manifestations of my familiar or happy second day of spring imaginary constructs

would anyone be interested in divinatory readings from me? i do tarot, runes, dice, and ogham, and would love to practice some more. shoot me an ask if you want a reading - free, of course.

meant to post this on the 10th but forgot so here we are today with the 1/3 post of my 💖Hermes and Aphrodite April devotional challenge💖, which will consist of me mashing up a bunch of challenges i have saved and just talking about them. doing Hermes here and then rbing with my Aphrodite sideblog

for the first part, the prompts are:

🌷Favorite titles and epithets🌷 Kharidôtês (Giver of Joy), Kharmophrôn (Glad-Hearted, Heart-Delighting), messenger, interpreter of everything, luck-bringer, loud-shouting, joyful one, gracious one, bringer of sleep and dreams, friend / lover of mankind. Honey-sweet, laughter-bubbling, of vibrant stims, and of fresh breeze have a special place in my heart. also have seen people use (and i love them) king of memes, Giver of blessings, patron of cheesy jokes, of the roadside rest stop, of shenanigans, lord of crossroads...

🍎Favorite associated symbols (historical or not)🍎 uh. phallic imagery lol also the caduceus, dice, cows/sheep/goats, the number 4, and the winged boots

🍯Preferred offerings/devotional acts🍯 I like giving him dice, strawberries or strawberry-themed stuff, getting bread with honey (either to give, share or just devote the act of making and eating it), doing divination (especially trying out different methods, outside of tarot, and coming up with my own divinatory systems), doing research

<3

A HISTORY OF PLAYING CARDS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The history of playing cards is not only the record of the persistence of a fifteenth-century craft, practically unchanged in its essential aspects, but the story of the universal trait of human nature, the allure of chance,- which is as characteristic of the Far East as it is of our own country, and was as alive thousands of years ago as it is to-day. And for its gratification throughout the centuries it has employed the artists and craftsmen of all lands and times — painters, and makers of missals and beautifully illumi- nated manuscript, workers in wood block and engravers of metal and stone and finally the printer and his press; so that its story embodies the romance of all of these, and makes them intimate and understandable things which bring the old past very, very near. Just how far back into the past the history of playing cards goes, no one can say with certainty. But we are indebted to Mr. Stewart Culin, Direc- tor of the Brooklyn Museum, for the most interesting researches on this subject. He believes that both chess and cards are derived from the divina- : tory use of the arrow, and that they represent the two principal methods of arrow divination. The basis of the divinatory systems from which games have arisen is the classification of all things according to the Four Direc- tions. This method is universal among all primitive peoples in Asia and America. In order to classify objects and events which did not in them- selves reveal their proper assignment, resort was had to magic. Our present games are the survivals of these magical processes. The identity of the games of Asia and America may be explained because of their common object and the identity of the mythic concepts underlying them which appear to be universal. As an example, we may take the national game of Korea, called Nyout, which is played by moving objects used as men, around a circle, according to throws made with sticks about eight inches long, used as dice. On the fifteenth day of the first month, this game is still used for divination. Early in this month, a small book is sold in the markets of Seoul, 'Correct Planet Rule, which carefully explains the meaning of all combinations of numbers thrown, in Chinese characters and Korean text. The names

Hargrave, C. Perry., U.S. Playing Card Co. (1930). A history of playing cards and a bibliography of cards and gaming.Boston: Houghton Mifflin company.

Kinda concerned that the kids are getting so into tarot. U ought to be doing I Ching readings while off your tits on acid, like Phillip K Dick intended.

i mean i do have a "get high off your tits on acid" card; like, the people whose acid i'd been borrowing (the couple times i tried) have both lost their acid somewhere (because they are bad at cleaning their rooms) so it's not really an option right now, but, i do have a card to that effect

part of the joke here is that i'm inventing a divinatory tradition from things that are not intended as such. i have been planning on trying to design some more systems that involve dice, so i guess i could do a "roll a d4 + d8 six times to get a hexagram" thing and then have you look at a card as a divinatory thingy, but like.

it feels contrary to the whole project to use an extant mystical tradition.

the only text on the tarot that i've read through-and-through is that one chapter in that book on procedural storytelling; if anything is really the basis of my improvisation here it's that. everything on top of that is finding things that work from the perspective of that framework but don't have the relevant mystique.

