Lesson 16 - Divination Introduction The first thing that comes to mind when you think of divination is probably the Crystal Ball, or Tarot Cards, and even Palm Reading. Although these are forms of divination there are many, many other forms as well. We will only touch briefly on a few of them for fun. Divination for starters is found in just about all societies, ancient as well as modern, with varying methods. Tarot, palm reading, horoscopes, psychics predicting the future, all these are forms of divination, which has been long viewed as the province of specially gifted persons, such as prophets, shamans, and magicians. So what is divination exactly? Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of standardized process or ritual. Diviners get their interpretations of how a question should proceed by reading signs, event, omens or through contact with a supernatural entity. Omens- said to be one of the more clumsy and primitive, but also one of the more enduring methods of divination. Though the word ―omen‖ is usually devoid of reference to the changes in nature, hence being possibly good or bad, the term is more often used in a foreboding sense. Omens are usually signs that give hints of possible things to come. These are messages from the divine. Tarot- tarot cards are a system of divination based upon a series of allegorical images drawn or printed upon cards. The deck is shuffled and specific cards are drawn, from which messages are divined. Tarot cards appear to have been created in the 1300s AD, or a little before that, drawing upon very ancient and Arcana cards, and four suits or Minor Arcana cards. The suits of the Minor Arcana correspond to the Four sacred tools of Wicca – wands, swords, cups and pentacles, as well as to the four suits of common playing cards, which descends from them. The Major Arcana usually includes: The fool, The magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgment, and The World. Depending on the deck there are variations where the names differ, Tea Leaves- In the old days, tea was not made from tea bags, rather they were made from loose tea leaves. These would leave residue in the cup when the person had finished drinking the liquid. Skilled diviners interpreted this residue by means of the pictures it seemed to form, and by their placement in the cup. Once widely popular, the reading of tea leaves is now a rather rare form of divination. The same technique was also used to read the residue left in the cup by coffee grounds. Scrying- is a practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, such as a crystal ball, black mirror etc, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and more rarely for purposes of divination or “fortune-telling”. The media used are most commonly reflective, translucent or luminescent substances. Scrying has been used in many cultures as a means of divining the past, present or future. Depending on the culture and practice, the visions that come when one stares into the media are through to come from God, Spirits, the psychic mind, the Goddess, the devil (Christian mythology), or the subconscious. Runes- these are magical symbols that are used to communicate ideas or messages. The term refers specifically to simple line symbols which are or resemble letters of an alphabet. Most commonly the term refers to the Germanic Futhark alphabet, but it can also be used to describe other magical alphabets as well, most commonly the “Witches Rune”. These symbols have traditionally been termed “runes”. Each rune represents something different, such as “prosperity” or “protection”.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 00:59:19 +0000
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