Divination - Not What You Think

[psychoslice]

Maybe its all to do with intuition, or spiritual discernment, or a simple gut feeling about whatever, I think we all have that in some form, its just that some are more tuned into it.

 

[Thief]

I saw a power company guy walking the corner of my lot and went out to say ...hi...
he was searching for a water line.
using two pieces of thick copper wire.
I'm sure you've all seen this attempted.

worked for him
worked for me

divining rods are real
but they're copper....not wood

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I saw a power company guy walking the corner of my lot and went out to say ...hi...
he was searching for a water line.
using two pieces of thick copper wire.
I'm sure you've all seen this attempted.

worked for him
worked for me

divining rods are real
but they're copper....not wood

there are all kinds...willow branches work very well, but I've used plastic, different metals including copper, dowels...some people find some materials better than others for this.

 

[Sleeppy]

You mean other than me?

I don't know. I don't really keep track.

Have you noticed a connection between the predictive capacity of your own subconscious, with what has ultimately been determined?

 

[Taylor Seraphim]

Why not make a new more accurate term for the activity you profess?

 

[Quintessence]

Have you noticed a connection between the predictive capacity of your own subconscious, with what has ultimately been determined?

For some periods, I'd kept more detailed logs of divinations I did. I didn't keep them, and it's not something I do any longer. Thus, I don't have a data baseline to use for any sort of analysis.

 

[Riverwolf]

Why not make a new more accurate term for the activity you profess?

Ask the entire scientific community that question, in regards to their naming conventions... DX

 

[Yoshua]

Divination.

This term conjures up many thoughts and ideas. On the whole, it is a practice dismissed by many in my culture, though for different reasons. Much of the dismissive attitude emerges from various misconceptions about what divination is. As divination isn't something we learn about in public education, what people know about the art is limited to popular culture, hearsay, and stereotypes rather than proper study. There are a couple of common misconceptions about divination that are worth addressing:

Misconception #1: Divination is about predicting the future.
In fairness, divination can be and has been used for this purpose. Skeptics are often critical of divination because they equate it with fortune telling. However, the uses for divination are hardly confined to this purpose. What divination does on a psychological level is facilitate thought and reflection. It's a tool that helps us think about things, like chatting with a friend or researching something in a library. It helps us get in touch with our feelings and our thoughts; it helps us become aware of the stories we're telling ourselves or how we are approaching a situation. And by understanding all that, it can help us to reframe how we think about things to better reach our goals. Put another way, divination is an introspective tool and can get the gears of critical thinking churning to power positive changes in someone's life.

There are different ways we could go about defining it, but the paragraph on misconception #1 gets at it most strongly, I think. The definition of divination I've used in my own Book of Shadows is "a method of gathering information by esoteric means." I'm not sure that conveys it well to others, though, since "esoteric" is kind of a mushy word. I suspect most people know what various methods of divination look like, though. I break forms of divination into four types that aren't mutually exclusive with each other. There are omens, or chance/natural occurrences that are interpreted as significant and meaningful (e.g., astrology, palmistry, divining by birds). Then there are oracles, which uses a medium with fixed symbols that are cast/drawn and then interpreted (e.g., tarot, runes). There are also scrying forms, where the medium is unfixed but interpretation is still based on emerging symbols (e.g., tasseomancy, ink blots, wax droppings). Then there is the odd category I just call otherworldly which includes "supernatural" things (e.g., dream interpretation, energy reading, necromancy). But what ties all those methods together is that they are media for conveying information, and then the information is interpreted.

Hi Quint,

Did palmistry and astrology linked with fortune telling?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmistry

Thanks

 

[Erebus]

Why not make a new more accurate term for the activity you profess?

Why would we? To my mind, divination is accurate.

As a side note, this is a fairly common complaint*, but one that I've never fully understood. I've seen people use it about my magic and my gods too. It can't be a call for explanation, since it usually comes after these things are already explained.

Why re-label what we've discovered to be effective?

