Divination is the practice of ascertaining information from supernatural sources. If a distinction is to be made with fortune-telling, divination has a formal or ritual and often social character, usually in a religious context; while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Divination is often dismissed by skeptics as being mere superstition: in the 2nd century, Lucian devoted a witty essay to the career of a charlatan, Alexander the false prophet, trained by "one of those who advertise enchantments, ...

Including:

• Divination - Methods of divination incomplete
• Divination - For further reading
• Divination - Popular
• Divination - Academic

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Read more here: » Scapulomancy: Encyclopedia - Scapulomancy

Astragalomancy, also known as astragyromancy, is a form of divination using dice bearing letters and numbers. Originally, sheep bones or knuckle bones were used with letters and numbers marked on them. Other related archives

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Some Yogic students think that only he who can fly in the air, walk on the water, and do such other miracles, can be called a Yogi. It is a sad mistake. To be peaceful, to be calm, to radiate joy, to have an intense aspiration to realise God, to have the spirit of service and devotion, to be self-controlled-this is real Yoga. Flying in the air is not yoga. Why should one aspire to fly like a bird after attaining the human birth? You must have a willing heart to serve everybody and a desire to possess all divine virtues. This is Yoga.

From "Kundalini Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Yoga: Ideals in Yoga

Nothing captures the paradigmatic ambiguity of Hinduism - its liberating intellectual plurality and its equally restricting social construction - more than the life of the 14th century 'untouchable' saint-poet of western India, Chokhamela. The voice that speaks in his poetry is perhaps one of the first marginalised voices to be heard in the history of India.

Chokhamela belonged to a community of devotees called the varkaris whose traditions and forms of worship survive in a practice that is an almost unbroken continuum from the late 13th century.

(See also: Chokhamela, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

In the series, Evolving Towards Enlightenment I-V, Carl Johan Calleman explains the links between the Mayan Calendar Enlightenment and the significance of the year 2012.

Read more here: » Mayan Calendar: Evolving Towards Enlightenment - I

Complete celibacy is the master-key to open the realms of elysian Bliss. The avenue to the abode of Supreme Peace begins from Brahmacharya or purity. Brahmacharya is the vow of celibacy in thought, word and deed, by which one attains Self-realisation or reaches Brahman.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Brahmacharya: What Is Brahmacharya?

By the practice of Siddhasana, Sirshasana, Sarvangasana, Mula Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha, Maha Mudra, Yoga Mudra, Nauli, etc., a Hatha Yogi transmutes his seminal energy into Ojas-Sakti. By the practice of Navavidha Bhakti (Sravana, Kirtana, Smarana, Padasevana, Archana, Vandana, Sakhya, Dasya, Atmanivedana) and Japa, a Bhakta destroys the impurity of his mind and fixes it on God.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Brahmacharya: Sadhana for Success in Brahmacharya

Are you relaxed when you are relaxed? Most people are not! Relaxing does not mean dumping yourself into your Grandpa's rocking chair. That is dumping . You do not have to fall into something to relax, but if you do not make it a habit to relax, soon you will be falling all over the place!

(See also: Meditation and Relaxation, Meditation, Meditation for Beginners, Meditation Techniques)

Hinduism Lexicon on B

From backbiting to buddhi chitta.

Read more here: » Hinduism: Hinduism Lexicon on B

Vedanta is the religion of the Upanishads. It is the property of all. It has no quarrel with any religion whatsoever. It preaches universal principles. It inculcates the idea of that universal religion which is the fountainhead of all the religions of the world. It unites all. It shows the easy means to attain the Eternal Happiness, Peace and Bliss, the goal of human existence.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Vedanta:Vedanta - the religion of the Upanishads

Today is International Women's Day. Around the world, in conferences and debates, ways to 'improve' women's lot and empower them will be discussed. They will remain a view from the outside unless we find a way to tune in to the spirit of the eternal feminine, and rediscover the creatrix that lies reduced to a vestigial place in our psyche after centuries of neglect. Today would be a good day to begin a renewal of this ancient relationship with our innate, instinctual, feminine self.

(See also: Aghora, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Cleromancy, sortilege, casting lots or casting bones is a form of divination in which an outcome is determined by random means, such as the rolling of a die. Cleromancy - In Western culture. Casting of lots occurs frequently in the Bible. One notable example of casting lots is represented by the soldiers who cast lots for Jesus' clothes -John 19:24- as he was dying on the cross. In this case, the casting of lots was implicitly looked down upon by the biblical authors, however, elsewhere ...

Including:

• Cleromancy - In Western culture
• Cleromancy - In Eastern culture
• Cleromancy - Yes-no pens
• Cleromancy - External link

Read more here: » Cleromancy: Encyclopedia - Cleromancy

Animal worship is an ill-defined term, covering facts ranging from the worship of the real divine animal, commonly conceived as a "god-body," at one end of the scale, to respect for the bones of a slain animal or even the use of a respectful name for the living animal at the other end. Added to this, in many works on the subject we find reliance placed, especially for the African facts, on reports of travellers who were merely visitors to the regions on which they wrote. Animal cults may be classified in two ways: ...

