Page 13 - Kallima Spiritual Centre Newsletter - August / September 2021

The range of planetary, star, and lunar omens from these and other texts is staggering.
From these observations, astrology evolved as a divination tool for determining the future. The earliest example of what we would recognize as a personal horoscope dates from 410 B.C.E. This document reveals that, at the moment of this child's birth, the moon was in Libra, Venus in Taurus, Mars in Gemini, Jupiter in Pisces, Saturn in Cancer, and so on. This development was only possible after the discovery of the zodiac, which seems to have taken place in about 700 B.C.E. Most of the earliest charts were rather bluntly interpreted; many simply stated that the future looked favorable. Others indicated poverty or a long life in the child's future. Most horoscopes seem to have been cast for kings and officials.
Prevention Rituals
As previously stated, omens were often considered to be warnings of impending doom, on a personal or a larger scale. Thus, the Babylonians evolved a number of both simple and complex purification rites called namburbi, designed to avert the evil and appease the responsible deity, which would change the future.
Special priests expert at exorcism performed these rites, in response to omens of impending disaster that affected the entire city. The ‘Namburbi’ included lengthy prayers as well as some rather extraordinary acts.
For example :
• If waking on New Year's Day you saw a snake emerge from a hole and the serpent looked at you, your death was ensured within the following year. To avert this, you would shave your head and cheeks. You would be ill for a period of three months, but would eventually recover, having successfully altered the future.
In ancient Babylon, divination was a cherished practice. The diviners were serious in their activities and they were generally unquestioned. There were some dishonest diviners, but their techniques were not questioned, only the practitioners.
Rome
There are many famous divination practitioners in ancient Romes history, Livy, Aeschylus, Aeneas, and Cicero and there's no doubt divination's importance in the Roman empire.
The Romans used divination as a method of communication with their gods and goddesses and it was practiced by all of their social classes. They also had diviner priests who did little else. Many of these
experts were consulted as Rome expanded its empire. Omens of the outcome of planned battles were constantly required.
Some of the methods used in Rome were created by Etruscans forebearers. Others were passed from Babylon to Greece and onto Rome. Among these practices were:
The ritual creation of dreams and their interpretation. They performed a ritual, then the person in need of a divine response slept overnight in a temple. The deity appeared in a dream to reveal the needed answer.
The reading of omens. The Romans were omen- watchers. They classified omens into two types: the provoked, and the unprovoked (or natural); that is, those that occurred not in answer to the diviner's supplications but were created by the deities of their own volition.
Omens derived from carnivorous birds were considered to be a most reliable source of such information. At times, a question was asked and the sky was watched for the sudden appearance of birds. Their number, direction of flight, and other factors taken into account.
Observing the manner in which sacred chickens ate food was one form of bird augury. Observing ritual silence, the birds were released before piles of food. If they ate, and if the grain dropped from their beaks onto the ground, this was a most favorable omen. If, however, they refused to eat, or scattered the grain with their feet, a dire forecast had been made.
Generals in the field and admirals at sea kept cages of these chickens. A famous account of the use of these birds for divination was preserved by Ovid. The Admiral Publius Clodius, during the First Punic War, was about to attack the Carthaginians. Though he didn't believe in divination, he performed the usual rite before battle: he set out food for the chickens. They refused to eat, thus predicting disaster for Clodius. Angry, he had his men throw the chickens into the sea, stating, "If they won't eat, let them drink." Clodius was defeated: the birds had been right. (This story was viewed as a warning against taking sacred rites in jest.)
Omens were also derived from many aspects of daily life. One that was greatly relied upon was the chance overhearing of a word at unexpected times (as when passing two others engaged in conversation). These words often contained messages far different than their ‘speakers' original intent.
Other omens include changes of the weather; the appearance of meteorites; the behavior of animals; the behavior of the human body (twitching, sneezing, and a forerunner of palmistry) daily home life (such as substances being spilled) and, notoriously, the use of sacrificed animals.
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