Sorting through Tarot cards for my shop, made me think on the various forms of divination both Scottish and others which we have adopted. If we look back through
history, we can see that divination has been used in Scotland for a long time.
A Spaewife (obviously a woman and therefore naturally all knowing, born with supernatural powers) could be consulted both to see the future and for their healing ability. They are in some ways similar to the Norse Völva, we should not however confuse them with the ‘witches’ of the time, who were considered to have consorted with the ‘devil’ in order to perform magic.
Let’s take a wander through some other forms of both traditional Scottish methods of divination and those that we have borrowed from other countries…
Dowsing
Dowsing is the practise of using two sticks to find something, usually water (sometimes particular types of stone). The sticks cross over as you get near what you are looking for. This is still used by many to find underground water sources, including farmers. Until recently Scottish Water also used dowsing to help find the exact locations of underground pipes.
Frith
A method of finding something through incantation, that has been lost, be that object or person. Also used on the first Monday after the Quarter Days (Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain) to divine what the next quarter holds. This is probably a very old tradition, with two schools of thought that it is either old Gaelic tradition or imported with the Norse. Due to Scotland’s lack of writing things down, we will probably never know the origin. The first writing of the method seems to be a story from the Bible where Mary gets help from the goddess Brigid to find the missing Jesus. This story was a blend of Pagan and Christian stories used to ease the transition of religious beliefs.
Samhain
A lot of the games we now play on Samhain in Scotland actually have their roots in divination. Unmarried people would burn hazelnuts to see if the person they liked was ‘the one’ the idea being if the fire ‘spat’ then unfortunately not. Dookin’ for apples (Apple’s float in water and players must grab them using only their teeth) is a very popular game even today, originally each apple would have a fortune tied to it but these days it’s just for the joy of getting soaked. Apparently, there was also a tradition of putting a silver coin in with the apples, the person who could retrieve the coin would have very good luck in the coming year.
Slinneanachd
A form of divination that was performed on the Isle of Lewis. The person wishing to know the future would take a sheep’s speal bone to a seer. The seer would hold the bone in the direction of the longest part of the island and would read the marks on the bone.
Tasseomancy
Although reading tea leaves was not invented in Scotland, it was introduced here. The reading of tea leaves became especially popular in the Victorian Era, particularly when tea became a lot more accessible. In order to control tea prices, it was determined Britain would need to own both the plants and the secret of how it became tea. It was a Scottish botanist, who had extensively travelled China, Robert Fortune, that was sent to get both in the 1850s. A book called ‘Tea-cup Reading and the Art of Fortune Telling by Tea Leaves’ was published in 1881 by someone known as ‘A Highland Seer’. It gives detailed instructions on how to prepare a cup and a list of possible symbols. Tea leaf readings were popular because they were now accessible to everyone and didn’t need a specialist to read.
Cartomancy
Cartomancy is divination by reading a deck of cards. Several types exist such as tarot. Playing cards spread in Europe in the 1300s, we don’t know exactly were from. Tarot appeared around 1440 and was originally a card game played in countries such as France and Italy (where it is still played as a game). First used in divination in the latter half of the 1700s, it consists of 78 cards, 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. It is now an incredibly popular form of divination, and you can find cards themed around pretty much anything- a few of which I have available! (There is an awful lot more I could go into with Tarot, but I’ll save it for a blog of its own!)
Runes
Runic divination is a much newer method than many others. Ogham was the Celtic runic
alphabet and the Elder Futhark runes are Nordic. There is no evidence either were used in divination, although there are stories about Odin’s sacrifices to divine the meaning behind runes which are well worth a read. (Although there are also Icelandic sigils thought to be magical). Some people have been trying to use Ogham in divination, but it remains rare. Elder Futhark runes on the other hand have been being used since the 1900s. Like Tarot it is less a method of seeing the exact future and more a method to gain guidance. Each letter has its own meaning which can be interpreted.
So having said all that, what is your preferred tool for divination?
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