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MURRAY - As a child, Tracey saw things others didn't.

Her grandmother beckoned the 7-year-old girl to sit in her lap, while Tracey was at the woman's funeral. Two years later, the young girl was practicing piano when she says her grandfather sat down beside her to chat. Seconds later, Tracey's mother got a phone call from a hospital, saying the man had passed away.

These experiences came naturally to Tracey, who does not use a last name. She doesn't believe they were gifts bestowed upon her. Nor does she see these moments as sacrilegious. Everyone has the ability to see and learn from the spiritual realm, she says.

"We've all had a gut feeling," she explains. "God created us equal."

But because most people don't cultivate these instincts the way she has and because even she can use added guidance, Tracey - of Tarot by Tracey and the force behind Murray's School of Medium Arts and Predictive Sciences - wants to increase accessibility to spiritual insights. For that reason, and after 15 years of study, she's developed a line of products to facilitate the process. She introduced the line at a Sandy gathering Thursday evening, when she also released her new book, Tarot: The Ancient Translation Tool.

Around a hotel meeting room, her students man tables, demonstrating lessons they've learned in palmistry, dice, rune stone and I Ching readings. Before them are all sorts of games, with guidebooks, to help people explore these ideas and teachings on their own.

Tracey's tarot card book, which incorporates lines of scripture, and her tarot deck - made up entirely of biblical figures and story lines - are on hand for demonstrations.

All of these practices she considers "prayer tools," ways to bring individuals closer to God.

These tools are "not a religious rebellion," says Tracey, who was born in Payson and grew up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "They're tools to help, translators."

Though she is no longer an LDS Church member, many of her students are, or are affiliated with other religions. What they're learning has no bearing on their religious beliefs, she says. Merrill Cazier, a 52-year-old land surveyor and massage therapist from Ogden, for instance, began studying palmistry with Tracey in February. The active LDS Church member is merely cultivating a "hobby," one that helps him "look at people in a different way" and leaves his faith unshaken, he says.

Predictive science, as Tracey calls it, is nothing new. Dice, used for thousands of years, helped divide inheritances. Lots were thrown in biblical times to determine God's will. Jonah was thrown overboard after sailors cast lots to see who was responsible for the great storm (Jonah 1:7). After Jesus ascended, apostles cast lots to determine who would replace Judas. (Acts 1:26).

The ancient Chinese in the 12th century B.C. developed I Ching, a table of hexagrams used, with a set of coins, to predict the future and guide courses of action. Military officers consulted the text, and rulers turned to it to determine successors. Runes, letters constituting the Runic alphabet, were used among elite Nordic peoples in the first and second centuries to unveil secrets and prophecies. All of these tools are still used today.

Commoners, historically, were not given access to predictive sciences and, as a result, didn't benefit from their spiritual insights, says Tracey, 44. And in more recent times, the misconceptions, superstitions and even fears that have swirled around predictive sciences have made people wary.

People have "been told, regardless of what religion or church, that it's bad," she says. "Why? Because the clergy system [is seen as] adminstrators for God. . . . If people are administrating themselves, they are not being administrated to."

She opens up one of the many bibles she's collected since she was a teen and reads from Deuteronomy (18:10-12, 14-15), which naysayers use to disapprove of her kind of work.

"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer. . . For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. . . . For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken."

Putting the words in context, she says, is essential. Back then, during times of war, residents of invaded villages might have worshipped different deities. The biblical passages were meant to protect those who worshipped one God from being influenced by others, she says.

Times and opportunities have changed. Predictive sciences are nothing to be afraid of, she says, and the people who've come to her are proof that our society is becoming more open-minded.

Since she began teaching nine years ago, she says she's worked with more than 400 students representing various faiths, age groups and professions. She's worked with psychologists, police officers, waitresses, high-school students and the elderly.

"From construction workers to three-piece-suit professionals, it doesn't matter," she says. "These are things that can be adopted to strengthen your personal belief system."

Giving people tools to help them pray and seek spiritual answers, that's all she wants to do. None of this is intended to tramp on conventional religious practices. Whether they learn to do it themselves or come to those who've been trained already, tarot cards, a toss of dice or an I Ching consult - if read properly - can only help, Tracey says.

"I want to take predictive science out of the basement," she says. "It's not a subculture. It doesn't belong there."

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* JESSICA RAVITZ can be reached at jravitz@sltrib.com or 801-257-8776. Send comments to the religion editor at religioneditor@sltrib.com.

To learn more about Tracey and the School of Medium Arts and Predictive Sciences, visit www.tarot bytracey.com or call 801-293-3442.