| The apparent art of discovering secrets or the future by preternatural means.

Hepatoscopy, or divination through the liver, belongs therefore to the primitive period when that organ summed up all vitality and was regarded as the seat of all the emotions and affections - the higher as well as the lower - and also as the seat of intellectual functions. Philochorus also wrote on oracles, divination and sacrifices; the mythology and religious observances of the tetrapolis of Attica; the myths of Sophocles; the lives of Euripides and Pythagoras; the foundation of Salamis. Physiognomy was regarded by those who cultivated it as a twofold science: (r) a mode of discriminating character by the outward appearance, and (2) a method of divination from form and feature. How to use deviation in a sentence. The use of bones for divination, sometimes called osteomancy, has been performed by cultures the world over for thousands of years.

2 See the articles on Psychical Research; Magic; Conjuring; Automatism; Divination; Crystal Gazing; Hypnotism; Apparitions; Hallucinations; Hauntings, &C. Prophetic personality now moved in a larger sphere than that of divination, important though that function be in the social life of the ancient state as instrumental in declaring the will of the deity when any enterprise was on foot. Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

That they were employed in divination is consonant with the facts already noted. One of the things that makes domino divination unique is its system of remedies. See the full definition for divination in the English Language Learners Dictionary, Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for divination, Nglish: Translation of divination for Spanish Speakers, Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about divination. which may be explained when we reflect that to the faithful divination was something as essential as confession and spiritual direction to a devout Catholic now, or the study and interpretation of Scripture texts to a Protestant. Ignatiev has done exactly as you said; you have a, The ball is thrown against a wall, and the, The discovery of hidden treasures before alluded to, is one of the objects for which, It was not a mere system, as the world has been accustomed to think, of astrology and of, We find in the story traces of the primeval Germanic beliefs of the power of, The only others of which he was an eye-witness are the casting out of the spirit of, When he arrived, to test him, he was told that a disaster had befallen my acquaintance, and was asked to find out by, In Dorsetshire, the girls have a method of. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! 2. 3. Just as this latter method of divination rested on a well-defined theory, to wit, that the liver was the seat of the soul of the animal and that the deity in accepting the sacrifice identified himself with the animal, whose "soul" was thus placed in complete accord with that of the god and therefore reflected the mind and will of the god, so astrology is based on a theory of divine government of the world, which in contrast to "liver" divination assumes at the start a more scientific or pseudo-scientific aspect. 2. Even there, there were two types of the divination used. The unity of procedure consists in the fact that every sacrifice involves putting the divine in communication with the profane by an intermediary - the victim - which may be piacular or honorific, a messenger or a means of divination, a means of alimenting the eternal life of the species or a source of magical energy which the rite diffuses over objects in its neighbourhood. Hence in "liver" divination, as in astrology, the interpretations of the signs noted all have reference to public affairs and events and not to the individual's needs or desires. To save this word, you'll need to log in. Believers consult divination specialists or 'keepers of the secrets', known as babalawo in order to commune with the spirit world. In Greece, on the other hand, divination was not generally a priestly function, but it did belong to the priests of the Oracles (see Oracle).

The oldest form of divination, the I Ching oracle provides insight and guidance in the form of hexagram patterns. A form of divination providing inspiration and answers from the world's oldest oracle, free I Ching readings are based on ancient Chinese wisdom.

But where autoscopic phenomena play the chief part the question of the origin of divination is less simple. In its ancient stories were remnants of primitive religion, of tabu, of anthropomorphic gods, of native forms of worship, of magic and divination, of local and tribal cults. On the side of the Stoics it was argued that if divination was a real art, there must be gods who gave it to mankind; against this it was argued that signs of future events may be given without any god. 2. it was certainly used in divination and presumably did not differ radically from the ephod of the post-exilic age. Unaccountable divination told her the rest. Most clairvoyants restrict themselves to the pictures for divination. Dreams are sometimes regarded as visits to or from gods or the souls of the dead, sometimes as signs to be interpreted symbolically by means of dream-books, which are found not only in Europe but in less cultured countries like Siam. Possessing the gift of divination, she warned her husband of the evils that would result from his journey to Greece. of Dillmann's commentary on Ex.-Lev.) Diviner definition is - a person who practices divination : soothsayer. | (countable) An indication of what is to come in the future or what is secret; a prediction. For example, the ephod, an object of divination, is still retained, but it is now restricted to the high-priest; and his position as head of a theocratic state, and his ceremonial dress with its heathenish associations presuppose a past monarchy. So, what's the bottom line on Serena's Guide to Divination? In the course of time the collections of signs and their interpretation made by the baru-priests grew in number until elaborate series were produced in which the endeavour was made to exhaust so far as possible all the varieties and modifications of the many signs, so as to furnish a complete handbook both for purposes of instruction and as a basis for the practical work of divination. Unaccountable divination told her the rest. On the mound grow cypresses, acacias, what is called " the crystal tree," said not to be elsewhere found, and the Achillea, the plant whose stalks were employed in ancient times for purposes of divination. Whichever method you choose to use for I Ching readings, this ancient form of divination can assist you in your feng shui efforts.

Similarly dice are thrown for purposes of sortilege; the astragali or knucklebones, used in children's games at the present day, were implements of divination in the first instance. How shall we state his point of departure from the middle ages, his sympathy with prevalent classical enthusiasms, his divination of a new period?

to use divination: he made his arrows bright.". At about this same time, the yarrow stalk method of divination was created. The interpretations themselves were based (as in the case of divination through the liver) chiefly on two factors: - (I) on the recollection or on written records of what in the past had taken place when the phenomenon or phenomena in question had been observed, and (2) association of ideas - involving sometimes merely a play upon words - in connexion with the phenomenon or phenomena observed. Divination of this sort, therefore, may be due to observation and experiment of a rude sort, rather than to the unchecked play of fancy which resulted in heteroscopic divination. Are You Learning English? Similar modes of divination were practised, it would seem, among the pre-Islamic Arabs. vertpopavTela, or vercvoyavreia, from vercpos or vCxvs, corpse, and gavmta, divination), properly divination by communicating with the dead. It had been predicted that he should die when he met his superior in divination; and the prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Mopsus, whom Calchas met in the grove of the Clarian Apollo near Colophon. divination practiced against the entire nation. Amongst his scientific, theological and grammatical works mention may be made of De diis, containing an examination of various cults and ceremonials; treatises on divination and the interpretation of dreams; on the sphere, the winds and animals. s These heroes might become objects of cult and local divinities of healing; people would pass their tombs in awe, or resort thither for divination or for taking oaths.". Miraculous powers ... divination, automatic writing, telepathy.