Mind-Set
First, clear your mind. This is where the regular practice of meditation comes in handy, because meditation is the exercise of getting your brain to sit down and shut up for a few minutes. You want a source other than your conscious mind answering you in divination, so clearing the slate is the first order of business. If your conscious mind had all the answers, you wouldn’t be divining.
Second, invoke help. The biggest complaint I see about divination is it makes you a channel for the Devil—such complaint, of course, coming from conservative monotheists who’ve never practiced divination in their lives and never would. Divination is communication. You can specify who you want to come through in a divination session—God, your Guardian Angel, Spirit Guides, dead relatives, nature spirits, your own Higher Self. Indeed, you should specify who you want to influence your reading in order to have a successful reading. Otherwise you’re just doing the spiritual equivalent of lying spread-eagled in your front yard and inviting passersby to come and get it, which is basically what Ouija-board-users do when they jump on the board without asking for protection first. Just as there are in the flesh, there exists good spirits and bad spirits. You want only the good spirits to come through. If you expect the Devil to come through in a reading, he will happily oblige you. Ask for an Angel, and you’ll get an Angel. It’s that simple.
Third, be sincere. Remain open to the answer you get, and trust completely that whatever the answer is, it is the correct answer to your question at that time. If you are maintaining a cynical or experimental attitude when you are shuffling, stirring-up, or shaking your divination tool, a ‘let’s see if this nonsense is actually good for something’ frame of mind, then you’ll get a nonsense answer. That’s how it works—refuse to take divination seriously and it won’t take you seriously. Suspend disbelief. Honestly want and expect a straight answer. You’re always free to ignore the input you get from a reading.