Bone Divination

As a child I used to practice bone divination. I never knew what it was, I just "did" it when I wanted to know something.

I remember burying my collection of tools in a backyard to find that the 1998 flood in our area had carried it elsewhere by the time I came back.

Since then I've dutifully forgotten how to read it all and even how to set it out and what means what.

So, now I feel that it's time to pick up the bones again and re-learn.

I'm going to be documenting my progress through diagrams and writings.

This will all be self taught, since I'm sure learning someone elses methods and symbols would not benefit me because it would not be something I can directly connect to and understand and read naturally.

Feel free to follow along and comment...etc.

Thanks

Define BONE divination please. As in where did you get bones or are the metaphoric for sticks etc?
do you use actual bones...or dice or sticks or all mixed together?

From what I remember there is a woven mat, which is like a map of the future, its markings can signify days or months or years or decades or centuries.....etc.

And bones are literal bones, but other objects are used for different purposes, feathers, leaves, sticks, rocks, crystals, shells....etc and they are thrown onto the mat to be read.

The Bones and other items have symbols inscribed into them to connect them to a certain element or type of event or emotion or thought or spirit or animal or person...etc.

Every item has different meanings and meanings inside those meanings and so on and so forth. It all depends on where the peices fall.

What else do I remember...

Oh, and it also involves reading the surface energy of the peices after casting, any piece that doesn't "ring true" gets removed from the map/mat.

It can be used to prophesies, answer questions, communicate with spirits or receive visions....etc. Very versatile.

I only remember the vague details though, which is why I need to relearn.

I'm not so sure where I got the original peices from, I was only 3 or 5 at the time. I can vaguely remember a "string" of energy, like a spider web, pulling me to places where I'd find peices for the Divination set, and only collecting certain things in certain kinds of weather conditions or cycles of the moon...etc.

Ok, so I've meditated for as long as I felt I needed to and sought answers both through my own memory and generally through the universe and its ways. (I can't be any more specific than that, my reference or source it's just too "big" to put into much detail.)

This is still essentially a work in progress, but these are the things that rang true to me and stood out from the rest.

(Side note - Seeker is apparently the person who asks for a reading. And Caster is the person performs the Divination. Not sure how the names came about, but they were there in every piece of information I received....so yeh...O_o)

Here is what I found.


Any form of Bone Divination holds a basic pattern within it’s readings, some form of structure. Often times this structure is altered for the benefit of the caster or the seeker, but it always follows a set of unofficial “Laws.”

These Laws are as follows:

- The first is that the Caster must be respectful of all the forces involved in this form of divination and should show that respect both before and after any reading by any method they so choose. (Expressing respect through speech, an act, a thought, an emotion…etc) No simple show of respect outweighs an embellished one, it is all one and the same.

- The Seeker should possess honest intentions and should also be comfortable and open to receiving whatever information they seek or are offered. They must be made aware that much thought must be given to aspiring to ask the Bones for guidance and that it is certainly not open to those who seek it for entertainment purposes.

- Only one set of Bones and one person is to be read by the Caster at any time. Reading two people or two subjects at any one time shows disrespect and arrogance. Information can be easily misinterpreted as a result of such behavior.

- A subject must be chosen by the Seeker (not the Caster,) most often a question. It can include, a reading of all aspects of a persons self (soul, body and mind), a question about a situation, person or place or guidance for the future.

- Each reading must consist of a number of casts with materials that show alternate aspects of one subject until the needs of the Seeker are met. A reading must never lie unfinished, as the Bones finish each reading in succession regardless of whether a subject is altered. Finishing a previous reading in place of the beginning of another is a grave mistake and should be avoided.

- There should be no bargaining of any kind involving the Bones whether it be a bet, a promise or an exchange of anything material. Any bargain with the Bones is a bargain with the universe and that must be respected and accepted before risking the consequences of such a foolish act (if there be consequences.)

- The Caster is not to use the Bones on their own behalf for anything but spiritual Guidance. The Caster must know that finding oneself through their own Bones would be overstepping the natural process of their own journey, and would compromise their sanity. That is the sacrifice a Caster must make when they commit themselves to the Bones, and they must withhold that lest they neglect their own skills and ambitions.


Sure, these laws do not NEED to be followed, but I'm sure they are worth heeding and are there for very good reasons. I feel no need to test their validity, because I feel that they are true/real and not to be meddled with.

That’s about all for now. Comment if you want.

[norseman]

There was a divination method using the shoulder blade [ scapula ] of animals. Though I dare say in our past, human shoulder blades were also used. It involved placing the blade on a fire and noting the pattern of cracks, etc that appeared. Obviously, shamanistic.

skim over these two sites they may help you pull up your recall.

http://members.cox.net/eldrad/Bones.html

http://readersandrootworkers.org/ind...Natural_Curios

There was a divination method using the shoulder blade [ scapula ] of animals. Though I dare say in our past, human shoulder blades were also used. It involved placing the blade on a fire and noting the pattern of cracks, etc that appeared. Obviously, shamanistic

That's interesting.

Hmm. The shoulder blade could have been chosen for it's greater surface area, or perhaps it also had symbolic connotations attached to it.

I would imagine a person would need a very quick eye and a clear memory to read something like that because fire is so powerful and can break down things so easily.

I rarely work with flame myself as for some reason it tends to simply go out (candles, barbecues, open gas flames, the Bunsen burners in school, you name it and it'll die down and go out if I focus on it.) After a while I just came to the conclusion that it is not my element and that toying with it wasn't a great idea since it obviously clashes with whatever elements I have an affinity for.

And shamanistic, Hmm....I've ceased to understand the meaning of Shaman anymore. People have all sorts of versions of what they see a shaman to be, so many that I really cannot seem to get to the very root of the word or any deeper meaning beneath it.

As with everything, I suppose I'll know my own meaning for such a thing when and if I am meant to know.

[norseman]

Interesting ! I have the feeling that the shoulder blade divination was much more primitive and was maybe used further back. I seem to recall it involved the slaughter of the animal [ or human ], then the blade was used, on the fire, to invoke the spirit. The bone being essentially burnt, so it was a one-shot method. Dont know where this memory is coming from

[norseman]

p.s. I think [feel ?] that this method smacks of Hunter-Gatherer tribes and is Northern European shamanic, so probably dating back to the end of the last Ice-Age perhaps.

skim over these two sites they may help you pull up your recall.

http://members.cox.net/eldrad/Bones.html

http://readersandrootworkers.org/ind...Natural_Curios

Hmm. I've never researched this kind of divination myself as it never really occurred to me because I'm used to learning things naturally on my own behalf.

I can see many similarities to what I already know in these links. I don't know why I was surprised to see someone using a mat as I do, it was odd to see for some reason, brought up a bit of deja vu.

From what is there I can tell that my style of casting had far more differences than similarities, mainly small details. I think my learning path may be focused in different sources maybe, as in I may be focused on nature before I focus on spirits or ancestors of any kind, or perhaps it's just my individuality shining through...who knows?

As a side note, I've also played the Jimbay (an animal skin covered style drum) since I was 4 years old, picked it up like a natural apparently. I find it really odd that I harmonize so strongly with seemingly old African traditions when I'm a true blue Australian with only french and English heritage.

It unnerves me a little actually, but if that is as it is, then I won't seek to change those aspects of myself. It is who I am, bout time I accepted it.

But I will certainly try to keep myself more grounded in the near future. I will be learning a lot and I want to gain knowledge before I research too heavily so that I can stay true to myself.