There is lace in every living thing: the bare branches of winter, the patterns of clouds, the surface of water as it ripples in the breeze... Even a wild dog's matted fur shows a lacey pattern if you look at it closely enough.

Each Reader must choose a piece of lace. It is hers for life.

In a round piece of lace, the still point is found at the center. All patterns emerge from it. The Reader must rely on intuition. Within the still point, past, present, and future exist simultaneously and time, as we know it, disappears completely.

It is from the still point that the reading must begin.

When reading the lace, the Reader must look for one of two things... something that enhances the pattern? or something that breaks it.

It is important to ask the right question of the lace. This may be the Reader's greatest responsibility. The beginning Reader must resist the urge to interpret the images seen. These images belong entirely to the Seeker.

In reading the lace, there is no wrong answer. Even so, it is easy to receive wrong results, simply by asking the wrong question.

Sometimes the Reader must turn the lace in many different directions and gaze at the piece through varied light before the images begin to appear.

—excerpted from The Lace Reader's Guide