Hmm. Your post has made me do some thinking, and I think I will have to think some more.
My working definition of divination is the interpretation of symbols to read the astral (or ether or whatever you want to call it). Tarot, runes, etc., provide symbols to interpret.
What I am now wondering, though, is if tarot, runes, etc., are the oracle, or is the person doing the interpreting the oracle? A quickie internet search seems to say that in ancient Greece, it was the person doing the interpretation. (And definitions of words change over time, so I'm not trying to start a semantic argument. It is just making me think about the group of symbols someone chooses to interpret. Does each group develop its own egregore (if that is the right word)? Or, with Tarot, would each deck develop its own egregore? Or, are there entities on the astral plane who inspire someone to create a deck, a system, or whatnot, so they have a way of communicating to people who are doing the divination?)
I have been working on developing 'an oracle' (meaning a system of symbols) for my adept project. I will say that it definitely has an attitude/personality. (If you ask about a specific situation, the three symbols always have a relationship to each other. If someone asks a 'general' question, the symbols do not and the reading feels like gibberish.)
And creating the oracle was not something I decided to do, it was something I felt compelled to do. And lots of little quests I've done in the past that didn't seem related to an oracle at all somehow ended up very involved. So it very much feels like an entity wants a way to communicate.
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Date: 2025-06-27 02:12 pm (UTC)My working definition of divination is the interpretation of symbols to read the astral (or ether or whatever you want to call it). Tarot, runes, etc., provide symbols to interpret.
What I am now wondering, though, is if tarot, runes, etc., are the oracle, or is the person doing the interpreting the oracle? A quickie internet search seems to say that in ancient Greece, it was the person doing the interpretation. (And definitions of words change over time, so I'm not trying to start a semantic argument. It is just making me think about the group of symbols someone chooses to interpret. Does each group develop its own egregore (if that is the right word)? Or, with Tarot, would each deck develop its own egregore? Or, are there entities on the astral plane who inspire someone to create a deck, a system, or whatnot, so they have a way of communicating to people who are doing the divination?)
I have been working on developing 'an oracle' (meaning a system of symbols) for my adept project. I will say that it definitely has an attitude/personality. (If you ask about a specific situation, the three symbols always have a relationship to each other. If someone asks a 'general' question, the symbols do not and the reading feels like gibberish.)
And creating the oracle was not something I decided to do, it was something I felt compelled to do. And lots of little quests I've done in the past that didn't seem related to an oracle at all somehow ended up very involved. So it very much feels like an entity wants a way to communicate.
Anyway, much to ponder. Thank you for the post.