Cleromancy
Encyclopedia
Cleromancy is a form of divination
using sortition
, casting of lots, or casting bones or stones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice
, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God
, or other supernatural
entities.
fortunes were told through the casting of lots or sortes
.
, and many biblical scholars think that the Urim and Thummim
served this purpose.
In the Hebrew Bible
, there are three obvious cases where lots were cast as a means of determining God
's mind:
Other places in the Hebrew Bible relevant to divination:
One notable example in the New Testament
occurs in the Acts of the Apostles
where the eleven remaining apostles draw lots to determine whether Matthias
or Barsabbas (surnamed Justus) would be chosen to replace Judas
. In addition, all four gospels (e.g., John tell of the soldiers at Jesus's crucifixion casting lots to see who would get his clothing.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church
this method of selection is still occasionally used. In 1917 Metropolitan
Tikhon was elected Patriarch of Moscow by the drawing of lots.
German Pietist Christians in the 18th Century often followed the New Testament precedent of drawing Lots to determine the will of God. This was often done by selecting a random Bible passage. The most extensive use of drawing of Lots in the Pietist tradition may have been Count von Zinzendorf and the Moravian
Brethren of Herrnhut
who drew lots for many purposes, including selection of church sites, approval of missionaries, the election of bishops and many others. This practice was greatly curtailed after the General Synod of the worldwide Moravian Unity in 1818 and finally discontinued in the 1880s.
"To divination and casting of lots, they pay attention beyond any other people. Their method of casting lots is a simple one: they cut a branch from a fruit-bearing tree and divide it into small pieces which they mark with certain distinctive signs and scatter at random onto a white cloth. Then, the priest of the community if the lots are consulted publicly, or the father of the family if it is done privately, after invoking the gods and with eyes raised to heaven, picks up three pieces, one at a time, and interprets them according to the signs previously marked upon them."
This practice was still in use in the ninth century, when Anskar, a Frankish missionary and later bishop of Hamberg-Bremen observed the practice several times in the decision-making process of the Danish peoples. In this version, the runes were believed to determine the support or otherwise of gods, whether Christian or Norse, for a course of action or act. For example, in one case a Swedish man feared he had offended a god and asked a soothsayer to cast lots to find out which god. The soothsayer determined it was the Christian god and he later found a book that his son had stolen from Bishop Gautbert in his house.
, and especially in Chinese Taoism
, various means of divination through random means are employed, such as use of the I Ching
. In Japan
, omikuji
is one form of drawing lots.
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
using sortition
Sortition
In politics, sortition is the selection of decision makers by lottery. The decision-makers are chosen as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates....
, casting of lots, or casting bones or stones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, or other supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
entities.
In classical civilization
In ancient RomeAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
fortunes were told through the casting of lots or sortes
Sortes (ancient Rome)
Sortes were a frequent method of divination among the ancient Romans. The method involved the drawing of lots to obtain knowledge of future events: in many of the ancient Italian temples the will of the gods was consulted in this way, as at Praeneste and Caere.These sortes or lots were usually...
.
In Christian culture
Casting of lots occurs relatively frequently in the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, and many biblical scholars think that the Urim and Thummim
Urim and Thummim
In ancient Israelite religion and culture, Urim and Thummim is a phrase from the Hebrew Scriptures or Torah associated with the Hoshen , divination in general, and cleromancy in particular...
served this purpose.
In the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
, there are three obvious cases where lots were cast as a means of determining God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
's mind:
- In the Book of Leviticus , God commands Moses, "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat."
- In the Book of JoshuaBook of JoshuaThe Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....
, Aaron says, "Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God." This action is done in order to know God's will as to the dividing of land between the seven tribes of Israel who had not yet "received their inheritance." (Joshua 18:2). - Also in the First Book of Samuel , lots are used to determine that it was Jonathan, SaulSaul-People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom...
's son, who broke the oathOathAn oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
that Saul made, "Cursed be the man who eats food until its evening and I am avenged on my enemies". (1 Samuel 14:24). - In the Book of JonahBook of JonahThe Book of Jonah is a book in the Hebrew Bible. It tells the story of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah ben Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission...
, the desperate sailors cast lots to see whose god is responsible for creating the storm: "Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah."
Other places in the Hebrew Bible relevant to divination:
- Book of ProverbsBook of ProverbsThe Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
: The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from YahwehYahwehYahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
and 18:18: The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.. - Book of Leviticus KJV "... neither shall you practice enchantmentEnchantmentEnchantment may refer to:*Incantation or enchantment, a magical spell, charm or bewitchment, in traditional fairy tales or fantasy*the sense of Wonder or Delight**for the usage by J.R.R. Tolkien, see "On Fairy Stories"titles and proper names...
