Rituals
Divination brings you into contact with the gods so that you can learn the truth from them and benefit from their advice. Rituals provide techniques for contacting the gods more effectively, and using appropriate rituals will improve the effectiveness of your divination. In this chapter, you will learn rituals for consecrating your divination tools and for doing a divination. If you have practiced other kinds of divination, then you may already know rituals for consecration and divination. If so, you certainly can use them with the oracles in this book; you do not have to use the rituals I will present. They are, however, drawn from the ancient Graeco-Egyptian tradition, and I think you will find them useful.
Consecration Ritual
In later chapters, you will discover that you can consult these oracles with many different kinds of divinatory instruments: dice, marked stones (like rune stones), coins, staves, etc. If you learn to use several of these techniques, you will be able to improvise divinations with available materials even if you do not have your instruments available. Nevertheless, you also will want to have one or more sets of lots that you have consecrated specifically for divination. Consecration purifies these objects of extraneous influences, dedicates them to a sacred purpose, and divinely empowers them to perform it well. Moreover, through repeated use, you will become psychically attuned to your instruments and they will work better for you.
If you already have a consecration ritual that you use for your magical and ritual tools, by all means use it to consecrate your divinatory lots. In case you don’t, or in case you want to learn a new one, I will explain a consecration drawn from the Graeco-Egyptian magical tradition.40
Preparation:
You should have an altar facing east and a clean white linen altar cloth. If you have a statue or image of Apollo (or the patron god of divination in your tradition), you can do the consecration in its presence. Seasonal flowers on the altar will please the god. You should also have a censer and such incenses as frankincense, myrrh, and Egyptian kyphi. For a libation you can use honey (especially), wine, olive oil, milk, or rainwater. If you are working indoors, you will need a vessel in which to pour the libations. Have seven offerings of, for example, seasonal fruit, fresh bread, cakes, or cookies. You can use a laurel branch as a wand (ideally, with seven leaves).
Abstain from sex for seven days and take a ritual bath before the operation to purify yourself. Dress in a clean white linen robe unbound by a belt. Crown yourself with a laurel wreath, which is sacred to Pythian Apollo, Lord of Oracles.
The seventh day after the new moon (that is, the first quarter) is celebrated as Apollo’s birthday and is especially auspicious for this consecration.
The Operation:
1. If you are not working in consecrated space, then cast a circle or create sacred space in your accustomed way.
2. Light the incense.
3. Invocation: Pour libations and make offerings, saying Spondê! (pron., spon-DAY) whenever you pour a libation. Invoke Apollo as follows:
Blest Paian, come in answer to my prayer,
O god of Delphi, whom we all revere,
O Delian king, whose light-producing eye
views all within and all beneath the sky,
whose locks are gold, whose oracles are sure,
who, omens good reveals and precepts pure.
Hear me entreating for the human kind,
hear, and be present with a gracious mind! 41
4. If you are using the laurel branch, hold it in your right hand during the following invocation. The vowel chants should be intoned long and sonorously.
I invoke Thee, O Paian, O Phoibos of Parnassus,
Apollôn of Claros EÊU (eh ay ü),
Castalian One AÊA (ah ay ah),
Pythian ÔAE (oh ah eh),
Apollôn of the Muses IEÔÔEI (ih eh oh oh eh ih).42
5. Purification: Hold your lots to be consecrated in the incense smoke and pray:
I have called on thee, the greatest god,
and through thee on all other gods
to purify these lots of every taint.
Protect these lots today and for all time,
and give them strength supreme, divine.
Give power, truth, and fortune to these lots.
For this consecration I beseech you,
gods of the heavens,
gods under the earth,
gods residing in the middle,
masters of the living and the dead,
you who hear the needs of gods and mortals,
you who reveal what’s been concealed!
Immortal gods! Attend my prayers and grant
that I may fill with spirit these, my lots.43
6. Potentiation: For additional strength, the remainder of the consecration up to the release can be repeated seven times with increasing force and power:
I conjure Earth and Heaven!
I conjure Light and Darkness!
I call the god who hath created all,
Complete this sacred consecration now!
The Gates of Earth are opened!
The Gates of Sea are opened!
The Gates of Sky are opened!
The Gates of Sun and Moon
and all the Stars are opened!
My spirit has been heard by all the gods,
So give now spirit to this mystery
that I have made, O gods whom I have named,
O gracious gods on whom I’ve called.
Give breath to this, the mystery I’ve made!
Esto! 44
7. Release: It is important to bring the ritual to a definite end. Make final offerings and libations of thanks while reciting a dismissal such as this:
Depart, O Master, to thy realm,
to thine own palace, to thy throne.
