Patterns and Combinations in Bone Casting

 

Here is where things get interesting.  When the bones are cast, some land in groupings, some will land outside your "circle" or reading area, some land on top of each other, some cris-crossed, some face down.  This is a basic guide to help give you an idea for how to interpret all of these combinations and how I handle the different patterns.

 

 

First of all, look at what has landed in the center.  Perhaps nothing landed in the center, or perhaps several items.   This represents the main focus of the reading - what's going on here and now.

 

From there, work your way outwards.  Many readers read time from left to right.  I prefer to read from the center and moving outward - items from center to the left = further in the past, items from center to the right = further in the future, items from center toward the top = how soon things are moving away, etc.

 

Gather up items landing outside the circle or cloth.  They don't count.  Put them back in the bag.

 

Some people also gather up anything that lands face down.  I prefer to leave those, as I consider anything landing face down as having a "lessor" or weakened influence.  

 

When items land in groups, I'll often interpret them like their own little reading, apart from whatever else is going on.  Small thin pointy bones or arrows are great for indicating a direction that things are moving in.  If you have a chain in your set, or a piece of string, it will sometimes connect one grouping to another.  

 

Items landing at the farthest top are usually things that are moving away.  Items closest to you are things that are entering your life or the situation.

 

Items landing in a straight line next to each other should be read as one "line" or progression.

 

So, what you're seeing may not equal out into a linear "storyline" - it's sometimes pretty scattered information.  It may be bits and pieces, like clues at a crime scene.  Try to take these clues and put them together to make useful information.  I will also quite often pull out anything that is not useful in the throw.  Don't feel like you have to read every single item on the map.

 

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