DIVINATION,
Is the art or act of foretelling future events, and is divided by the ancients into artificial and natural.
Is that which proceeds by reasoning upon certain external signs, considered as indications of futurity.
Is that which presages things from a mere internal sense, and persuasion of the mind, without any assistance of signs; and is of two kinds, the one from nature, and the other by influx. The first is the supposition that the soul, collected within itself, and not diffused, or divided among the organs of the body, has, from its own nature and essence, some foreknowledge of future things: witness what is seen in dreams, ecstasies, the confines of death, &c. The second supposes that the soul, after the manner of a minor, receives some secondary illumination from the presence of God and other spirits.
Artificial divination is also of two kinds; the one argues from natural causes;e. g.the predictions of physicians about the event of diseases, from the pulse, tongue, urine, &c. Such also are those of the politician,O venalem urbem, et mox peuturam, si emptorem inveneris!The second proceeds from experiments and observations arbitrarily instituted, and is mostly superstitious.
The systems of divination reducible under this head, are almost incalculable,e. g.by birds, the entrails of birds, lines of the hand, points marked at random, numbers, names, the motion of a sieve, the air, fire, the Sortes Prænestinæ, Virgilianæ, and Homericæ; with numerous others, the principal species and names of which are as follows:—
Was an ancient species of divination or method of foretelling future events by means of an axe or hatchet. The word is derived from the Greek,αξινη,securis;μαντεια,divinatio. This art was in considerable repute among the ancients; and was performed, according to some, by laying an agate stone upon a red hot hatchet.
Is an ancient kind of divination, performed by means of a cock, which was used among the Greeks, in the following manner.—A circle was made on the ground, and divided into 24 equal portions or spaces: in each space was written one of the letters of the alphabet, and upon each of these letters was laid a grain of wheat. This being done, a cock was placed within the circle, and careful observation was made of the grains he picked. The letters corresponding to these grains were afterwards formed into a word, which word was the answer decreed. It was thus that Libanius and Jamblicus sought who should succeed the Emperor Valens; and the cock answering to thespacesΘΕΟΔ, they concluded upon Theodore, but by a mistake, instead of Theodosius.
Is a kind of divination or method of foretelling future events, by means of numbers. The Gematria, which makes the first species of the Jewish Cabala, is a kind of Arithmomancy.
Is a method of divination by means of arrows, practised in the East, but chiefly among the Arabians.
Belomancy has been performed in different manners: one was to mark a parcel of arrows, and to put eleven or more of them into a bag; these were afterwards drawn out, and according as they were marked, or otherwise, they judged of future events. Another way was, to have three arrows, upon one of which was written,God forbids it me; upon another,God orders it me; and upon the third nothing at all. These were put into a quiver, out of which one of the three was drawn at random; if it happened to be that with the second inscription, the thing they consulted about was to be done; if it chanced to be that with the first inscription, the thing was let alone; and if it proved to be that without any inscription, they drew over again. Belomancy is an ancient practice, and is probably that which Ezekiel mentions, chap. xxi. v. 21. At least St. Jerome understands it so, and observes that the practice was frequent among the Assyrians and Babylonians. Something like it is alsomentioned in Hosea, chap. vi. only that staves are mentioned there instead of arrows, which is rather Rhabdomancy than Belomancy. Grotius, as well as Jerome, confounds the two together, and shews that they prevailed much among the Magi, Chaldeans, and Scythians, from whom they passed to the Sclavonians, and thence to the Germans, whom Tacitus observes to make use of Belomancy.
Is a kind of divination performed by the throwing of dice or little bones; and observing the points or marks turned up.
At Bura, a city of Achaia, was a temple, and a celebrated Temple of Hercules; where such as consulted the oracle, after praying to the idol, threw four dice, the points of which being well scanned by the priests, he was supposed to draw an answer from them.
This word is derived from the Greekκληδων,which signifies two things; viz.rumour, a report, andavis, a bird; in the first sense,Cledonismshould denote a kind of divination drawn from words occasionally uttered. Cicero observes, that the Pythagoreans made observations not only of the words of the gods, but of those of men; and accordingly believed the pronouncing of certain words,e. g.incendium, at a meal, very unlucky. Thus, instead of prison, they used the wordsdomicilium; and to avoid erinnyes, saidEumenides. In the secondsense, Cledonism should seem a divination drawn from birds; the same with ornithomantia.
