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Divination (from Latin divinare "to be inspired by a god", related to divine, diva
Diva

A diva is a celebrated female singer. The Italian language term is used to describe a woman of rare, outstanding talent in the world of opera and by extension in theatre and popular music ....
 and deus
DEUS

Deus is a Rock music musical ensemble based in Antwerp, Belgium, currently consisting of Tom Barman , Klaas Janzoons , St?phane Misseghers , Alan Gevaert and Mauro Pawlowski ....
) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent
Querent

Querent as "one who queries" is obviously derived from the conjugation of "query" and the suffix "-ant" denoting a person. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary query originates from from Latin qu?re "to ask," an imperative of qu?rere "to seek, gain, ask"....
 should proceed by reading signs, events, or omen
Omen

An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Omens may be considered "good" or "bad", but the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous"....
s, or through alleged contact with a supernatural
Supernatural

The term supernatural or supranatural pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe. Religious miracles are typically supernatural claims, as are Spell and curses, divination, the belief that there is an afterlife for the dead, and innumerable others....
 agency.






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Rhumsiki Crab Sorceror
Divination (from Latin divinare "to be inspired by a god", related to divine, diva
Diva

A diva is a celebrated female singer. The Italian language term is used to describe a woman of rare, outstanding talent in the world of opera and by extension in theatre and popular music ....
 and deus
DEUS

Deus is a Rock music musical ensemble based in Antwerp, Belgium, currently consisting of Tom Barman , Klaas Janzoons , St?phane Misseghers , Alan Gevaert and Mauro Pawlowski ....
) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent
Querent

Querent as "one who queries" is obviously derived from the conjugation of "query" and the suffix "-ant" denoting a person. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary query originates from from Latin qu?re "to ask," an imperative of qu?rere "to seek, gain, ask"....
 should proceed by reading signs, events, or omen
Omen

An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Omens may be considered "good" or "bad", but the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous"....
s, or through alleged contact with a supernatural
Supernatural

The term supernatural or supranatural pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe. Religious miracles are typically supernatural claims, as are Spell and curses, divination, the belief that there is an afterlife for the dead, and innumerable others....
 agency. 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
Fortune-telling

Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting the future, usually of an individual, through mystical or supernatural means and often for commercial gain....
, divination has a formal or ritual and often social character, usually in a religious
Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
 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
Scientific community

The scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science....
, as being mere superstition
Superstition

Superstition is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to supposedly irrational beliefs of others, and its precise meaning is therefore subjective....
: in the 2nd century, Lucian
Lucian

Lucian of Samosata was an Assyrian people rhetorician, and satire who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature....
 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. It is considered a sin
Sin

Sin is a term used mainly in a religion context to describe an act that violates a morality rule, or the state of having committed such a violation....
 in most Christian denominations and Judaism.

Categories

Psychologist Julian Jaynes
Julian Jaynes

Julian Jaynes was an American psychologist, best known for his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind , in which he argued that ancient peoples did not consciousness , but instead had their behavior directed by auditory hallucinations, which they interpreted as the voice of their chief, king, or the god...
 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
    Joseph Needham

    Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, Companion of Honour, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the British Academy , also known as Li Yuese , was a British academic and sinologist known for his research and writing on the history of Science and technology in China....
    's work considered this very idea.


  • Sortilege (cleromancy
    Cleromancy

    Cleromancy is a form of divination using sortition, casting of lots, or casting bones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but that are believed to reveal the will of God or other supernatural entities....
    ). This consists of the casting of lots, or sortes
    Sortes (ancient Rome)

    Sortes were a frequent method of divination among the ancient Rome. The method involved the Cleromancy to obtain knowledge of future events: in many of the ancient Italian temples the will of the gods was consulted in this way, as at Praeneste, Caere, &c....
    , 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
    Dowsing

    Dowsing, sometimes called divining, doodlebugging , or water finding or water witching, is a practice that attempts to locate hidden water wells, buried metals or ores, gemstones, or other objects as well as currents of earth radiation without the use of scientific apparatus....
     (a form of rhabdomancy
    Rhabdomancy

