Human beings have always turned to oracles and divination for answers to difficult questions. Today, AI might be fulfilling that role.
Articles on Divination
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Divinatory practices like tarot card readings are on the rise. What may seem like harmless fun can also serve as a serious response to a chaotic world.
Anthropologists and historians study divination because it sheds light on the fears and anxieties of particular cultures, many of which are universal.
In early modern Britons consulted diviners to find stolen goods, learn about the next harvest, or scrutinise their marriage fortunes.
In medieval Japan, healing might mean taking medicine, undergoing an exorcism or sidestepping harm in the first place by avoiding inauspicious days.
Ngam dù is a form of divination in which questions are asked of large spiders that live in holes in the ground. The results of spider divination can be used as evidence in Cameroon’s courts.
The pandemic has made many of us acutely aware of the daily risks we need to take. The ancient Greeks often did not leave risky choices up to individuals alone.
Your favourite tome could hold the secret to your year ahead.
Top contributors
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Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oxford
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Lecturer in East Asian Religions, Washington University in St. Louis
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Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics, Westminster College
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Research Associate, University of Cambridge; University of Warwick
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Research Fellow in Early Modern History, University of Oxford
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Associate professor, Religious Studies, McMaster University
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Professor of Statistics and Professor of EECS, University of Michigan
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Research Fellow, School of Languages and Applied Linguistics, The Open University
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George Herbert Mead Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan