Difference between revisions of "Divination"

The oldest methods used by ''Homo sapiens'' to determine the future can likely never be conclusively known, as they would predate antiquity and the written word. However, by examining the oldest confirmed methods, it appears that [[geomancy]] (studying formations in soil), celestial events (such as an eclipse or a comet), and examining the entrails of sacrificial animals would be the earliest techniques.

The [[Oracle of Amun]] at the Siwa Oasis was made famous when Alexander the Great visited it after conquering Egypt from Persia in 332 BC. The oracle was revered for its ability to give prophecies and adjudicate disputes between local parties. Oracles were often written on pieces of discarded pottery called [[ostracon]] or on slips of papyrus and given by the temple priest to the person asking a question.

The divination method of casting lots ([[Cleromancy]]) was used by the remaining eleven disciples of Jesus in Acts 1:23-26 to select a replacement for Judas Iscariot. Therefore, divination was arguably an accepted practice in the early church. However, divination became viewed as a pagan practice by Christian emperors during ancient Rome.

In Islam, [[astrology ]](''‘ilm ahkam al-nujum''), the most widespread divinatory science, is the study of how celestial entities could be applied to the daily lives of people on earth. It is important to emphasize the practical nature of divinatory sciences because people from all socioeconomic levels and pedigrees sought the advice of astrologers to make important decisions in their lives. Astronomy was made a distinct science by intellectuals who did not agree with the former, although distinction may not have been made in daily practice, where astrology was technically outlawed and only tolerated if it was employed in public.

The “science of the sand” (''‘ilm al-raml''), otherwise translated as [[geomancy]], is “based on the interpretation of figures traced on sand or other surface known as tetragrams.” It is a good example of Islamic divination at a popular level. The core principle that meaning derives from a unique occupied position is identical to the core principle of astrology.

Divination was a central component of ancient Mesoamerican religious life. Many Aztec gods, including central creator gods, were described as diviners and were closely associated with sorcery. Tezcatlipoca is the patron of sorcerers and practitioners of magic. His name means "smoking mirror," a reference to a device used for divinatory scrying. In the Mayan Popol Vuh, the creator gods Xmucane and Xpiacoc perform divinatory hand casting during the creation of people. The Aztec Codex Borbonicus shows the original human couple, Oxomoco and Cipactonal, engaged in divining with kernels of maize. This primordial pair is associated with the ritual calendar, and the Aztecs considered them to be the first diviners.

Theyyam or "theiyam" in Malayalam - a south Indian language - is the process by which a devotee invites a Hindu god or goddess to use his or her body as a medium or channel and answer other devotees' questions. The same is called "arulvaakku" or "arulvaak" in Tamil, another south Indian language - Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam is famous for arulvakku in Tamil Nadu. The people in and around Mangalore in Karnataka call the same, Buta Kola, "paathri" or "darshin"; in other parts of Karnataka, it is known by various names such as, "prashnaavali", "vaagdaana", "asei", "aashirvachana" and so on. In Nepal it is known as, "Devta ka dhaamee" or "jhaakri."

In English, the closest translation for these is, "oracle." The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in northern India, still consults an oracle known as the [[Nechung Oracle]], which is considered the official state oracle of the government of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has according to centuries-old custom, consulted the Nechung Oracle during the new year festivities of Losar.

Although Japan retains a history of traditional and local methods of divination, such as onmyōdō, contemporary divination in Japan, called uranai, derives from outside sources. Contemporary methods of divination in Japan include both Western and Chinese astrology, geomancy or feng shui, tarot cards, I Ching (Book of Changes) divination, and physiognomy (methods of reading the body to identify traits).

Divination has long been criticized. In the modern era, it has been dismissed by the scientific community and skeptics as being superstition; experiments do not support the idea that divination techniques can actually predict the future more reliably or precisely than would be possible without it. In antiquity, it was attacked by philosophers such as the Academic skeptic Cicero in ''De Divinatione'' and the Pyrrhonist Sextus Empiricus in ''Against the Astrologers''. The satirist, Lucian, devoted a witty essay to Alexander the false prophet.