like personally i'd rather have people roll a (3+d6) and three d16s and try to divine from the corresponding unicode character in the CJK Unified Ideographs block

Divination Spells

Before you can choose a spell, sometimes you need to choose a course of action. In order to do that, sometimes you need more information than you already have---or than seems humanly available. That’s where divination comes in. Divination is the magical art of receiving information about future events right now in the present. (It is also used to achieve greater understanding of past and present happenings.) Diviners, also known as readers, use tools, rituals, spells, and systems to reveal hidden information. Diviners thus practice prophetic arts, the mantic arts, after the Greek word “mantikos,” meaning “prophet.” Words concluding with the suffix -mancy indicate some form of divination.

Once upon a time, as with shamans, every town had a respected professional diviner or two providing these prophetic services. Persecuted, driven underground, forced to practice secretly in back rooms or not at all, the loss of professional readers didn’t stop people from requiring their services. People learned to provide those services for themselves, sometimes as highly structured ritual, sometimes in the guise of party games.

The divinatory methods included here descend from those homemade arts. They do not require special texts, years of study or, in theory at least, a professional reader: in other words, complex systems like tarot, playing cards, runes, the I-Ching, and similar are not included. Some systems are obviously more suitable for some households and individuals than others, but theoretically all can be reproduced by the magical layperson.

Methods included offer the opportunity to access other realms, other beings, and other people in order to receive needed information. Some offer a source of divine inspiration; others encourage you to discover your own hidden fonts of psychic or subconscious knowledge.

Systems of divination and fortune-telling operate according to the principle of synchronicity, as do magic spells in general. Synchronicity rejects the concept of coincidence. Events occurring at exactly the same moment share something in common and may be used to reveal something about each other. The trick is learning how to recognize and understand these revelations.

As its name indicates, divination puts you in direct contact with the divine. There is a sacred, magical aspect to even the most raucous party method. Divination should be treated with the respect shown to other spells. Appropriate cleansing and protection rituals should be considered. Divination tools, even the simplest pebbles, shells, or dice, are ritual tools and should be treated with similar care and respect.

How do you choose the right system for you? In some cases, the choice is obvious: certain spells were designed for specific situations. The very question needing answers, the very information required, determines the method. In some cases, your own abilities set directions: it takes a different kind of personality to scry patiently in a pan of black ink than it does to pierce a bible passage with a needle. In other cases, let the choice choose you: the desire the spell awakens within you is its invitation to perform.

It goes without saying that every method and every incident of divination begins with a question. The most difficult part of divination may come in formulating the question. Don’t leave it vague: oracles delight in tricks, especially puns and word games. Take the time to formulate exactly what it is you wish revealed in clear, lucid, precise language. Write down the question, so that you can later compare it to the response, better interpret its nuances and implications and also eliminate arguments if performing group divination!

(from The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells by Judika Illes)

🔎 macabri omicidi su cui indagare. 👉🏻 #thediviners 1926, Manhattan. La festa dei diciotto di Clara si è arenata e lei, per smuovere la situazione, tira fuori la #tavolaouija appena presa. Lo spettro non si fa attendere, dice d chiamarsi John, il malvagio e che insegnerà a tutti loro la paura. Non chiudono il contatto e John è libero di tornare nel mondo dei vivi. Evie, diciassette anni, è tornata tardi da una festa dove ha messo nei guai un ragazzo usando i suoi poteri. Lei infatti può vedere i ricordi toccando gli oggetti. I suoi genitori decidono di allontanarla per un po’ e la mandano dallo zio a New York. Più che una punizione, a Evie sembra un premio, dato che là ci sarà anche Mabel Rose, sua amica da quando aveva nove anni. Insomma, arriva a New York e dopo dieci minuti un ragazzo la bacia e le ruba i soldi. Poco dopo giunge al Museo del brivido dello zio, ad accoglierla c’è il suo assistente: Jericho. Lo zio è appassionato di occultismo, streghe, divinatori, fantasmi, tiene delle lezioni in merito e aiuta la polizia con casi particolari, come quello della ragazza al molo. Evie non si lascia perdere quell’occasione e si intrufola nella comitiva diretta sulla scena del crimine. La vittima non ha gli occhi e nemmeno i capelli e sul petto ha un marchio, una stella a cinque punte circondata da un serpente, per quello e per il messaggio misterioso hanno chiamato lo zio. 👍🏻 Il contesto storico è reale, si parla della morte di Valentino ad esempio e di altri fatti dell’epoca. 👍🏻 Evie non è la sola ad avere poteri, li ha anche il ragazzo che l’ha baciata, lui è un ladro che riesce a non farsi vedere dalle persone. 👎🏻 Ci sono troppi personaggi, faticavo a ricordarli tutti. 👍🏻 Si parla non solo del caso della ragazza ma anche di altri, come quello del ragazzino senza mani. 👍🏻👎🏻 Di base è una storia avvincente ma dopo un po’ inizia ad annoiare, divaga molto e passa da un personaggio all’altro come in una giostra che a forza di girare ti fa venire mal di testa. La trama è tirata per le lunghe, cosa che odio. ⬇️continua⬇️ #bibliophilelegentibus #amicandito #ilclubdeilettorifelici #storiebookitissime #thebookclubpost https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp2J_SloQmw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

