Divinatory Practices Research Articles

Should I Be Worried? Worry in Dunhuang Divination

Abstract The emotional aspect of divination has rarely been systematically addressed in the history of Chinese divination. Focusing on divination manuals from Dunhuang 敦煌, this article examines the interaction between emotions, especially worry, and divination in medieval China. It explores, on the one hand, how worry in the medieval context drove individuals to seek divinatory practices. On the other hand, it examines how the divination manuals used worry and other emotive words as part of their technical language to measure uncertainty. Surveying different usages of the terms for worry in these manuals, the article argues that the language of worry was part of the terminology of Dunhuang divination, serving as a heuristic to help the inquirers sense the level of auspiciousness and uncertainty of future scenarios. The article will also show that emotional words form a unique layer of terminology that conveys to inquirers a specific sense of auspiciousness.

Японские письменные предсказания в виртуальном пространстве

The article presented to your attention addresses the problem the virtualization of the well-known traditional Japanese divination practice — “omikuji” (translated from Japanese as “divine lot”), and also touches upon more global issues such as how Japanese religious practices are currently developing on the Internet. A significant portion of the research is dedicated to analyzing the transformation process of a religious tradition that used to be practiced exclusively “in person” and examining how contemporary Japanese people of different age groups and social status relate to the phenomenon of web religiosity. The study is based on data collected from an online survey conducted in July 2023. A total of 32 people responded to the survey (almost all informants are either Japanese or long-time foreign expatriates residing in Japan). The article includes screenshots of digital omikuji and their translations made by the author. The results of the study indicate that virtualization has made the practice of omikuji more accessible to laypeople, especially for people with disabilities. The texts of the predictions were significantly simplified during their virtualization. However, as the survey results suggest, the accessibility of the practice has led to a certain degree of loss of trust among believers. While omikuji had previously been perceived by the Japanese as a kind of entertainment within the temple or shrine grounds, the transition of the practice to the online space has further “simplified” it. Moreover, virtualization has turned the practice of traditional divination into another tool of promoting and advertising Japanese commercial companies, which negatively affects the perception of the omikuji tradition among believers.

“Coca says that the hill fell out of jealousy”: testimonies about a threatened practice and episteme in Ancash, Peru

Purpose This study aims to promote the preservation of endangered traditional knowledge and practices in the Andes of Peru by documenting, publishing and disseminating them. Design/methodology/approach Based on a literature review of coca and coca divination, the author will describe these types of divination practices. Subsequently, the author will address the context and characteristics of a coca reading conducted in October 2022. Afterwards, the threats and prejudices faced by this type of indigenous knowledge and practice are discussed. Findings Coca divination in the Andean region of Ancash differs from the most common form of divination with coca leaves performed in northern Argentina, Bolivia, northern Chile, Colombia and southern Peru. The results of the coca reading conducted in October 2022 align with Andean worldviews. These practices and the associated episteme face various threats from academic, social and political actors and their discourses. Practical implications Scientific and academic researchers should be aware that their work can foster and maintain epistemic colonialism in Latin American territories. Archaeological excavations and interpretations should respect ancestral and traditional worldviews and practices. Originality/value This study advances the understanding of coca divination in the Andes of Ancash, Peru, by providing nuanced insights into this cultural practice in relation to a landslide event that occurred near a 3,000-year-old temple. The implications extend beyond academic discourse, offering valuable perspectives for conducting archaeological excavation activities that respect ancestral and traditional local beliefs. Future research should build on these findings to deepen comprehension of threats to traditional beliefs and practices.

