Difference between revisions of "Divination" - New World Encyclopedia

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[[Image:Rhumsiki crab sorceror.jpg|thumb|200px|right|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''.]]
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'''Divination''' is the attempt of ascertaining information by interpretation of [[omen]]s or an alleged [[supernatural]] agency.
  
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[[Image:Rhumsiki crab sorceror.jpg|thumb|300px|right|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''[http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/Fdtl/Spider/].]]
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Divination is distinguished from [[fortune-telling]] in that divination has a formal or ritualistic and often social character, usually in a [[religion|religious]] context, while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Divination is often dismissed by [[skeptic]]s, including the [[scientific community]], as being mere [[superstition]]. Nevertheless, the practice is widespread and has been known in virtually every historical period. The biblical [[prophet]]s used various forms of divination in reading the future, as did pagan priests and [[shaman]]s. In the [[New Testament]], the magi read the signs in the heavens to find the [[Christ]] child. Medieval kings and modern presidents have consulted [[astrologer]]s to determine the most propitious time for various events. Today, millions of people practice various forms of divination, sometimes without being aware of it, ranging from consulting one's daily [[horoscope]] in the newspaper to flipping a coin to decide a course of action.
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'''Divination''' (Greek μαντεια, from μαντις "[[seer]]") is the attempt of ascertaining information by interpretation of [[omen]]s or an alleged [[supernatural]] agency.
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==History==
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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 [[shaman]]s, [[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.
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Divination is distinguished and [[fortune-telling]] in that divination has a formal or ritualistic and often social character, usually in a [[religion|religious]] context, while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Divination is often dismissed by [[skeptic]]s, 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" [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/lucian/lucian_alexander.htm], though most Romans believed in dreams and charms.
 
  
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==History==
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[[Image:Astrological Glyphs.svg|thumb|250px|Astrology was one of the first sophisticated forms of divination, dating back to ancient [[Mesopotamia]]n times.]]
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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 [[shaman]]s, [[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.
 
  
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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 = avi-gur, οἰωνὸς, οἰωνισταί, etc.). 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.
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The [[Egyptians]], [[Druids]], and [[Hebrews]] relied on scrying. The Druids also read death throes and entrails of sacrificed [[animal]]s. 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 diviners. In fact, the belief in divination has existed throughout history, among the uncivilized as well as the most civilized nations, to the present day, as 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 [[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.
  
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The ancient [[Romans]] favored [[augury]] and [[haruspicy]]. Originally, prophesying by the flight of birds; but later the term was applied to all forms of foretelling. The Romans also distinguished between greater and lesser divinations, calling the latter signs. 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.
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The types of divination, 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]] and [[oracles]]; or [[spirits]] were also invoked to tell the future (necromancy). In early Hebraic culture, ''teraphim'' and [[Urim and Thummim]] were queried.
  
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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.
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In biblical times, the observation of the flight of birds for the purpose of divination 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." Among the [[Arabs]] the raven was a bird of [[omen]].
  
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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 Greek version several times translates "naḥash" by οἰωνòς; but this word, like the Latin "augurium," means any kind of prognostication, and not merely that by the flight or the cry of birds.  
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[[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.
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The [[Babylonians]] divined by flies. 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 [[tree]]s, 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.
  
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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,a dn 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.
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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 through divination that God had blessed him on account of Jacob (''Genesis'' 30:27).  
  
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The Babylonians also divined also by flies. In this connection arose perhaps the saying that no fly alighted on the table of the prophet Elisha. 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.
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[[Image:Trigrams2.svg|thumb|right|250px|The eight trigrams of the ''I Ching''.]]
  
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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 (Gen. xliv. 5, according to Dillman's commentary). Laban found out in a similar way (naḥash) that God blessed him on account of Jacob (Gen. xxx. 27).  
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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 I may 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).
  
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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 "(Gen. xxiv. 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 Sam. vi. 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.
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Nevertheless, the Mosaic law strictly and repeatedly forbade all augury (Lev. 19:26; Deut. 28:10, etc.). The [[interpretation]] of signs, however, was not considered unlawful—nor was
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the use of the [[Urim and Thummin]]: "Put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece... Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites." (Exodus 28:30) In ''I Samuel'' 14:41, King [[Saul]] reportedly said: "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."
  