History of Aztec Rituals

How to Seek a Prediction

Consult a trained expert (applicable for both commoners and royalty)

Equipment

Sortilege (e.g. throwing dice), gazing deeply into reflective surfaces, and observations of nature, including the motions of stars and planets

Personnel

Trained expert

Description 

Aztec civilization, which consisted mostly of the Nahua people, believed that, in a primordial time prior to the “Fifth Age”, in which we currently live, their gods obscured humans’ ability to see the past and the future as clearly as the gods could

Old legend say the nature of this obscuration was if the gods “breathed on a mirror” that would otherwise show the true nature of the world around in the past, present, and future

Experts suggest the gods purposely clouded the mirror for fear that otherwise humans would know as much about their own future that the gods did

Divination through ritual process is an act that goes far back in time in native Mesoamerican tradition and is even described in the creation myths as something the gods did prior to their creation of the world

The Maya and the Aztecs both believed that some people within their societies had a closer relationship with the gods and supernatural domains than others, and thus had increased access to information about the future or advice from gods

These human prediction experts were: 1) ritual specialists, known as “day-keepers” or “soothsayers”; 2) astronomer-priests who observed and recorded astronomical information on the movements of celestial bodies across the sky; and 3) members of the royal family who could conjure dead ancestors or patron gods for advice or favor and were intermediaries

Day-keepers still exist today in many native Mesoamerican communities, and they interpret a 260-day ritual calendar using divinatory codices as a guide to determine the fate or auspiciousness of specific day sign-number combinations in the calendar

Day-keepers were consulted when a child was born, before its naming ceremony, since one of an Aztec person’s names was always based on their day of birth and many characteristics of their lives are predetermined by this date/name

In many Mesoamerican traditions, dreams are also considered to be a type of communication with the supernatural world

The same was true of events occurring in the natural world that Aztecs believed were omens with predictive meaning

Aztecs had certain common beliefs about the everyday predictive power of random, natural events, but some things occurred that people thought were strange enough to warrant a consultation with a ritual specialist for a higher level prognostication

I.e. the omen of the fiery comet or the bird with a mirror on its head that were observed and recorded and correlated with the arrival of Europeans

While all social classes consulted diviners and “soothsayers,” special high-ranking ritual experts from the noble classes were consulted by royalty in matters of state

In addition to the interpretation of dreams, omens, and the calendar, soothsayers also used various techniques involving external stimuli for prognostication

By creating randomized patterns with everyday materials (i.e. casting maize kernels or beans across textiles or into water), diviners interpreted patterns as portending particular future events

Interpreting randomized inputs (i.e. throwing dice) is part of a class of prediction more generally known as sortilege

They also used scrying or peering into reflective surfaces (mirrors, crystal, water), observation of the movements of animals or insects or observations of color changes in water to predict positive or negative outcomes and even to diagnose illness

Similarly to ancient Maya, Aztecs also made careful observations and records of visible astronomical events over extended periods of time that were used to predict future like-in-kind events or to back-calculate eclipses or other celestial phenomena that could then be correlated with socio-political or natural events that impacted life on the earthly plane

Palden Lhamo has orange-brown hair, with 9 peacock feathers above her head. Her exposed fangs gnaw on a human corpse, and she has an intimidating stare with three blood-shot bulging eyes. These eyes represent her ability to see into the past, present, and future.