Facing Uncertainty: The Philosophy of Divination in the Xici 繋辭

Abstract: The Xici 繋辭 (Attached Verbalizations) is commonly considered as a pivotal text that transformed the 周易 ( Zhou Changes or the Book of Changes) from a manual of divination into a philosophical treatise. Yet in current scholarship, there is no consensus as to how to make sense of its authors’ argument that the Zhouyi provides a mantic method—particularly selecting hexagrams based on a counting of the yarrow stalks—to understand the working of the natural system and comprehend the intricacies of a developing event. In this essay, I will offer a reading of the Xici that shows how divination can be philosophically profound, and conversely, how philosophy can be made concrete through a practice of divination. In view of the uncertainty in our times—globally, regionally, socially, and individually—it is in our best interest to learn to see the world from the perspective of the Xici .

Japanese Oracle Bone Divinations during the Yayoi to Heian Periods: A Review of Studies of the Last Seventy Years

Although often thought to be mostly relevant to Bronze Age China, oracle bone divination also has a rich history in Japan, primarily documented through literature and ethnographic records. In recent decades, the discovery of oracle bones spanning from the Early Yayoi (1000-400 B.C.) to Heian (A.D. 794-1185) periods has opened new avenues for research in pyro-osteomancy. These archaeological findings provide fresh perspectives on the social and cultural influences on oracle bone divination in Japan and East Asia more broadly. In this study, we review the historical, ethnographic, and archaeological studies of oracle bone divination in Japan, offering a comprehensive overview of divination practices and their broader significance.

The Astrological Schemes Behind bīt niṣirtu and KI in the Babylonian Horoscopes

Abstract The Babylonian horoscopes, edited by Rochberg in 1998, contain sets of astronomical and astrological data on dates of, or close to, individuals’ births. Each element of these short and concise texts reflects the astral divinatory practices and astronomical observation developed over the first millennium BC, as well as the latest innovations, including the zodiac as coordinate system and the occurrence of new astrological schemes partly based on it, which had previously remained obscure. In this paper, I present a new interpretation of the astrological terminology and the schemes that underly some of the data in the Babylonian horoscopes.

Traces of Necromantic Divinatory Practices in the Picatrix

In the famous medieval magical manual called the Picatrix, the unknown author describes the phenomenon of magic with the term nigromantia. As is well known, the original meaning of the Greek term necromantia has a more concise meaning. It is used for a special kind of divination, i.e., divination through the parts of a cadaver and the conjured spirit of the dead. Seemingly, in the Picatrix, no necromantic ritual can be found; moreover, the author stresses that his main goal is pious, i.e., to find the path leading to the ultimate source of the universe, the one and only God. In my article, I show that on some pages of the Picatrix, there are traces of divinatory practices that may be connected to the original meaning of the term nigromantia. In the third book of the manual, descriptions of some interesting rituals attributed to the pagan Sabeans of Harran and their teacher, the god Hermes can be found. During the practices, the magician involved conjured spirits of the heavenly bodies and powers as well. Because of this, by looking closely at and analyzing the given text, it is possible to piece together a complex web of necromantic and demonic divinatory rituals.

Fate, Human Character, and Divinatory Perception in Early Modern Metoposcopy

Metoposcopy, the early modern divinatory practice that reads the pattern of lines on a person's forehead for their signification, has been the object of studies primarily focused on the discipline's historical evolution. This article analyzes the complex origins of this practice, its concrete techniques, and its possible legal and medical applications. The essay opens with a reassessment of Girolamo Cardano's Metoposcopia by emphasizing the essential influence exerted by the art of memory, which he mentions in a key passage of his De sapientia. The essay investigates the problematic role played by Cardano's treatise, which is usually considered as the first and most comprehensive examination of metoposcopy, even though it was published posthumously in 1658 when interest in this science was waning. A fundamental aspect that hasn't received significant attention is the connection between metoposcopy, focused on the upper part of the head, and contemporary views of human intellectual faculties that granted this science special significance.