    Rhabdomancy is a type of divination by means of any rod, wand, staff, stick, arrow, or the like.One method of rhabdomancy was setting a number of staffs on end and observing where they fall, to divine the direction one should travel, or to find answers to certain questions....
    ) developed from this type of divination. The Romans
    Roman Republic

    The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
     in classical times used Etruscan
    Etruscan civilization

    Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy and Corsica whom the ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci....
     methods of augury such as hepatoscopy (actually a form of extispicy
    Extispicy

    Extispicy is the practice of using anomalies in animal entrails to predict divine future events. organ s inspected can include the liver, intestines, lungs, or other major organs....
    ). Haruspices
    Haruspex

    File:Haruspex.pngIn Ancient Rome practice inherited from the Etruscan civilization, a haruspex was a man trained to practice a form of divination called haruspicy, hepatoscopy or hepatomancy....
     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 religions use a form of bibliomancy
    Bibliomancy

    Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The method of employing sacred books for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world....
    : 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
    Aura (paranormal)

    In parapsychology and many forms of spirituality, an aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation supposedly surrounding a person or object like the Halo or aureola of religious art....
     and New Age
    New Age

    New Age is a decentralized western culture social movement and new religious movement that seeks universality Truth and the attainment of the highest individual human potential....
     methods of Feng Shui
    Feng shui

    Feng shui is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to utilize the Laws of both heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive Qi....
     such as "intuitive" and Fuzion.

Mention in the Quran


Divination is described in Surah IV (The Table) as an abomination
Abomination

Abomination may refer to:*Abomination , covering Biblical references*Abomination, a Vampire/Werewolf hybrid from the game...
: "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)

Common methods

  • astrology
    Astrology

    Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of astronomical object and related details can provide useful information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters....
    : by celestial bodies.
  • augury: by the flight of birds.
  • bibliomancy
    Bibliomancy

    Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The method of employing sacred books for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world....
    : by books (frequently, but not always, religious texts).
  • cartomancy
    Cartomancy

    Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century....
    : by cards.
  • cheiromancy/palmistry: by palms.
  • chronomancy
    Chronomancy

    Chronomancy is divination of the best time to do something, the determination of lucky and unlucky days, especially popular in ancient China.The term "chronomancy", stemming from the Greek word chronos , and the word manteia is also used in fiction to refer to a school of Magic involving supernatural manipulation of time....
    : about time, lucky/unlucky days.
  • cybermancy
    Cybermancy

    Cybermancy refers to the act of using computer-driven divination systems. These systems may be based upon oracles originally created in non-electric media or may exist solely as software constructs....
    : by computers.
  • gastromancy
    Gastromancy

    Gastromancy is from Greek gaster and manteia . It can refer to:* Crystal gazing: i.e., gazing into round objects.* Divination by use of guttural sounds to represent the voice of the dead. See Ventriloquism#Origins...
    : by stomach-based ventriloquism
    Ventriloquism

    Ventriloquism is an act of stagecraft in which a person manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere....
     (historically); by crystal ball
    Crystal ball

    A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball believed by some people to aid clairvoyance. It is sometimes known as a shew stone. A body of water, either in a container or on the ground, used for this purpose, is called a scrying pool....
     (in modernity; and more commonly called 'scrying').
  • geomancy
    Geomancy

    File:Geomantic_instrument_Egypt_or_Syria_1241_1242_CE_Muhammad_ibn_Khutlukh_al_Mawsuli.jpgFile:Geomantic instrument Egypt or Syria 1241 1242 CE detail 1.jpg...
    : by markings in the ground, or the way earth or soil lays when thrown.
  • hydromancy
    Hydromancy

    Hydromancy is a method of divination by means of water, including the color, ebb and flow, or ripples produced by pebbles dropped in a pool....
    : by water
    Water

    Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
    .
  • extispicy
    Extispicy