Restore the order of the world.
Be gracious and protect me, Lord.
I thank thee for thy presence here.
Depart in peace and joy. Farewell! 45
For a more comprehensive procedure, see the Greater Tool Consecration, which I have made available online (see the Bibliography).
For a more potent consecration of the Alphabet Oracle, you can invoke the daimons or spirits of each letter.46 Between steps five and six, chant these names sonorously and visualize the glowing letters descending into your lots from progressively higher spheres. The names are given in Greek letters with the individual oracles in Chapter 7. Here I write them phonetically so you can use them in the ritual. Each is preceded by the Greek letter for visualization:
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Ah-blah-nah-thah-nahl-bah! |
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Boo-law-men-taw-reb! |
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Geh-nih-awe-moo-thig! |
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Day-maw-geh-nayd! |
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En-kü-klih-eh! |
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Zay-naw-bih-oh-thiz! |
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Ay-skoh-thoh-ray! |
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Thoh-thoo-thoth! |
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Ih-ah-eh-awe-ü-oh-ih! |
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Kor-kaw-oo-naw-oak! |
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Loo-law-eh-nay-el! |
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Maw-raw-thaw-ape-nam! |
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Nehr-xih-are-xin! |
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Xaw-naw-faw-ay-nax! |
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Or-neh-awe-fah-oh! |
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Pü-raw-bah-rüp! |
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Reh-roo-taw-ayr! |
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Seh-sen-meh-noo-ress! |
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Tau-raw-paw-lit! |
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Ü-peh-feh-noo-rü! |
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Fih-meh-mah-mef! |
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Khen-neh-awe-feh-awkh! |
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Psü-khom-poi-aps! |
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Oh-rih-own! |
Divination Rituals
I’m giving you two rituals for divination, a more formal one for important divinations, and a simpler one for impromptu readings. I’ll also address the issue of miscasts (e.g., dice rolling off the table) and what to do about them, the all-important act of accepting an oracle response, and when you can repeat a question.
Formal Divination
In general, divination will be more effective if you go to some effort to attune your soul to the energy of the god with whom you wish to communicate. Therefore, for an important divination, I suggest that you prepare yourself ritually, for example, taking a ritual bath, donning robes, and burning incense. Here is a suggestion for a formal divination ritual: 47
1. Light the incense.
2. While sitting or standing comfortably, ground and center yourself.
3. For an especially important divination, anoint your lips with honey or drink a honeyed drink (e.g., mead, honeyed wine, or milk and honey). Make an offering as well.
4. Pray with a sonorous voice:
O Lord Apollôn, come with Paian now.
Give answers to my questions, all-wise one.
Leave Mount Parnassus and from Delphi fly
whenever I have said thy secret name:
AKRAKANARBA
KRAKANARBA
RAKANARBA
AKANARBA
KANARBA
ANARBA
NARBA
ARBA
RBA
BA
A
O Pythian Apollôn, answer me! 48
As you chant the “wing” above, visualize Apollo appearing in all his glory and standing in front of and above you. Picture a young man with piercing eyes and longish blond hair crowned with a laurel wreath. He is nude or draped in a yellow himation (toga) and holds a seven-string lyre in his left hand and a golden arrow in his right.
1. Silently, in your mind, ask the question.
2. Mix up or shuffle the lots as you hold the question in your mind.
3. If you are casting, then you can blow into the hand holding the lots to inspire them before you cast. If you are drawing, then rub your hands together, generating heat, before you draw.
4. When the time seems right (the kairos 49 ) or the god moves you, cast or draw your lots. (Specific instructions are given in Chapter 5and Chapter 9.)
5. Interpret the oracle, praying to Apollo that he guides you to the truth:
Explain thy prophecy in lucid words,
reveal all things: both when they will occur
and how they will be done. Reveal the truth! 50
6. When you are done, thank the god for his assistance. You can use the release I gave for the consecration ritual.
Informal Divination
Sometimes you don’t have the time or equipment at hand for a formal divination, and a more informal procedure is appropriate. In these cases, first center yourself, and then think or speak a spell such as this (which you can memorize):
Come hither to thy prophet, haste to sing
divine precepts to me, and to proclaim
pure words, and through these lots to bring
me oracles. Thus I invoke thy name:
Akti Kara Abaiôth (Ahk-tih Kah-rah Ah-buy-oath).51
Instead of the Akti formula, you can recite the AKRAKANARBA wing. Or improvise your own prayer. Before casting your lots, visualize Apollo standing above and before you as you contemplate the question. Pray as follows when you cast:
O Pythian Apollôn, answer me!
