OWL Divinations

Lesson:

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

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. 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", though most Romans believed in dreams and charms. Advocates of divination will usually cite a mass of anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of divination.

Divination is a universal cultural phenomenon which anthropologists have observed as being present in many religions and cultures in all ages up to the present day.

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." (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 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.) 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.

Methods of Divination

• Astrology (by celestial bodies)
• Ailuromancy (by the behaviour of felines; see Felidomancy)
• Augury (by the flight of birds)
• Aura-Soma, based on colors
• Bibliomancy (by book, frequently but not always a religious text)
• Cartomancy (by cards, e.g., playing cards, tarot cards, and non-tarot oracle cards; see also Taromancy)
• Cheiromancy (by palms; see Palmistry)
• Coscinomancy (by a sieve)
• Crystallomancy/Scrying (by crystals or other reflecting objects)
• Extispicy (from the entrails of sacrificed animals)
• Geomancy (by earth), includes Feng Shui divination
• Graphology (by handwriting)
• I Ching divination (ancient Chinese divination using I Ching): (However, as performed by some diviners with heavy reliance on an accompanying I Ching manual, this is, in effect, also a form of Bibliomancy/Stichomancy)
• Numerology (by numbers)
• Oneiromancy (by dreams)
• Onomancy (by names)
• Ouija board divination
• Palmistry (by palm inspection)
• Phrenology (by the shape of one's head)
• Pyromancy, or pyroscopy (by fire)
• Rhabdomancy divination by rods
• Runecasting / Runic divination (by Runes)
• Sternomancy (by markings or bumps on the chest)
• Taromancy (by specially designed cards: Tarot; see also Cartomancy)

For OWL Divinations, we will focus on the following methods of divinations: crystal balls, tea leaves, palmistry, dream interpretations, and cartomacy (Tarot Cards).

Crystal Ball Reading (Scrying)

The art or process of "seeing" is known as "scrying," whereby images are seen in crystals, or other mediums such as water, and are interpreted as meaningful information. The "information" gleaned then is used to make important decisions in one's life (i.e. love, marriage, finances, travel, business, etc).

When the technique of scrying is used with crystals, or any transparent body, it is known as crystallomancy.

Tea Leaves

After a cup of tea has been poured, without using a tea strainer, the tea is drunk or poured away. The cup should then be shaken well and any remaining liquid drained off in the saucer. The diviner now looks at the pattern of tea leaves in the cup and allows the imagination to play around the shapes suggested by them. They might look like a letter, a heart shape, or a ring. These shapes are then interpreted intuitively or by means of a fairly standard system of symbolism, such as: snake (enmity or falsehood), spade (good fortune through industry), mountain (journey of hindrance), or house (change, success).

Palmistry (Chiromancy)

Chiromancy consists of the practice of evaluating a person's character or future life by "reading" the palm of that person's hand. Various "lines" ("heart line", "life line", etc.) and "mounts" (or bumps) (chirognomy) , purportedly suggest interpretations by their relative sizes, qualities, and intersections. In some traditions, readers also examine characteristics of the fingers, fingernails, fingerprints and palmar skin patterns (dermatoglyphics), skin texture and color, shape of the palm, and flexibility of the hand.

A reader usually begins by reading the person's 'dominant hand' (the hand he or she writes with or uses the most). In some traditions of palmistry, the other hand is believed to carry past-life or karmic information, as well as hereditary traits.

The basic framework for "Classical" palmistry (the most widely taught and practiced tradition) is rooted in Greek mythology. Each area of the palm and fingers is related to a god or goddess, and the features of that area indicate the nature of the corresponding aspect of the subject. For example, the ring finger is associated with the Greek god Apollo; characteristics of the ring finger are tied to the subject's dealings with art, music, aesthetics, fame, and harmony.

Dream Interpretations

Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. In many of the ancient societies, including Egypt and Greece, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be unravelled by those with certain powers. In modern times, various schools of psychology have offered theories about the meaning of dreams.

Cartomacy

Although a standard card deck can be used for cartomancy, many other decks have also been designed that are intended specifically for use for divination, the best known of which are tarot decks. In the view of some, including the webmaster of the Aeclectic Tarot website, any deck that is not a tarot deck is referred to simply as a cartomancy deck; however, others are of the view that the use of any cards (including tarot cards or non-tarot oracle cards) in this way is still cartomancy.

The Tarot deck differs somewhat from the standard deck used for cartomancy. The Tarot deck consists of 22 Major Arcana cards, and 56 Minor Arcana cards (Arcana means "hidden things"). Each Minor Arcana suit consists of 4 court cards (usually king, queen, knight and page) along with 10 numbered, or pip, cards. The fifty-six minor cards are similar to the regular deck of playing cards most people know today, while the Major Arcana cards are present only in the Tarot deck.

Traditional (Etteilla/Mathers/Waite) Playing Card Suit and Tarot Suit Equivalents:

• Spades = Swords (intellect; education) Air element
• Hearts = Cups (emotions) Water element
• Diamonds = Batons, aka Wands (power) Fire element
• Clubs = Coins or mirrors, aka Pentacles (health; material matters) Earth element

The suits "Swords" and "Wands" are disputed between modern cartomancers, especially those that follow a Pagan path that believes each suit belongs to a special element of nature. Some consider the suits, Swords and Wands, to be switched in their meanings. Likewise Wands are considered to equate with Clubs, and Pentacles with Diamonds.

Examiniation:

Your assignment for this OWL preparation will be presented in two sections. A Theory and a Practical. The theory will contain several types of questions, and an essay. The Practical will contact a role play-type assignment. All parchments and role plays should be sent via PM to Prof. Felicity Shukurova.

Theory

Matching: Match the following common known names for the methods of divinations with the formal name.

Tarot Cards	Chiromancy
Crystal Ball	Oneiromancy
Arithmancy	Runecasting
Palmistry	Scrying
Ancient Runes	Cartomancy
Dream Interpretation	Numerology

Essay Choice: Please select one of the essay choices and write at least 3 paragraphs on your choice.

1. In Palmistry, there are four types of "hands". Which type of hand are you and why?
2. In Dream Interpretations, there are seven types of dreams. Recall your last dream, what type of dream was it?
3. You are reading tarot cards and you draw a magician from a Major Arcana tarot deck. Explain what this card predicts about your future.

Practical

Palmistry: Locate the three lines that are found on almost all hands (heart, head, and life). Read your lines and use them to predict your own future.

This concludes your OWL Divinations.

Good Luck!

Professor Lena Volkan