Page 11 - Kallima Spiritual Centre Newsletter - August / September 2021

If the bones sank, the emotion was hate - if they
floated, it was love.
• The diviner sprinkled water three times on the
forehead of an ox lying on the ground. The animal would react in one of seventeen ways, each foretold a specific event e.g. if the ox snorted and rose to its feet, the diviner would attain all desires. If it snorted and didn't rise, the desire wouldn't be fulfilled.
Divination with Oil
Lecanomancy, divination with oil, seems to have developed very early in the Middle East, and continues to be used by many cultures.
In this practice, the baru sat with a bowl of water resting on his crossed legs. He poured a small quantity of oil into the water. The various movements and shapes of the oil as it floated on the water's surface indicated ill or good.
Divination with Smoke
Libanomancy, the art of reading the smoke from smoldering incense or fires, was also an ancient Babylonian practice. Two ancient clay texts describing this technique have survived thousands of years. We do know that the burner was held on the diviner's lap. An aromatic plant material (usually cedar shavings) was tossed onto the live coals of the burner, and the future was divined by the smoke's behavior.
Lecanomancy and Libanomancy were considered to be the precious legacy handed down to later diviners by the famous Emmeduranki of Sippar. Other methods such as Extispicy, in which the interiors of sacrificial animals were examined to provide the needed response. Even the poorest citizen could occasionally afford to hire a diviner to perform divinations such as these.
Omens
The most popular divination appears to be the interpretation of omens. Though the Babylonians observed, they clearly differentiated between provoked and natural omens they considered both to be accurate predictions of future events.
Omens were derived from all phases of life, from birth to death. Events in cities, the construction of houses, unusual sounds, puddles, the movement and behavior of animals and insects - the list is endless.
A few rules were used in interpreting omens. Basically if it occurred on the left it was favorable; on the right, unfavorable. Movements, by animals, insects, birds, shooting stars, etc., were observed according to the same interpretative rules.
At times, a whole series of omens were provoked and observed. If the results conflicted the diviners followed a set of rules: if most of the omens were positive and
only a few were negative, the prospects were favorable. If the greater number were negative, unfavorable.
Ordeal by Water
Another form of Babylonian divination consisted of an ordeal. A person accused of committing a crime was thrown into a river. If she or he sank, they were considered guilty. If, however, they didn’t sink below the surface, innocence had been proven. This believe came about because water, was a sacred commodity in the middle of a desert, therefore it would never punish an innocent person.
Casting Lots
The most famous divination art of the ancient world was the casting of lots. The Sumerians used wooden sticks, the Assyrians used clay dice, and Babylonians used bone dice.
This would be used for important reasons i.e. to elect public officials. It was accepted that the lots were controlled by the deities, who, through their manipulation of the dice or sticks, revealed their will.
Astrology and Astronomical
Phenomena
It was believed by many that astrology was created in ancient Egypt. However all surviving records prove that Mesopotamia was its birthplace.
I am not talking about the modern practice of astrology, but the ancient practice that grew out of the observation of the planets, their appearances, the moon phases and other astronomical phenomena that the Babylons believed would affect human life. In other words, astrology was originally a form of omen observation.
It is not surprising that astrology developed in the Middle East. They usually had cloudless skies and not much light contamination from towns. This resulted in an incredibly detailed view of the heavens. Centuries of this observation led to the development of the Babylonian calendar, which whilst not as accurate as the Egyption one was one of the most important first steps in the recognition of the zodiac - a necessity to astrology.
The earliest, crudest forms of astrology consisted of the observance of signs seen in the sky. These were considered to be straightforward omens. The Babylonians didn't believe that the stars determined the fate of humans. Rather, they believed that the deities moved the stars and planets around to provide warnings or other messages of future events.
Around 1700 B.C.E. a series of tablets was written, containing over 7,000 celestial omens and observations. This shows the important given to these by the early Babylonians.
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