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Scapulimancy (also spelled scapulomancy and scapulamancy, also termed omoplatoscopy or speal bone reading) is the practice of divination by use of scapulae or speal bones (shoulder blades). It is most widely practiced in China and the Sinosphere as oracle bones , but has also been independently developed in other traditions including the West .
In the Spanish Golden Age theater play Life is a Dream by Calderon de la Barca, an oracle drives the plot. A prophecy reveals that king's infant son, Segismundo , will disgrace Poland and one day kill his father, but the king grants his son a chance to prove the oracle wrong.
The word oracle comes from the Latin verb ōrāre, "to speak" and properly refers to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction. In extended use, oracle may also refer to the site of the oracle, and the oracular utterances themselves, are called khrēsmoí (χρησμοί) in Greek.
Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancy – a form of divination – during the Late Shang period (c. 1250 – c. 1050 BCE) in ancient China. Scapulimancy is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, plastromancy if turtle plastrons were used.
Ornithomancy (modern term from Greek ornis "bird" and manteia "divination"; in Ancient Greek: οἰωνίζομαι "take omens from the flight and cries of birds") is the practice of reading omens from the actions of birds followed in many ancient cultures including the Greeks, and is equivalent to the augury employed by the ancient Romans.
In southwest Ethiopia and adjacent area of South Sudan, a number of ethnic communities have had the practice of reading animal entrails to divine the future. [9] Some of the groups that have been documented as having this practice include Suri , Mursi , Topsa , Nyangatom , Didinga , Murle , Me'en , Turkana , Konso , [ 10 ] Dime , [ 11 ...
Alexander the Great visited the Delphic Oracle wishing to hear a prophecy that he would soon conquer the entire ancient world. To his surprise the oracle refused a direct comment and asked him to come later. Furious, Alexander dragged Pythia by the hair out of the chamber until she screamed "You are invincible, my son!"
The business the reader has is either silently or openly expressed to the oracle, and the oracle responds in kind. The text's standard construction of the inquirer then is one who has come from a foreign place to the oracle, puts the business or activities he wants to conduct to the god, and then receives an answer.