Why does most religions are against divination?
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Re: Religion Against Divination
I can't say for sure, but some religions believe things like divination are "evil", because you're communicating with something supernatural to do it, and they don't accept that it's the god of that religion that you're speaking with. And if you're not speaking to that god, you must be speaking to something more sinister. -
Re: Religion Against Divination
Take into consideration the fate of the Aesir during the coming of Ragnarok, and the story of Baldr. Frigg foretold of all of the things that would come to pass, and in attempting to avoid them from taking place, may very well have caused the events that in fact caused them to happen. In fear of her son's life, she made all things swear an oath to not do him any harm, but felt that the simple mistletoe was too insignificant to bother with. Unfortunately, Loki found out and crafted a dart (or something, translations and stuff) out of mistletoe, and bid Hodr to throw it at Baldr, thus killing him.
Now, because Fenrir is fated to kill Odin, devour mankind and swallow the sun. Because of this, the Wolf was bound and imprisoned for what he is GOING to do. Could it be, perhaps, that he does such things out of a desire for revenge at the mistreatment he received?
There is a warning in knowing what is to come, in that each time you look at the future, you are in fact changing it because you cannot ever act the same again.Comment
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Re: Religion Against Divination
While it may not be the reason a number of major religions are against it, I tend to echo Munin-Hugin. Divination can very easily become a trap. It doesn't necessarily have to be but people are very good at screwing up a lot of things and whether or not divination offers anything worth the risk of trapping yourself in the future you forecast is highly debatable.life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.
Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
"But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."
John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper
"You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."
Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
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Re: Religion Against Divination
Possibly because it is humans usurping the privilege of the deity?Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.
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Re: Religion Against Divination
Because fate is the realm of gods not man.Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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Re: Religion Against Divination
Most pagan religions are very much in favour: think Africa, China, ancient Europe. The clue is the etymology: Latin divinatio from divus "god". Divination is a way of contacting the gods.
Some Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs have been hostile on the basis of "ours not to reason why" but most have not. St Thomas Aquinas wrote a defence of astrology. On the other had, he probably would have drawn the line at tarot cards, had they existed: who knows what spirits were making use of them!
When I read the current Catholic catechism's assertion that all divination shows a lack of trust in divine providence, I wondered if the priest who wrote that had ever read Aquinas and if he was careful not to listen to the weather forecast; probably not, in both cases!Comment
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Re: Religion Against Divination
I divine the future from the turds floating in the bowl.....and so far the world has been a pile of Merde....just as my turds predicted.MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED
all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.
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my new page here,let me know what you think.
nothing but the shadow of what was
witchvox
http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.htmlComment
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Re: Religion Against Divination
My understanding was that most religions actively practice divination--just under a circumscribed and controlled set of circumstances. It's not done willy-nilly or by just anyone. Experienced priests and diviners do it, in the context of a sanctioned communal ritual. The Romans are a good example: divination through augury and haruspicy was a-okay, when done by a priest and especially in state rites, in part because it was intended to perceive the will of the gods in relation to the sanctioned ritual which had just been performed. But astrology was generally looked down upon, because it was not usually performed by state-sanctioned priests, but rather by uneducated or superstitious people, and with the goal of controlling their fate rather than perceiving it.Originally posted by Bartmanhomer View Post
Christianity throws that all out the window, but Christianity is an atypical religion. To them, the will of the divine was made manifest in the written scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. No need for special divination rites, as it's all already there in front of you.Comment
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Re: Religion Against Divination
It's not only Christianity that opposes divination. Also Buddhism, or some forms of it (Tibetan Buddhists have even divination methods of their own), sends fortune tellers to "purgatory".baah.Comment
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Re: Religion Against Divination
All very interesting considerations. I had not thought to this extent why divination could be dangerous. Once you know an event is even likely, let alone fixed, you cannot know that your behaviour is the same as it would have been without exposure to the truth.I'm not one to ever pray for mercy
Or to wish on pennies in the fountain or the shrine
But that day you know I left my money
And I thought of you only
All that copper glowing fineComment
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