As the word implies, is the art of divination by means of a sieve.
The sieve being suspended, after repeating a certain form of words, it is taken between two fingers only; and the names of the parties suspected, repeated: he at whose name the sieve turns, trembles or shakes, is reputed guilty of the evil in question. This doubtless must be a very ancient practice. Theocritus, in his third Idyllion, mentions a woman who was very skilful in it. It was sometimes also practised by suspending the sieve by a thread, or fixing it to the points of a pair of scissars, giving it room to turn, and naming as before the parties suspected: in this manner Coscinomancy is still practised in some parts of England. From Theocritus it appears, that it was not only used to find out persons unknown, but also to discover the secrets of those who were.
Is a kind of divination by means of smoke, used by the ancients in their sacrifices. The general rule was—when the smoke was thin and light, and ascended straight up, it was a good omen; if on the contrary, it was an ill one.
There was another species of Capnomancy which consisted in observing the smoke arising from poppy and jessamin seed, cast upon burning coals.
Catoptromancy,
Is another species of divination used by the ancients, performed by means of a mirror.
Pausanias says, that this method of divination was in use among the Achaians; where those who were sick, and in danger of death, let down a mirror, or looking-glass, fastened by a thread, into a fountain before the temple of Ceres; then looking in the glass, if they saw a ghastly disfigured face, they took it as a sure sign of death; but, on the contrary, if the face appeared fresh and healthy, it was a token of recovery. Sometimes glasses were used without water, and the images of future things, it is said, were represented in them.
Is the art of divining the fate, temperament, and disposition of a person by the lines and lineaments of the hands.
There are a great many authors on this vain and trifling art, viz. Artemidorus, Fludd, Johannes De Indagine, Taconerus, and M. De le Chambre, who are among the best.
M. De le Chambre insists upon it that the inclinations of people may be known from consulting the lines on the hands; there being a very near correspondence between the parts of the hand and the internal parts of the body, the heart, liver, &c. “whereon the passions and inclinations much depend.” He adds, however, that the rules and precepts of Chiromancy are not sufficiently warranted; the experiments on which they stand not being well verified.He concludes by observing, that there should be a new set of observations, made with justness and exactitude, in order to give to Chiromancy that form and solidity which an art of science demands.
This is a sort of divination performed by means of a ring. It was done as follows, viz. by holding a ring, suspended by a fine thread, over a round table, on the edge of which were made a number of marks with the 24 letters of the alphabet. The ring in shaking or vibrating over the table, stopped over certain of the letters, which, being joined together, composed the required answer. But this operation was preceded and accompanied by several superstitious ceremonies; for, in the first place, the ring was to be consecrated with a great deal of mystery; the person holding it was to be clad in linen garments, to the very shoes; his head was to be shaven all round, and he was to hold vervein in his hand. And before he proceeded on any thing the gods were first to be appeased by a formulary of prayers, &c.
The whole process of this mysterious rite is given in the 29th book of Ammianus Marcellinus.
(Fromextaandspicere, to view, consider.)
The name of the officer who shewed and examined the entrails of the victims was Extispex.
This method of divination, or of drawing presages relative to futurity, was much practised throughout Greece, where there were two families,theJamidæandClytidæ, consecrated or set apart particularly for the exercise of it.
The Hetrurians, in Italy, were the firstExtispices, among whom likewise the art was in great repute. Lucan gives us a fine description of one of these operations in his first book.
This species of divination, practised among the ancients, was performed by means of words coming or appearing to come out of the belly.
There is another kind of divination called by the same name, which is performed by means of glasses, or other round transparent vessels, within which certain figures appear by magic art. Hence its name, in consequence of the figures appearing as if in the belly of the vessels.
Was performed by means of a number of little points or dots, made at random on paper; and afterwards considering the various lines and figures, which those points present; thereby forming a pretended judgment of futurity, and deciding a proposed question.
Polydore Virgil defines Geomancy a kind of divination performed by means of clefts or chinks made in the ground; and he takes the Persian magi to have been the inventors of it.De invent. rer.lib. 1, c. 23.
⁂ Geomancy is formed of the Greekγηterra, earth; andμαντεια, divination; it being the anciencustom to cast little pebbles on the ground, and thence to form their conjecture, instead of the points above-mentioned.