The Intersection of Occultism, Ancestral Customs, Astrology, and Divination Practices A Qualitative Literature Review on Christian Perspectives on Utilizing Dark Powers for Human Endeavors and the Mysteries of Universal Laws

The Intersection of Occultism, Ancestral Customs, Astrology, and Divination Practices A Qualitative Literature Review on Christian Perspectives on Utilizing Dark Powers for Human Endeavors and the Mysteries of Universal Laws

Traditional and Modern Book Divination Practices in the Context of Literary Discourse

The article presents an analysis of traditional and modern book divination practices in their significance perspective as philological research objects. The author believes that the study of such practices is relevant, since it opens up the possibility of consistent perception of the mechanisms of human interaction with the book in the perspective of this relationship’s growth, which determines the essence of culture and the meaning of human science. The field of inquiry includes all stages of book divination, from selecting a folio volume to interpreting the request results. The author supposes that selecting a book for divination appears to be an indicative decision characterizing the divination process as a game and a ritual that develops by the game reality laws and is often labeled as a magical act. Such divination rituals when described enables us to speak both about the modern bibliomancy continuity, as well as the methods of attracting readers and clients to fee based resources that predict the future and sell books. Particularly noteworthy are works specially created for divination, among which is the literary phenomenon of A. P. Sumarokov “Love divination book”. The author finds it important that the book divination practice is actively mastered by writers who use the idea of predicting the future in order to create an external composition of a literary work (M. Pavic). The motivic analysis and methods of cognitive linguistics, currently applied in descriptions of relevant cognitions and speech practices, are presented in the work as hidden algorithms for interpreting the results of such practices (solving the results of book divination is compared with the process of interpreting dreams). The author focuses on the importance of the modern reader and Internet user’s image, who is a follower of traditional (in some cases archaic) practices and at the same time belongs to the gadget era.

“If the Kingdom be Ruled According to the Tao”: Politics as “Eastern Wisdom” in Aleister Crowley’s Reception of the Daodejing

Abstract The fascination with the “Eastern Wisdom” exhibited among esoteric movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century is often understood as an interest in spirituality. Existing research has focused on how these movements took an interest in beliefs in doctrines like karma and reincarnation, as well as in practices of meditation and divination. Although this characterization is broadly correct, it is not the whole picture. This article explores a case where “Eastern Wisdom” was instead conceived in a way that explicitly included politics: Aleister Crowley’s interpretation of the instructions for government given in the Daodejing. During the early twentieth century the Daodejing was the focus of broad interest by sinologists, artists, and esoteric writers alike, among them Crowley. Although intensely engaged in divination and esoteric ritual practices, Crowley was also a utopian political thinker who wanted to see radical societal reform in line with his religious and political ideals. The article explores Crowley’s interpretation of the political aspects of the Daodejing and how he strove to interpret them in light of his own religious beliefs. It suggests that, far from being exclusively private and individualistic, the esoteric understanding of “Eastern Wisdom” could include elements like political theory and utopian thinking.

DANCE AS CULTURAL LEDGER: THE VALUE OF DOCUMENTING INDIGENOUS AFRICAN DANCES

This article explores the significance of documenting indigenous African dances, specifically focusing on the Umxhentso dance within the cultural context of Xhosa amagqirha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Historically, Indigenous dances in African societies have served as crucial elements of communal ceremonies, embodying cultural traditions, spiritual beliefs, and social cohesion. However, colonialism and contemporary globalisation have threatened the preservation of these traditional dance forms. This paper employs a qualitative approach, incorporating interviews with participants and observations and extant literature and data analysis using thematic analysis. The findings underscore the multifaceted role of the Umxhentso dance, highlighting its function as a medium for connecting with ancestors, enhancing divination practices, and reinforcing spiritual potency within the community. Moreover, the article emphasises the value of documenting indigenous dances in combating stereotypes and misconceptions, preserving cultural heritage, and promoting intercultural understanding. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the importance of safeguarding and revitalising indigenous African dances to preserve cultural diversity and identity.
 Keywords: Umxhentso dance; Cultural heritage; documenting indigenous dances; African traditional dances; Xhosa culture; Indigenous dance.

