There are hundreds of methods of divination, from the common to the curious to the bizarre. Many methods have been lost or obscured by the passing of time and the changing of civilizations. Some methods such as Astrology, Tarot Card reading, Tea Leave reading, Numerology, Runes, and Horoscopes have survived into the present and are both popular and in widespread use.
The common suffixes are: -OMANCY, derived from the Latin ‘omin’ meaning omen; -MANCY, from the ancient Greek ‘manteia’ meaning divination and ‘manteuomai’ meaning to prophesy; -GRAPHY refers to something that is written and comes from the Greek ‘graphein’ meaning to write; or -SCOPY, from the Greek ‘skopein’ meaning to look into, or to behold.
The purpose of a Diviner’s job can entail many things: to find the source or cause of a problem; to serve as go-betweens for humans and spirits; to determine whether a person is suffering from a common illness or one caused by an upset ancestor; or to find the cause for a person's misfortune. The concept of ‘fate or destiny’ was also not as we know it now. Instead of a helpless predestination, it meant a future created by ones earlier actions. A Diviner does not ‘see the future’. He or she examines cause and effect and points out a likely outcome.
Ultimately I would suggest that we do not place absolute trust in some particular form of guidance or divination. I would say that by using different forms of divination we make contact with our own principles of beliefs on many levels. In addition to a form of divination, I would propose you consult your own reasons, intuitions, emotions, and instincts, as well as ask the advice of trusted friends. And whether we use tea leaves or tarot cards, crystal balls or astrological charts, divination can be a useful means to aid us in the quest for awareness.
Ancient diviners foretold the outcome of great undertakings, advised whether war should be declared, and worked out auspicious times for constructing temples, electing public officials, or passing important laws.
Divination is practically as old as the human race. It is found in every age and country, among the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Hindus, Romans, and Greeks. Tribes of Northern Asia had their Shamans, the inhabitants of Africa their Mgangas, the Celtic nation their Druids, the aborigines of America their Medicine-men.
Although means of telling the future were employed in Tibet, before the arrival of Buddhism, divination is not regarded as an alien remnant outside the Buddhist framework. Rather, they are used within the sphere of Buddhist concepts, functioning in harmony with Buddhist principles such as karma. Rituals will not change a person's karma, and those requesting and performing a divination are aware of this. Divination is very much a part of life in Tibet and continues to be so among the exiled community. Major decisions concerning everyday life such as marriage or business agreements are made only after consulting some form of divination. In most cases, people have favorite lamas who they consult.
The Egyptians and Babylonians held special classes of priestly diviners; the Greeks consulted Oracles, especially at Delphi; and the Etruscans had a state-sponsored college of Augurs, a select group that read the future by studying the behavior of birds or the markings on the liver or entrails of sacrificed animals. In China divination by means of crack patterns in shells was practiced Second Century BC.
Divination, like religion is universal and indigenous in one form or another. Some nations cultivated it to a higher degree than others, and their influence caused certain modes of divination to spread. Before Christianity, divination was practiced everywhere according to rites native and foreign. In early days, the priest and diviner were one person. When the Christian Church gained political power, it made all forms of divination capital crimes.
The eighth century A.D. saw the development of astrology and astronomy reach its peak, and is referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ because every field of learning such as Dharma, Astrological Science and Medicine enjoyed its highest patronage and development.
In France and Germany astrologers met even more encouragement than they received in England. In very early ages, Charlemagne and his successors fulminated their wrath against them in common with sorcerers. Louis XI, a most superstitious man, entertained great numbers of them at his court; and Catherine de Medicis, a most superstitious woman, hardly ever took any affair of importance without consulting them. She chiefly favored her own countrymen. During the time she governed France, Italian conjurors, necromancers, and fortune-tellers of every kind overran the land. But the chief astrologer of that day, beyond all doubt, was the celebrated Nostradamus, physician to her husband, King Henry II.
The prophecies of Nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand stanzas, each of four lines. They take so great latitude, both as to time and space, that they are almost sure to be fulfilled somewhere or other in the course of a few centuries.
The ancient philosophers believed quite simply that philosophy should in some way help to change one's life for the better. The word philosophy comes from the Greek ‘philosophia’, meaning ‘love of wisdom.’
The Hellenistic schools of Greece and Rome - the Epicureans, Sceptics and Stoics - were passionately committed to the idea that philosophy should address the painful practical problems of human life: death, love, sexuality and anger.