, nor observe times." The original Hebrew word for enchantment, as found in Strong's ConcordanceStrong's ConcordanceStrong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, generally known as Strong's Concordance, is a concordance of the King James Bible that was constructed under the direction of Dr. James Strong and first published in 1890. Dr. Strong was Professor of exegetical theology at Drew Theological Seminary at...
, is pronounced naw-khash in English. The translation given by Strong's is "to practice divination, divine, observe signs, learn by experience, diligently observe, practice fortunetelling, take as an omen"; and "1.to practice divination 2.to observe the signs or omens". Times in the original Hebrew is pronounced aw-nan' in English. It's translation in Strong's is "to make appear, produce, bring (clouds), to practise soothsaying, conjure;" and "1. to observe times, practice soothsaying or spiritism or magic or augury or witchcraft 2. soothsayer, enchanter, sorceress, diviner, fortuneteller, barbarian...". In the Hebrew-Interlinear Bible, the verse reads, "not you shall augurAugurThe augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome and Etruria. His main role was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds: whether they are flying in groups/alone, what noises they make as they fly, direction of flight and what kind of...
and not you shall consult cloud". - DeuteronomyDeuteronomyThe Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
..let no one be found among you who [qasam qesem], performs [onan], [nahash], or [kashaph]. qasam qesem literally means distributes distributions, and may possibly refer to cleromancy. kashaph seems to mean mutter, although the Septuagint renders the same phrase as pharmakia (poison), so it may refer to magic potions - In the Book of EstherBook of EstherThe Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
, HamanHamanHaman can be a surname which is a corruption of the German Hamann. It is also a biblical surname as described below. It also refers to:*Haman , appears in the Book of Esther and is the main antagonist in the Jewish holiday of Purim....
casts lots to decide the date on which to exterminate the Jews of Shushan; the Jewish festival of PurimPurimPurim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
is a remembrance of the subsequent chain of events. - In I Chronicles guard duties are assigned by lot.
One notable example in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
occurs in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
where the eleven remaining apostles draw lots to determine whether Matthias
Saint Matthias
Matthias , according to the Acts of the Apostles, was the apostle chosen by the remaining eleven apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following Judas' betrayal of Jesus and his suicide.-Biography:...
or Barsabbas (surnamed Justus) would be chosen to replace Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
. In addition, all four gospels (e.g., John tell of the soldiers at Jesus's crucifixion casting lots to see who would get his clothing.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
this method of selection is still occasionally used. In 1917 Metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
Tikhon was elected Patriarch of Moscow by the drawing of lots.
German Pietist Christians in the 18th Century often followed the New Testament precedent of drawing Lots to determine the will of God. This was often done by selecting a random Bible passage. The most extensive use of drawing of Lots in the Pietist tradition may have been Count von Zinzendorf and the Moravian
Moravian
Moravian refers to:* a person or thing from Moravia * Moravians * Moravian language, disputed language or dialect of the Czech language* a member or adherent of the Moravian Church...
Brethren of Herrnhut
Herrnhut
Herrnhut is a municipality in the district of Görlitz, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany.It has access to Bundesstraße 178 between Löbau and Zittau...
who drew lots for many purposes, including selection of church sites, approval of missionaries, the election of bishops and many others. This practice was greatly curtailed after the General Synod of the worldwide Moravian Unity in 1818 and finally discontinued in the 1880s.
In Scandinavia
The practice of casting lots was described by Tacitus, in Chapter X of his Germania, as a practice used by the Germanic tribes. He states:"To divination and casting of lots, they pay attention beyond any other people. Their method of casting lots is a simple one: they cut a branch from a fruit-bearing tree and divide it into small pieces which they mark with certain distinctive signs and scatter at random onto a white cloth. Then, the priest of the community if the lots are consulted publicly, or the father of the family if it is done privately, after invoking the gods and with eyes raised to heaven, picks up three pieces, one at a time, and interprets them according to the signs previously marked upon them."
This practice was still in use in the ninth century, when Anskar, a Frankish missionary and later bishop of Hamberg-Bremen observed the practice several times in the decision-making process of the Danish peoples. In this version, the runes were believed to determine the support or otherwise of gods, whether Christian or Norse, for a course of action or act. For example, in one case a Swedish man feared he had offended a god and asked a soothsayer to cast lots to find out which god. The soothsayer determined it was the Christian god and he later found a book that his son had stolen from Bishop Gautbert in his house.
In Eastern Culture
In ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and especially in Chinese Taoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
, various means of divination through random means are employed, such as use of the I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
. In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, omikuji
Omikuji
Omikuji are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. Literally "sacred lot", these are usually received by making a small offering and randomly choosing one from a box, hoping for the resulting fortune to be good...
is one form of drawing lots.
External links
- Halliday, Greek Divination (1913), full online edition. Chapter 10 is on Kleromancy.