Her dark blue colour represents her attainment of great bliss and realisation of emptiness. Her body is smeared with ashes, fat, and blood. Her entire form is surrounded by flames, representing her presence in the charnel grounds.

The skull cup of blood in her right hand symbolises the destruction of obstacles. In her left hand, she holds a sandalwood club with a vajra to watch over the oath-bound, ensuring their dedication and integrity in upholding the Dharma.

She carries a bag of diseases that she collects from those who invoke her to help cure health-related illnesses. Her other hand releases them to plague those who commit evil actions.

Her legs are in a semi-relaxed posture, and a chain connects one ankle to the other. She sits on a horse/mule whose fearful shrieks sound like thunder.

She has a sun disc at her navel and a crescent moon above her head. She wears a black scarf and flayed human skin as a shawl.

Her upper garments are made from black fabric, and her skirt is made from tiger skin, held together by a belt made of snakes. Her crown is adorned by five skulls and bone ornaments such as bracelets and ankles, and she wears a garland of freshly decapitated heads.

Her horse reins are made of poisonous snakes, wrapped around the human skin saddle. Snakes dangling from the horse hold a pouch with a pair of dice used to determine karmic fate, one black and the other white, and a ball of string of rolled up weapons. This represents her ability to grant divinatory powers using dice to those who have received her empowerment. She also carries a red tablet used to cast spells tucked into her belt.

The Man At The Crossroads. Art by Dogon Krigga, from The Antique Blacks: A Rootworker’s Tarot.

A man in all black stands at a crossroad. A cigar is in his mouth and a pair of dice are at his feet. 

Divinatory Meanings: Chance, apprehension, facing fears, luck, gambling, offering, being given direction, sacrificing for the sake of improvement, trickery, deception, opportunity for personal gain.

The Man At The Crossroads is a central figure in Hoodoo. He can open the roads to success and riches, or close one's roads, leading them only to despair. When he appears, ask yourself what you're willing to sacrifice to change your path.

Elder Futhark Runes: How to Read Runes for Divination

Some folks prefer Tarot. Some prefer Oracle. If you feel a connection to the Norse or Germanic tribes of the past, maybe it’s time you learn how to read the runes for divination purposes. Here we’ll dive into the Norse rune system: how to read runes plus the elder futhark runes meanings.

Ancient Origins of the Elder Futhark Runes

The Elder Futhark runes are an early writing system developed by the ancient Norse and Germanic tribes of Northern Europe. The Elder futhark system’s purpose was threefold: as an alphabet system, as representative of mundane issues of hearth and home, but perhaps more importantly the runes had (and have) sacred spiritual significance. There are preserved rune etchings dating to 2800 BC, Bronze Age Sweden. A few of the earliest rune markings include Ing(waz), Sowilo and Hagalaz among others not of the traditional Elder futhark. By the Medieval and Viking Age, newer rune systems were used everywhere from Norway to England by Scandinavian peoples, as well as the Anglo-Saxon.

The Elder Futhark Runes as a Divination Tool

We’ve mentioned the runes were used for various purposes, one being spiritual in significance. Spiritual leaders of a tribe, patriarchs and seers etched runes into stone and wood as a means of magically protecting, blessing, healing or cursing. Each rune held a sacred power and was therefore used as such. Volvas, or female seers, were known to cast runestones or staves onto water or earth and read the messages from the gods. It was common practice to consult the runes before battles and voyages. The practice of reading runes for divination purposes continued well into the Middle Ages, has survived despite religious and political agendas and is alive and well today. To read more about the history of the runes, click here.

Elder Futhark Runes Meanings

The Elder Futhark rune system is the “original” system, so to speak, and consists of 24 symbols total. Depending on the rune set you purchase, you may see variations in certain runic symbols. For instance, Ing may sometimes be Ingwaz and instead of being a simple diamond shape, may include “arms” reaching above and “legs” below it. Also remember, each rune has a “mundane” meaning that may also apply to its divinatory significance, but inevitably YOU determine the true message behind each. You’ll also find the longer you read the runes, the more complex they become. And the more personality they reveal to you. The wisdom of the runes is a deep, endless well.

For all intents and purposes, we provide the basic Elder futhark runes meanings here for you. Then we’ll discuss how to read runes for divination purposes below.

Fehu: Cattle, Finances, Abundance (F)

Uruz: Aurochs (Extinct Oxen), Strength, Overcoming Obstacles (U)

Thurisaz: Hammer of Thor, Thorn, Thunder God, Protection (Th)

Ansuz: Odin, Voice of God, Universal Voice (A)

Raido: Ride (Riding), Journey, Wheel of the Wagon (R)

Kenaz: Torch, Inner Fire, Creativity (K)

Gebo: Gift, Joy in Union, Marriage, Blessing (G)

Wunjo: Personal Joy, Self Fulfillment, Career Success, Tribal Banner (W)

Hagalaz: Hail or Ice Seed, Abrupt Change that Brings Transformation (H)

Naudiz: Need, Fulfilling One’s Own Needs (N)

Isa: Ice, Pause, Rest and Regeneration (I)

Jera: the Harvest, Earthly Results of Labor (J)

Eiwaz: Yew Tree (Of Life and Death), Wisdom, Pillar (E, Eh, Ey)

Perthro: Gambling Cup, “Roll of the Dice”, Luck (P)

Algiz: Elk Horn or Eel Grass, Overcoming Obstacles, Resolution (Z)

Sowilo: the Sun, Sun Wheel, Health, Vitality, Opportunity (S)

Tiwaz: Tyr, Justice, Truth (T)

Berkano: Birch Tree, Mother Goddess, Renewal, Motherhood (B)

Ehwaz: Horse, Partnership/Joint Ventures, Trust (Eh)

Mannaz: Mankind, Humanity, Awareness, Collective Conscious (M)

Laguz: Lake, Water, the Sea, Flow (L)

Ing (Ingwaz): Fertility, Fertility God, Virility, Sex Magic, Love (-Ing)

Othala: Inheritance, Home and Hearth, Stability, Ancestors (O)

Dagaz: Dawn, Day, New Opportunity (D)

If you purchase a set of runestones or staves, there will sometimes be a blank stone/stave. This is called “wyrd” and in it’s simplest explanation means “fate”. It’s up to you to interpret this blank stone or to leave it up to the gods.

How to Read Runes for Divination Purposes: How to Cast and Interpret

As you learn how to read the runes for divination purposes, you’ll develop your own style. There’s truly a limitless number of ways to cast and interpret the Elder Futhark. Traditionally one is to cast runes on a white rune cloth; however, I don’t use a rune cloth at all. Instead I cast my runes on a wooden table or directly onto the ground. It’s ultimately up to you! Some volvas and Norse seers even cast their staves on water.

Simple Rune Reading: Pick a Rune

The simplest way to draw a rune is by pulling one out of the bag and reading it. You can ask a question beforehand OR allow the runes to speak for themselves. For example, if you pull Ansuz (as shown below), you might interpret this as an encouraging message from Odin. Or maybe he’s telling you to speak up for yourself in a tough situation, etc.

The “Cast 3 Runes” Reading Method

A more traditional version of casting and reading runes would be to pull three from your bag, then cast them onto your cloth or preferred surface. Again, you may have a question in mind or simply allow the runes to speak. Sometimes they’ll all fall facing up, sometimes they’ll all fall facing down or another variation. You might interpret the runes that fall facing up as the more pressing matters and the ones face down as not so pressing. Alternatively, runes facing up are positive outcomes and runes facing down are setbacks. This takes time and practice and you may switch your preference based on the reading or question at hand.

In addition, you may wish to read the direction of the runes as significant. For example, if Berkano falls face up pointing to the North, this might be a message from the Mother Goddess to focus your attention on family matters. Isa facing east might mean to cease communication with a disgruntled employee. Othala in the North means financial stability and happiness is around the corner. You get the point.

More Complicated Rune Readings

My suggestion is to start off learning how to read the runes with one rune at a time. Then try the 3 rune casting method. Once you have a good understanding of the Elder futhark runes meanings, you can move to more complicated readings with 5, 7, or 9 runes or more.

