Divination is a way of foretelling the future by interpretation of omens. Divination can be attempted by using paranormal or supernatural powers, too. Divination has been a phenomenon that has existed in many religions and cultures from ancient times, up to the present. It is often dismissed by the scientific community and disbelievers as mere superstition, and the advocates of divination believe there is plenty of evidence for its efficacy.

There are many types of divination – more than seventy-five in fact - depending on what media is used to foretell the future. To give just a few examples:

• Austromancy is divination by the winds.
• Bletonism is divination by currents of water.
• Crystallomancy is divination by a crystal.
• Halomancy is divination by salt.
• Ichthyomancy is divination by fish.
• Palmistry is divination by reading the lines and aspects of the hand.

Divination appears magical and mystical, as the information that is so apparent to its practitioners is not so obvious to others.

Different religions and cultures have different divination systems of their own. Runes and I Ching are respectively of Nordic and Chinese origin, and involve rocks or bones engraved in a certain way, which are interpreted after they have been thrown. Good divination systems have been created in the ancient times with good intentions to provide positive information. Many systems have survived the ages because they have been based on truthful ideas.

What Does Divination Do?

It does not matter which system of divination you choose, as they all work, depending on the expertise of the person ‘reading’ the omens. It helps you to follow the path in life; once you understand the situations and decide the way you want to go.

Divination is thought of as fortune telling, and most people approach for a reading when faced with a crisis, and are at their most vulnerable. Remember, divination deals with trends, as do other systems of fortune telling, and there are no absolutes. They can guide you on the path, and it is for you to decide and choose the future.

You should be strong enough to be able to cope with a negative prediction. Just because a negative trend has been indicated for the next few years, it does not mean that you should give up trying to buck the trend. After all, what you decide to do is in your hands, and try not to stagnate just because a negative trend has been predicted.

Popular Methods Of Divination

Out of the more than seventy-five different methods of divination, there are three methods that are most popular, and have survived through the ages into the modern times. These three methods are:

• Astrology - divination by the positioning of the stars. One of the oldest sciences known to mankind, the study of the stars traces its origins back to the times older than the ancient Sumer civilization. This science of examining the action of the stars upon all living beings was well known to the Egyptians, Hindus, Chinese, and the Persians.
• Cartomancy - divination by using the tarot or playing cards.
• Numerology - divination through numbers hidden in the letters of a name and the date of birth. The method assigns numbers to a personal name - one each for the vowels, the consonants, and the combination of both. The date of birth is also condensed to a single digit number. These four resultant numbers are then interpreted.

Of the three, numerology seems to be the easiest of the divination methods to learn and master. In the olden days, it was known as Arithmologia – a combination of arithmo (number) and logia (word).