Why do we divine? To know our fate? To possibly alter it? Given so many philosophical models of destiny and determinism, divination can operate within many cosmovisions, often the diviner and the querent do not discuss or even need to agree upon the modes of personal belief. In instances where divination is representative of a specific cultural praxis or spiritual tradition, perhaps some of these ways of thinking are more agreed upon, or are meant to be exemplified through the divination process. When does the divination begin? What does it predict? Who is speaking? Is this mere ‘fortune-telling’ or is it something more comprehensive? Is there room for traditional models of diagnostic divination in the modern atheistic materialist paradigm?

Peering into the void is never without hope- and many traditional methods of divination include a way to secure the desired outcomes foreseen and to ameliorate the undesired, through proscription and prescription of action or diet, through ritual remediation and placation through offering or donation.…