Oracles, Omens and Answers Exhibition

[DanielJUK]

I saw a review in the Guardian today for a new general divination exhibition at Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries in the UK.

 

Tarot, tarantulas and TikTok: exploring our long obsession with predicting the future
A new exhibition at Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries examines the enduring appeal of divination

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/dec/07/tarot-tarantulas-and-tiktok-exploring-our-long-obsession-with-predicting-the-future

 

Oracles, Omens and Answers

It's on until the end of April 2025 and has free entry. Tarot is a part of it.

 

There is also an exhibition book with the title Divination, Oracles & Omens

Official site for both here - https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oracles-omens-and-answers

[JoyousGirl]

This looks great! I remember I used to go down rabbit holes at that website many years ago. What a shame I'm so far away! 

[WhiteMoon]

Thanks for telling us about this. I have ordered the book.

[DanielJUK]

If I am in that area, I am going to try and get to it and will report back. The only problem is, I am not planning to be in that area before it closes but we shall see 🙂 

 

The book sounds good @WhiteMoon it has 24 different divinatory techniques from around the world.

I guess the book and exhibition are from a more anthropological angle but still could be interesting.

[DanielJUK]

Excitingly, we were contacted by one of the co-curators of this exhibition, David

He asked us to post this related information....

 

Some early Tarot cards are included in an exhibition on divination that is at The Bodleian Library in Oxford until April 2025.

https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oracles-omens-and-answers

 

Related to the exhibit, they are running a survey about what people use Tarot (or other forms of divination) for. They are studying the questions people ask, the dilemmas it helps resolve.

There is a small questionnaire now online at -
https://bit.ly/41cAeyO

[gregory]

OOH ! I SHALL be going to this.... I love their exhibitions.

[JoyousGirl]

@WhiteMoon Have you received the book yet? There were no images of inside the covers, but I did find a table of contents and there's some obscure methods I've never heard of. It's probably not something I'd get on a whim as the exchange rate would be prohibitive. Let us know what you think when you get it!

 

On 12/8/2024 at 11:29 AM, WhiteMoon said:

Thanks for telling us about this. I have ordered the book.

[gregory]

My book just arrived (would have been here days ago but this is the first post that has got through in a week ! a huge bundle of it) - yes, LOTS of really interesting illustrations. (I also got a tarot deck which was tracked and the tracking shows "inaccessible" for 8th, 9th and 10th... and they weren't kidding.) I shall certainly get to the exhibition. Might try and fit in the one at the Warburg on the same trip.

[JoyousGirl]

5 hours ago, gregory said:

My book just arrived

 

Is a book review on the cards 😉?  Either way once you've had a bit more time to digest, let us know what you think.

 

Maybe a score out of 10 for usefulness, (e.g. does it have sufficient instructions for someone who might want to learn a new divination method?).  Or is it more of a coffee table book or history overview without much meat and potatoes? 

 

Enjoy your purchases!

Edited January 11 by JoyousGirl

[gregory]

OK - but it is a serious academic one so it won't be quick. However - I'd doubt if it would do what you are looking for as it covers SO many methods. NOT just a coffee table book though.

[JoyousGirl]

6 hours ago, gregory said:

it won't be quick

 

I don't mind. I'm excited!

[gregory]

Tell you what - I will pick on - say - two methods and look hard at them....

[JoyousGirl]

@gregory go with whatever piques your curiosity and reflection - and is an enjoyable exploration of your latest treasure. 

[gregory]

I am doing spider divination just now, because the author of that bit is world renowned in the field The instructions are all there - but when it comes to "determines the meaning" - I think you need background gut feeling that is only gained by experience....

