Divination, Oracles & Omens : Bodleian Library : 9781851246335 : 1851246339 : 06 Dec 2024 : The past, present and future are full of tantalizing mysteries: questions about our own and other people's lives that we long to answer. Across history, human cultures have devised a wide range of methods to discover what might lie ahead or to understand past events. This fascinating book features twenty-four divinatory techniques from around the world that have been and are still used to uncover hidden information: from astrology, palmistry, and Tarot to egg divination and Chinese Yijing. Each chapter is beautifully illustrated with a wide range of associated objects, such as cards, dice, altars, candles and texts, and even mathematical tools including astrolabes and astronomical tables. While these practices are often seen as light-hearted entertainment, a soothsayer's uncannily accurate reading can catapult a client from scepticism to serious engagement. From ancient times to the present da