*not saying its a complaint in your case, but I've definitely seen this put forward as a complaint.

 

[Thief]

there are all kinds...willow branches work very well, but I've used plastic, different metals including copper, dowels...some people find some materials better than others for this.

oh yeah....I now recall the mention of willow branches

any black mirrors or crystals in your repertoire?

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

oh yeah....I now recall the mention of willow branches

any black mirrors or crystals in your repertoire?

no mirrors. Have crystals, don't use them much. Have a couple of pendulums. Prefer water, fire, or sky-watching for skrying, although I can't say those do much except be restful, which is fine.

 

[Thief]

no mirrors. Have crystals, don't use them much. Have a couple of pendulums. Prefer water, fire, or sky-watching for skrying, although I can't say those do much except be restful, which is fine.

I pay attention to my dreams
I've also had at least one intuitive pre-action to an event that could have killed me

still kicking
hehehehe

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Why not make a new more accurate term for the activity you profess?

Hence, the title the OP selected for this thread...

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

How divination really works, if you go to a person with the Gift:

You stop by to say hello. The two of you sit and talk for a spell, maybe 15, 20 minutes. You say goodbye and get up to leave. She says, "You know, you would look good driving a blue car." A week later, your car breaks down for the last time and you find yourself having to buy a new one. You're torn between a blue sedan and a green crossover. Then you remember what she said, so you buy the blue sedan. Over time, turns out to the be best car of your life.

 

[Quintessence]

Hi Quint,

Did palmistry and astrology linked with fortune telling?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmistry

Thanks

They're both forms of divination, and both can be used for fortune telling. More specifically, they're both what I would classify as omen-systems of divination since they utilize some pre-existing thing out there in nature and then interpret what it means. As emphasized in the OP, the uses for either of these extends well beyond mere fortune telling. Perhaps the most popular use of astrology is drawing up a natal chart, which doesn't have much to do with predicting the future and is about painting a portrait of the personality and nature of that individual. Chiromancy/palmistry is used in a similar way. Though I'm familiar with both, I'm not a fan of either and do not practice or use them. I stay away from astrology, because astrology done right is incredibly complicated - easily the most complicated system of divination I'm aware of. I have little interest in chiromancy because I don't see it being of any practical use. It's one of those forms that would only be worthwhile for someone wanting to divine professionally or for others on a regular basis.

 

[outhouse]

Why am I posting all this? Well, for one, @LuisDantas called me out on it via PM a while back and I felt some obligation to make the thread. For two, I'm tired of detractors of divination mouthing off against it based on ill-informed ideas about what it is...

You seem to be making your own definition ??


I mean the REAL definition seems to state the opposite of what your posting and defining


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divination


: the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers

 

[GoodbyeDave]

My astrology is a bit rusty... can you remind me what horary astrology is?

Horary astrology is casting a chart for the moment that a problem becomes apparent. One advantage is that you can see whether the chart fits the question — i.e. whether the question is genuine and asked at the right time. It's often abused by people who think that they can ask any question out of idle curiosity, after which they see in the chart what they expect or want, but used sensibly with very strict rules of interpretation, I've found it effective over many years. To start with, I kept all my charts, so that I could check the outcomes and make sure that I wasn't just remembering successful ones!

 

[outhouse]

What have you been taught divination is? Do you practice?

I have used divining rods of all types on a professional level, which is only a small part of the definition at best.

 

[LuisDantas]

Out of curiosity, who decides which the real definition is, and with which authority, Outhouse?

Seems like a lot of people are lacking that crucial knowledge somehow.

 

[Riverwolf]

You seem to be making your own definition ??

It's the meaning used by entire communities.

I mean the REAL definition seems to state the opposite of what your posting and defining


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divination


: the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers

Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive. If a dictionary does not list a certain way a word is used, then it's the dictionary that's wrong and needs to be updated.

Besides, you're completely ignoring that dictionary's definition #2:

: unusual insight : intuitive perception