Seeing and foretelling: magic for this purpose

Divination is the attempt to learn what is hidden or still to come. It is found in nearly every culture, from the Chinese I Ching and Ifa in West Africa to the tarot, astrology, palm reading, the Roman augurs and the Greek oracle at Delphi. People consult diviners about marriage, trade, health, journeys and loss. This page covers who reads, what is read, and how the practice is regarded. It is among the oldest and most widely repeated forms of ritual.

What is read

Diviners read many things. Some read natural signs, such as birds, the entrails of animals, cracks in a heated shell or bone, and the stars. Some read objects thrown or drawn at random, such as bones, cowries, cards, runes, tea leaves or lots. Others receive answers in trance, dreams or possession. In China, oracle bones used in the Shang period are among the earliest written records. Many diviners say the reading is shaped by the question asked.

Who reads

The role can be a profession, a family inheritance, or a sign of calling. Ifa babalawo are men, while the Greek Pythia was a woman. Astrologers served courts in India, Persia and Europe, and card readers in cities serve poorer clients. Class and gender shape trust: a palace astrologer and a roadside parrot-reader may use the same texts and be judged very differently. Readers of the same system may disagree, and the best known diviners are expected to admit that signs can be read more than one way.

Law and religion

Responses vary. The Hebrew Bible forbids certain divination, medieval Christian authorities condemned it, and Islamic scholars largely reject claims to know the unseen, while still permitting dream interpretation and astrology in some schools. Modern states regulate fortune-telling under fraud laws, and some Indian states have passed laws against exploitative practices. Divination also persists inside religion, as in Ifa and Buddhist temple lots. Other traditions, such as Buddhism and Sikhism, reject much divination as a distraction from the path, while their followers may still visit astrologers for family matters.

Why it endures

Psychologists explain its appeal through the Barnum effect and confirmation bias, and a good reader also reads the client. Anthropologists add that divination can give a community a way to settle disputes and accept a choice. Practitioners often say their work is guidance, not prediction. A reading is not a substitute for medical, legal or financial advice. A reading is a performance of listening, and what a client takes from it often depends on what they already feel and on what they decide to do afterwards.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Dukun: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Ahmad al-Buni: Khalili Collections, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo, source

Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source

Tohunga: Gottfried Lindauer, Public domain, source

Nkisi: MiddleOfAfrica, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Seiðr: John Bauer, Public domain, source

Obsidian: Krassotkin, CC0, source

Santería: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Kahuna: Unknown author, Public domain, source

Fortune-telling: Taras Shevchenko, Public domain, source

Machi: Unknown author, Public domain, source

Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source

Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Mother Shipton: Unknown author, Public domain, source

Shamanism in Ayyavazhi: Vaikunda Raja, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Ndau witchcraft and sorcery: Mycelium101, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Azande witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source

Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Seeing and foretelling