same meanings to the same symbols is a divine gift: but by the grace of G-d are we not all just eeping at each other while attempting to build some tower of Babel cum cell phone tower. Whether we use tarot, or astrology, or Kaballah, the tools only merely deliver us to the message.
In the case of Orna Ben-Shoshan’s Wheel of Wisdom, the meanings are more fixed than they might be in other divination methods. Arranged according to Qaballic number association, the wheel offers an exercise in listening to your inner voice. The guidebook offers brief instructions; no expertise in Qaballah needed. On one side of the mandala dwells the Sun, and on the other side, the Angels. Ben-Shoshan cautions querents not to overuse the wheel; save it for questions of serious import. If you must ask multiple questions in a session, do it on the angelic side.
Use is simple, and while she addresses answers that might seem vague, thus far the meanings assigned to the test questions appear unambiguous. For someone just learning divination and the skill required in receiving it, this wheel offers the first step: concentration. Because the numbers and meaning assignments are unambiguous, the skill lies in the querent learning to listen to the inner and outer signals, starting with the absolute basics: stop, and go.
Excellent in its simplicity and beautiful to look at, highly recommended for those who take divination seriously.
~review by Diana Rajchel
Author: Orna Ben-Shoshan
Kabbalah Insights, 2011
pp. 32, $32
