Chances are, you're probably familiar with a popular word formation game that many of us grew up playing with friends and family. The game comes with a sack full of small square tiles, most of which feature a single letter of the alphabet accompanied by a number. A couple of tiles are blank. The Letter Tile Power Words Practice in Thrifty Witchery repurposes these tiles for spellwork that taps into your intuition and activates your intention.

Power Word Practice
Here's what you’ll need for this practice:

• Letter tiles from a word formation game (no worries if some of the letter tiles are missing!)
• Something to write on and something to write with
• Flat surface to lay tiles on
• Numerology resource (can be found on the internet)
• Tarot Major Arcana cards (optional)

Randomly spread the tiles, face up, onto the flat surface. Close your eyes and center yourself, taking at least three long, slow, deep inhales through your nose and exhales through your gently pursed lips. If possible, gently lay your hands on the tiles and move them around while you're centering. Bring the question or goal you are seeking insight on to your awareness. When you've settled on what that is, lean closer to the tiles and release your final exhale directly onto them, speaking the question or goal over them.

Open your eyes and soften your focus as you look at the letter tiles. Don't try to look for particular letters or a predetermined word; instead, try to see which letters seem to catch your attention and set them aside. If a blank tile catches your attention, pull it aside as well.

Use Your Words
See what word(s) you can form from the letters you've pulled out of the pile. These letters, selected by your intuition, will offer insight about your question or goal. Be sure to jot down the word you create. Perhaps your letters can be arranged into more than one word; write those words down as well.

What's the longest word you can make, and how does it relate to your question or goal? What's the shortest word, and how does it relate? If you set aside blank tiles, see what additional words you can make when you assign random letters to the blank tiles. Write them down on your list.

When you've written down all the words you were able create (or when you feel like you have enough), look at the list and start playing round with the arrangement of the words that came up for you. It's likely that you won't be able to make a coherent sentence or phrase out of them—although you might!—but you should be able to glean different nuances of meaning as you shift the word order around. Another option is to rank the words in the order of the strength of their relationship to your goal or query, and then see if you can discern any connections or themes that may present themselves.

How It Works
I'll use one of the times I have worked this practice as an example. I've been having trouble writing my next book, and I wanted some insight as to what has been holding me back. Eleven tiles from the letter pile caught my attention:

A₁ B₃ C₃ D₂ E₁ I₁ O₁ R₁ T₁ U₁ Blank

From these 11 tiles, and particularly because of the blank tile, I was able to form a large collection of words. Of these words, the following resonated most strongly with my question: adrift, obscured, breath, ick, abort, botched, dicker, build, dud, and several others.

When I felt like I had enough words, I started playing with them. For instance, using the words listed I could glean messages from my intuition and subconscious around themes of how I'm feeling about the project: Ick, I'm adrift on this text. I wonder if I should abort this project. I need to stop dickering around with wordsmithing and just write; I can edit later. I can build on what I've written so far. You get the idea.

Adding Numerology to the Mix
For added insight, you can employ some numerology. Add up the letter values in the words with which you resonate most strongly using any of several letter-number systems readily available online. Reduce multi-digit numbers until you have a single number.

For example, the point value of abort is 7. Seven is a prime number (you can't multiply two numbers to get 7). It's considered a lucky number, and can also be considered mystical, being the sum of 3 (spiritual) and 4 (material). There are 7 distinct notes in a musical scale. Seven also figures prominently in several folk practices.

When this word first jumped out at me, I wondered if it was a message to give up on the project, but, as I contextualized the number with some further research, I came to an understanding that perhaps it's not the writing task that need to be dropped; it's my approach to the task that needs to be aborted.

What about build? The point value is 8. Turned on its side, eight resembles an infinity symbol—that is, the ever-renewing path of energy. Eight is the number of ambition and endurance. In Babylonian mythologies, the eighth realm was where the gods resided and so the number is associated with paradise.

When I contextualized the number with some research, I understood that building on the text I've already written can help renew the path of energy I have for the next book I'm writing. It's an ambitious proposal but, if I can endure, I will reach my goal of finishing the book, and that would certainly be paradise!

Using the Major Arcana for Further Context
If you have access to a Tarot deck you may want to use the Major Arcana cards for some further insight on your power words. We'll stick with a word we used in the previous examples: abort (7).

Seven relates to The Chariot in RWS-based Tarot decks. Examine the card closely to glean additional discernments. When I did this, two things caught my attention. In the deck I used (Lisa de St. Croix) the wheels of the chariot have eight spokes, a reference to the wheel of dharma in several Indian religions including Buddhism and Hinduism. The circle can represent perfection; the rim, mindfulness; the hub, discipline; and the spokes can represent the eight-fold path of Buddhism.

The other thing that caught my attention is that the creatures leading the chariot appear to be sphinxes, one darker and one lighter. They're headed toward a light source on the right. They do not appear to be tethered to the chariot; rather, some invisible force—which I equated with Will—seems to complete the connection between the sphinxes and the chariot. The rider isn't even looking at the sphinxes or the direction the chariot is going; instead, the figure is sighting their goal down a nocked arrow, waiting for the right moment to convert the potential energy into kinetic energy.

Making Meaning
You can delve as deeply as you want with the Power Word Practice. All you really need to do is the first part: collecting the letters that catch your attention by way of your intuition, arranging them into as many words as you feel called to create, and using the insights you receive to activate your intention. Expanding this divination to include elements of Numerology and the Major Arcana can help you tease out deeper wisdom around the words your intuition has put before you.

When you've completed your Power Word session, consider putting the word(s) on your altar or workspace as appropriate so that you have a visual mnemonic to remind you of what you need to keep in mind as you work to achieve your intention. This is a powerful, power-filled practice that doesn't cost you anything but your time, intuition, and an application of wisdom—it's the Thrifty Witchery way!