Addressing the role which divination played in ancient Greek society, this volume deals with various forms of prophecy and how each was utilised and for what purpose. Chapters bring together key types of divining, such as from birds, celestial phenomena, the entrails of sacrificed animals and dreams. Oracular centres delivered prophetic pronouncements to enquirers, but in addition, there were written collections of oracles in circulation. Many books were available on how to interpret dreams, the birds and entrails, and divination as a religious phenomenon attracted the attention of many writers. Expert diviners were at the heart of Greek prophecy, whether these were Apollo’s priestesses delivering prose or verse answers to questions put to them by consultants, diviners known as manteis, who interpreted entrails and omens, the chresmologoi, who sang the many oracles circulating orally or in writing, or dream interpreters. Divination was utilised not only to foretell the future but also to ensure that the individual or state employing divination acted in accordance with that divinely prescribed future; it was employed by all and had a crucial role to play in what courses of action both states and individuals undertook. Specific attention is paid in this volume not only to the ancient written evidence, but to that of inscriptions and papyri, with emphasis placed on the iconography of Greek divination.

Discusses Celtic modes of divination and teaches how to use the most important methods in the Celtic tradition, including two methods that have never before been published. Also, tells how to make a number of ancient oracles, including sky stones, touchstones and Saxon wands.

A mother receives an undeniable message of love from her deceased son A series of meaningful coincidences appear to save a life; A conversation overheard between strangers delivers a life-altering personal message to a bystander; A dream warns a woman of a wounded animal miles away; A reading of oracle cards prepares a daughter for an impending tragedy....Extraordinary? Unusual? It's not! Messages from Spirit are received every day by ordinary people in a multitude of ways. We are made of, and surrounded by, an all-knowing Divine field of intelligence that is just waiting to guide us and give us help whenever we ask for it. We just need to learn how to enter the conversation and understand the dialogue. So how do we ask? How do we receive and interpret the answers? By exploring ancient methods in a modern context of connecting to the Divine, renowned intuitive counselor and best-selling author Colette Baron-Reid shows you magical, fun, and practical methods that will enable you to delve into your own dialogue with Spirit. She'll take you on a mysterious and enlightening journey that will shake up your perspective, stir your curiosity, and prepare you for a Divine conversation that will forever change your understanding of the world around you.

Condemned to hang after his raid on Harper’s Ferry, John Brown prophesied that the crimes of a slave-holding land would be purged away only with blood. A study of omens, maledictions, and inspired invocations, The Oracle and the Curse examines how utterances such as Brown’s shaped American literature between the Revolution and the Civil War. In nineteenth-century criminal trials, judges played the role of law’s living oracles, but offenders were also given an opportunity to address the public. When the accused began to turn the tables on their judges, they did so not through rational arguments but by calling down a divine retribution. Widely circulated in newspapers and pamphlets, these curses appeared to channel an otherworldly power, condemning an unjust legal system and summoning readers to the side of righteousness. Exploring the modes of address that communicated the authority of law and the dictates of conscience in antebellum America’s court of public opinion, Caleb Smith offers a new poetics of justice which assesses the nonrational influence that these printed confessions, trial reports, and martyr narratives exerted on their first audiences. Smith shows how writers portrayed struggles for justice as clashes between human law and higher authority, giving voice to a moral protest that transformed American literature.

"Surveying all kinds of evidence—historiographical, literary, dramatic, and visual—Flower provides a comprehensive, readable, and engaging account of the operations of 'seers' during the Classical period."—Mark Griffith, editor of Prometheus Bound and Antigone "In a page-turning tour de force of anthropological reconstruction, classicist Michael Flower revisits hundreds of ancient texts to tease out his case for the absolutely central role of seercraft at all levels of ancient Greek society. Thanks to Flower's invitingly-woven tapestry of their mesmerizing stories and anecdotes, we can now savor, and comprehend through his lucid and persuasive interpretations."—Peter Nabokov, author of Where the Lightning Strikes: American Indian Ways of History

Prophecy was a wide-spread phenomenon in the ancient world - not only in ancient Israel but in the whole Eastern Mediterranean cultural sphere. This is demonstrated by documents from the ancient Near East, that have been the object of Martti Nissinen’s research for more than twenty years. Nissinen's studies have had a formative influence on the study of the prophetic phenomenon. The present volume presents a selection of thirty-one essays, bringing together essential aspects of prophetic divination in the ancient Near East. The first section of the volume discusses prophecy from theoretical perspectives. The second sections contains studies on prophecy in texts from Mari and Assyria and other cuneiform sources. The third section discusses biblical prophecy in its ancient Near Eastern context, while the fourth section focuses on prophets and prophecy in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Even prophecy in the Dead Sea Scrolls is discussed in the fifth section. The articles are essential reading for anyone studying ancient prophetic phenomenon.

Discover your psychic powers and learn to use the wonders of nature and the world around you as magical tools of divination. • Practical and enjoyable exercises help readers reconnect with their innate psychic sensitivity. • Includes 75 methods and practices of divination from around the world. Since the beginning of time, diviners and seers have been finding signs and omens in the world around them--in pools of water, tea leaves, delicate patterns of cracked animal bones, and the ripples of clouds in the sky. Because these observers have been able to tap into a deeper level of awareness, they have come to sense hidden truths in powerful and mysterious ways. In modern times we call those who possess these abilities "psychic," but native cultures accepted that each of us has an innate sixth sense and can learn how to read the forces of nature that appear before us. In this fascinating and enlightening guide, historian and psychic Sarvananda Bluestone shows us how our innate knowledge can be rediscovered, allowing us to become far more in tune with our surroundings than we ever dreamed possible. He teaches us to use everyday objects and the wonders of nature as magical tools that offer a window into the future--and ourselves. Whether watching birds cross the morning sky or divining the subtle energies of the earth, you will see the world in an entirely new light. Filled with practical exercises, How to Read Signs and Omens in Everyday Life demonstrates how the discovery of the power within ourselves requires nothing more than a little guidance and a willingness to see.