The Deep Roots of Divination
The art of divination is as old as humanity itself.
Perhaps even older! The universe and our origins are rich in mystery, after all. ;)
Centuries of creative propaganda campaigns have commonly cast the art of divination in the role of quackery (at best)….. or brazen devil-worship that could easily turn one into a human S’more (at worst) !
Beyond the emotional charge it has held over millennia, what is divination, truly?
Divination is an art form…. not a religion, nor a system of belief.
Divination is the art of interpreting and co-creatively problem-solving life’s more sticky situations through the use of symbolism and imagination. A form of what we would call energy work, meant to engender self-trust, affirmation, and clarity of direction and intention.
The Greek affix -manteia, means divination.
All words ending in -mancy describe a way that humans have envisioned and creatively manifest desired future outcomes.
Research yields quite a lengthy record of -mancies, ranging from my beloved cartomancy (divination using cards)……. all the way to the edge-lord of the list, necromancy.
Whether your chosen tool is pig bladders (choriomancy) or dreams (oneiromancy), anyone practicing divination is above all things an artist of the human psyche and heart.
Not every medium is for everyone …. there is always good art and bad art! A good sword cuts both ways…. and everyone does indeed have different aesthetics for their magical practice. Personally, the pig bladders were a miss for me.
For me, divination is a dance within the web of mind and time, not a condemnation to set futures and conditions. It is a connection to the super-psyche, rather than a sinking into fear and superstition.
Like art, divination is a conversation between our limited human selves and the part of us that is built in the image of an all-powerful creator/creatrix…..The part of us that knows us fully already, already has everything we need to work our will.
This is the part that gazes into a fire, and envisions a brighter future in the embers…. sparking the momentum to move towards it.
The part that sits beneath a sky painted with stars, and contemplates its own vastness and potential with raw wonder and longing…. inspired to make dreams reality.
The part that our culture has stifled beneath imposing weights of data, cynicism, fear, and endless distraction.