Divination
From ArticleWorld
The art of divination is classified as an occult science and deals with predictions related to the future as determined by supernatural forces. Scientists today make predictions about the weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc. but it cannot be called divination. Scientists talk within the realm of logic and reason. Divination, however, relies on paranormal sources to reveal the unknown.
A diviner is "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".
Early Romans believed in dreams and charms and anthropologists have proved that divination was present in all relegions & cultures from time immemorial. Nevertheless, the Bible, expressly forbids it as an act against God.
There are various evidential facts that prove the authenticity and accuracy of divination. Some theories have tried to explain the workings of divination scientifically. One such theory states that the predictions are actually decoded messages from the unconscious mind.
Categories
Divination has been sub-divided into four main categories by Julian Jaynes :
- Omens & omen texts : This process involves the documentation of all unusual occurrences. It is the most primitive yet popular method. Such detailed records can be found in Chinese history. The long – term governmental planning of China was based this method.
- Sortilege : Items like bones, sticks, stones are cast and predictions are made based on their pattern of fall. New age board games and playing cards are an off-shoot of this method.
- Augury : This method involves the ranking of a set of given possibilities. Etruscan methods of augury were even used by Romans in the classical era. Qualitative descriptions like shapes, immediacy may be given.
- Spontaneous : This can best be described as an intuitive method which does not rely on any medium. The diviner gives an answer based on whatever he hears or sees. Feng Shui, reading of auras are some of its forms. Bibliomancy is used by some Christians in which they ask a question and then open the Bible. They assume the answer to lie in whichever passage they happen to read first.
Methods
One of the most widely used methods of divination is Astrology (studying celestial bodies). Its forms include Chinese, Western and Vedic (Jyotish) Astrology. There are hundreds of methods of divination, a few of which are Aeromancy (through atmospheric conditions), Anthropomancy (through human sacrifice), Botanomancy (through burning plants), Chirognomy (through hands), Nephomancy (through clouds) and Sciomancy (through spirits).