Divination

This man in Rhumsiki, Cameroon, tells the future by interpreting the changes in position of various objects as caused by a fresh-water crab through nggàm[1].

Divination (Greek μαντεια, from μαντις "seer") is the attempt of ascertaining information by interpretation of omens or an alleged supernatural agency.

Divination is distinguished and fortune-telling in that divination has a formal or ritualistic and often social character, usually in a religious context, while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Divination is often dismissed by skeptics, including the scientific community, as being mere superstition. In the second century, Lucian devoted a witty essay to the career of a charlatan, Alexander the false prophet, trained by "one of those who advertise enchantments, miraculous incantations, charms for your love-affairs, visitations for your enemies, disclosures of buried treasure, and successions to estates" [2], though most Romans believed in dreams and charms.

History

From the earliest stages of civilization, people have used various means of divination to communicate with the supernatural when seeking help in their public and private lives. Divination is most often practiced as a means of foretelling the future, and sometimes the past. It is one of the primary practices used by shamans, seers, priests, medicine men, sorcerers, and witches. Such persons are often called diviners, who often belonged to special classes of priests and priestesses in both past and present civilizations, and are specially trained in the practice and interpretation of their divinatory skills.

The ancient Romans favored augury and haruspicy. The Egyptians, Druids, and Hebrews relied on scrying. The Druids also read death throes and entrails of sacrificed animals.

The Greeks had their oracle which spoke for the gods. In the Middle Ages, grain, sand or peas were tossed onto a field in order to read the patterns after the substances fell. As far back as 1000 B.C.E., the Chinese had I Ching, an oracle which involved the tossing and reading of long or short yarrow sticks. Another ancient Chinese divinatory practice which is still used is feng-shui, or geomancy, which involves the erecting of buildings, tombs, and other physical structures by determining the currents of invisible energy coursing through the earth. Presently, people also are using this principle for the arrangement of furniture in their homes.

Many divinatory methods are still used today, especially in paganism, witchcraft, voodoo, and Santeria. Most Christians would probably disagree, but prayer might also be considered a divinatory act. Many practitioners today do not feel signs of divination are absolute or fixed, but believe they still have free choices in their future. They believe divination helps them in making better choices.

Categories of divination

Psychologist Julian Jaynes categorized divination according to the following types:

Omens and omen texts: "The most primitive, clumsy, but enduring method...is the simple recording of sequences of unusual or important events." Chinese history offers scrupulously documented occurrences of strange births, the tracking of natural phenomena, and other data. Chinese governmental planning relied on this method of forecasting for long-range strategy. It is not unreasonable to assume that modern scientific inquiry began with this kind of divination; Joseph Needham's work considered this very idea.

Sortilege (cleromancy): This consists of the casting of lots whether with sticks, stones, bones, beans, or some other item. Modern playing cards and board games developed from this type of divination.

Augury: Divination that ranks a set of given possibilities. It can be qualitative (such as shapes, proximities, etc.): for example, dowsing (a form of rhabdomancy) developed from this type of divination. The Romans in classical times used Etruscan methods of augury such as hepatoscopy (actually a form of extispicy). Haruspices examined the livers of sacrificed animals.

Spontaneous: An unconstrained form of divination, free from any particular medium, and actually a generalization of all types of divination. The answer comes from whatever object the diviner happens to see or hear. Some Christians and members of other religions use a form of bibliomancy: they ask a question, riffle the pages of their holy book, and take as their answer the first passage their eyes light upon. The Bible itself expresses mixed opinions on divination; see e.g. Cleromancy.

Other forms of spontaneous divination include reading auras and New Age methods of Feng Shui, such as "intuitive" and Fuzion.

Common methods of divination

The methodology for practicing the divinatory skills seems to divide into two categories: the first is the observation and interpretation of natural phenomena, and the second is the observation and interpretation of man-made "voluntary" phenomena. Natural phenomena includes two major subcategories of activity: astrology and hepatoscopy. To a lesser degree, the observation of the following occurrences also can be listed under natural phenomena: unexpected storms, particular cloud formations, birth monstrosities in both man and animal, howling or unnatural actions in dogs, and nightmarish dreams.

Man-made or "voluntary" phenomena is defined as being deliberately produced for the sole purpose of soothsaying, and includes such acts as necromancy, pouring oil into a basin of water to observe the formation of bubbles and rings in the receptacle, shooting arrows, casting lots, and numerous other acts.

The following is a selection of the more common methods of divination: astrology: by celestial bodies; augury: by the flight of birds; bibliomancy: by books (frequently, but not always, religious texts); cartomancy: by cards; cheiromancy/palmistry: by palms; gastromancy: by crystal ball; extispicy: by the entrails of animals; feng Shui: by earthen harmony; I Ching divination: by the I Ching, a form of bibliomancy; numerology: by numbers; oneiromancy: by dreams; onomancy: by names; Ouija: board divination; rhabdomancy: divination by rods; runecasting/Runic divination: by runes; scrying: by reflective objects; taromancy: by Tarot; a form of cartomancy.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Cunningham, Scott. Divination for Beginners: Readings the Past, Present, & Future, Llewellyn Publications, 2003. ISBN 978-0738703848
• Fiery, Ann. The Book of Divination, Amazon Remainders Account, 1999. ASIN B000C4SH36
• Loewe, Michael, & Blacke, Carmen (eds.) Oracles and divination, Shambhala/Random House, 1981. ISBN 0-87773-214-0
• Morwyn. The Complete Book of Psychic Arts: Divination Practices from Around the World, Llewellyn Publications, 1999. ISBN 9781567182361
• O'Brien, Paul. Divination: Sacred Tools for Reading the Mind of God, Visionary Networks Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0979542503

External links

• Apple Divination
• Ancient Astrology and Divination on the Web , resources on Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian divination
• W. R. Halliday, Greek Divination (1913), a complete scanned editon of the most recent general treatment of Greek divination
• 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia: Divination
• Divination Methods
• Encyclopedia Iranica: Divination
• Theory of Divination by Tim Maroney, exploring different possibilities

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