Be Patient and Submerge Yourself in the Runes

Before I ever learned how to read the runes as divination, I submerged myself in the history and lore of the Elder futhark. Each rune seems to have its own consciousness, it’s own soul. And each rune has a sacred message for each of us that changes depending on the person and situation. We should allow the runes to speak to us before imprinting our own meanings on them. Be patient when learning the runes. Take your time and truly allow each symbol to become a part of you.

https://otherworldlyoracle.com/elder-futhark-how-to-read-runes/

History Of Games

The history of games dates back to the ancient human past.Games are an integral part of all cultures and one of the oldest forms of human social interaction. They are formalized expressions of play that allow people to go beyond immediate imagination and engage in direct physical activity. Common features of games include uncertainty of outcome, agreed-upon rules, competition, separate place and time, elements of fiction, elements of chance, prescribed goals, and personal enjoyment.

Games capture the ideas and worldviews of their cultures and pass them on to future generations. They have been important as cultural and social bonding events, teaching tools, and markers of social status. As pastimes of royalty and the elite, some games became common features of court culture and were also given as gifts. Games like Se-net and the Me so American ball game were often imbued with mythic and ritual religious significance. Games such as Gyan chauper and The Mansion of Happiness were used to teach spiritual and ethical lessons, while Shatranj and Wéiqí were seen as a way to develop strategic thinking and mental skills by the political and military elite.

In his 1938 book, Homo Ludens, Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga argued that games were a primary condition for the generation of human cultures. Huizinga saw the playing of games as something that “is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing”.Huizinga viewed games as a starting point for complex human activities such as language, law, war, philosophy, and art.

Some of the most common per-historic and ancient gaming tools were made of bone, especially from the Talus bone, these have been found worldwide and are the ancestors of knuckle bones as well as dice games.Dice were invented at least 5 000 years ago and early dice probably did not have six sides.These bones were also sometimes used for oracular and divinatory functions. Other implements could have included shells, stones and sticks.

Magic kits part 3

And then there is the “other” category of magic kits, the other search terms I thought to try such as “divination kit” and “ghost hunting kit”

Black style pendulum set with mini ouija board.  Pretty cute.  You can also buy resin molds to make these, and I have been holding myself back from buying them.

Purple style pendulum set with a pendulum board, with dice and a little box to keep them in.  I do like the zodiac dice, wonder how you use those!

Bone casting kit.  Which feels… if you’re a Hoodoo practitioner wouldn’t you gather your own bones and divinatory items?  I don’t know why it feels more culturally weird to sell this than to sell something like runes or tarot cards, maybe because reading the bones was so obviously made to use the things people had around to do magic, so it seems like current practitioners would use what they have around.  

I have mixed feelings about buying spiritual things from amazon anyway and this item makes me feel it more than other items... maybe because they’re natural objects not produced objects like tarot cards? I dunno.  The feeling’s there but I can’t sort it into a full thought out opinion on anything, so I’m just gonna move on.

And the pink angel wings viking dice set!  Because vikings are well known for their embrace of the pink glitter angel aesthetic!  

Ghost hunting kit!  Entirely technological, not at all magical.  An EMF meter alone is 25 bucks (or you can use a compass), capturing EVPs is best done with the oldest and clunkiest cassette recorder you can buy at a thrift store, so that spirit box must be pretty fancy!  You could put together your own kit for a fraction of the price, is what I’m saying.  Here’s a reddit thread about where to get your kit cheaper.

I do kinda want an EMF meter though. After playing The Lost Crown and Ghost Vigil… I kinda want one.  

Fancy telescoping dowsing rods! Interestingly I didn’t find a ghost hunting kit that included both the electronic gadgets and the dowsing gear.  I guess on your ghost hunting team the techie and the psychic have to buy their gear separately.

Bigfoot tracking kit!  Made by Archie McFee and meant for kids so not really meant to be taken seriously. It doesn’t even include plaster for taking casts if you find any big footprints!

Amusingly, if you search for vampire hunting kits you get witch kits, survivalist stuff, Catholic mass kits, wooden crossbows, wooden stakes meant for other purposes, and costumes.  So the amazon algorithm knows what vampire hunters need but no one has created a dedicated kit to sell.

