Divination
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Divination (from Latin divinare "to be inspired by a god", related to divine, diva and deus) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual.[2] Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency.[3] 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"[4], though most Romans believed in dreams and charms. It is considered a sin in most Christian denominations and Judaism.
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[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.[citation needed]
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." (Surah IV, 90)[citation needed]
[edit] Common methods
- 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.
- chronomancy: about time, lucky/unlucky days.
- cybermancy: by computers.
- gastromancy: by stomach-based ventriloquism (historically); by crystal ball (in modernity; and more commonly called 'scrying').
- geomancy: by markings in the ground, or the way earth or soil lays when thrown.
- hydromancy: by water.
- extispicy: by the entrails of animals.
- haruspicy : by the livers of sacrificed 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: a form of cartomancy using tarot cards.
- necromancy: by the dead, or spirits/souls of the dead/recently dead
- pyromancy: by fire.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Also done with spiders see [1]
- ^ Peek, P.M. African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. page 2. Indiana University Press. 1991.
- ^ Definition of divination
- ^ Lucian of Samosata : Alexander the False Prophet
[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
[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
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Look up divination in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- 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 edition of the most recent general treatment of Greek divination
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Divination
- Divination Methods
- Encyclopedia Iranica: Divination
- Theory of Divination by Tim Maroney, exploring different possibilities
- 48 second video of a psychic using a divining rod and pendulum during a missing persons case in Japan
- Divination Foundation
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