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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. The belief in animal omens was widely spread among the Babylonians, who also divined by the behavior of fish, as was well known.
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In the first century B.C.E., the Roman orator [[Cicero]]'s wrote a formal treatise on the subject of divination under the title ''De divinatione'', in which he distinguishes between inductive and deductive types of divination. At the time of Jesus, the magi learned by observing the stars that the Christ child would be born at a certain time and place in [[Bethlehem]].  
  
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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
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In the [[Middle Ages]], the [[philosophers]] were averse to divination. However, among the common folk and some mystics, the practice was well known. 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. Divination practices in [[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.
  
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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 ten days between 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.
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Many divinatory methods are still used today, especially in [[paganism]], [[witchcraft]], [[voodoo]], and [[Santeria]]. Some forms of [[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.
  
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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 practise 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 practised in spite of the interdiction The mystics readily accepted all such beliefs, since all superstitious practises 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.
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==Christian response to divination==
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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 its 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.
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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, gives 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.
 
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Slivers of wood, from which the bark had been removed on one side, were thrown into the air, and according as they fell on the peeled or on the barked side, the omen was favorable or unfavorable. Flames leaping up on the hearth indicated that a guest was coming. Cup and nail divination was practised. Children were made to look into glasses filled with water, into crystals, etc., while invoking a demon, the pictures they saw being then interpreted. For nail divination, the children looked upon the fingernail. In France and Germany in the thirteenth century, the future was foretold by means of the "name of interpretation" (''shem ha-meforash''), a species of the name of God.
 
  
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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.
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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.
  
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==Divination by the Ancient Hebrews==
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[[Image:Michelangelo Caravaggio 031.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[The Fortune Teller]]'', by [[Caravaggio]] (1594–95; Canvas; Louvre), depicting a palm reading.]]
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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 thr "breastplate of judgment;" it is four-square and double, and the 12 stones were on the outside.  
 
  
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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"
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[[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.
  
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In ancient [[Israelite]] religion and culture, "Urim" and "Thummim" ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]])is a phrase from the [[Hebrew Bible]] associated with the [[Hoshen|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 [[Triconsonantal root|consonantal root]] תּמִם (t-m-m), meaning "faultless," while אוּרִים (''Urim'') has traditionally been taken to derive from a [[root word|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."
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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 revival, especially in the [[United States]] and [[England]], with such practices as [[astrology]], spiritism and other types of divination becoming widely popular. Today, divination has become commonplace, from astrology columns in newspapers, to large sections of bookstores featuring divination tools from [[palm-reading]] and [[phrenology]] to runestones, the ''I Ching'' and a vast array of [[tarot]] decks.
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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."
 
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Three methods of divine communication are mentioned in ''I Samuel'' 28:3-6: (1) the dream-oracle, of which frequent mention is made also 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.
 
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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.
 
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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.
 
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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 (i.e., the Shekinah). 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.
 
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==Christian response to divination==
 
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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, and after some centuries it disappeared as an official system though it continued to have many adherents. The Fathers of the Church were its vigorous opponents. The tenets of Gnosticism gave it some strength, and neo-Platonism won it many followers. Within the Church itself it proved so strong and attractive to her new converts that synods forbade it and councils legislated against it. The Council of Ancyra (c. xxiv) in 314 decreed five years penance to consulters of diviners, and that of Laodicea (c. xxxvi) about 360, forbade clerics to become magicians or to make amulets, and those who wore them were to be driven out of the Church. A canon (xxxvi) of Orléans 511) excommunicates those who practised 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 favourite, as a synod of Vannes (c. xvi) in 461 held forbidden it to clerics under pain of excommunication, and that of Agde (c. xlii) 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 endeavour to fulfil forcibly their predictions about the death of sovereigns. When the races of the North, which swept over the old Roman Empire, 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 noxious methods. 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==
 
==Categories of divination==
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''[[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.
 
''[[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.
  