[JoyousGirl]

2 hours ago, gregory said:

I am doing spider divination

Let's hope there's no arachnophobes in this community, you'll give them the jitters just mentioning the "s" word.  Are you saying you've grabbed a spider from some corner of your house to work with? That's a bit funny - the spider being terrorised by what are usually terrified by the spider! Need to take care if you do that in Australia 😆

 

How does it work? Does the spider scurry terrifyingly at great speed 😂 across a board in some direction mean something? (imagine using a Huntsman)

[DanielJUK]

According to the exhibition website, "Note: This exhibition includes a large continuous projection of spider divination practice, including images of the spiders in action" 🙂 

[Natural Mystic Guide]

On 12/30/2024 at 5:07 AM, DanielJUK said:

Some early Tarot cards are included in an exhibition on divination

Tarot cards?  I want to see spiders.  In action.  Web divination, too...

[gregory]

There are tarot cards in the exhibition - which I haven't been to yet. I will admit the book isn't hugely detailed on tarot - but that would take a whole book. And the book doesn't show spiders MOVING. I will post about what the book actually says when I'm done, @JoyousGirl. But if you want to see it all in action, @Natural Mystic Guide, you will have to go to the exhibition yourself. It is actually a serious event, and it's a serious book.

Edited January 14 by gregory

[Natural Mystic Guide]

4 hours ago, gregory said:

It is actually a serious event, and it's a serious book.

Super!  Looking forward to your sharing.  I love bugs and arachnids and am always looking to expand my divination tools.  Regrettably I do not see myself flying to England any time soon.

[gregory]

OK; spiders (they also see crabs as being in the same group, and in the north of Cameroon, they use them in the same way, but in the south, they only use spiders.)

The spiders live in holes in the ground. You put a stick and a stone near the hole, which you cover with marked leaf cards (made out of leaves). So when the spider comes out, it moves the cards, and the diviner then interprets the pattern in terms of an answer to the question asked. Each question is in binary form, one option going with the stick and the other with the stone. (An example they give: "My child is sick; do I go to the doctor or a traditional healer." Decide which is which and then see what card lands where.) The pattern of the cards may give an ambiguous answer, and it is hugely flexible. The cards all have symbols on them; some traditions put more weight on the symbols, others more on the positions in terms of stick and stone. But they all agree that card meanings are important. If a card is pushed under the rim of the pot (they didn't mention the pot - but the image shows one circling the hole like a fence) - it means death, and the symbols on the card will tell you whose death. In the example they give, the card pushed out bears a chicken feather, which suggests a warning of bird flu - very serious in that area.

 

Now I will go pick another method. The tarot chapter (separate from "card divination", by the way) is as basic as that (it is a four page chapter, as is spiders !) - and anyone with no knowledge of tarot would still get the idea of how it's done. In both cases here, you need to "know the meanings" to progress, like.

[gregory]

I think I am going to go with Nuoso Egg divination. One you can all try  at home.

[Natural Mystic Guide]

11 hours ago, gregory said:

OK; spiders

fascinating, isn't it?  Ticks are also arachnids.

[gregory]

But don't live in holes, I think. Scorpions too.

[JoyousGirl]

14 hours ago, gregory said:

In the example they give, the card pushed out bears a chicken feather, which suggests a warning of bird flu - very serious in that area.

 

The simple agrarian lifestyles would mean a limit on what events/outcomes these people are interested in. I'm guessing they put the feather there as a leaf/card that represents this event. Maybe a bit of water (somehow) for drought, and soil/seed/plant for crop harvests etc.

 

As for bird flu, it's certainly devastating for them, because it's their livelihood (10 chickens or however many). It's terrible for all bird-people domesticated or wild - and particularly frightening for factory-farming such as we are removed from in urban centres where thousands of birds die unwell or are killed, before dying anyway for the modern dinner table.

 

One thing that concerns me is the warning of death. There doesn't appear to be any free will intervening to prevent it or advice on how to avoid it.  I recall reading somewhere years ago that once foretold, they just expected a person to die, because it was said it was going to happen, thus making it happen/manifesting it.

[gregory]

Yes indeed - it was just one of the examples they gave specific to "when a card is pushed out of the pot". Too lazy to go and dig out one of the others