I used to watch the anime Cardcaptor Sakura a lot when I was a kid. For those unfamiliar with it, it’s an anime series about an elementary school girl, Sakura Kinomoto, who accidentally releases a set of magical cards into the world. Each card can give a certain ability and provide its wielder an alternate form when activated. After this, Sakura hunts the cards down while keeping her activities a secret. One of the cards’ guardians, Cerberus (Kero), guides her in the process.
Cardcaptor Sakura Clow Card Fortune Book cover [CLAMP]
Now, you might ask, “What does that have to do with Witchcraft and magic?” It turns out that you can use those same cards for divination – and it turns out it is very effective. And it turns out you can teach it to children if they are interested.
The Cards Themselves
The official Cardcaptor Sakura Clow Card Fortune Book is available on Amazon Japan for only ¥240 (1.59 USD at the time of writing), and while I couldn’t find any official English translation, there are a few fan translations that could be helpful. Readers might also want to watch Episode 25 of the anime, “Sakura and One More Sakura,” to learn directly from Kero how to read the cards.
I used a mix of both the book and the episode for my readings until I got comfortable enough with them. As with many decks of cards, the book is meant to be a guide to get readers started and to give a general feel of the deck, but it does not need to be a bible that readers follow from beginning to end.
Cardcaptor Sakura Clow cards [CLAMP]
For me, each card comes with a very personal meaning, and I am curious about integrating the lore of the series into the readings as well. It is easy to connect with them; I’ve had good experiences cleansing the cards with rose quartz and selenite, and other than being awkward to shuffle, they are easy to work with in simple readings.
One spread that I tried that gave me good results was a four-card spread with the four cardinal points and elements, North-Earth, East-Fire, South-Air, and Water-West, an association that has worked well for me in the past for other types of work. Compared to the ones from the source material, I got much better results this way.
There were a few extra cards in the deck that I got that were either fan-made or from the series’s movies that I chose not to use, and I also decided not to use the pink Sakura cards, which are the versions depicted after Sakura recaptures them. I wanted the original deck created by Clow Reed, and so I keep as mementos the other cards.
This is a deck that brings a lot of innocence and simplicity to the readings I use it for, not as much as if an elementary school girl was telling me what to do, but more through a connection to my own inner child. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to work with their own inner child and reconnect with their innocence, especially if they grew up with the manga or anime, making the reading a much more nostalgic, emotional process.
Passing Down the Knowledge
Now, the best part of all of this is that it is a deck that you can pass along to the younger ones if and when they get curious about Witchcraft and magic. Avoiding details to protect privacy, I was teaching a young girl how to use a pendulum and she asked me how to use cards as well. I decided to give this deck a try and the results were great.
She was able to connect with the cards, give a personal, accurate meaning to each card, and construct a story, ergo a reading, that helped her understand the process. I saw that spark of wonder and discovery in her eyes that reminded me of my own when I learned that, in my words, “wait what? Are Witches real? Is magic real? You can do that?”
The author using the Clow deck to teach a child how to read oracle cards [courtesy]
I started practicing magic, and then Paganism and Witchcraft, to recover my own power. After years of bullying, insecurity, and abuse, these three gave me back the hope I thought was lost forever, they gave me back the zest for life and the possibility of making a difference, helping others, and protecting myself. That’s exactly what I saw in her.
This girl asked me the next day, “hey, how to do I prevent someone from getting hurt? The pendulum said something like that will happen.” She was distressed and I quickly told her, “hey, it’s okay, the pendulum can make mistakes sometimes, and you’re still learning.” She calmed down, and even though something bad did happen next week, she wasn’t that affected by it knowing that it wasn’t her fault.
As I get ready to be a Witch Dad, I keep wondering how I can best approach these questions and these events with my own children when they start asking these questions. Even though I would love to have all the answers, now I know that I can easily said, “You know what? That’s a very good question I have no answer for. But we can figure it out together, don’t you think?”
It will be similar to how I discovered this world, with the difference that I will rediscover it with someone else for the first time. I will have a deck of Clow Cards to help me, most likely. Or maybe something from a different show or movie or videogame. But it will be just as magical and special, which is the whole point if you ask me.
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