n.
A divination by throwing dice or casting lots.
Cleromancy
| Dictionary: Cler·o·man·cy |
n.
| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Cleromancy |
System of divination practiced by throwing black and white beans, little bones or dice, or stones—anything, in short, suitable for lots. A method of practicing cleromancy in the streets of Egypt is cited in the entry on sortilege, and similar divination was common in ancient Rome.
The Thriaejan lots meant much the same thing as cleromancy, being little more than the tossing of dice in which the objects used bore particular marks or characters and were consecrated to Mercury, who was regarded as the patron of this method of divination. For this reason an olive leaf, called "the lot of Mercury," was generally put in the urn in order to gain his favor.
| Wikipedia: Cleromancy |
For the use of random selection as a way to make a fair form of selection, see Sortition.
Cleromancy is a form of divination using sortition, casting of lots, or casting bones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but that are believed to reveal the will of God or other supernatural entities.
Contents |
In classical civilization
In ancient Rome fortunes were told through the casting of lots or sortes.
In Judeo-Christian culture
Casting of lots occurs relatively frequently in the Bible, and many biblical scholars think that the Urim and Thummim served this purpose.
In the Hebrew Bible, there are at least four cases where casting lots was invoked as a means of determining God's mind:
- In the Book of Joshua 7:11-22, God commands that a thief be found by casting lots, first among the tribes of Israel, then among the families of that tribe, etc. Achan, the person identified in this way, confesses his guilt, and shows where he has buried the loot.
- In the First book of Samuel 10:17-24, the people of Israel demand God to set a king over them, and God decrees a king to be found by a procedure similar to the above, leading to the selection of king Saul.
- Also in the First book of Samuel 14:42, lots are used to determine that it was Jonathan, Saul's son, who broke the oath that Saul made, "Cursed be the man who eats food until its evening and I am avenged on my enemies".
- In the Book of Jonah 1:7, casting of lots is used to determine that Jonah was the cause of the storm. He was subsequently cast overboard, and the storm dissipated.
Other places in the Hebrew Bible relevant to divination:
- Book of Proverbs 16:33: The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from Yahweh and 18:18: The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart..
- Leviticus 19:26: .... neither shall you practice [nahash] or [onan][1]. The literal meaning of nahash is hissing, though it can be extended to whispering, and it has historically been understood to refer to enchantment; onan literally translates as clouds, possibly referring to nephomancy. Some english translations render onan as augury (interpreting the flight patterns of birds), but others translate it as sorcery.
- Deuteronomy 18:10 ..let no one be found among you who [qasam qesem], performs [onan], [nahash], or [kashaph][2]. 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 Esther, Haman casts lots to decide the date on which to exterminate the Jews of Shushan; the Jewish festival of Purim is a remembrance of the subsequent chain of events.
Note that there are two distinct Hebrew concepts which are confused if both are translated by casting of lots. Although nahash literally means to hiss when used as a verb, as a noun it means serpent; the idea of divination, or fortune-telling, is conveyed through association with the breath [fig. spirit] of a serpent [fig. deceiver][dubious ][original research?][unreliable source?] and implicitly declares diviners as con artists[dubious ][original research?][unreliable source?]. In contrast, the Hebrew word for lot-casting, gowral, merely means to assign portions, or allotments, in the interests of fairness.
The most notable examples in the New Testament occur in John 19:24, where the soldiers cast lots for Jesus' clothes as he was dying on the cross; and in the Acts of the Apostles 1:23-26 where the eleven remaining apostles draw lots to determine whether Matthias or Barsabbas (surnamed Justus) would be chosen to replace Judas.
In Mormonism
In the Book of Mormon, the sons of Lehi cast lots in the First Book of Nephi to determine who will obtain the plates of brass, a supposed record containing the Israelite scriptures, from the merchant Laban. Laman is selected to represent the brothers by this method, but he fails to do so and barely escapes with his life (the brothers successfully retrieve the plates through other means, however).[3][4]
In Eastern culture
In China, 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.
See also
References
External links
- Halliday, Greek Divination (1913), full online edition. Chapter 10 is on Kleromancy.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Learn More
 | Casting lots |
| Sortilege |
| Favomancy |
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. Webster 1913 Dictionary edited by Patrick J. Cassidy Read more |
 |
| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cleromancy". Read more |