The art of divining or foretelling future events by means of water; and is one of the four general kinds of divination: the other three, as regarding the other elements,viz.fire and earth, are denominated Pyromancy, Aeromancy, and Geomancy already mentioned.
The Persians are said by Varro to have been the first inventors of Hydromancy; observing also that Numa Pompilius, and Pythagoras, made use of it.
There are various Hydromantic machines and vessels, which are of a singularly curious nature.
Is the art of communicating with devils, and doing surprising things by means of their aid; particularly that of calling up the dead and extorting answers from them. (SeeMagic.)
Is the art of interpreting dreams; or a method of foretelling future events by means of dreams.
From several passages of Scripture, it appears that, under the Jewish dispensation, there was such a thing as foretelling future events by dreams; but there was a particular gift or revelation requiredfor that purpose. Hence it would appear that dreams are actually significative of something to come; and all that is wanting among us is, theOneirocritica, or the art of knowing what: still it is the general opinion of the present day that dreams are mere chimera, induced by various causes, have no affinity with the realization of future events; but having, at the same time, indeed, some relation to what has already transpired.
With respect to Joseph’s dream, “it was possible,” says an old author, “for God, who knew all things, to discover to him what was in the womb of fate; and to introduce that, he might avail himself of a dream; not but that he might as well have foretold it from any other accident or circumstance whatever; unless God, to give the business more importance, should purposely communicate such a dream to Pharoah, in order to fall in with the popular notion of dreams and divination, which at that time was so prevalent among the Egyptians.”
The name given to the interpreters of dreams, or those who judge of events from the circumstances of dreams, wasOneirocritics. There is not much confidence to be placed in those Greek books called Oneirocritics; they are replete with superstition of the times. Rigault has given us a collection of the Greek and Latin works of this kind; one of which is attributed toAstrampsichus; another to Nicephorus, the patriarch of Constantinople; to which are added the treatises of Artimedorus and Achmet. But the booksthemselves are little else than reveries or waking dreams, to explain and account for sleeping ones.
The secret ofOneirocritism, according to all these authors, consists in the relations supposed to exist between the dream and the thing signified; but they are far from keeping to the relations of agreement and similitudes; and frequently they have recourse to others of dissimilitude and contrariety.
Is the art of divining the good or bad fortune which will befall a man from the letters of his name. This mode of divination was a very popular and reputable practice among the ancients.
The Pythagoreans taught that the minds, actions, and successes of mankind, were according to their fate, genius, and name; and Plato himself inclines somewhat to the same opinion.—Ausonius to Probus expresses it in the following manner:—
Qualem creavit moribus,Jussit vocariNOMINEMundi supremus arbiter.
Qualem creavit moribus,Jussit vocariNOMINEMundi supremus arbiter.
Qualem creavit moribus,Jussit vocariNOMINEMundi supremus arbiter.
Qualem creavit moribus,
Jussit vocariNOMINE
Mundi supremus arbiter.
In this manner he sports with tippling Meroe, asif her name told she would drink pure wine without water; or as he calls it,merum mereim. Thus Hippolytus was observed to be torn to pieces by his own coach horses, as his name imported; and thus Agamemnon signified that he should linger long before Troy; Priam, that he should be redeemed out of bondage in his childhood. To this also may be referred that of Claudius Rutilius:—
Nominibus certis credam decurrere mores?Moribus aut Potius nomina certa dari?
Nominibus certis credam decurrere mores?Moribus aut Potius nomina certa dari?
Nominibus certis credam decurrere mores?Moribus aut Potius nomina certa dari?
Nominibus certis credam decurrere mores?
Moribus aut Potius nomina certa dari?
It is a frequent and no less just observation in history, that the greatest Empires and States have been founded and destroyed by men of the same name. Thus, for instance, Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, began the Persian monarchy; and Cyrus, the son of Darius, ruined it; Darius, son of Hystaspes, restored it; and, again, Darius, son of Asamis, utterly overthrew it. Phillip, son of Amyntas, exceedingly enlarged the kingdom of Macedonia; and Phillip, son of Antigonus, wholly lost it. Augustus was the first Emperor of Rome; Augustulus the last. Constantine first settled the empire of Constantinople, and Constantine lost it wholly to the Turks.
There is a similar observation that some names are constantly unfortunate to princes:e. g.Caius, among the Romans; John, in France, England and Scotland; and Henry, in France.
