Some questions are hard to answer and always have been. Does my beloved love me back? Should my country go to war? Who stole my goats?
Questions like these have been asked of diviners around the world throughout history – and still are today. From astrology and tarot to reading entrails, divination comes in a wide variety of forms.
Yet they all address the same human needs. They promise to tame uncertainty, help us make decisions or simply satisfy our desire to understand.
Anthropologists and historians like us study divination because it sheds light on the fears and anxieties of particular cultures, many of which are universal. Our new exhibition at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Oracles, Omens & Answers, explores these issues by showcasing divination techniques from around the world.
Here are five examples of divination techniques different cultures have developed to cope with life’s uncertainties.
In Cameroon, Mambila spider divination (ŋgam dù) addresses difficult questions to spiders or land crabs that live in holes in the ground.
Asking the spiders a question involves covering their hole with a broken pot and placing a stick, a stone and cards made from leaves around it. The diviner then asks a question in a yes or no format while tapping the enclosure to encourage the spider or crab to emerge. The stick and stone represent yes or no, while the leaf cards, which are specially incised with certain meanings, offer further clarification.
The movements of the spider or crab rearrange these objects, so that if a leaf card is moved to the stone or the stick, the answer emerges.
The answer is not always clear, however. If neither the stick nor the stone are selected (or both are chosen), interpretive work is required. The diviner and client must resolve the ambiguity, or decide that in this case the spider wasn’t saying anything at all.
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Reading people’s palms (palmistry) is well known as a fairground amusement, but serious forms of this divination technique exist in many cultures. The practice of reading the hands to gather insights into a person’s character and future was used in many ancient cultures across Asia and Europe.
In some traditions, the shape and depth of the lines on the palm are richest in meaning. In others, the size of the hands and fingers are also considered. In some Indian traditions, special marks and symbols appearing on the palm also provide insights.
Palmistry experienced a huge resurgence in 19th-century England and America, just as the science of fingerprints was being developed. If you could identify someone from their fingerprints, it seemed plausible to read their personality from their hands.
One person who had their palm read at this time was Oscar Wilde. His reader, Edward Heron-Allen, published a sketch of Wilde’s hands, explaining that his palms indicated “extraordinary brain power” and a “great power of expression”.
If you want a quick answer to a difficult question, you could try bibliomancy. Historically, this DIY divining technique was performed with whatever important books were on hand.
Throughout Europe, the works of Homer or Virgil were used. In Iran, it was often the Divan of Hafiz, a collection of Persian poetry. In Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions, holy texts have often been used, though not without controversy.
There are a few ways to do it. In south-east Asia, you might push a sharp object through the pages of the book to see where its tip reaches.
Alternatively, you could open a page at random and see where your gaze falls. Although it might need some careful interpretation, the passage is thought to hold an answer to your dilemma.
Astrology exists in almost every culture around the world. As far back as ancient Babylon, astrologers have interpreted the heavens to discover hidden truths and predict the future.
To cast horoscopes – essentially maps of the planets and stars as seen from a particular place and time on earth – astrologers need access to accurate astronomical observations. For this reason, pre-modern astrology was closely connected to astronomy.
Astrologers might cast horoscopes for a person’s birth, for the moment at which a client asks a query, or even a date in the future to determine whether it was good timing for a particular event.
The planets and zodiac signs each carry meanings, which are augmented by their relations to each other on a horoscope. Astrologers’ readings of these charts have long helped people seeking guidance, providing answers to pressing questions and aiding decision making.
In many historical cultures, astrologers also held prominent positions in royal courts and governments, making forecasts about the health and prosperity of their realm and the likelihood of impending disasters.
Calendars have long been used to divine the future and establish the best times to perform certain activities. In many countries, almanacs still advise auspicious and inauspicious days for tasks ranging from getting a haircut to starting a new business deal.
In Indonesia, Hindu almanacs called pawukon explain how different weeks are ruled by different local deities. The characteristics of the deities mean that some weeks are better than others for activities like marriage ceremonies.
In pre-conquest Mesoamerica (which roughly covered modern day central Mexico south to the north-western border of Costa Rica) your nature, fate and even your name were determined by the day on which you were born. Calendar priests in Mexico could forecast the success of a marriage by using a sacred, 260-day divination calendar. Interpreting the signs, the priest could tell whether a partnership would be happy, challenging or doomed – as well as how many children would result.
Oracles, Omens & Answers is at Oxford’s Bodleian Library at Oxford until April 27 2025.
Michelle Pfeffer receives funding from the Calleva Research Centre for Evolution and Human Sciences.
David Zeitlyn receives funding from AHRC and ESRC. He is the author of the book Mambila divination: Framing Questions Constructing-Answers https://www.routledge.com/Mambila-Divination-Framing-Questions-Constructing-Answers/Zeitlyn/p/book/9781032174082) and the coeditor of a book related to the exhibition: Divination Oracles Omens https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/divination-oracles-omens published by the Bodleian Library Press.
