This is the first of what I term the ‘artomancy’ methods of divination. That is, methods of divination which call on the reader’s natural senses, intuition, artistic sense, and their ability to see patterns, images, and themes.
How many times can you recall being unhappy about a problem, only to have the person you’re talking to about said-problem say, ‘Hey, look!’ Then you look over your shoulder, and coming toward you is the solution to your problem? Yeah, me neither. I can’t guarantee you’ll experience anything that dramatic with this approach to divination. Such outcomes are the stuff of television and films as a plot-device. But when done in sincerity and with the right mind-set, over-the-shoulder divination has the potential to provide you the key which will unlock the door to an answer.
Over-the-shoulder divination is exactly what it sounds like. You ask a question in your mind, a question you’d genuinely like the answer to, then when you feel ready, turn your head to one side and look over your shoulder, and whatever you see, whatever your eye is drawn-to, whatever first catches your attention, will contain your answer. The efficacy of this divination method appears to be predicated on the idea that there will be a lot of potential somethings over your shoulder from which you can derive an answer, but your eye will fixate on just one thing. This is a deliberately-random divination practice, the sort of thing you could do on the spur of the moment while going for a walk, sitting in an outdoor restaurant or cafe or sitting on a park bench. It’s a convenient divination technique to know when you’re away from home and don’t have a card deck with you. But you can deliberately create such an environment, to create a tableau where there are many things your eye can potentially fall on.