The Great Vessel Blog

Divination – The act of a cultural Warrior?

"[Divination is] also [a] cultural or hermeneutic battleground where competing systems of interpretation contest the nature of spirit. A divinatory system carries and re-creates the great images through which people interact with the larger than personal forces that surround them. It is the first line of culture, where these myths or archetypal images connect with individuals and where they are in turn shaped and changed by the individuals they encounter. The images are both carried and continually modified through the opening of “sacred space” the act of divination provides. Major changes in a culture are often a direct reflection of the way in which people divine themselves, the ways they use to connect their daily life with the spirit or spirits."

This article explores some of the ancient Greek events which still echo in our culture today. It sheds some light on the nature of divination as a ‘dramatic’ cultural practice which gives us a dynamic language with which to understand the social world around us and the world of our psyche within.

By choosing one myth or set of beliefs over another, in any situation, we are engaging in the act of culture creation. We live in this battleground of competing images and beliefs. The act of divination is at the forefront of those acts which seek to find both meaning and a consonance between the worlds of soul and the mundane, both of which we inhabit.