Ok... according to one of the book sources I have that delved pretty good into this area, this form of divination dates back to the Etruscans (or over 2,400 years back in time). Poultry was mainly used by them, theorized by others as to being as a result of the rooster's habit of crowing when the sun rises - " foretelling" of the birth of a new day. I stumbled across a manner that the Etrucian psychic may have performed his/her "magick" in another book, by A. E. Waite:
A rooster and single grains of barley or wheat placed into each 24 equal spaces drawn onto a circle in the dirt which is inscribed with one letter of the alphabet (omitting "J" and "U", which are represented by their ancient correspondents of "I" and "V". Note which letters and the order in which he pecks the grains - for the letters should form a word.
The ancient Babylonian psychic used a variation of alectryomancy by splashing water three times onto a sleeping ox's head and divining the future through 17 possible reactions and /or types of responses -- and yes, each reaction had it own meaning. If both eyes remained open, the answer was yes... if one stayed open, the answer was maybe ... now if both eyes stayed close (depending on the person interpreting) it meant no or no answer at that time.
Folks from the ancient Asia Minor/Syria area (from approximately 1600 b.c. to 1200 a.d.) used this practice to divine the future by the movements of an eel in a tank of water.
Now ... scoff as you may at this, some areas still practice this art of divination!!
| A central African tribe uses the behavior of ants -- two long then leaves are inserted into an ant hill ... if the ants eat the left leaf first, the and is yes.... if on the right first, the answer is no ... | A western African tribe sprinkle nuts on the ground around a design drawn on the ground at nightfall ... in the morning, the pattern of the paw prints left by the jackals is "divined" ... | Some still believe, in the Polynesia area, that crimes can be solved by allowing a beetle to crawl over the grave of a murder victim -- the tracks made by the insect is claimed to "tell" the murderer's identity and possibly even the name! ... |
| Great Britain maidens can tell which direction her lover will arrive from if she cups a ladybug (spotted wings) in her hand then watch where it flies off to when released ... | On February 2nd, folks in the United States watch the news to hear if the groundhog saw his shadow or not as an indicator of how many weeks of winter weather remains ... |
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Posted January 1998
© Secretive aka Carol 1998
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