Facing Uncertainty: The Philosophy of Divination in the Xici 繋辭

The Xici 繋辭 (Attached Verbalizations) is commonly considered as a pivotal text that transformed the 周易 ( Zhou Changes or the Book of Changes) from a manual of divination into a philosophical treatise. Yet in current scholarship, there is no consensus as to how to make sense of its authors’ argument that the Zhouyi provides a mantic method—particularly selecting hexagrams based on a counting of the yarrow stalks—to understand the working of the natural system and comprehend the intricacies of a developing event. In this essay, I will offer a reading of the Xici that shows how divination can be philosophically profound, and conversely, how philosophy can be made concrete through a practice of divination. In view of the uncertainty in our times—globally, regionally, socially, and individually—it is in our best interest to learn to see the world from the perspective of the Xici .

The role of social reinforcement in norm transmission and cultural evolution

Work on cultural evolution, especially that of Boyd, Richerson, and Henrich, has said little about the role of reinforcement in cultural learning. This is surprising, for reinforcement is an old system, it is found across a diverse array of organisms, and it is a successful concept in various scientific disciplines. The main claim of this paper is that social forms of reinforcement play a role in cultural evolution. More specifically, I argue that starting early in human history, social approval and disapproval of behavior function as reinforcers and punishers; approval and disapproval thereby start a process whereby norms are transmitted. After giving arguments for these claims, I discuss work on social learning strategies—cultural rules specifying who to learn from and how to learn from them (Heyes in Philos Trans R Soc 371(1693):1–8, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0369). I suggest that the account I develop here can help explain the connection between these learning rules and cultural evolution. I illustrate this point with recent work on divination practices (Hong and Henrich in Hum Nat 32:622–651, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09408-6). My account proposes that forms of social reinforcement can explain the spread and persistence of divination practices. Besides addressing the central question (a role for reinforcement in cultural evolution), my account indirectly touches on developing themes in cultural evolution, namely, normative psychology (Heyes in Perspect Psychol Sci, 2023; Birch Biol Philos 36:4, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-09777-9).

Grasping Heaven and Earth (Qian Kun Zai Wo): The Body-as-Technology in Classical Chinese Medicine

Shifting focus from the patient’s body to the healer’s body, this essay focuses on how Chinese physicians instrumentalized their bodies to heal (ie, body-as-technology) and their hands to think with (ie, hand-memory techniques or simply, hand mnemonics). When physicians used their hands to memorize concepts related to clinical practice, calculate with time variables, and carry out ritual gestures intended to reduce risk, improve fortune, and even cure, their hands became extensions of their minds. This essay has three parts that follow the discovery process of the author’s research on hand-memory techniques found in Chinese medical texts. The first part “Divination and Revelation” explains the significance of how the author first learned about Chinese divination practices that used hand mnemonics. The second part “Original Frame” introduces the scholarship on arts of memory in Europe that informed interpretations of the earliest hand mnemonics found in Chinese medical texts. The third part “Expanded Frame” deploys some concepts from cognitive science to help situate Chinese medical hand mnemonics more broadly as an example of extended cognition. The essay concludes with an important distinction: sometimes Chinese healers’ hands were used separately from their bodies to think through things and sometimes hand and body had to be integrated in order for the healer’s body-as-technology to act as a therapeutically effective instrument.

Wandering the Diviner’s Path: A Self-Experiment in Taiwanese Divination Practices

Abstract This paper explores the author’s experiences with divination practices and master-disciple relationships in Taiwan. The author discusses his interactions with various masters and Daoist priests and the debates and conversations that ensued. He also reflects on the positive and negative aspects of the master-disciple relationship, the importance of not being engulfed in such relationships, and the scientific and personal challenges he faced as he immersed himself in his object of study. Additionally, the paper provides insights into contemporary practices of divination in Taiwan and China, including the use of social media platforms for these practices. Overall, the study provides a unique perspective on the intersection of spirituality, divinatory culture, and technology in modern-day Taiwan, as perceived by both the subjective self and the observing eye of the scientist.

Cosmic Calligraphy and Character Physiognomy 相字 in Late Imperial China

This paper examines the cultural history of a special divinatory practice in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912): the physiognomy of written characters (sinographs), in which the physical characteristics of written characters are used to ascertain information about the life of the one who writes them. For practitioners of character physiognomy, a written character can foreshadow a person’s fortune because of the cosmology of ubiquitous association, in which sinographs are seen as meaningful pictorial symbols that function as replicas of the material world as well as cosmic extensions of the human body. From the style and configuration of a written character, and even its locus in a particular time and place, specialists could imagine and reconstruct the gestures and bodily form of its writer. Because of this, written characters were conceptualized as replicas of the human body, and could in this way mirror their writer’s fortune.

Linguistic Studies of Square Characters and Graphic Symbols in Oracle

In this paper, the linguistic aspects of square characters and graphic symbols in Oracle is explored, which is an ancient divination technique used in China. The research is based on an analysis of various texts and inscriptions found on oracle bones and bronze vessels. Through this study, it is aimed to gain insights into the origins and meanings of these characters and symbols, and their role in divination practices. The findings suggest that square characters and graphic symbols played a significant role in conveying complex messages related to divination, as well as in recording historical events and cultural practices. This essay sheds light on the linguistic and cultural significance of these ancient characters and symbols, providing a deeper understanding of the role they played in shaping the development of Chinese language and culture.

Medicine and Kingship

Despite a vast and recently reinvigorated body of research, a glaring lacuna remains in the literature on African chief- and kingship. Exogenous sociostructural explanations (Vansina) and the universalist concept of sacred kingship (de Heusch) disregard the endogenous regional process of political centralization. This article proposes a corrected structuralism as a method to detect in cultural processes their endogenous basis, or “tensor”: a syntagm paradigmatically “stretched” in time and space. Ethnographic fieldwork in east and central Africa reveals that both chieftaincy and status acquisition revolve around medicine, not governance. The tensor of medicine combines two sacrificial practices, divination and initiation, and two gift-oriented practices, magic and association. In terms of this tensor, kingship is a freak development, violating the democratic principle of medicine. Ethnographic comparison confirms that kings split the tensor by privileging the binding logic of gifts at the expense of divination and initiation, which control the chief’s power. In contrast, the colonial impact on centralization is a collapsed tensor, banning the mixed political-religious practices of magic and divination in favor of a religiously legitimated political hierarchy. Tensor dynamics bring out pivots of meaning that shake the European default model of the polity.

ECS-Ecrea Early Career Scholar Prize winner - An astrological genealogy of artificial intelligence: From ‘pseudo-sciences’ of divination to sciences of prediction

Algorithmic media have adopted and adapted divinatory practices and vernaculars of prediction, prophecy, probability, fortune-telling and forecasting – suggesting a possible link between artificial intelligence and pre-scientific modes of speculation. Statistical thinking and magical thinking, too, can be recognised as closely correlated epistemological systems for governing societies and ways of life. In fact, primitive astrological practices of looking up at the stars may represent one of the earliest statistical projects involving sophisticated calculations and data sets. Such pattern-making techniques could even be considered precursory to machine learning. As a point of departure for exploring these eclectic relationships between stars and data, magic and machines, I use a media archaeological methodology to question the historical roles of both astrological and computational divination in mediating methods of control, surveillance and knowledge production across transforming societal contexts. This methodology is especially relevant for examining historical narratives in the field of cultural studies as it makes apparent the hyper-connectedness between objects, cultural representation and sites of hegemonic contention. My findings reveal relationships between celestial pattern recognition and efforts to exert control over and manipulate the natural environment and its populations, the historical impact of meteorological and climatological practices for predicting and influencing future events with artificial intelligence, and links between statistics and algorithmic data biases. This article suggests a speculative genealogy of astrology and artificial intelligence, as well as a genealogy of the theological, scientific and machinic unconscious.