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Author Topic: Modern kyvomantia/astragalomancy (divination by dice): thoughts?  (Read 1764 times)

Eastling

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Since I noticed that Tarot cards weren't working for me as well as they once did, I've been searching for another form of divination to use in the practice I've been building, which is a blend of semi-recon Hellenismos focused on Dionysos and Ariadne, modern religious witchcraft and pop culture, and a little bit of Judaism.

Some thinking and research led me to the use of dice--which was apparently called kyvomantia once, although it was more commonly practiced with an ancient precursor to dice called knucklebones, which were associated with Aphrodite. In that case, it was called astragalomancy.

I have latched onto the idea of assigning each face of a modern die a divinatory meaning and then rolling two or three at once, perhaps across a design laid flat on the table. But I'm struggling to figure out how to decide what the divinatory meanings are.

I have a few ideas, but it's hardly complete. I'd love to see people's suggestions, as well as any ideas for resources on this form of divination and its history in general.
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Henzelli

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Re: Modern kyvomantia/astragalomancy (divination by dice): thoughts?
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2017, 09:32:39 pm »

I have latched onto the idea of assigning each face of a modern die a divinatory meaning and then rolling two or three at once, perhaps across a design laid flat on the table. But I'm struggling to figure out how to decide what the divinatory meanings are.

I have a few ideas, but it's hardly complete. I'd love to see people's suggestions, as well as any ideas for resources on this form of divination and its history in general.

I don't have any real resources to point you to, but have you thought about the numerological associations? Especially if you're throwing two or three dice at a time, it might make sense to add them up and assign meaning to the totals (or reduced totals) that you get.

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Re: Modern kyvomantia/astragalomancy (divination by dice): thoughts?
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2017, 07:00:48 am »
I have a few ideas, but it's hardly complete. I'd love to see people's suggestions, as well as any ideas for resources on this form of divination and its history in general.

LOng ago (say, early 1970s?) I had a book that covered lots of methods of divination. It had a entire chapter on divination by dice with meanings for the various dice and, as I recall,  combinations. I want to say the book was titled something like "The Complete Illustrated Book of the Psychic Sciences. I believe was written by Walter Gibson.  I had another similar book published back then who title and author I forget, however, so some of the info I'm remembering may have been in it.
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Re: Modern kyvomantia/astragalomancy (divination by dice): thoughts?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2017, 02:42:35 pm »
I'd love to see people's suggestions, as well as any ideas for resources on this form of divination and its history in general.

Sadly I do not have a source for this, but one of my very early notebooks has a page on dice casting.  It must have been something I found either online or in a book, but I didn't write down where it was from.  But this is what I have in my book: 

Quote
Unauspicious days for divination:  Friday/Sunday
Cool weather is best
Tranquil atmosphere is essential
Be absolutely silent as you cast
***
Draw a circle about a foot in diameter and place it on a flat surface.  Dice should fall in it or it is unlucky.  Use three dice.   If all are outside, try again.  If this happens once more, do not try until another day.
***
Mondays, or days when the atmosphere is very heavily charged with electrical forces are bad occasions to cast.

Best in the calm of the evening about two hours after sundown.

If the same number should turn up more than once during a consultation, it signifies the advent of importent news.

If one dice lands on top of the other, it is a warning omen for women (foretelling deceit of an admirer) for men it also presages a need for great caution.
***
Dice Casting Totals
Three-  Unexpected good news, a gift, beginning of a lucky time.
Four-  Discontentment, unpleasantness, bad luck; exercise some caution.
Five-  Wish fulfilled, stranger bringing happiness, new and lasting friend.
Six-  Financial loss, dishonest friends/loved ones.
Seven-  Setbacks, unhappiness, scandal; guard your secrets.
Eight-  Strong outside forces;  blame, fair/unfair headed your way or gossip.
Nine-  luck in love/marriage, reconciliation; wedding or festivity.
Ten-  birth, domestic happiness;  business promotion.
Eleven-  parting, possible illness, unhappiness for you/someone else.
Twelve-  good news, maybe a letter/telephone call, but get advice before responding.
Thirteen-  grief/sorrow, depression and worry.
Fourteen-  help from a new friend, new friend/admirer
Fifteen-  caution, guard against temptation towards dishonesty, avoid arguments/gossip.
Sixteen-  travel, a good journey.
Seventeen-  change caused by someone from afar, a move, cheerful industriousness.
Eighteen-  luckiest number, boding success, wealth, advancement and happiness.
***
For more specific results, divide a circle into 12 sections, and label each:
Next year, Finances, Travel, Domestic Affairs, Present, Health, Love/Marriage, Legal Matters, Current Emotional State, Career, Friends, Enemies.

Read each die pertaining to the section it lands on:
One-  favorable aspects, relateable to the reading as a whole.
Two- success depends on your friends
Three- signs excellent for success
Four-  Disappointment/Difficulty
Five-  Auspicious indications
Six-  uncertainty

 

I actually have a bunch of dice for divination purposes (I'm sort of obsessed with dice to begin with, from playing tabletop RPG's).  I have a set of tarot dice, astrology dice, and a set of spooky story dice (which has interesting dice like:  location, tools, hero, monster).  And I have some rune dice a friend made me as well.  Oh and a set of fantasy rpg dice that just have colored symbols on them (it's a made up system, but it came with instructions on how to use it for making names or divining in a game system)

What I love about some of the more unique dice is that you can find really interesting symbols to interpret.  That's one thing that drew me to the story dice (and I really want to get more of these...)  Having dice specifically that relate to different types of people is really fun.  I also find that dice divination takes up less room than some tarot spreads and is easily portable (don't have to worry as much about a clean, flat, unwindy spot)
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