Update: Have actually decided to keep the owl brooch for a time so it will no longer show up as inventory in the shop. Reasonable offers always considered, however.
After the Owl article, I will try to do one on my own direct experience with birds.
The word divination has three meanings, per the Oxford English Dictionary. One has to do with Roman law. The other two are inclusive of everything, I think, that divination can be and its interesting to note that the word does not necessarily imply a connection with divinity as in God.
The action or practice of divining; the foretelling of future events or discovery of what is hidden or obscure by supernatural or magical means; soothsaying, augury, prophecy. With a and pl., an exercise of this, a prophecy, an augury.
In a weaker sense: Prevision or guessing by happy instinct or unusual insight; successful conjecture or guessing.
I found the definition interesting because it represents two levels of the same meaning. These levels can be seen as a continuum or matter of degree - powerful to weak - or in terms of our fundamental spiritual and / or scientific frame of reference. This month I'm going to take a look at some popular (as opposed to esoteric) forms of divination and blog on what I learn.
I will say going in that I'm an intuitive person. I am also very sensitive to energy. I do not consider myself psychic but I do believe in energy and that a person can connect with this energy through dreams, study, prayer or circumstance. To me divination, in the common fortunetelling sense of the word, falls in the realm of circumstance and I get readings and use Tarot cards to this end. As for the information I'm given - I hold everything up to my own radar and suggest that everyone else do that as well.
Early uses of the word divination as listed by the Oxford English Dictionary:
c1374 CHAUCER Boeth. v. pr. iv. 125 (Camb. MS.) Marchus tullius, whan he deuynede the dyuynaciouns, that is to seyn in his book that he wroot of diuinaciouns. 1382 WYCLIF Acts xvi. 16 Sum wenche hauynge a spirit of dyuynacioun. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) III. 57 Either seide that [he] hadde the better dyuynacioun of foules [felicius augurium]. 1555 EDEN Decades 309 To speke of thynges that shalbe, longe before they are, is a kynde of diuination. 1579-80 NORTH Plutarch (1895) 80 The flying of birds, which doe geue a happy divination to things to come. 1662 STILLINGFL. Orig. Sacr. II. iv. §1 The Gentiles hearkend unto Oracles and Divinations. 1712 ADDISON Spect. No. 505 Among the many pretended arts of divination, there is none which so universally amuses as that by dreams.
I viewed the movie, Hereafter, hoping to recommend a movie. But I decided recommend an older movie, Stir of Echoes, instead. Be warned, this is mostly an action film (and a relatively violent one at that.
Hereafter was a disappointment to me and will be, I suspect, to anyone with any real interest in the metaphysical. Never a fan of plot devices (in this instance, three strangers who eventually meet) I found the entire film lacking - not only in terms of plot but in regard to character development as well. A real problem given that the producers have almost completely ignored the mystical aspects of the spirit world in favor of interpersonal drama.
While each character experiences various forms of upheaval as a result of their experiences with the hereafter most seem oddly unaffected. Their lives change externally and these are the events of the film but the characters themselves have almost nothing to say about phenomena behind the events and only the youngest actor, struggling with the loss of his brother, appears convincingly motivated to understand what has befallen him.
Plot development seems very much an issue. A life altering book, written by the female lead, is researched, but never explained. In one potentially interesting scene, NDE related files are carried out of a hospice, but we are given no real specifics about the information contained. The protagonist (Matt Damon) experiences the realms beyond firsthand but offers little in the way of insight, appearing mostly annoyed by the inconvenience his psychic "curse" creates on a personal level.
Possibly intending to create an air of mystery, the film is - in my estimation - woefully understated, offering little in terms of either content or interpersonal drama. And yes, I do realize that I have broken the no negative reviews rule here, but firstly I think Matt Damon can take it. And secondly to take a topic about which so much can be said, and then say so little, is too disappointing to ignore.
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