Divination at Dragonspace
May 29, 2017

Divination at Dragonspace

Abacomancy, geloscopy, haruspicy, cleromancy, floriography...It might all sound like a foreign language, but it’s actually just the tip of the iceberg that is the wonderful world of divination.

Cultures all over the world have practiced divination for centuries. While often considered to be ‘fortune-telling’, divination is much more multifold and complex. In essence, divination is a means of gaining subconscious insight into a present challenge or situation. This insight might then affect the way you see your future path laid out, or the actions you take, hence the connection to prophesy and fortune-telling.

 


There are almost countless kinds of divination techniques. You’re probably wondering what the opening methods mean, so we’ll happily enlighten you. Abacomancy = interpretation of patterns in dust; geloscopy = divination through laughter; haruspicy = studying omens in animal entrails; cleromancy = casting of lots (e.g. rolling dice) and floriography = the hidden language of flowers. And that’s just a few! It would take scrolls and scrolls to go through them all, so we’ll share some of the methods that we favour here at Dragonspace.


RUNE CASTING

Historically, runes were an ancient writing system, used before the adoption of the Latin alphabet. But these jagged symbols were also believed to hold magical properties. The 24 runes most commonly used in rune casting and rune magic are collectively known as the Elder Futhark, with each rune symbol having a specific meaning or association. For example, the ‘Fehu’ rune is the rune of wealth and fulfilment, while the ‘Algiz’ is the rune of protection and opportunity. We’d recommend the Rune Site for full rune meanings.

Rune casting is the act of drawing small stones etched with rune symbols from a bag and placing the ones you draw in a specific pattern on a surface. The positions/points within the pattern represent states such as the past, the future, present challenges and outcomes - much like a tarot spread. The symbolic meaning behind the rune that lands on each position helps you gain insight into challenges or important decisions you might be facing in your life, and possible paths of action. Like all divination, the key to casting runes is in your intention and personal connection to the practice. Choose runes that feel right for you - be it the colour, size or texture - and work on forging a familiarity between the stones and your hands.

Browse our rune sets here.

PENDULUM MAGIC

Helping customers choose a pendulum is one of our favourite tasks here at Dragonspace. These gemstone beauties are gorgeous, so people often flock to one because they love that particular crystal, or an elegant shape caught their eye. However, just like buying a car, it's a good idea to test a pendulum to see if it’s truly the right fit for you...though intuition can also work!

Pendulums can be used in a few ways, but we recommend customers hold the pendulum by the tip of its chain over the centre of your open palm and wait for it to start moving. It will - trust us! Strong movements indicate a strong connection, whereas a pendulum that weakly wobbles probably isn’t the right fit - though might be for a different customer.

Pendulums work by ‘programming’ the tool to move in one direction to indicate a positive response, and another to indicate a negative response. Once the pendulum is programmed, you can then use the tool to help you answer questions, from personal ones (‘do I want to change my job?’) to more specific ones (some people believe that holding a pendulum over a map can help you find lost things).

Browse our pendulum collection here - (even if you can't test them, one might jump out at you from the screen).

INCENSE READING

The heady aroma of our incense collection is a big part of the sensory experience of Dragonspace - you can smell it as soon as you walk in the door! Jasmine, patchouli, green tea, cedar, ‘Dragon’s blood'...the scents are varied and personal. Most people buy incense for its aroma, but patterns in incense smoke can also be used for divinatory purpose.

Called ‘libranomacy’ or ‘libanomancy’, divining through incense smoke is most effective when using loose incense or resin cast on burning coals. This allows you to interpret the ‘pops’ and ‘crackles’ the incense makes whilst burning. But the direction of the smoke from a burning stick or cone of incense can also be interpreted. For example, if the smoke moves away from you, it suggests a negative outcome; if it moves towards you, it suggests a positive one; if the smoke clusters, it suggests profit and triumph; if it’s fragmented, it suggests loss or defeat. In Ancient Babylonian times, incense divination was used during times of war or conflict to determine fates of enemies and battle. These days, it can be used in much the same way as rune casting, pendulum magic or tarot and oracle readings - to help you figure out personal matters and conundrums.

Browse our incense and incense holder collection here.

And of course, there are the ever-popular tarot and oracle cards, which we wrote about previously in a post here.

 

While divination might not lead you on a crystal-clear path towards wealth and happiness, it’s a means of making sense of this beautiful messy world we live in. We’re glad that our customers can find fragments of peace and clarity through a swinging pendulum or handful of runes, and we’re always happy to talk more about divination and getting the most out of your tools.
Please leave your comments or questions below!
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