Divination
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 Egyptians, Druids, and Hebrews relied on scrying. The Druids also read death throes and entrails of sacrificed animals. Originally, prophesying by the flight of birds; but later the term was applied to all forms of foretelling (augur). Augury was first systematized by the Chaldeans. The Greeks were addicted to it; and among the Romans no important action of state was undertaken without the advice of the augurs. In fact, the belief in augury has existed at all times, among the uncivilized as well as the most civilized nations, to the present day, the wish to know the future continually giving rise to some art of peering into it.
The Greeks had their oracle which spoke for the gods. 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.
The various species of augury, however, depended on the conditions of external nature, race peculiarities, and historical influences. The future was foretold by the aspect of the heavens (astrology); by [[dreams], lots, oracles, and such things; or spirits were invoked (necromancy), and in Hebraic culture, Teraphim, Urim, and Thummim were questioned. As these forms of prognostication, as well as the pagan method, divination, are treated under their several headings, this article will be devoted to augury in the strict sense of the word, including, however, all predictions dependent on chance happenings.
In biblical times, the observation of the flight of birds for the purpose of prophesying, or as a prognostication, is not expressly mentioned in the bible. That it was not unknown, however, is shown in Ecclesiastes 10:20, "for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." This knowledge may also be assumed in view of the fact that among the Arabs the raven was a bird of omen. The Latin "augurium," means any kind of prognostication, and not merely that by the flight or the cry of birds.
Augury proper (the flight and cries of birds) was known among the Jews, but was considered as a foreign Roman or Arabic art. Josephus narrates that a bird (an owl) alighted on the tree against which Agrippa was leaning while a prisoner at Rome; whereupon a fellow prisoner, a German, prophesied that he would become king, but that if the bird appeared a second time, it would mean he would die. The Romans also understood the language of the birds, since Judah was said not to dare, even in a whisper, to advise the Emperor Antoninus to proceed against the nobles of Rome, for the birds would carry his voice onward.
The Babylonians divined by flies. In this connection to this tradition arose the saying that no fly alighted on the table of the prophet Elisha. The belief in animal omens was also widely spread among the Babylonians, who also divined by the behavior of fish, as was well known. The language of trees, which the ancient peoples, especially the Babylonians, are said to have understood, was probably known to the Babylonian Jews as early as the eighth century. Abraham learned from the sighing of the tamarisk-tree that his end was nigh.
The biblical Joseph practiced hydromancy. He divined the future by pouring water into a cup, throwing little pieces of gold or jewels into the fluid, observing the figures that were formed, and predicting accordingly (Genesis 54.5). Laban found out in a similar way that God blessed him on account of Jacob (Genesis 30:27).
Accidental occurrences were of great importance in divination, and may be taken as omens. Eliezer, Abraham's servant, said: "I stand at the well . . . and the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that Imay drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also, let the same be the wife appointed by God for Isaac" (Genesis 24:12-19). The diviners advised the Philistines to send back the Ark of the Lord in order that the deaths among them might cease:(I Samuel 6:7-12). It is highly improbable that the Hebrews prognosticated from the drifting of the clouds, nor was any attention paid to the lightning flash, which belonged to augury among the Romans. The Law strictly and repeatedly forbade all Augury (Lev. xix. 26; Deut. xviii. 10, etc.). The interpretation of signs, however, as in the case of Eliezer and Jonathan, where nothing was done in the way of conjuration, was not considered to be Augury.
Augury is more frequently referred to in post-Biblical times, but it would be rash to assume therefore that it was more widely practiced. As among the classical peoples of antiquity and among the Germans today, the arts of Augury proved effective only with the person who believed in them, and only such a person was injured by them.
Boys were often used by diviners to peer into the future, being for that purpose bewitched by magic formulas. The Talmud says, "Since the destruction of the Temple, prophecy has been given into the hands of the insane and of children." The Jewish view is not far removed from the Greco-Roman one; namely, that the insane were possessed by demons. Bewitchment was strictly forbidden, as was generally the interrogation of demons, except by means of oil or eggs, to find a lost article, amd so forth
Generally much attention was paid to omens. In order to find out if one will live the year through, one must take a candle during the 10 days between the New Year and the Day of Atonement, and light it in a house where there is no draft; if the candle burn to the socket, that one will live the year through. In order to know if one will return home from a journey, one must go into a dark room, and if one see there the "shadow of the shadow," one will return. The Talmud discourages, however, recourse to these oracles, since a person becomes low-spirited if they are unfavorable.
In the Middle Ages, it may be said in general that the philosophers were averse to augury, as well as to any other form of superstition. This is true especially of Maimonides, who, although bound by the Talmudic tradition, was not inclined to make any concessions on this point. The Talmudists, again, for whom the Talmud was the decisive authority, could not accept all the utterances and stories found therein. Hence a curious discrepancy between theory and practice arose, as indeed is found in the Talmud itself. While, on the one hand, everything that at all suggests idolatry is strictly forbidden, much, on the other hand, is permitted, or practiced in spite of the interdiction The mystics readily accepted all such beliefs, since all superstitious practices coincided with their views of the world. Moreover, a part of the people could never wean itself from these views. A common practice in the Middle Ages was to toss grain, sand, or peas onto a field in order to read the patterns after the substances fell.
In Germany and France, divination practices continued. Judah the Pious (died 1216 at Regensburg), who was highly venerated by his contemporaries and especially during the thirteenth century, offers in his Book of the Pious a mass of superstitions. He condemns on the whole the "interpretation of signs, which today is so much practiced in Israel," and declares that the choosing of a day (for instance, starting children in their schooling only on the new moon) is idolatry.