One of the principal rules of Onomancy, among the Pythagoreans, was, that an even number of vowels in a name signified an imperfection in theleft side of a man; and an odd number in the right.—Another rule, about as good as this, was, that those persons were the most happy, in whose names the numeral letters, added together, made the greatest sum; for which reason, say they, it was, that Achilles vanquished Hector; the numeral letters, in the former name, amounting to a greater number than the latter. And doubtless it was from a like principle that the young Romans toasted their mistresses at their meetings as often as their names contained letters.
“Nævia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur!”
“Nævia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur!”
“Nævia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur!”
“Nævia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur!”
Rhodingius describes a singular kind of Onomantia.—Theodotus, King of the Goths, being curious to learn the success of his wars against the Romans, an Onomantical Jew ordered him to shut up a number of swine in little stys, and to give some of them Roman, and others Gothic names, with different marks to distinguish them, and there to keep them till a certain day; which day having come, upon inspecting the stys they found those dead to whom the Gothic names had been given, and those alive to whom the Roman names were assigned.—Upon which the Jew foretold the defeat of the Goths.
This kind of divination is performed by means of the finger nails. The ancient practice was, to rub the nails of a youth with oil and soot, or wax,and to hold up the nails, thus prepared, against the sun; upon which there were supposed to appear figures or characters, which shewed the thing required. Hence also modern Chiromancers call that branch of their art which relates to the inspection of nails,Onycomancy.
Is a kind of divination, or method of arriving at the knowledge of futurity, by means of birds; it was among the Greeks what Augury was among the Romans.
A species of divination performed by means of fire.
The ancients imagined they could foretel futurity by inspecting fire and flame; for this purpose they considered its direction, or which way it turned. Sometimes they added other matters to the fire,e. g.a vessel full of urine, with its neck bound round with wool; and narrowly watched the side in which it would burst, and thence took their prognostic. Sometimes they threw pitch in it, and if it took fire instantly, they considered it a favourable omen.
An art among the ancients of raising or calling up the manes or souls of deceased persons, to give intelligence of things to come. The witch who conjured up the soul of Samuel, to foretel Saul the event of the battle he was about to give, did so by Sciomancy.
Rhabdomancy,
Was an ancient method of divination, performed by means of rods or staves. St. Jerome mentions this kind of divination in his Commentary on Hosea, chap. vi. 12.; where the prophet says, in the name of God:My people ask counsel at their stocks; and their staff declareth unto them: which passage that father understands of the GrecianRhabdomancy.
The same is met with again in Ezekiel, xxi. 21, 22. where the prophet says:For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he made his arrows bright; or, as St. Jerome renders it,he mixed his arrows; he consulted with images; he looked in the liver.
If it be the same kind of divination that is alluded to in these two passages,Rhabdomancymust be the same kind of superstition with Belomancy. These two, in fact, are generally confounded. The Septuagint themselves translateחציםof Ezekiel, byῥαβδος, a rod; though in strictness it signifies an arrow. So much however is certain, that the instruments of divination mentioned by Hosea are different from those of Ezekiel. In the former it isעצוetso,מקלוmaklo, his wood, his staff: in the latterחציםhhitism, arrows. Though it is possible they might use rods or arrows indifferently; or the military men might use arrows and the rest rods.
By the laws of the Frisones, it appears that the ancient inhabitants of Germany practised Rhabdomancy.The Scythians were likewise acquainted with the use of it: and Herodotus observes,lib.vi. that the women among the Alani sought and gathered together fine straight wands or rods, and used them for the same superstitious purposes.
Among the various other kinds of divination, not here mentioned, may be enumerated:Chiromancy, performed with keys;AlphitomancyorAleuromancy, by flour;Keraunoscopia, by the consideration of thunder;Alectromancy, by cocks;Lithomancy, by stones;Eychnomancy, by lamps;Ooscopy, by eggs;Lecanomancy, by a basin of water;Palpitatim,Salisatio,παλμος, by the pulsation or motion of some member, &c. &c. &c.
All these kinds of divination have been condemned by the fathers of the Church, and Councils, as supposing some compact with the devil. Fludd has written several treatises on divination, and its different species; and Cicero has two books of the divination of the ancients, in which he confutes the whole system. Cardan also, in his 4th Book de Sapientia, describes every species of them.