Including:

• Animal worship - Classification by outward form
• Animal worship - Classification by inward meaning
• Animal worship - Pastoral cults
• Animal worship - Hunting cults
• Animal worship - Dangerous or noxious animals
• Animal worship - Animals regarded as human souls or their embodiment
• Animal worship - Totemistic cults
• Animal worship - Cults of secret societies and individual cults of tutelary animals
• Animal worship - Cults of tree and vegetation spirits
• Animal worship - Cults of ominous animals
• Animal worship - Cults probably derivative of animals associated with certain deities
• Animal worship - Cults of animals used in magic
• Animal worship - Animal Cults
• Animal worship - Bear
• Animal worship - Bison and Cattle
• Animal worship - Crow/Raven
• Animal worship - Dog
• Animal worship - Elephant
• Animal worship - Fish
• Animal worship - Goat
• Animal worship - Hawk
• Animal worship - Horse
• Animal worship - Leopard
• Animal worship - Lion
• Animal worship - Lizard
• Animal worship - Mantis
• Animal worship - Monkey
• Animal worship - Rabbit
• Animal worship - Serpent
• Animal worship - Sheep
• Animal worship - Tiger
• Animal worship - Wolf

Read more here: » Animal worship: Encyclopedia - Animal worship

Oracle bones were first fully excavated from the Anyang site in Henan Province China in 1899. They are mostly ox scapulae (shoulder blades) and turtle shells or plastrons, used for scapulomancy: after being heated (such as having a heated rod inserted through the bone), they would crack, and the priest in charge of the ceremony would read the cracks to learn the answer to a question written on the bone. He looked both for the presence of a crack or the absence of a crack to assay the relative strength of one question's answer t ...

Read more here: » Oracle bone: Encyclopedia - Oracle bone

In Egyptian mythology, Ammit (also spelt Ammut, and Ahemait) was the personification of divine retribution for all the wrongs one had committed in life. Ammit was said to live near the scales of justice, in the underworld, Duat, where the hearts of the dead were weighed by Anubis against Ma'at, the principle of truth and justice. The hearts of those who failed the test were given to Ammit to devour, and their souls were not permitted to enter Aaru, having t ...

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Janet Farrar (born Janet Owen on June 24, 1950) is a British teacher and author of books on Wicca and Neopaganism. Along with her two husbands, Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone, Farrar has published "some of the most influential books on modern Witchcraft to date"[1]. According to George Knowles, "some seventy five percent of Wiccans both in the Republic and North of Ireland can trace their roots back to the Farrar's [sic]"Including:

• Janet Farrar - Life
• Janet Farrar - Bibliography
• Janet Farrar - With Stewart Farrar
• Janet Farrar - With Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone
• Janet Farrar - With Virginia Russell
• Janet Farrar - With Gavin Bone
• Janet Farrar - Notes and references

Read more here: » Janet Farrar: Encyclopedia - Janet Farrar

An oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion; an infallible authority, usually spiritual in nature. It can also be a prediction of the future, from the gods, that is spoken through another object or life-form. In the ancient world many sites gained a reputation for the dispensing of oracular wisdom: they too became known as "oracles", as did the oracular utterances themselves, whose very name is derive ...

Read more here: » Oracle: Encyclopedia - Oracle

Located in Bohai Sea, the island is 4 km from Downtown Zhifu and is 10 km x 1 km. Part of Public Road No. 26 connects the western end of the island and the north part of the mainland peninsula. Originally, the island was disconnected from the mainland, but for a period of millennium of years, the sand and soil in the ocean floor built up a 600-metre wide pathway. Thus the island is called the "Mainland-connecting Island" in Chinese (陸連島); it could even be considered a small peninsula. The island's largest mountain is Laoye Mount ...

Including:

• Zhifu Island - Geography
• Zhifu Island - History
• Zhifu Island - Etymologies
• Zhifu Island - Miscellanea

Read more here: » Zhifu Island: Encyclopedia - Zhifu Island

Ancient Aztec eschatology is primarily derived from Toltec eschatological beliefs and traditions, centered on the belief that four worlds, or "Suns", along with humankind, were destroyed in a catastrophe prior to the creation of the present universe. The present world is the fifth sun, and the Aztec saw themselves as "the People of the Sun," whose divine duty is to wage cosmic war in order to provide the sun with his tlaxcaltiliztli ("nourishment"). Without it, the sun would disappear from the heavens. Thus the welfare and the ...

Including:

• Ancient Aztec eschatology - Destruction of the four suns
• Ancient Aztec eschatology - Fifth Sun

Read more here: » Ancient Aztec eschatology: Encyclopedia - Ancient Aztec eschatology