Cleromancy
From Free net encyclopedia
Cleromancy, sortilege, casting lots or casting bones is a form of divination in which an outcome is determined by random means, such as the rolling of a die.
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In Western culture
Casting of lots occurs frequently in the Bible. One notable example of casting lots is represented by the soldiers who cast lots for Jesus' clothes -John 19:24- as he was dying on the cross. In this case, the casting of lots was implicitly looked down upon by the biblical authors, however, elsewhere in the Bible it was invoked as a legitimate means of determining God's wishes. For example, it was through the casting of lots that it was determined by Jonah's crew that he was, in fact, the source of the storm they were enduring. He was subsequently cast overboard, causing the storm to dissipate.
Another more prominent example today, is 8-balls which can answer "yes" or "no" to questions.
In Eastern culture
In Chinese Taoism, various means of divination through random means are employed, such as use of the I Ching. In Japan, omikuji is one form of drawing lots.
Yes-no pens
Pens which can answer "yes-no" questions are widely used in divination and fortune telling, especially by New Age adherents. Their use is similar to the usage of pendulums for the same purpose (with the difference that a pendulum can also be used for spiritism). Another classical "yes-no" fortune telling method is the use of coins. There exist some websites which utilise software to simulate these "yes-no" pens to produce similar results on the computer screen.
See also
External link
- Halliday, Greek Divination (1913), full online edition. Chapter 10 is on Kleromancy.