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Divination Modalities

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
As it seems that this portion of the forum is getting a bit more activity, I thought I'd pose a question.

What is your preferred method for divining?

Do you use tarot or oracle cards (cartomancy), Palmistry, Fire (Pyromancy), Eggs (oomancy), Runecasting, or even Bones (osteomancy)?

I am partial to using Cartomancy in the form of Tarot cards and Runecasting utilizing the Elder Futhark.

Methods of divination - Wikipedia
 
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JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
I Ching and Tarot.

I Ching talks to you like a friend, in my opinion. I had it tell me to stop crying once(I was crying).
 

an anarchist

Your local anarchist.
As it seems that this portion of the forum is getting a bit more activity, I thought I'd pose a question.

What is your preferred method for divining?

Do you use tarot or oracle cards (cartomancy), Palmistry, Fire (Pyromancy), Eggs (oomancy), Runecasting, or even Bones (osteomancy)?

I am partial to using Cartomancy in the form of Tarot cards and Runecasting utilizing the Elder Futhark.

Methods of divination - Wikipedia
I use the I Ching, which I was surprised to find out right now thanks to the link that it is considered a form of rune magic. I’ve never seen cleromancy referenced as runic magic, so it surprised me.
Would you mind going into a bit of detail of what your method in utilizing the Elder Futhark is? I’m reading the wiki on it right now, but a personal perspective would perhaps shed more light :)
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
I Ching and Tarot.

I Ching talks to you like a friend, in my opinion. I had it tell me to stop crying once(I was crying).

I've never heard of using the I Ching as a divination tool. I will have to look into this a little more. I am honestly not familiar with it.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Would you mind going into a bit of detail of what your method in utilizing the Elder Futhark is? I’m reading the wiki on it right now, but a personal perspective would perhaps shed more light :)

Hmmm. Let's see.

I use it it in a few different ways I guess.

I have a set of Elder Futhark Runes that are carved on individual stone pieces. I keep them in a bag.

There are 24 of them total, seperated into 3 sets of 8, of what are called Aettir or "Sets". You have Freya's Aett (Runes 1-8), Heimdal's Aett (9-16), and Tyr's Aett (17-24).

When I need guidance. I either pull 1 or 3 runes from the bag. Or I cast/throw a set number/all of the runes. And interpret them based on the spread, or how they fall depending on what type of reading I am doing.

Edit: And then I forgot to add that each if the 24 runes has an individual meaning, just as each tarot card has a meaning, which changes based on how it falls in a spread, draw or layout.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
I use the I Ching, which I was surprised to find out right now thanks to the link that it is considered a form of rune magic. I’ve never seen cleromancy referenced as runic magic, so it surprised me.

What can you tell me about the I Ching? How is it used for divining? I saw a set for it at Barnes and Nobles today.
 

an anarchist

Your local anarchist.
What can you tell me about the I Ching? How is it used for divining? I saw a set for it at Barnes and Nobles today.
Ok sorry if I’m confusing! I still have my whole life to study the I Ching, I am far from fully grasping it.

The I Ching in its modern form is millenniums of commentary atop the original text. The original text comes from the most ancient of Chinese sages, considered ancient even during Confucius’s time.
the original sages originally recorded 8 sets of trigrams (set of three lines). When you cast a fortune, you get two trigrams, a hexagram. Each individual line, trigram, and hexagram has a specific meaning. The trigrams are complete images. The original sages attained for us these images, mystery surrounding the true origin of course.
So the I Ching has developed as a commentary on these images.
When you buy an I Ching, it’ll come with a chart like this
upload_2022-3-26_1-10-58.gif


And the book will be commentary on what these different hexagrams mean.
My advice is to get a supplementary book to your I Ching, a book that is specifically a supplementary book to the I Ching. I have a Confucian I Ching, Taoist I Ching, had a Buddhist I Ching (gave away), as well as a fourth book that is specifically a guide to my Taoist one. If I didn’t have the guide book, well the I Ching commentaries use rather convoluted language let’s just say. For example, my Taoist commentary gets really into metaphysics and spiritual alchemy, while my Confucian one uses thick language, so the simplified guide just really helps. (For me at least)
As for how to actually cast the fortune, you just need three coins. You toss the coins 6 times to receive a complete hexagram. If you buy an I Ching it will come with the specific instructions, it’s rather simple once you get the hang of it. Once you have a hexagram, you just read the commentaries of the hexagram, trigrams, and lines you got. Oh, you get a present hexagram, and depending on what it is, you can also get a future hexagram.
Practicing it is obviously the best way to get a better understanding. Know that when you are consulting the I Ching, you are consulting the universal sage. The sage that is within you. The I Ching has always answered me intelligently, made me a firm believer.
Lot of reading is involved.
 

VoidCat

Pronouns: he/him/they/them
I've always wanted to try it too. I found a shop here that sells bones!

Do you know anything about how osteomancy works?
I have read a bit and thought it was cool but I'm blanking now on specifics. It's been a while since I read about it.

I do know some do yes and no readings and yes the bones cross no the bones don't.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Oneiromancy, or dream divination.

That's cool, I've had a few prophetic dreams, but I've never thought to use it as a source of divination.

How does this work in practice for you? Do you have any authors or books you recommend on the subject?
 

Guitar's Cry

Disciple of Pan
That's cool, I've had a few prophetic dreams, but I've never thought to use it as a source of divination.

How does this work in practice for you? Do you have any authors or books you recommend on the subject?

I see it as an opportunity to understand myself and the things going on in my life better. I keep a dream journal, and this allows me to see patterns in my personal symbolism and can help me analyze things from the perspective of my subconscious--this is working off the idea that the mind is making connections to things that may not reach conscience thought, and anything that the subconscious may feel helpful can come through in dreams.

This is based off of Carl Jung's ideas of dream interpretation. I find it extremely useful. In particular the idea that characters in your dreams represent more of parts of your psyche rather than who they are in real life. For instance, dreaming of sex with a female coworker might just be a sexual fantasy, but it could also be representative of needing to develop something that person, or cultural symbols related to "female" may mean to you.

For Carl Jung, I suggest Man and His Symbols as a starting point. It was written before he died and was a collaborative effort to write about his theories for folks who aren't actual psychologists.
 

an anarchist

Your local anarchist.
dream divination.

I have nightmares every night, it started when I was a toddler. It became every night by the time I was in high school. Sometimes it’s not as often but for example this past month I’ve had nightmares every night. I’m used to them and found it best to forget them right away when I woke up so they don’t really shake me up anymore. Since I try not to think about them when I wake up, I don’t remember them that well.
Do you think I can benefit from dream divination? Should I try to keep a dream journal?
That’ll make my dreams more memorable, I’m sure.
 

VoidCat

Pronouns: he/him/they/them
I have nightmares every night, it started when I was a toddler. It became every night by the time I was in high school. Sometimes it’s not as often but for example this past month I’ve had nightmares every night. I’m used to them and found it best to forget them right away when I woke up so they don’t really shake me up anymore. Since I try not to think about them when I wake up, I don’t remember them that well.
Do you think I can benefit from dream divination? Should I try to keep a dream journal?
That’ll make my dreams more memorable, I’m sure.
Yes to both questions. At the very least it'll give you insight as to why you've been dreaming what you have been. Could be an underlying psychological issue your subconscious is trying to tell you about. Best to figure it out
 

Guitar's Cry

Disciple of Pan
I have nightmares every night, it started when I was a toddler. It became every night by the time I was in high school. Sometimes it’s not as often but for example this past month I’ve had nightmares every night. I’m used to them and found it best to forget them right away when I woke up so they don’t really shake me up anymore. Since I try not to think about them when I wake up, I don’t remember them that well.
Do you think I can benefit from dream divination? Should I try to keep a dream journal?
That’ll make my dreams more memorable, I’m sure.

Also, if you do dream journal, make sure to add impressions, even if you don't quite remember the literal events.

Jung connected nightmares to stress and trauma, and I think that's still a prevalent idea. One way I've managed nightmares in the past is through lucid dreaming: Once I realize it is a nightmare, I shapeshift into a scarier creature (often a werewolf since I think they're cool!). This took some work, and I currently struggle with getting to the lucid dreaming state, though I haven't figured out if that age, physical condition, or some other reason.
 
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