Discuss your view of the purpose of divination. (minimum 100 words)

The easy way to describe divination is as "predicting the future." I don't believe this is the case. My view of divination is that it is a way to contact the divine through a set of symbols and a set method (usually ritualized) to obtain special knowledge. I note "special" knowledge because the kind of knowledge you obtain should be something that cannot be found through "normal" channels. Divination cannot and should not be used to discover the answer to an addition problem or to find a parked car (though if the car has been towed, divination would be useful to discover that).

Isaac Bonewits wrote in Real Magic that all divination could be described as concerning the past. Since reading that statement, I've thought much about it, and feel compelled to disagree. . . to a point. Divination is concerned with things in the past which are set, and any interpretations of the future are based on those assumptions of the past. In the ancient world, there was even a feeling that the future could not be predicted, and that divination could, at best, deal with what was going on now.

 

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