Divination is the practice of ascertaining information from supernatural sources. If a distinction is to be made with fortune-telling, divination has a formal or ritual and often social character, usually in a religious context; while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Divination is often dismissed by skeptics as being mere superstition: in the 2nd century, Lucian 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" [2], though most Romans believed in dreams and charms. However, advocates say there is plenty of anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of divination. Divination is a universal cultural phenomenon which anthropologists have observed as being present in many religions and cultures in all ages up to the present day.
Divination and science
Scientific research and methods have made it possible to predict future events with some success, e.g., eclipses, weather forecasts and volcanic eruptions. However, this is not divination. Strictly speaking, scientific predictions are made from models and simulations which rely on mechanical, empirical laws of nature. Divination assumes the influence of some supernatural force or fate which is not bound by known empirical laws. Thus, as an operational definition, divination would be all methods of prognostication that cannot be reduced to models of predictable causal processes.
Beyond mere explanations for anecdotal evidence, there are some serious theories of how divination, in general, might work. One such theory is rooted in the nature of the unconscious mind, a theory which has some empirical scientific basis. Based on this theory, divination is the process by which messages from the unconscious mind are decoded. Though this theory seems to bring divination into the realm of science, in fact it is woefully incomplete as it does not at all address the crucial question of how the divined information entered the practitioner's subconscious, nor how exactly the divining method is capable of decoding this information. Though it may appear to explain the basis of divination, in reality this theory merely moves the root of the divined information from occult sources to another nebulous source somehow rooted in the subconscious.
Categories of divination
Julian Jaynes categorized divination according to the following 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's work considered this very idea.
Sortilege. This consists of the casting of lots whether with sticks, stones, bones, beans, 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.) Dowsing (a form of rhabdomancy) developed from this type of divination. The Romans in classical times used Etruscan methods of augury such as hepatoscopy (actually a form of extispicy). Haruspices 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 Christians and members of other religions use a form of bibliomancy: 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 and New Age methods of Feng Shui such as "intuitive" and Fuzion.
By far one of the most popular methods of divination is Astrology, typically categorized as Vedic Astrology (Jyotish), Western Astrology, and Chinese Astrology, though besides these main three branches many other cultures also have or have had their own forms of Astrology in the past.
Common methods of divination
For a more complete list, see Methods of divination
Ailuromancy (by the behaviour of felines; see Felidomancy)
Bibliomancy (by book, frequently but not always a religious text)
Cartomancy (by cards, e.g., playing cards, tarot cards, and non-tarot oracle cards; see also Taromancy)
Cheiromancy (by palms; see Palmistry)
Crystallomancy/Scrying (by crystals or other reflecting objects)
Extispicy (from the exta of sacrificed animals)
Geomancy (by earth), includes Feng Shui divination
Graphology (by handwriting)
I Ching divination (ancient Chinese divination using I Ching): (However, as performed by some diviners with heavy reliance on an accompanying I Ching manual, this is, in effect, also a form of Bibliomancy/Stichomancy)
Numerology (by numbers)
Oneiromancy (by dreams)
Onomancy (by names)
Ouija board divination
Padomancy (by the soles of one's feet)
Palmistry (by palm inspection)
Phrenology (by the shape of one's head)
Pyromancy, or pyroscopy (by fire)
Runecasting (by Runes)
Scatomancy (by droppings, usually animal)
Taromancy (by specially designed cards: Tarot; see also Cartomancy)
