108 Weekly Witchy Challenge - Divining Differently - Garnet

[Garnet]

108 Weekly Witchy Challenge - Divining Differently
Challenge entry - Garnet - 08-17-2022

Man has always looked for answers about why, what, where, when and who.

Divination became the term for finding those misty answers? And some form of divination has been used even back to antiquity.
The Chinese, Asian Indians, Mesopatamian and Mexican cultures seemed facinated by the heavens. Studing the stars, planets, moons, comets, even to the constellations to tell time and understand the seasons around them. They used it to find explainations to reason to perhaps find out if changes were due to 'divine intervention’.

Still Other cultures kept special watch for earth-bound omens and weather patterns. They tossed sticks, bones, amulets, and or rocks. The African tribes have used bones in their divination for hundreds of years.

Chinese Taoists read patterns on tortoise shells. This eventually evolved into the hexagrams of I ching.

Vikings used runestones.

Ancient Romans slaughtered animals to read their ‘entrails’. Still others counted on Chickens and the way they ate their grain to form messages (Alectryomancy).

The Australian aboriginaes used Dreamtime, or used entheogenic plants for vision quests.

Several indiginous peoples in Mexico did similar rituals, using different plants, of course.

To name a few other methods of divination:

Ornithomancy divination using birds. Greek root word = ornith - bird science

Pyro-osteomancy ( Bone oracles). Another word that’s root goes back to ancient languages. Osteo = bones, ie: osteo-arthr-itis = bone-joint- inflammation, root is in Greek

Bibliomancy (Divination Using Books) This was new to me, the idea is that you ask a question and open a book at random and interpret the first passage your eyes (or fingers) hit upon. The literal translations, Divination by means of verses, like the bible or rancom books.

Tyromancy (Divination Using Cheese)The details not well documented. Middle ages.

Ceromancy (Divination Using Melted Wax) ancient and medieval Europe.

Ring Oracles and “Under-the-Bowl Songs” from Russia

Cledonomancy (Divination by Words Overheard) Greek & Roman

Some other means of Divination were: pendulums.

Tarot cards, reading tea leaves, soothsaying, scrying mirrors

Numerology, I Ching book and coins, crystals & essential oils.

Stream-of-consciousness writing & signs and signals.

Cromniomancy - the seer would study the smell, color, shape and direction of the onion sprouts as they grew. Later, the ritual evolved as chromniomancy became a widespread folklore practice among cultures in Europe, Africa and North Asia.

Capnomancy
This is a method that tries to predict an event by looking through the smoke. The shape, direction and speed of the rising smoke can have many meanings.

Omphalomancy
This is the art and practice of divination by the navel, or belly button. It is a method of divination meant to determine how many children a mother may have during her lifetime. Also, divination by a newborn’s umbilical cord.

Onychomancy
This type of divination was practiced both by ancient Arabs and by fortune tellers in Brazil. It is practiced by rubbing soot or oil on the nails of a young person and then exposing them to the sun. The figures made would then be interpreted to obtain answers to what one wanted to know.

When I was 11-12, my best friends and I took a needle and thread and holding it over our wrists, got answers to yes/no questions.

I had no idea I was doing a child’s form of the pendulum.
When you think about it, flipping a coin, it’s a type of divination.

As time changed, so did forms of divination. From all of these ancient people the forms of divination evolved, one way or another into the divination rituals we do now. Tarot, Scrying, clairvoyance are very popular today. And why?

Modern man is still looking for answers to the questions: why, what, where, when and who.

Although I don’t regularly do divination any more, I was surprised and enlightened by the numbers of methods that I didn’t know.

Thanks for the opportunity to make this a learning experience.

Blessed be

Garnet

Cromniomancy, Capnomancy, Other Little Known Divination Methods

10 Historical Divination Methods for Predicting the Future

[Susurrus]

Those are more than a few that I hadn’t heard about before! It’s really interesting to know the types of divination over time & how things have changed.

I can’t remember the name, but there is a form of divination which is reading crystals that are from a pouch. I can’t recall the exact details, I haven’t done it in a while, but would like to when I can choose some good pieces to use. (I’m way too picky )

[BryWisteria]

This is an awesome exploration of various methods of divination!

@Garnet

my best friends and I took a needle and thread and holding it over our wrists, got answers to yes/no questions.

This is a great intro method to start divining- even if someone doesn’t have a crystal pendulum, they likely have some needle and thread (or would be able to easily get some)! I’m going to have to keep this in mind- it’d be a great recommendation for someone who wants to learn but isn’t sure where to start

Thanks so much for walking us through the various methods and, as always, for your very fun writing style- you make these posts really enjoyable to read!

Great work and thanks for sharing, Garnet!

[Amaris_Bane]

Wow! I did not know about some of these methods. Thank you for sharing your knowledge @Garnet!

[marsha]

What an interesting entry! I love learning new things, thanks so much @Garnet

[Susurrus]

I remember when I was pregnant with my first son, my grandmother had me lay down & she used a necklace over my belly to tell if it was a boy or a girl. That was the first time I had anything to do with a pendulum & at the time I didn’t even put it together.