DIVINATION (Lat. divinatio) is the act of discovering the hidden, but more particu larly the future, in a supernatural way. Men have at all times set their imaginations above the causes of nature, and by a curious subjective process, have endeavored to draw out of themselves what could in reality be only derived from a study of the laws of nature. Thus, there have been instituted systems of superstition among almost all nations of the world at one period of their history, which the march of scientific dis covery and the beneficent influences of a rational religion have failed to wholly eradi cate, so that, even among comparatively enlightened peoples, there lurks a deep sub stratum of this old-world feeling. A More special use of the term is to denote fortune telling or sorcery (middle-age Latin sortiarius, one who reads the future by means of lots or sortes). It was a maxim with the nations of antiquity, that if there tire gods, they care for men; and if they care for men, they will send them signs of their will. This, with some variations, has been a universal sentiment in all ages and countries. But it was the first step in this journey which presented the whole difficulty. How was man to know the will of the gods? The variety of answers which this question has drawn forth constitutes the history of divination. Thus, among the Greeks, the word for D. was mantike, which signified more than the Latin divinatio; inasmuch as it was applied to any means by which the Deity discloses himself to man, while the Latin word denoted more the power which man is supposed to possess of discovering the future. With the Greeks, the seer was passive; with the Romans, he was active See SEER and ORACLE. Astrology was a favorite method of D. among the ancient Chaldeans, as well as in the middle ages. Auguries and auspices—both words derived from ath, a bird—were systems brought to perfection by the Romans as means of knowing the will of the gods. See AUGURIES and AUSPICES. The sacrifice of beasts, besides, the casting of the horoscope, and the observing of the constellations, were all favorite modes of guessing at the future practiced by the Romans. But the belief was not confined to the old world. The
Araucanians, a warlike nation of South America, seem to have placed as implicit faith in the D. of birds as did the Romans, and they practiced this art in a way not very dissimilar. Even among ourselves, the merry-thought bone of fowls is known to possess a curious virtue, and boys need not be told the omens connected with the mag pie.
An extensive set of omens have been taken from observing what first happens to one, or what animal or person one meets first in the morning, or at the commencement of an undertaking—the as it is called. To stumble, has been universally held to presage misfortune. Some semblance of a reason might be found for this belief, inas much as stumbling may be supposed to indicate that that self-possession and conscious courage, which are in themselves half a victory over circumstances, are lacking—the want of them, therefore, being half a defeat; but in most eases the interpretation seems altogether arbitrary. The dread of a hare crossing the path seems to be widely preva lent; while to see a wolf is a good omen. This feeling is probably a remnant of warlike times, when the timid hare suggested thoughts of cowardice and flight; while the bold wolf, sacred to Odin, was emblematic of victory. The character of the hare for being unlucky is also connected with the deep-rooted belief, that witches are in the habit of transforming themselves into hares. That to meet an old woman is unlucky, is another very general belief; arising, without doubt, from the same causes that lead to their being considered witches. In some places, women in general are unlucky as first-foot, with the singular exception of women of bad reputation. This belief prevailed as far back as the age of Chrysostom. Priests, too, are ominous of evil. If hunters of old met a priest or friar, they coupled up their hounds, and went home in despair of any further sport that day. This superstition seems to have died out, except in the case of sailors, who still consider the clergy a " kittle cargo," as a Scotch skipper expressed it, and anticipate a storm or mischance when they have a black-coat on board. This seems as old as the days of the prophet Jonah.