Divination Details Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mesopotamia

The practice of divination is found in nearly every culture and Mesopotamia is the region which kept written records. This doesn't mean they were the earliest, only that records exist to confirm that divination was in use in the early part of the second millennium.

Other areas known to have used divination are Egypt, China, India and the near east. Divination has often been banned by both the church and state, but remained a strong belief among many. In an uncertain world, divination provided an insight and explanation of past, present and future.

Answer: Will of the gods

The Romans were very keen on divination, believing that they needed the approval of their gods before carrying out any activity either in their private lives or public lives. The word divination comes from Latin, where divinare meant 'to be inspired by a god'. To the Romans, using divination was a way of life and enabled them to be sure that their actions were what the gods required them to do.

According to Cicero the traditional founder of Rome, Romulus, was an augur - someone skilled at interpreting signs. Romulus was looking to the skies for a sign and saw twelve birds which he interpreted as telling him he was destined to rule.

Answer: Druids

Most of what we know about the Druids comes from the Romans, particularly Julius Caesar who was stationed in Gaul (modern day France). The information is supported by early Irish sources, since Ireland was another Celtic nation. Even the origin of their name is unknown, although it may be related to oak trees.

Druids were priests and judges who studied philosophy, astronomy and religion - ('lore of the gods' is how the Encyclopaedia Britannica describes it). Whether this included divination is less clear but it seems probable - the Druids are said to have believed in an immortal soul which passed to another on death.

The Roman suppressed the Druids and Christianity finished them, although there are modern day Druids who practise Druidry, with links to the natural world

Answer: John Dee

John Dee was a man of many talents. He had degrees in mathematics and philosophy and acted as a consultant and astrologer to Queen Mary I. The astrology led to a gaol sentence as this was classed as being akin to magic by the Church. Following the accession of Elizabeth I, Dee became her personal doctor and scientific adviser. He was much involved in the planning of various voyages of exploration, teaching the principles of navigation to the sea captains and creating instruments to help with navigation.

Dee had a strong interest in the occult and believed that mathematics could be used for divination. Numerology is still used in the twenty-first century as a means of divination by some practitioners and is far from new - Pythagoras is among those who believed that numbers carried divine inspiration.

Answer: Native Americans

The belief in guardian spirits is particularly common among native American tribes, with the spirit frequently taking the form of an animal, such as a coyote. The guardian spirit may be discovered in a dream or by undertaking a challenge, and will help the individual throughout their life.

The 'medicine man' often depicted in stories about native American tribes was a spiritual healer, who was believed to have specific knowledge from the gods. These healers often have objects which can be used in healing such as feathers or stones.

Answer: Italy

Tarot cards were originally used for games with additional cards being created to add to the standard deck of four suits. The additional cards date from the 1430s with the new cards being called 'trionfi' or 'triumphs' in English, which is the origin of the word 'trumps', used in many modern card games.

The use of tarot cards for cartomancy (divination by cards) dates from around 1790 with meanings applied to the various designs on the cards. The cards most often used consist of 78 in total, divided into Major and Minor Arcanas. The choice of cards has to be interpreted by a psychic and can seem random, but reading of tarot cards remains popular even in the modern age and is sometimes called a 'new age' religion.

Answer: Scrying

The most popular image of scrying is that of a crystal ball with someone, usually female and ancient, gazing intently into it. Scrying can use many items though, including mirrors, water and even fire to find patterns and images which can be interpreted by the practitioner. Seer stones were used by the founder of the Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith, as a means of obtaining guidance from God.

Rhabdomancy is divination by using sticks, rods or even arrows and is often associated with looking for water. Lithomancy uses stones and ceraunoscopy is divination by thunder and lightning, which limits its use in some areas.

Answer: Scandinavia

In Norse mythology, it is believed that rune stones were discovered by Odin himself during a trial. The original alphabet is called the Elder Futhark and contains twenty-four different symbols. The Vikings spread these to other regions and the symbols changed meaning as part of the process. It is unlikely that runes were used for divination initially, although some texts do refer to the possibility.

The modern system of using the runes for divination appears to be much more recent, with a 1982 book by Ralph Blum setting out details of how runes could be used in divination. In the same way as tarot cards, the casting of the stones has to be interpreted and can be used to provide an answer to a specific problem rather than being a prediction of the future.

Answer: Animal entrails

Using entrails and other body organs was certainly not unique to the Romans. The Babylonians used the method and the Romans inherited it from the Etruscans, their predecessors in what is now Italy. The liver was particularly important in working out whether or not the gods were pleased with humans, although lungs and the heart also formed part of the system. Those who interpreted the signs were known as haruspices, or haruspex when referring to just one.

All the options listed have been used for divination. Patterns of bird flight were especially useful, with the practice of interpreting them known as ornithomancy and is associated with Greece. Ailuromancy used cats and was used to forecast the weather, while the Dogon tribe in West Africa used the marks left by jackals for divination.

Answer: Astrology

Be honest - even if you never look at your horoscope, you more than likely know your star sign and may even be aware of some of the personality traits you are supposed to have based on the date of your birth. Astrology dates from at least the Babylonian era as humans began to understand the movement of the stars and attach meaning to them.

Up until the seventeenth century, astrology was considered a scientific discipline but developments in astronomy relegated it to a pseudoscience as astrology was based on a geocentric system. Even so, the casting of horoscopes remains popular and many newspapers, in the western world at least, still print daily horoscopes based on the twelve traditional signs of the zodiac.