Ebay, however, will hook you up.

What is the best method of gambling?

Betting is perhaps of humanity's most seasoned movement, as confirmed by works and hardware tracked down in burial chambers and different spots. It was directed, which, generally speaking, implied seriously abridged, in the laws of antiquated China and Rome as well as in the Jewish Writing and by Islam and Buddhism, and in old Egypt deep rooted players could be condemned to list of crypto sites constrained work in the quarries. The beginning of betting is viewed a divinatory: by projecting checked sticks and different items and deciphering the result, man looked for information on the future and the aims of the divine beings. From this it was an extremely short move toward wagering on the result of the tosses. The Book of scriptures contains many references to the projecting of parcels to partition property. One notable occurrence is the projecting of parts by Roman gatekeepers (which probably implied that they tossed knucklebones) for the article of clothing of Jesus during the Execution. This is referenced in every one of the four of the Stories of good news and has been utilized for quite a long time as an advance notice model by anti gambling crusaders.

 Nonetheless, in old times making bets was not viewed as betting in the cutting edge sense yet rather was associated with unavoidable predetermination, or destiny. Anthropologists have likewise highlighted the way that betting is more predominant in social orders where there is a far reaching confidence in divine beings and spirits whose consideration might be looked for. The projecting of parcels, not rarely dice, has been utilized in many societies to administer equity and point out lawbreakers at preliminaries — in Sweden as late as 1803. The Greek word for equity, embankment, comes from a word that signifies "to toss," in the feeling of tossing dice.European history is loaded with proclamations, pronouncements, and encyclicals restricting and denouncing betting, which in a roundabout way vouch for its prominence in all layers of society. Coordinated betting for a bigger scope and endorsed by states and different experts to fund-raise started in the fifteenth 100 years with lotteries  and hundreds of years sooner in China with keno. With the coming of lawful betting houses in the seventeenth hundred years, mathematicians started to take a serious interest in games with randomizing hardware (like dice and cards), out of which developed the field of likelihood hypothesis.

Aside from precursors in old Rome and Greece, coordinated endorsed sports wagering traces all the way back to the late eighteenth hundred years. About that time there started a continuous, but unpredictable, change in the authority demeanor toward betting, from thinking of it as a transgression to thinking of it as a bad habit and a human shortcoming and, at long last, to considering it to be a generally innocuous and, surprisingly, engaging movement. Also, the Web has made many types of betting available on an incomprehensible scale. By the start of the 21st 100 years, around four out of five individuals in Western countries bet in some measure periodically. The enlarging number of speculators in the twentieth century featured the individual and social issue of obsessive betting, in which people can't handle or restrict their betting.

PicardPositivity Day 2: Qowat Milat

Sharing this clip from Chabon's notes about Romulan society:

Then, utterly apart from the Romulan mainstream, but every bit as traditional and ancient as the maze-enclosed compounds, complicated kinship networks, and Verficator-Conspirator marriage structure, there is the Order of Qowat Milat. As far as we know, this all-female order of warrior initiates dates from a period early in the history of Romulus. It may even predate the arrival on Romulus; some have argued that it grew out of the ancient monastic orders of Vulcan that predate Surak and the rise of his teachings on that planet. The central tenet of Qowat Milat teaching is a kind of radical inversion of mainstream Romulan belief. Among Romulans, the true, innermost self, with its secret name, is something to be concealed behind masks, hedges, deceits and barriers. Revealing that private self is the ultimate intimacy, and an ecstatic act. Among the sisterhood of the Qowat Milat, however, that “innermost self” is held to be an illusion, or a delusion, the ultimate deception: there is no innermost self. There is always, as in the classical drama, one more mask under the mask. The Qowat Milat adept is taught to meditate on that infinity of masks, to contemplate the void at the heart of the so-called “self”, and to realize that, ultimately, there is nothing to hide. Qowat Milat nuns speak bluntly, declare their intentions openly, advertise their feelings. They do not suffer fools, never hold their tongues; they have, deliberately, no filter. They scorn guile, repudiate deception and avoid all alliances, even ones that might serve their needs (or save their lives), lest they fall inadvertently into conspiracy. They discard all names but a single open name that they choose by throwing of divinatory “name dice.” Their fidelity to any sworn oath is legendary. Naturally this radical, even heretical behavior puts them very much at odds with the rest of Romulan society. They endured centuries of persecution, which is what led them, in time, to become such fearsome fighters. Scorning defense as a form of concealment, a Qowat Milat always prefers to attack — but never by ambush or sneak attack; they always declare their hostile intentions openly. Their skill, knowledge of weapons, immense physical strength, durability, and ferocity when not in contemplative mode are so considerable that they have gained great power and influence in Romulan society; power and influence which mainstream Romulans, of course, keep secret, deny, and minimize. It is whispered, however, that no one becomes Romulan praetor without the approval of the Qowat Milat, and furthermore that the Romulan Empress is always drawn from, or trained by, the Qowat Milat sisters. Fierce, brash, forthright, they wear their hearts on their sleeves, hold nothing back, and always call a spade a spade. In short, there could be no stronger ally than a Qowat Milat sister: unless, of course, your mission actually requires you to engage in subterfuge and deception. And unless, of course — as some insist — the entire structure of Qowat Milat doctrine, belief and behavior is itself a giant act of deceit, concealing some deeper teaching, some hidden purpose known only to its adherents who may be, in the end, the most Romulan of all Romulans.

