This site is a member of WebRing.
To browse visit Here. | |
The Meaning of Divination
by Robert Place
Most people today associate the tarot with divination. In the Renaissance, however, when tarot was first created its primary use was for playing a game of cards. Still, there is evidence that is was used for divination from its beginning.
Often the word "divination" is equated with fortunetelling, which means to predict what Fortuna has in store for us. When someone goes to a fortuneteller thwy are hoping that they will receieve good new about their future - so they can sit back and wait for it to happen. To relinquich the responsibility for ones future in this way is fatalistic, and the downside of leaving things to fate is that if the future is bad there is nothing that can be done but wait and dread the event.
However, the word "divination" literally means "to get in touch with the divine." It is derived from the Latin divinus, which derived for the word for "god". Its primary concern is not prediciton, but conversation with the divine.
Divination was an integral part of classical religion. In the ancient world, it was generally believed that the gods desired to speak with people, and divination was how that communication happened. Techniques for divination included dream interpretation, interpretation of bird flight and other omens, the examination of animal entrails, the declarations of oracles, astrology, and throwing dice or lots. All of the most important decisions involved divination.
The most famous oracle was the one dedicated to Apollo at Delphi, but there were many others - Herodotus writes of six. At the oracle dedicated to Asclepius, the god of health, the most common question asked was: "How can I cure this illness?" Often the querent was asked to sleep in the temple of the god in the hope that an answer would be delivered in a dream. At the oracle of Zeus in Dodona, archeologists have uncovered lead tables on which the querents inscribed their questions for the god. The questions are predictable: "Will my wife concieve?" "Is my child legitimate?" "How can I win divine favor?" As you can see, most of these questions do not ask for prediction of the future, they ask for help of the god in making decisions.
In populare history, the Greeks are often characterized as fatalistic because of their reliance on the oracles. But the Greeks did not sit back and accept fate, they interacted with the gods in a creative was to change fate. This can be seen in the following famous example.
In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes amassed a huge army and invaded Greece. Xerxes's father, Darius, had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Athenians a few years before. Xerxes wanted to avenge his father's defeat by destroying Athens, and as Xerxes' army was the largest the Greeks had ever seen the Athenians were concerned for their fate. So they sent a messenger to consult the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle sent back this answer: "Why sit, you doomed one? Fly to the ends of the earth. All is ruin for fire and headlong the god of war shall bring you low."
Such a prediction of doom would send a fatalistic person into despair, but the Athenians held a council to decide what to do. The general Themistocles was sure that there was a way to defeat the Persians, and convinced the Athenians to send a second messenger to Delphi. This time the question was specific: "What can we do to defeat the Persians?" The Oracle's answer was: "Though all else shall be taken, Zeus, the all seeing, grants that the wooden wall shall not fail." Themistocles, even though Persia's navy was larger, interpreted the "wooden wall" as his fleet of ships. Themistocles knew that his smaller, faster triremes were superior in capabilty. The general convinced the population of Athens to abandon the city to Xerxes' army, and he tricked the Persians into attacking the Athenian fleet in the narrow Strait of Salamis, where the Greek triremes were able to outmaneuver the larger Persian ships, ram them, and sink them. The result was one of the most famous victories in all of History, and the beginnig of the Athens' dominant role in the Greek history.
From classical times to the Renaissance, dice were the most popular tool for both gambling and divination. In the Renaissance, dice began to be repalced with cards, and gambling and divination techniques that were developed for dice became the models for gambling and divination with cards. There is a direct connection between the structure of the tarot deck and the numerical possibilities that emerge from the throws of dice. In games that use three dice, there are fifty-six possible combinations that can be thrown - this is the number of cards in the four minor suits of the tarot. Also in the tarot, the trumps bear numbers from on to twenty-one (the Fool is not a trump but an unnumbered wild card). When we throw two dice, there are Twenty-one possible combinations, the same number as the trumps.
Evidence that cards were used for divination in the Renaissance can be found in the Mainz fortunetelling book published in 1487, and in Marcolino's Le Sorti. In Fanti's system, after the querent picks a question he or she is directed to a series of wheels, each with twenty-one divisions. One has the choice of using the hour in which the question was asked, or the throw of two dice, to find the correct answer on the appropriate wheel. The allegorical illustration on the title-page of Fanti's book is with the taro trumps. Here, we see a large figure of Atlas supporting a globe on his back. Around the globe is a vertical band with the signs of the zodiac on it, and at the central point of the circle formed by this there is an axle that pierces the globe and extends out to the left and right. On our left, there is an angel representing good fortune, and on our right, there is a devil representing bad fortune. This is one of numerous Renaissance illustraions that demonstrate that Fortuna's wheel was considered to be the wheel of the cosmos and time.
On either side of the wheel in Fanti's illustration sits one of two women, with their names written above their heads. On our left is Virtue and on our right, the same side as the devil, sits Sensuality. In the foreground there is an athletic male nude - possibly Hermes, who was a god of divination - holding a die, and an astrologer, holding calipers and an astronomical devise. In the landscape that dominates the lower portion of the scene there is a river with smaller figures rowing their boats on a journey that leads through an arched gate, past a large tower, and into a celestial city.
This is a similar allegory to the one presented in the tarot's fifth suit. The small figures in the boats are like the Fool in the tarot. They are the ones taking the Fool's journey through the trumps. This journey leads through the Tower card and to the final reward of the celestial city, which is illustrated on the earliest World cards. The first person that the Fool encounters on this journey is a man much like the Magician with his dice on his table. he also meet the astologer who measures time and fate with the help of the Start, the Moon, and the Sun cards.
The success of this journey involves personal choice. The Fool has to deal with the central problem presented by the Wheel of Fortune. As a rold model he can look to the Pope card, which is the highest of the four temporal rulers. The Pope is presented with this choice on the Lovers card. Will he choose the easy path of sensuality and fall to the Devil or choose the three virtues, Justice, Strength, and Temperance, and be able to proceed to the celestial city? His fate is in his hands and for help with his choice he can use divination.
This article is from the Llewellyn's 2004 Magical Almanac.
For more information:
graphics unkown
page by Seph