Divination practices France and Germany were varied. Slivers of wood, from which the bark had been removed on one side, were thrown into the air and, according to how they fell on the peeled or on the barked side, the omen was interpreted as favorable or unfavorable. Flames leaping up on the hearth indicated that a guest was coming. Cup and nail divination was practiced. Children were made to look into glasses filled with water, into crystals, etc., while invoking a demon, the images they saw the being interpreted. For nail divination, the children looked upon the fingernail. The future was foretold by means of the "name of interpretation" (shem ha-meforash), a species of the name of God.
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.
Divination by the ancient Hebrews
Among the ancient Hebrews, objects connected with the breastplate of the high priest were used as a kind of divine oracle. Since the days of the Alexandrian translators of the Old Testament, it has been asserted that "revelation and truth," or "lights and perfections," can emanate from such objects. Referred to as the "breastplate of judgment," it is four-square and double, and the 12 stones were on the outside.
It is related in Leviticus 8:7-8 that when, in compliance with the command in Exodus 29:1-37, Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons as priests: "He [Moses] put upon him [Aaron] the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the cunningly woven band" of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon him, and in the breastplate, he put the Urim and the Thummim." Deuteronomy 33:8, in the blessing of Moses, reads: "And of Levi he said: Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with thy godly one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah"
In ancient Israelite religion and culture, Urim and Thummim (Hebrew)is a phrase from the Hebrew Bible associated with the sacred breastplate, divination in general, and cleromancy in particular. Most scholars suspect that the phrase refers to specific objects involved in the divination. Thummim is widely considered to be derived from the consonantal root תּמִם (t-m-m), meaning "faultless," while אוּרִים (Urim) has traditionally been taken to derive from a root meaning "lights." "Urim and Thummim" has traditionally been translated as "lights and perfections," or by taking the phrase allegorically, as meaning "revelation and truth," or "doctrine and truth."
The most important passage utilizing the terminology is I Samuel 14:41: "And Saul said: Lord, God of Israel, why hast thou not answered thy servant this day? If this iniquity be in me or in Jonathan my son, Lord, God of Israel, give Urim; but if it be in thy people Israel, give Thummim. Then Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot; and the people escaped."
Three methods of divine communication are mentioned in I Samuel 28:3-6: (1) the dream-oracle, also found in Assyrian and Babylonian literature; (2) the oracle by means of the Urim (here, undoubtedly, an abbreviation for Urim and Thummim); (3) the oracle by the word of the Prophets, found among all Semitic nations.
The only other mention of actual consultation of Yhwh, by means of the Urim and Thummim found in the Old Testament, is in Numbers 27:21. Eleazar was then high priest, and Moses was permitted by the Lord to address him directly. But Joshua and his successors could speak to the Lord only through the mediation of the high priest and by means of the Urim and Thummim.
The ancient, and most of the modern, explanations of these mysterious instruments through which Yhwh communicated his will to his chosen people identify them with (a) stones in the high priest's breastplate, (b) sacred dice, and (c) little images of "Truth and Justice" such as are found round the neck of the mummy of an Egyptian priest.
In order to divine meaning in such matters, the oracle was consulted in the following manner: The high priest donned his eight garments, and the person for whom he sought an answer stood facing him, while he himself turned toward God. It was necessary that the question should be brief and that it should be pronounced, but not aloud; while the answer was a repetition of the query, either in the affirmative or in the negative. Only one question might be asked at a time; if more than one were put, the first alone received a reply.
The answer was given by the letters of the names of the tribes which were engraved upon the high priest's breastplate. If the question was not distinctly worded, the reply might be misunderstood. A decision by the oracle might be demanded by the king; the chief of the highest court; a prominent man within the community, such as a general of the army; and it might be sought only for "one anointed for war," in that the breastplate was used to proclaim victory in battle.
Christian response to divination
Today's Christian theology with includes invoking the name of the Holy Spirit and praying in the name of the saints to accomplish some personal goal, belies the fact that, for much of it history, Christianity opposed the practice of divination. In fact, wherever Christianity went, divination lost most of its old-time power, and one form, the natural, ceased almost completely. The new religion forbade all kinds of divination, and after some centuries it disappeared as an official system though it continued to have many adherents. The Church Fathers were its vigorous opponents. The tenets of Gnosticism gave it some strength, and Neo-Platonism won it many followers.
Within the Church, divination proved so strong and attractive to her new converts that synods forbade it and councils legislated against it. The Council of Ancyra in 314 decreed five years penance to consulters of diviners, and that of Laodicea, about 360, forbade clerics to become magicians or to make amulets, and those who wore them were to be driven out of the Church. Canon 36 of Orléans excommunicated those who practiced divination auguries, or lots falsely called Sortes Sanctorum (Bibliorum), i.e. deciding one's future conduct by the first passage found on opening a Bible. This method was evidently a great favorite, since a synod in Vannes, in 461, forbid it to clerics under pain of excommunication, and that of Agde, in 506, condemned it as against piety and faith. Sixtus IV, Sixtus V, and the Fifth Council of Lateran likewise condemned divination.
Governments have at times acted with great severity. Constantius decreed the penalty of death for diviners. The authorities may have feared that some would-be prophets might endeavor to fulfill forcibly their predictions about the death of sovereigns. When the tribes from the North swept down over the old Roman Empire and entered the Church, it was only to be expected that some of their lesser superstitions should survive.
All during the so-called Dark Ages, divining arts managed to live in secret, but after the Crusades they were followed more openly. At the time of the Renaissance and again preceding the French Revolution, there was a marked growth of methods considered noxious to the church. The latter part of the nineteenth century witnessed a strange revival, especially in the United States and England, of all sorts of superstition, necromancy, or spiritism being in the lead.
Today, the number of persons who believe in signs and seek to know the future is much greater than appears on the surface. They abound in communities where dogmatic Christianity is weak.
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.
ReferencesISBN 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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