I absolutely believe that the Qowat Milat are genuine but I also love the concept that the rest of the Romulan society thinks they're not. That the rest of Romulan society is so entrenched in the belief of deceit that they think those who claim to be honest are the most deceptive of all.

I also adore the idea that some of the Qowat Milat's customs originated from Pre-Surak Vulcans.

Forms of Divination

-The practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.

There are MANY forms of divination, so much so that this post would be way too long to make (and ngl it's taken me a while to make this post already). So below I will list the most popular forms of divination. You can also check out this link for a longer, more in depth list.

Popular Forms of Divination are:

Tarot

Oracle

Pendulum

Dice reading

Bone reading

Rune reading

Wax reading (whether reading shapes in the wax or by pouring hot wax into water)

Palm reading

Now to see a full list of divination forms I suggest looking at Wikipedias list, also I suggest it as there are some interesting divination forms on said list.

Tarot- is a pack of playing cards used from the mid 15th century in various parts of Europe to play games such as Italian taroccchini and Austrian Königrufen. In the late 18th century Tarot cards were being used for what we use them for today, Divination.

Oracle- while a tarot card has major and minor arcana cards and is read a specific way (to specific people), oracle cards are read a bit more freely, and instead of going off a set definition, can be read by using feelings or emotions.

Pendulum- many in the occult believe that pendulums can be manipulated by spirits or ghosts, and while that's not entirely impossible others in the occult, (myself included) believe that pendulums are moved by the energies that surround and area. Typically a pendulum is a crystal or some sort of jewel that hangs off the end of a chain while the other end of the chain is held steady by an unwavering hand. Pendulums are a more direct form of divination as these will give "yes/no/maybe/try again" answers.

Dice reading- The idea is fairly simple. You pre-set a divinatory meaning for each possible number in a dice roll. And then, you roll a certain number of dice and interpret the numbers that turn up, either looking at the individual outcome of each die or by adding all the dice together to give a unique total.

Bone Reading- West Africa, Asia and the Americas all have some form of bone reading, casting the bones or bone throwing. To start you'll need a set of bones, most usually used bones are animal. Next you may bless or anoint the bones. The easiest form is by asking yes/no questions, you can use the bones to scry and of course you can try to cteaye your own method by adding symbols to the bones and interpret them that way.

Rune Reading- Runes are a set of Germatic alphabets that was used before the use of the Latin alphabet. Each letter has a different name and meaning, for example the letter U which is called Uruz means Strength. To read runes it's much like reading bones by casting the runes into a circle and reading them based on their meanings. (Check this link for the differences between sigils and runes.)

Wax Reading- a popular form of magic is candle magic. Lighting a candle with ones intent and letting the candle burn through. While the candle is lit one can watch how the wax melts and interpret the shapes that form from the wax to how it might be relevant to the spell.

Palm Readings- This is the practice of fortune telling done by reading the lines on someones palms.