    Extispicy is the practice of using anomalies in animal entrails to predict divine future events. organ s inspected can include the liver, intestines, lungs, or other major organs....
    : by the entrails of animals.
    • haruspicy
      Haruspex

      File:Haruspex.pngIn Ancient Rome practice inherited from the Etruscan civilization, a haruspex was a man trained to practice a form of divination called haruspicy, hepatoscopy or hepatomancy....
       : by the livers of sacrificed animals.
  • feng shui
    Feng shui

    Feng shui is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to utilize the Laws of both heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive Qi....
    : by earthen harmony.
  • I Ching divination
    I Ching divination

    Among the many forms of divination is a bibliomancy method using the I Ching or Book of Changes. The book is structured as an 8x8 matrix of 64 hexagrams representing the states and the dynamic relationships of the eight elements, each represented by a trigram....
    : by the I Ching
    I Ching

    The I Ching , or ?Y? Jing? ; also called Classic of Changes or Book of Changes is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts....
    ; a form of bibliomancy.
  • numerology
    Numerology

    Numerology is any of many systems, traditions or beliefs in a mysticism or esoteric relationship between numbers and physical objects or living things....
    : by numbers.
  • oneiromancy
    Oneiromancy

    Oneiromancy is a form of divination based upon dreams; it is a system of dream interpretation that uses dreams to prediction the future....
    : by dreams.
  • onomancy
    Onomancy

    Onomancy is divination based on a subject's given name, popular in the Late Middle Ages, usually following practices of Gematria....
    : by names.
  • Ouija
    Ouija

    A ouija board is any flat board with letters, numbers, and other symbols, used to supposedly communicate with spirits. It uses a planchette or movable indicator to indicate the message by spelling it out on the board during a s?ance....
    : board divination.
  • rhabdomancy
    Rhabdomancy

    Rhabdomancy is a type of divination by means of any rod, wand, staff, stick, arrow, or the like.One method of rhabdomancy was setting a number of staffs on end and observing where they fall, to divine the direction one should travel, or to find answers to certain questions....
    : divination by rods
  • runecasting/Runic divination: by runes.
  • scrying
    Scrying

    Scrying is a magic practice that involves clairvoyance in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and more rarely for purposes of divination or fortune-telling....
    : by reflective objects.
  • taromancy: a form of cartomancy using tarot
    Tarot

    The tarot is typically a set of seventy-eight cards, composed of twenty-one Trump , one The Fool , and four Suit of fourteen cards each?ten pip and four Face card cards ....
     cards.
  • necromancy
    Necromancy

    Necromancy is a form of divination in which the practitioner seeks to summon "operative spirits" or "spirits of divination", for multiple reasons, from spiritual protection to wisdom....
    : by the dead, or spirits/souls of the dead/recently dead
  • pyromancy
    Pyromancy

    Pyromancy is the art of divination by means of fire....
    : by fire.


See also

  • Methods of divination
    Methods of divination

    Innumerable methods of divination can be found around the world, and many cultures practice the same methods under different names. During the Middle Ages, scholars coined terms for many of these methods ? some of which had hitherto been unnamed ? in Medieval Latin, very often utilizing the suffix -mantia when the art seemed more mystical...
  • Anthropology of religion
    Anthropology of religion

    The anthropology of religion involves the study of religious institutions in relation to other social institutions, and the comparison of religious beliefs and practices across cultures....
  • Alectormancy
  • Apollo
    Apollo

    In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
  • Astrology
    Astrology

    Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of astronomical object and related details can provide useful information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters....
  • Axinomancy
    Axinomancy

    Axinomancy is one of several obscure methods of divination using an axe, hatchet, or a saw. Most of the methods involve throwing an axe into the ground, or swinging it into a tree, and interpreting the direction of the handle or the quivering of the blade....
  • Bone divination
  • Divination in Harry Potter
  • Dowsing
    Dowsing

    Dowsing, sometimes called divining, doodlebugging , or water finding or water witching, is a practice that attempts to locate hidden water wells, buried metals or ores, gemstones, or other objects as well as currents of earth radiation without the use of scientific apparatus....
  • Dream interpretation
    Dream interpretation

