such as cloud and smoke paterns. The Greeks consulted horoscopes, dreams and oracles for divination purposes, the most famous oracle being the one at Delphi, near Mount Parnasus. In tribal and shamanic cultures divination is a sacred function performed by shamans who go into a trance to consult spirit helpers. In the East divination is more an accepted part of daily life than it is in the West where it has been criticized strongly by the Church and by the scientific community. Despite condemnation, however, divination has not been eradicated in the West and the majority of people remain open minded and curious about the possibility of seeing into the future.
There are hundreds of different types of divination, but they can be classified as belonging to one of two categories: direct communication with gods and spirits through visions, trance, dreams and possession, or the interpretation of natural or artificial signs, lots or omens via a system. The most common example of the latter involves the sorting or casting of bones, stones, beans or other objects, with conclusions drawn from the patterns of their fall. Two well-known divination methods – the I Ching and the Tarot – are of this type. When a card, coin or stick is selected the randomness of the action allows the spirits or gods to affect the outcome and give a message.
Scientific research has shown that it is possible to predict future events, e.g. weather forecasts, but this is not divination. Unlike science, divination assumes the influence of some supernatural force.
Divination methods range from the accepted and well known, such as astrology, palmistry and Tarot, to the forgotten, such as entomancy (divination interpreting the appearance and behaviour of insects), to the bizzarre, such as uromancy – divination by reading the appearance of urine in a pot. Most terms associated with divination end in ‘mancy’, from the Greek manteia (divination), or ‘scopy’ from the Greek skopein (to look into or behold). A diviner is someone who foretells future events based on the practice of divination.
DIXON, JEANNE (1918–1997)
Twentieth century Psychic who claimed to be able to predict the future. Information came to her in the form of dramatic visions. According to her supporters Dixon accurately foretold the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy. She also predicted the launch of Sputnik and the sinking of the submarines USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, as well as the unexpected presidential defeat of Thomas Dewey by Harry Truman, the landslide election of Dwight Eisenhower, the demise of Nikita Khrushchev, and the plane crash that killed UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld.
Jeanne Dixon, who was told by a gypsy when she was eight years old that she would become a great psychic, also made hundreds of trivial predictions about celebrities and insignificant events and earned the dubious nickname of ‘gossip prophet’. As she explained it, ‘When a psychic vision is not fulfilled as expected, it is not because what has been shown is not correct; it is because I have not interpreted it correctly.’
Like Nostradamus (C. 1:60) and St John (in the Book of Revelation 8: 10–12), she prophesized that Earth will be struck by a comet. Her timing, however, was premature:
I have seen a comet strike our Earth around the middle of the 1980s. Earthquakes and tidal waves will befall us as a result of the tremendous impact of this heavenly body in one of our great oceans.
And like several other prophets, Dixon also has foreseen the advent of the Antichrist and the False Prophet:
Satan is now coming into the open to seduce the world and we should be prepared for the inevitable events that are to follow. I have seen that the United States is to play a major role in this development.
Ms Dixon believed her powers were a gift from God. She made little financial profit from them, making it a policy not to charge fees and to donate income to a children’s charity. Sceptics argue that her predictions were vague, wide open to interpretation and often completely inaccurate or wrong. They also believe that the media played a part in the cult surrounding her.
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