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''[[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.
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[[Image:Haruspex.png|thumb|right|250px|The sheep's liver found at Picenum with Etruscan inscriptions|Diagram of a [[sheep]]'s [[liver]], with [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] inscriptions]]
  
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''[[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 [[Roman Republic|Romans]] in classical times used [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] methods of augury such as [[hepatoscopy]] (actually a form of [[extispicy]]). [[haruspex|Haruspices]] examined the livers of sacrificed animals.
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''[[Sortilege]]'' ([[cleromancy]]): This consists of the casting of lots whether with sticks, stones, bones, coins, beans, or some other item. Modern playing cards and board games developed from this type of divination.
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''[[Augury]]'': Divination that ranks a set of given possibilities. It can be qualitative (such as shapes, proximities, etc.): for example, [[dowsing]] developed from this type of divination. The [[Roman Republic|Romans]] in classical times used [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] methods of augury such as [[hepatoscopy]]. [[haruspex|Haruspices]] examined the livers of sacrificed animals. Palm-reading and the reading of tea-leaves are also examples of this type of divination.
  
 
''[[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 [[Christian]]s 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]].
 
''[[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 [[Christian]]s 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]].
Line 78: Line 65:
 
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.
 
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.
+
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]], reading tea leaves or coffee grounds 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.
+
The following is a selection of the more common methods of divination:
 +
*[[astrology]]: by celestial bodies
 +
*[[augury]]: by the flight of birds, etc.
 +
*[[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
 +
*[[I Ching divination]]: by the [[I Ching]], a form of bibliomancy combined with casting sticks or coins
 +
*[[numerology]]: by numbers
 +
*[[oneiromancy]]: by [[dreams]]
 +
*[[onomancy]]: by names
 +
*[[Ouija]]: by the use of a board supposedly combined with [[necromancy]]
 +
*[[rhabdomancy]]: divination by rods
 +
*[[runecasting]]/[[Runic divination]]: by [[runes]]
 +
*[[scrying]]: by reflective objects
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
*Cunningham, Scott. ''Divination for Beginners: Readings the Past, Present, & Future'', Llewellyn Publications, 2003. ISBN 978-0738703848
+
* Blacker, Carmen, and Michael Loewe (eds.). ''Oracles and divination''. Shambhala/Random House, 1981. ISBN 0877732140
−
*Fiery, Ann. ''The Book of Divination'', Amazon Remainders Account, 1999. ASIN B000C4SH36
+
* Cunningham, Scott. ''Divination for Beginners: Readings the Past, Present, & Future''. Llewellyn Publications, 2003. ISBN 978-0738703848
−
*Loewe, Michael, & Blacke, Carmen (eds.) ''Oracles and divination'', Shambhala/Random House, 1981. ISBN 0-87773-214-0
+
* Fiery, Ann. ''The Book of Divination''. Amazon Remainders Account, 1999. {{ASIN|B000C4SH36}}
−
*Morwyn. ''The Complete Book of Psychic Arts: Divination Practices from Around the World'', Llewellyn Publications, 1999. ISBN 9781567182361
+
* Morwyn. ''The Complete Book of Psychic Arts: Divination Practices from Around the World''. Llewellyn Publications, 1999. ISBN 978-1567182361
−
*O'Brien, Paul. ''Divination: Sacred Tools for Reading the Mind of God'', Visionary Networks Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0979542503
+
* O'Brien, Paul. ''Divination: Sacred Tools for Reading the Mind of God''. Visionary Networks Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0979542503
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
−
{{wiktionary}}
+
All links retrieved January 29, 2024.
−
*[http://TarotCanada.tripod.com/AppleDivination.html Apple Divination]
+
 
−
*[http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/astdiv Ancient Astrology and Divination on the Web] , resources on Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian divination
+
*[http://TarotCanada.tripod.com/AppleDivination.html Apple Divination] ''TarotCanada.tripod.com''
−
*[http://www.ancientlibrary.com/divination/ W. R. Halliday, ''Greek Divination''] (1913), a complete scanned editon of the most recent general treatment of Greek divination
+
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05048b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Divination] ''www.newadvent.org''
−
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05048b.htm 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia: Divination]
+
* [http://www.iranian.com/Sep96/Iranica/IranicaDivine/IranicaDivine.html Encyclopedia Iranica: Divination] ''www.iranian.com''
−
*[http://www.paralumun.com/divination.htm Divination Methods]
+
*[http://tim.maroney.org/Essays/Theory_of_Divination.html Theory of Divination] by Tim Maroney, exploring different possibilities. ''tim.maroney.org''
−
* [http://www.iranian.com/Sep96/Iranica/IranicaDivine/IranicaDivine.html Encyclopedia Iranica: Divination]
 
−
*[http://tim.maroney.org/Essays/Theory_of_Divination.html Theory of Divination] by Tim Maroney, exploring different possibilities  
 
  
 
[[Category:philosophy and religion]]
 
[[Category:philosophy and religion]]
 +
[[Category:religion]]
 
{{Credit|156977868}}
 
{{Credit|156977868}}

Latest revision as of 15:31, 29 January 2024

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.

