DIVINATION ("Lat. dirina t in, from dirinare. divine. from diriang„ 'licitly. from dims, deity). A term employed to describe the quest of a knowledge of secret thing:, past, present, or future, by various supernatural methods, princi pally oracular responses and the ori gin of the word indieates, the idea is based on the a-siniption that human intelligence may obtain knowledge from the divine mind through media atfcetcd by olivine influence. Time t:reek term Aavroc37 (rexv4) suggests the inspired interme diary ilaerls (seem, a word which Plato and the (•reeks associated with p.avia (inspired frenzy). The contact of the divine mind with human inlet was believed to be accomplished either through a medium directly. or by sign: o no•,: Whiell Mori. interpreted by the medium. The Stole philosophers recognized this difference in method It'icero, 11r Ilirimtlione. and ii. 11 1. and designated. the first drexmvs, natura 1 . (ar11e--1, the dire•l or natural method: and the ;erc-reos, 0/1i/if-w.f, i.e. the artili• cial method. Bonet (-Leclerc,' tern s the first the intimitite mat the second the indnetive method. beemtuse the a•tifici ml class admits of some spon taneity and tie natural something artificial.
The natural, the intuitive method is very familiar represented by oracle-, a term used to denote both the seat of divination and the re sponses themselves. For Iite•e responses the seats of worship of dit initic- were regarded as favorite bmealitit -. and were geucrallv marked by some peculiar physical elmaracteii-t ie. as a cleft in the ground whence an exhalation arose by which the medium 'ens made to pas, into a trance, There mere several methods in which information from the divinity was comniminieated the oracle,: /It rime Hon by floams required experience in drea Ills and the interpretation thereof. Persons desiring revelation by this means would go to steep in places thought to he haunted by dreams, such as tombs of heroes and temples of divinities. the body must be inert and the mind pa:sive, tarious means were em ployed lo accomplish this, as refraining from wine and food for it certain period. acre also taken to stunt llllll the dreams by incantations and by unusual conditions of sleeping. as when one lay on the skin of a ram slain by hint. This
method was known as incubation Stich was the oracle of Amphiaratis at Dropus, near the spot where the hero hoc:1111e a god. (II this kind the most. familiar oracles were healing shrines connected with the temple, of .E,cmila pius. .Vccro man :icy was the metholl whereby rev elation was conveyed by the :Lades of the dead who were summoned for the purpose. In 110111er. I lilysscUs goes to the entrance of the lower world to consult the shade of Tiresias. These were given at places recognized as approaches to the loner world, as Lake Aorta), in Thesprotia, and Lake .\.veriiiis near l'unue in Italy. s lut ology, or divination by frenzy ( ea f irioat in) or thrill.' io per f ro rein war the revealing of the will of divinity by seer:. hieing in a state of frenzy. superinduced by exhahitions or draughts of water from certain streams, or of blood. as of a lamb, they spoke forth the pro phetic words either from presentiment or an in spiration by the divinity, or from beroming, as was fancied, the incarnation of the divinity for the time being. The most famous oracle of this class was at 1)clphi, situated on t lie side of Abdul' Parnassus in I'lmovis, which. originally belonging to fla-a, then to Themis„ the represen tative of law and order. finally came into the pos session of Apollo, whose priestess. Pythia. gave his answers by of her cries.
The artificial or inductive methods of divina tion admit of the elassi flea t ion : Dieing /Ma i ast inet ire arts of animals. rnder this heading is therefore placed ornithomaney, ielithy onialicy. etc. This refers to revelations obtained from the behavior of birds and fishes. particularly of the former. who, being in the heavens. come the divinities and can net a. \\ ith these shotild also be classed the instinctive or uneonsebals acts of Dian. was the iliVina tiOn by omens, so familiar to the Romans. The well known story of Crassus is an Storting on his ill-fated expedition against the Parthians. lie heard a man selling fig, from ('gums-. and erying which -.minded like e-l• ,-as 1 Itew a re of going • here may al-0 place the modern divining rod (q.v.) which it said IQ 'win] When 11,141 over pollee:111-d -prints of \voter or mineral This custom is known in England a, 'dowsing' Tee Nen.