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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 (from Latin divinare "to foresee, to be inspired by a god"^[2], related to divinus, divine) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual.^[3] Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency.^[4] Divination can be seen as a systematic method with which to organize what appear to be disjointed, random facets of existence such that they provide insight into a problem at hand. If a distinction is to be made between divination and fortune-telling, divination has a formal or ritual and often social character, usually in a religious context; while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Particular divination methods vary by culture and religion.

Divination is often dismissed by skeptics, including the scientific community, as being mere superstition: in the 2nd 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"^[5], though most Romans believed in dreams and charms. It is considered a sin in most Christian denominations and Judaism.

[edit] Categories

Psychologist Julian Jaynes categorized divination according to the following four types:

• Omens and omen texts. "The most primitive, clumsy, but enduring method...is the simple recording of sequences of unusual or important events." (1976:236) 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, or sortes, whether with sticks, stones, bones, beans, coins, 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. Note that augury is normally considered to specifically refer to divination by studying the flight patterns of birds.

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

[edit] Forbidden in the Bible and in the Quran

The attitude of the Bible toward divination is on the whole distinctly hostile and is fairly represented by Deuteronomy 18:10, where the prophet of God is contrasted with diviners of all kinds as the only authorized medium of supernatural revelation.^{[citation needed]} Divination is seen as an abomination but there are some notable exceptions where some forms are apparently sanctioned such as in the New Testament when Matthias is chosen as the replacement for Judas by casting lots. (Acts of the Apostles 1:26)

In the Quran, divination is described in Surah IV (The Table) as an abomination: "O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination; of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper." ^[6]

[edit] Divination forbidden in Christianity and Western society

Divination was considered a pagan practice in the early Christian church. Later the church would pass canon laws forbidding the practice of divination. In 692 the Quinisext Council, also known as the Council in Trullo in the Eastern Orthodox Church, passed canons to eliminate pagan and divination practices.^[7] Soothsaying and forms of divination were widespread through the Middle Ages. In the constitution of 1572 and public regulations of 1661 of Kur-Saxony, capital punishment was used on those predicting the future.^[8] Laws forbidding divination practice continue to this day.^[9]

[edit] Divination in Ancient Greece

Both oracles and seers in ancient Greece practiced divination. Oracles were the conduits for the gods on earth; their prophecies were understood to be the will of the gods verbatim. Because of the high demand for oracle consultations and the oracles’ limited work schedule, they were not the main source of divination for the ancient Greeks. That role fell to the seers (manteis in Greek).

Seers were not in direct contact with the gods; instead, they were interpreters of signs provided by the gods. Seers used many methods to explicate the will of the gods including extispicy, bird signs, etc. They were more numerous than the oracles and did not keep a limited schedule, thus they were highly valued by all Greeks, not just those with the capacity to travel to Delphi or other such distant sites.

The disadvantage to seers was that only direct yes or no questions could be answered. Oracles could answer more generalized questions, and seers often had to perform several sacrifices in order to get the most consistent answer. For example, if a general wanted to know if the omens were proper for him to advance on the enemy, he would ask his seer both that question and if it were better for him to remain on the defensive. If the seer gave consistent answers, the advice was considered valid.

At battle generals would frequently ask seers at both the campground (a process called the hiera) and at the battlefield (called the sphagia). The hiera entailed the seer slaughtering a sheep and examining its liver for answers regarding a more generic question; the sphagia involved killing a young female goat by slitting its throat and noting the animal’s last movements and blood flow. The battlefield sacrifice only occurred when two armies prepared for battle against each other. Neither force would advance until the seer revealed appropriate omens.

Because the seers had such power over influential individuals in ancient Greece, many were skeptical of the accuracy and honesty of the seers. Of course the degree to which seers were honest depends entirely on the individual seers. Despite the doubt surrounding individual seers, the craft as a whole was well regarded and trusted by the Greeks.^[10]

[edit] Common methods

• astrology: by the movements of celestial bodies.
• augury: by the flight of birds.
• bibliomancy: by books; frequently, but not always, religious texts.
• cartomancy: by cards.
• cheiromancy/palmistry: by palms.
• chronomancy: about time, lucky/unlucky days.
• cybermancy: by computers.
• gastromancy: by stomach-based ventriloquism (historically);
• crystallomancy: by crystal ball also called 'scrying').
• geomancy: by markings in the ground, or the way earth or soil lays when thrown.
• hydromancy: by water.
• I Ching divination: by yarrow stalks or coins and the I Ching.
• extispicy: by the entrails of animals.
• feng shui: by earthen harmony.
• haruspicy: by the livers of sacrificed animals.
• numerology: by numbers.
• palmistry: by lines and mounds on the hand.
• oneiromancy: by dreams.
• onomancy: by names.
• spirit board: by planchette or talking board divination.
• rhabdomancy: divination by rods.
• runecasting/Runic divination: by runes.
• scrying: by reflective objects.
• taromancy: by a form of cartomancy using tarot cards.
• tasseomancy: by tea leaves or coffee grounds.
• necromancy: by the dead, or spirits/souls of the dead.
• pyromancy: by fire.
• venomancy: by poison.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Popular

• Robert Todd Carroll (2003). The Skeptic's Dictionary. Wiley.
• Lon Milo Duquette (2005). The Book of Ordinary Oracles. Weiser Books.
• Clifford A. Pickover (2001). Dreaming the Future: The Fantastic Story of Prediction. Prometheus.
• Eva Shaw (1995). Divining the Future. Facts on File.
• The Diagram Group (1999). The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Fortune Telling. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
• Paul O'Brien (2007). Divination: Sacred Tools for Reading the Mind of God. Visionary Networks Press
• Andreas Seiler Novel (2008). Real Wizard. Numerology.

[edit] Academic

• D. Engels, Das römische Vorzeichenwesen (753-27 v.Chr.). Quellen, Terminologie, Kommentar, historische Entwicklung, Stuttgart 2007 (Franz Steiner-Verlag)
• E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande (1976)
• Toufic Fahd, La divination arabe; études religieuses, sociologiques et folkloriques sur le milieu natif d’Islam (1966)
• Philip K. Hitti. Makers of Arab History. Princeton, New Jersey. St. Martin’s Press. 1968. Pg 61.
• Michael Loewe and Carmen Blacke, eds. Oracles and divination (Shambhala/Random House, 1981) ISBN 0-87773-214-0
• W. Montgomery Watt. Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Edinburgh, Scotland. Oxford Press, 1961. Pgs 1-2.
• J. P. Vernant, Divination et rationalité (1974)
• David Zeitlyn and others on African Divination systems: [See]http://era.anthropology.ac.uk/Divination

[edit] External links

Look up divination in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Ancient Astrology and Divination on the Web, resources on Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian divination
• W. R. Halliday, Greek Divination (1913), a complete scanned edition of the most recent general treatment of Greek divination
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Divination
• Encyclopedia Iranica: Divination
• Ennemoser's History of Magic
• Council of Trullo

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