To invoke Hermes for your divination, you can use the prayer to him in Chapter 2. If you would prefer to invoke a goddess for your divinations, a good choice is Daphne, who is Apollo’s assistant and messenger, or Athena, goddess of wisdom.
Dealing with Miscasts
Occasionally something will go wrong in a divination: a die will roll off the table, you’ll miscount the beads, you’ll fumble the alphabet stones, etc. You should not ignore such unforeseen happenings in a divination ritual. Often, it means that the god is reluctant to answer the query, either because it is better if you do not know the answer or because there is something more important for you to inquire about. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to try again in case the accident had no such meaning. Three times, however, is the max, for three failures is an unambiguous sign that the god does not want to answer that query (or perhaps any query that day). It is generally wise to wait at least twenty-four hours before trying the divination again. As I mentioned in Chapter 2, Apollo told Hermes that if mortals persisted in consulting the Delphic Oracle in spite of an inauspicious preliminary divination, then the oracle would be unreliable. Likewise, if you force a divination when the signs are against it, you are unlikely to get a good result.
Sometimes a failed divination portends an unfavorable outcome. Cicero tells of a time when the Spartans came to the Oracle of Zeus at Dodona, which was in the territory of the Molossians.52 When a monkey, who was a pet of the Molossian king, knocked the lots over and scattered them everywhere, the attending priestess told the Spartans that they should give up hope of victory and attend to their safety instead.
Accepting the Oracle
After you have had time to carefully consider the oracle—to solve the enigma—and have decided on a meaning (which might take days!), you may formally accept it by addressing the god and saying “I accept the oracle” (Grk., Lambanô ton khrêsmon; Lat., Oraculum accipio). Think of it as confirming an agreement or understanding. Deliberate wisely! Don’t decide in haste!
Divination Journal
To improve your divination skill, I suggest that you keep a divination journal. Whenever you cast the lots, record the oracle question, the oracle response you received, alternative interpretations you might have considered, the final interpretation you accept, and how you intend to act on it. Record related factors, such as miscasts. If you make a supporting talisman (described in later chapters), record what you made and how it was consecrated. Record the actions you actually take relevant to the oracle. Later, as events relevant to the divination unfold, record them as well. You might discover, for example, that one of your alternative interpretations was better or that a completely new interpretation was most appropriate. By reviewing your journal from time to time, you will improve your skill.
Repeating Divinations
It goes without saying, I suppose, that you should not repeat a divination in hopes of getting a more pleasing answer. At the very least, this is disrespectful to the gods and exhibits an unwillingness to accept their advice. On the other hand, it is quite reasonable to ask a follow-up question or to seek clarification. It is also reasonable to ask the same question again after a change in circumstances, which makes it, in effect, a different question. If an oracular response pertains to time (e.g., B (Beta) in the Alphabet Oracle: “Briefly wait; the time’s not right for you”), then it is reasonable to ask again, after an appropriate amount of time. The ancients sometimes recommended asking a timing question at most three times before abandoning the intended action.
A good guide is to think of yourself having a brief and valuable audience with a wise sage (or, indeed, with a god!). It would be impolite and foolish to keep asking the same question, but it would be wise to seek clarification or additional information, provided you listen carefully and strive to understand what you hear. (See also Appendix B on probability and repeated divinations.)
40. The ritual is adapted from consecrations in the Great Magical Papyrus of Paris (PGM IV. 1596–1715, 2179–2205, 3210–3214) and other Greek Magical Papyri (PGM III. 291–310; V. 213–248; XII. 211–269, 285–334). See Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation for English translations.
41. Adapted from the “Orphic Hymn to Apollo” (Thomas Taylor translation).
42. Adapted from the PGM II. 124–40; III. 258–9.
43. Adapted from PGM IV.1615–1620; XII.216–224, 301–304.
44. Adapted from PGM XII.325–334. “Esto!” means “So be it!”
45. Based on releases such as PGM I.94–95; II.180–183; IV.1061–1065, 3120–3124; V.41–50.
46. From PGM CI. 23–29. These are called voces magicae (Lat., “magic words”) or onomata barbara (Grk., “barbarian names”).
47. This divination spell is adapted from one in the text of a dice oracle.
48. Adapted from PGM I. 296–9; II. 1, 65.
50. Adapted from PGM VI. 16–19.
51. Adapted from PGM VI. 41–5; II. 79.
52. Cicero, On Divination, I.76; 70.