Man-made or "voluntary" phenomena is defined as being deliberately produced for the sole purpose of soothsaying and includes such acts as necromancy, pouring oil into a basin of water to observe the formation of bubbles and rings in the receptacle, shooting arrows, casting lots, and numerous other acts.
The ancient Romans favored augury and haruspicy. The Egyptians, Druids, and Hebrews relied on scrying. The Druids also read death throes and entrails of sacrificed animals.
The Greeks had their oracle which spoke for the gods. In the Middle Ages grain, sand or peas were tossed onto a field in order to read the patterns after the substances fell. As far back as 1000 BC. the Chinese had "I CHING," an oracle which involved the tossing and reading of long short yarrow sticks. Another ancient Chinese divinatory practice which is still used is "feng-shui," or geomancy, which involves the erecting of buildings, tombs, and other physical structures by determining the currents of invisible energy coursing through the earth. Presently people also are using this principle for the arrangement of furniture in their homes.
Many divinatory methods are still used today, especially in paganism, witchcraft, voodoo and Santeria. Most Christians would probably disagree but prayer might also be considered a divinatory act. Many practitioners today do not feel signs of divination are absolute or fixed, but believe they still have free choices in their future. They believe divination helps them in making better choices.
vination
Divination is the practice of ascertaining information by supernatural means. If a distinction is to be made with fortune-telling, divination has a formal or ritual and often social character, usually in a religious context; while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Divination is often dismissed by skeptics as being mere superstition. However, advocates say there is plenty of anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of divination. Divination is a universal cultural phenomenon which anthropologists have observed as being present in virtually all religions and cultures in all ages up to the present day.
The subconscious mind (or whatever it is) seems to be very literal in its interpretation of your questions and apparently makes no assumptions. For example if you ask: "Does my car need gas?' The answer is YES (your car uses air which is a gas) You assumed it knows you were talking about the amount of gasoline in the gas tank, but that was not what your asked. I suspect that many apparent wrong answers really were correct to the literal interpretation of the question. Make the question a definite request for information existing somewhere, and not for an opinion of the past, present or future. If you do to be compared to an agreed upon reference. (As compared to ... ) An example of an incomplete question: "Do you have enough money?" The answer will be random cause I did not specify what it is for or when. If instead I asked: "Do you have enough money, in your pocket right now, for a $1 ice cream cone?" You could then give a very definite and accurate answer. Carefully plan your questions.
Rule #I: You need to be very specific about what you want to know. This includes what, where, when and sometimes instructional information relating to the question.
Rule #2: Use only words, phrases and conditions that you and the Dowsing System both agree upon their meaning, and for which there is an agreed-on method of dowsing response.
Rule #3: Make the question a definite request for information that exists somewhere. Normally, don't ask for an opinion. If your question does involve an opinion of the past, present or the future, it must be compared to an agreed-upon reference or conditions.
Let me give you an example. I'll ask you a question: Are you strong? Your answer would be based on what you think I meant by the word "strong", strong physically, mentally, emotionally, perfume, etc. Now let's apply rules 1, 2, and 3 (what, when and a reference to something). Are you strong enough, right now, to pick up this one-gallon carton of milk? Now, could you give me a correct answer to that question? One more example and then I'll give you some reassuring comments and some helpful ideas. If I ask, "How many feet from point (A) to point (B) on the floor by the front row of the audience?" The answer might be twelve because there are six persons sitting in that space, each with two feet.
Developing a Question
At this point, you might say, how can I know if I have a good question? Please let me share some ideas for you to consider.
Formulating the Question: (Q.) When you wish to explore a new area where you have not successfully established questions, try the following. Ask several different Q's looking for agreement or conflicting answers. Conflicts clue you that undiscovered information is influencing your answer. Examples of some misleading Q's: (Look at their literal meaning) Q. Is there water in the [designate the area]? The answer is YES. (There is water every where, in the designated area etc.) Q. Is there a water source, less than 300 feet deep, that could supply 5 GPM (gallons-per-minute)? The answer is Yes. (especially in ahard rain storm). The next Q. may give you a clue that something is wrong. Q. Could this water source, allow a well to supply 5 GPM of potable water to the surface, year around? If the answer is NO, you then know something was wrong with the first Q's. By asking multiple Q's, you can often find problems, and learn what you will need to develop good comprehensive Q's.
Pre-programing: With your programing you have covered a great many of the possible misunderstandings that may occur between you and your dowsing system. This is one of the important reasons you established programs or agreements with your Dowsing System. A good example is in the program, on the bottom of paue 5, which defines the meaning of the "May 1, Can 1, Should I."
Very Important Questions: Another way that seems to work well, is when you have a very important question get together with another experienced dowser. If you each ask the question in your own way and have the same answer, this is reassuring. But if you get different answers you should both examine your questions, and then proceed from there. Most experienced dowsers agree that the question is a key factor in accurate dowsing.
Protect Yourself. To avoid absorbing undesirable energies, simply program or direct your mind to have a detached sensing attitude. When seeking dowsing information, talk to your pendulum as if it were a person. This will direct the energies to the pendulum and not to you. This keeps your mind on the action of the pendulum and not on the energies.
Unusual Encounters. Some day your divination may indicate the presence of an undesirable negative influences, by entities or other forces, that we may or may not understand. These conditions may be local or from a distance. May be interfering or trying to take control. (The word "entity " or forces" has a very broad meaning)
The methodology for practicing the divinatory skills seems to divide into two categories: the first is the observation and interpretation on natural phenomena, and the second is the observation and interpretation of man-made "voluntary" phenomena. Natural phenomena includes two major subcategories of activity: astrology, and hepatoscopy. To a lesser degree the observation of the following occurrences also can be listed under natural phenomena: unexpected storms, particular cloud formations, birth monstrosities in both man and animal, howling or unnatural actions in dogs, and night-marish dreams.
Scientific research and methods have made it possible to predict future events with some success, e.g., eclipses, weather forecasts and volcanic eruptions. However, this is not divination. Strictly speaking, divination assumes the influence of some supernatural force or fate, whereas scientific predictions are made from an essentially mechanical, impersonal world-view and rely on empirical laws of nature. So, as an operational definition, divination would be all methods of prognostication that have not been shown to be effective using scientific research.
Julian Jaynes categorized divination according to the following types:
Omens and omen texts.
“The most primitive, clumsy, but enduring method...is the simple recording of sequences of unusual or important events." (1976:236) Chinese history offers scrupulously documented occurrences of strange births, the tracking of natural phenomena, and other data. Chinese governmental planning relied on this method of forecasting for long-range strategy. It is not unreasonable to assume that modern scientific inquiry began with this kind of divination; Joseph Needham's work considered this very idea.
·Sortilege. This consists of the casting of lots whether with sticks, stones, bones, beans, or some other item. Modern playing cards and board games developed from this type of divination.
Augury
Divination that ranks a set of given possibilities. It can be qualitative (such as shapes, proximities, etc.) Dowsing (a form of rhabdomancy) developed from this type of divination. The Romans in classical times used Etruscan methods of augury such as hepatoscopy (actually a form of extispicy). Haruspices examined the livers of sacrificed animals.
Spontaneous.
An unconstrained form of divination, free from any particular medium, and actually a generalization of all types of divination. The answer comes from whatever object the diviner happens to see or hear. Some Christians and members of other religions use a form of bibliomancy: they ask a question, rifle the pages of their holy book, and take as their answer the first passage their eyes light upon. Other forms of spontaneous divination include reading auras and New Age methods of Feng Shui such as "intuitive" and Fuzion
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