    For the John Cale minimalist album, see Dream Interpretation Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. In many of the ancient societies, including Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be unravelled by those with...
  • Esotericism
    Esotericism

    Esotericism or Esoterism is a term with two basic meanings. In the dictionary sense of the term, it signifies the holding of esoteric opinions, and derives from the Greek ' ', a compound of ' ': "wikt:within", thus "pertaining to the more inward", mystic....
  • frétt
  • Futurology
    Futurology

    Futures Studies, Foresight, or Futurology is the science, art and Postulating, probable, and preferable future and the worldviews and myths that underlie them....
  • Geomancy
    Geomancy

    File:Geomantic_instrument_Egypt_or_Syria_1241_1242_CE_Muhammad_ibn_Khutlukh_al_Mawsuli.jpgFile:Geomantic instrument Egypt or Syria 1241 1242 CE detail 1.jpg...
  • Guru
    Guru

    A guru is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses these abilities to guide others....
  • I Ching
    I Ching

    The I Ching , or ?Y? Jing? ; also called Classic of Changes or Book of Changes is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts....
  • Ifá
    IFA

    IFA may refer to:...
  • New Age
    New Age

    New Age is a decentralized western culture social movement and new religious movement that seeks universality Truth and the attainment of the highest individual human potential....
  • Nostradamus
    Nostradamus

    Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinized to Nostradamus, was a France apothecary and reputed Prophet who published collections of prophecy that have since become famous worldwide....
  • Occultism
  • Oracle
    Oracle

    An oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophecy opinion; an infallible authority, usually Spirituality in nature....
  • Omen
    Omen

    An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Omens may be considered "good" or "bad", but the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous"....
     (or portent)
  • Postdiction
    Postdiction

    According to critics of paranormal beliefs, postdiction is an effect of hindsight bias that explains claimed predictions of significant events, such as plane crashes and natural disasters....
  • Pueblo
    Pueblo

    Pueblos are traditional communities of Native Americans in the United States in the southwestern United States of America. The communities are recognized worldwide for their adobe buildings, which are sometimes called "pueblos"....
  • Prophet
    Prophet

    In religion, a prophet is a person who has claimed to have encountered the supernatural or the Divinity, often one who serves as an intermediary with humanity....
  • Runic divination
  • Scrying
    Scrying

    Scrying is a magic practice that involves clairvoyance in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and more rarely for purposes of divination or fortune-telling....
  • Tarot reading
  • Western mystery tradition
    Western mystery tradition

    Western esotericism is a broad spectrum of spirituality traditions found in Western culture, or refers to the collection of the mystical, esoteric knowledge of the Western world....
  • List of magical terms and traditions
    List of magical terms and traditions

    This is a list of magical terms and traditions dealing with various occult practices, traditions, and components of magic. This list is not intended for topics like stage magic, illusion, or other entertainment-based definition....


Further reading


Popular

  • Robert Todd Carroll (2003). The Skeptic's Dictionary. Wiley.
  • Lon Milo Duquette
    Lon Milo Duquette

    Lon Milo DuQuette , AKA Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, American writer, lecturer, and occultist best known as an author who applies humor in the field of Western Hermeticism....
     (2005). The Book of Ordinary Oracles. Weiser Books.
  • Clifford A. Pickover
    Clifford A. Pickover

    Clifford A. Pickover is an American author, editor, and columnist in the fields of science, mathematics, and science fiction, and is employed at the International Business Machines Thomas J....
     (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


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
    William Montgomery Watt

    William Montgomery Watt was an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh. Watt was one of "the foremost non-Muslim interpreter of Islam in the West, was an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world." Watt's comprehensive bio...
    . Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Edinburgh, Scotland. Oxford Press, 1961. Pgs 1-2.
  • J. P. Vernant, Divination et rationalité (1974)


External links

  • , resources on Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian divination
  • (1913), a complete scanned edition of the most recent general treatment of Greek divination
  • by Tim Maroney, exploring different possibilities