Consulting
an oracle for wisdom or guidance goes back
to antiquity. The oracle is, usually, a thing
of knowledge (e.g. a book, pictures, rune
stones, tarot cards, etc.)
Did
you know?
History
records one person's use of bibliomancy. Saint
Francis of Assisi sought divine guidance through
this method by randomly choosing pages from
the Gospels.
What
is bibliomancy?
Bibliomancy
is also known as stichomancy and libramancy. It is a form of
divination (foretelling the future) using a book - usually a
sacred text as the oracle. Traditionally, the Holy Bible was
used probably because in olden times all homes will have had
a Bible of some description. However, any book can be used.
The
three basic steps are:
1.
Formulate the question
2.
Access the book at random and read the choosen text
3.
Interpret the message from the text
Bibliomancy and the I-Ching
Bibliomancy
appears to be an offshoot from the I-Ching. This method of divination,
originating in China, uses yarrow sticks arranged in a random
order to decide which page of the book to look at. (The link
with the random element.) The book or oracle, in this case,
is not the Bible but the Book Of Changes.
The sticks are arranged in different patterns called hexagrams
(six sticks to one hexagram.) Each hexagram has a meaning which
is found in the Book Of Changes. This book contains all manner
of Chinese philosophy and common sense. (The link with a sacred
book.)
When
the hexgram has been created, its meaning is looked up in the
Book Of Changes. (The link with finding a text in a book.)
The
meaning of the hexagram is then applied to the querent's question
or problem. This requires a good deal of imagination as the
texts do not easily correlate with the question being asked.
(The
link with interpreting the message.)
The
I-Ching came into being around three thousand years ago. It
is not clear when bibilomancy branched off from the I-Ching
but the yarrow sticks were discarded and the Book Of Changes
was replaced by another text - the Bible.