Divination is the attempt of ascertaining information by interpretation of omens or an alleged supernatural agency.

Divination is distinguished from 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. Nevertheless, the practice is widespread and has been known in virtually every historical period. The biblical prophets used various forms of divination in reading the future, as did pagan priests and shamans. In the New Testament, the magi read the signs in the heavens to find the Christ child. Medieval kings and modern presidents have consulted astrologers to determine the most propitious time for various events. Today, millions of people practice various forms of divination, sometimes without being aware of it, ranging from consulting one's daily horoscope in the newspaper to flipping a coin to decide a course of action.

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.

Astrology was one of the first sophisticated forms of divination, dating back to ancient Mesopotamian times.

The Egyptians, Druids, and Hebrews relied on scrying. The Druids also read death throes and entrails of sacrificed animals. 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 diviners. In fact, the belief in divination has existed throughout history, among the uncivilized as well as the most civilized nations, to the present day, as 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 types of divination, 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 and oracles; or spirits were also invoked to tell the future (necromancy). In early Hebraic culture, teraphim and Urim and Thummim were queried.

In biblical times, the observation of the flight of birds for the purpose of divination 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." Among the Arabs the raven was a bird of omen.

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. 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 through divination that God had blessed him on account of Jacob (Genesis 30:27).

The eight trigrams of the I Ching.

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 I may 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).

Nevertheless, the Mosaic law strictly and repeatedly forbade all augury (Lev. 19:26; Deut. 28:10, etc.). The interpretation of signs, however, was not considered unlawful—nor was the use of the Urim and Thummin: "Put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece... Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites." (Exodus 28:30) In I Samuel 14:41, King Saul reportedly said: "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."

In the first century B.C.E., the Roman orator Cicero's wrote a formal treatise on the subject of divination under the title De divinatione, in which he distinguishes between inductive and deductive types of divination. At the time of Jesus, the magi learned by observing the stars that the Christ child would be born at a certain time and place in Bethlehem.

In the Middle Ages, the philosophers were averse to divination. However, among the common folk and some mystics, the practice was well known. 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. Divination practices in 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.

Many divinatory methods are still used today, especially in paganism, witchcraft, voodoo, and Santeria. Some forms of 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.

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 its 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.

The Fortune Teller, by Caravaggio (1594–95; Canvas; Louvre), depicting a palm reading.

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 revival, especially in the United States and England, with such practices as astrology, spiritism and other types of divination becoming widely popular. Today, divination has become commonplace, from astrology columns in newspapers, to large sections of bookstores featuring divination tools from palm-reading and phrenology to runestones, the I Ching and a vast array of tarot decks.

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.

Diagram of a sheep's liver, with Etruscan inscriptions

Sortilege (cleromancy): This consists of the casting of lots whether with sticks, stones, bones, coins, 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 developed from this type of divination. The Romans in classical times used Etruscan methods of augury such as hepatoscopy. Haruspices examined the livers of sacrificed animals. Palm-reading and the reading of tea-leaves are also examples of this type of divination.

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, reading tea leaves or coffee grounds 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, etc.
  • 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
  • I Ching divination: by the I Ching, a form of bibliomancy combined with casting sticks or coins
  • numerology: by numbers
  • oneiromancy: by dreams
  • onomancy: by names
  • Ouija: by the use of a board supposedly combined with necromancy
  • rhabdomancy: divination by rods
  • runecasting/Runic divination: by runes
  • scrying: by reflective objects

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Blacker, Carmen, and Michael Loewe (eds.). Oracles and divination. Shambhala/Random House, 1981. ISBN 0877732140
  • 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
  • Morwyn. The Complete Book of Psychic Arts: Divination Practices from Around the World. Llewellyn Publications, 1999. ISBN 978-1567182361
  • O'Brien, Paul. Divination: Sacred Tools for Reading the Mind of God. Visionary Networks Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0979542503

External links

All links retrieved January 29, 2024.

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