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Explore substantial articles and reference guides from the Living Archive.
Origins, cultural context, and contemporary interpretations.
Bone, Shell & Object Divination
Some objects are counted. Some are read in relationship. Others are heated until they crack. Discover the different ways material things become part of divination.
Comparative overview · Various periods
Bone, Shell & Object Divination
Explore how bones and other objects become part of consultations grounded in ancestral relationships, with examples from KwaZulu-Natal and a historical Ngwaketse account.
Southern African bone casting · Historical and contemporary
Bone, Shell & Object Divination
Follow the cowrie through adornment, exchange and divination, including Yoruba merindinlogun, related Ifá traditions and a documented Candomblé set from the diaspora.
Yoruba merindinlogun · Historical and contemporary
Bone, Shell & Object Divination
Heat, cracks and inscriptions preserved questions about harvests, childbirth and warfare. Explore how divination became part of the surviving written record of late Shang China.
Shang dynasty divination · Late Shang dynasty
Bone, Shell & Object Divination
Carved figures, seeds, horns and small tools come together in ngombo ya cisuka. Discover the ancestral setting, artistry and social language of Chokwe basket divination.
Chokwe ngombo ya cisuka · Historical and contemporary
Bone, Shell & Object Divination
From an oracle of Heracles to Tibetan ritual texts and an Old Turkic Book of Omens, explore how casting objects could connect a question with an answer.
Astragalomancy and dice divination · Ancient and later
Bone, Shell & Object Divination
A keepsake, a protective amulet and a divination piece can hold meaning in different ways. Explore how stories, materials, histories and relationships shape what an object signifies.
Material symbolism and religious history · Ancient and contemporary examples
Oracles, Lots & Patterns
A Chinese classic invites us to think about changing circumstances through six lines, layered texts and centuries of interpretation.
Chinese Yijing · Zhouyi and later commentarial traditions
Tarot & Cartomancy
Follow tarot from Renaissance courts and printed games to occult interpretations and the narrative images of Pamela Colman Smith.
Tarot · Fifteenth century to the present
Runes, Scripts & Symbol Systems
Meet the mothers, rulers and craftspeople whose words make runestones records of faith, family and public memory.
Runic writing · Viking Age and later reception
Akashic Records & Related Teachings
Trace the people and ideas behind cosmic memory, from Theosophical writings to Cayce and contemporary records work.
Modern esoteric teachings · Nineteenth century to the present
Past Lives, Rebirth & Reincarnation
How can rebirth make sense without an unchanging self? Early discourses, Jātaka stories and Tibetan traditions offer different ways into the question.
Buddhist traditions · Early discourses to present
Indigenous Traditions of the Americas
Discover the relationships among named days, daykeepers, corn, celestial observation and the continuing life of Maya time.
K’iche’ Maya and named Maya communities · Historical and living calendrical traditions
Astrology
Understand the planets, signs, houses, angles and aspects that turn a circle of symbols into a readable chart.
Western astrology · Hellenistic to contemporary
Human Design
Meet the people, modern history and interpretive vocabulary behind the BodyGraph, from its nine centers to Type and Authority.
Human Design · 1987 to present
Pacific Island Traditions
Explore how named stars connect remembrance, food, seasonal knowledge and community in the Māori new year.
Māori Matariki · Customary knowledge and contemporary renewal
Numerology & Number Symbolism
Follow Hebrew letters into number, rabbinic interpretation and worked examples, with the different methods kept visible.
Hebrew gematria and Greek isopsephy · Antiquity to present
