Divination Vs Prediction

Divination has always been one of the most popular and widely practiced of all the occult arts. In a world so full of uncertainty the idea of getting some wise guidance from a higher power, the idea of peeking into the future and gaining advanced knowledge of what will happen, the idea of knowing the consequences of your actions in advance so that you can choose the right path - these are all very appealing notions indeed. 

There a literally hundreds of different methods of divination, from examining the entrails of a recently slaughtered sheep or goat, to staring into the flames of a fire. Today, with divination at least as popular as it ever has been in the past, the most commonly used methods are astrology, tarot cards, palmistry and the Chinese I Ching.

But although more people than ever have access to some form of divination, such as newspaper horoscopes which are read by millions, there is also a greater degree of misunderstanding around as to the nature and purpose of divination than would have been the case in the past.

Most people tend to think of divination as fortune-telling, as a method of predicting what will happen to someone in the future. But actually this is an over-simplification, and it introduces a subtle but important error into the way we think about divination. Whether you perform reading yourself, or if you are just an interested person who maybe reads their horoscope, you should know that in order to gain the most possible benefits from consulting a divinatory device it is important to be aware of the nature of the information which you will receive.

The classical warning against the kind of misunderstanding which is prevalent today was given in the form of a story. This story is about a king or emperor (I don't remember the details, only the general outline, but it's that which is the important bit). There was tension with the neighbouring kingdom and the emperor consulted an oracle to help him in a decision about whether or not to declare war and invade his neighbour. The oracle told him that if he went ahead with the war her would crush a great army and lead to the collapse of the kingdom. he took this to mean that he would win a great victory and went ahead with the war, but it turned out that through his own incompetence his actions crushed his own army, and lead to the collapse of his own kingdom.

The significance of this story is that the emperor went to the oracle expecting a prediction but actually got a divination and his misunderstanding lead to his downfall. In this case it was not in the oracle's power to predict the exact outcome of events, or describe what would happen to whom. What she did (what divination always does) was to describe the character and form that events would take. Within this pattern individual people and events are somewhat irrelevant, and cannot be accurately predicted. If you keep this in mind when using divination it will serve you well.

It is also important to remember that whilst divination describes the cosmic, spiritual influence which will come to bear, and the overall character of what you might call the physical and psychological environmental factors, human free will and the inertia of material circumstances may have something else to say. The correct attitude to divination is expressed in the medieval word from divinatory signs - 'auspices'. You may often read in a newspaper horoscope, for example, that you will come into some money or that you will meet a new lover, or some other such thing. But what it should really be saying to be more accurate is that it is an auspicious time to do business, look for a new source of income, or play the lottery, or that now would be a good time to socialise and meet new people. By doing this they would not be trying to predict the future, an endeavour in which they would often fail, but would instead be providing advice as to how to make the most of the situation and how to be successful, happy and perhaps most importantly in harmony with the world around you, which is what divination is all about.

Reproduced by permision of the Morning Star Portal. By: Kephri Ra

Article Source: www.NewAgeArticles.com

What’s At The Heart Of Divination

Divination is also referred to as fortune telling. Divination uses aspects of the supernatural to predict the future or give insight. There are many different forms of divination. Divination usually involves a ritual or other formal routine. This could involve the lighting of candles, chanting of incantations or burning of incense. Divination is a way to connect with the other side, which could be those who have passed away, spirits or holy beings.

Divination is a highly criticized practice. There are many people who believe that divination cannot be proven as real. They believe that since divination usually involves one person connecting with the other side that the person is simply scamming or faking the connection. Many skeptics believe that divination is merely tapping into the sub-conscious mind and not communicating with the other side at all. Still others believe that there is no connection at all and the person doing the divination is just saying whatever they believe people want to hear. Despite numerous attempts to prove critics wrong, there is still skeptics out there who will never believe in the supernatural abilities of those who practice divination.

Some of the more popular and best known forms of divination include the following:

Astrology- Using the positions of the planets, sun and moon in correspondence with time, date, location and the Zodiac to give insight into one’s life and future.

Tarot- The use of a 78 card deck that is laid out into spreads or patterns then read to look into one’s situation.

Palmistry- Reading the lines on ones hand to interpret their life path.

Rune Casting- The use of runes that are cast upon the ground or a cloth to tell a persons situation.

Channeling- Connecting with the other side, spirits, and delivering their messages.

Psychic/Intuition- Connecting with a spirit or other celestial being to deliver messages, can be used with other forms of divination.

Divination may be something that a person is born able to do. For others it is something to be learned. It is widely thought that every person has the ability to tap into the supernatural. It just takes time for some to learn how to do it.

Divination has been used for centuries. It is often looked at as evil or as something that is only done by those who do not believe in God. This is not true. Many religious activities often include divination style practices. Anything that brings a connection between a person and a celestial being, be it God, a Saint, an angel, is a form of divination.

Most divination is done in a proper setting. The area used for divination is only used for that purpose. Nothing else is done in that area. Many times there are alters or other things to honor the spirits that may be present. It is done in a manner that shows respect to those beings that are coming to help or send messages. For people that practice divination it is a very serious ritual.

Divination is something that requires great patience and dedication. It may take a person a long time in order to connect to a spirit and when they do it can tae even longer to understand the messages they may be sending. It is a process that should be done with the knowledge of how to do it properly. Many times people expect to see amazing things, like lights flickering, the person performing the divination to fall into a trance or something else spectacular. This is usually not how it happens, though. It is usually a rather peaceful process that happens almost naturally.

By: Marissa Moonwhisper             Article Source: www.NewAgeArticles.com