Astragalomancy is divination using astragali or ankle bones (talus) of animals as dice. Bones of sheep and goats are popular in the near East and Mediterranean, while llama bones are especially linked to communication with the dead in South America.
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Known as cubamancy and astragyromency, astragalomancy is also called knucklebones after the historical type of bones used. It's played as a game or used for divination. The bones are incised with markings such as numbers, letters or symbols.
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Marked astragali are discovered near the altar of Aphrodite Ourania (Aphrodite Urania or Aphrodite of the Heavens) in Athens, Greece dating c. 500 BCE. A find at Corycian Cave, near the Delphic oracle, yields over 22,000 astragali.
The cave is a religious site from Neolithic times. To the Greeks it's a place close to the gods, where wild Pan lives with his lover Echo, and Apollo learns wisdom from the Bee Nympths.
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The practice of contacting the dead or attuning to higher awareness through random castings of dice, bones or sticks originates in prehistory. Bone dice (hakata) are used in divination by the Shona people of Africa for thousands of years.
Astragalomancy is a branch of cleromancy, or divination by casting of lots. The outcome is determined by means considered random, such as a dice throw, and sometimes believed to reveal the will of a deity.
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Numbers may be incised on the dice. The numbers are associated with letters, connected to questions of the diviner. The diviner casts the bones, dice, pebbles or runes and interprets them according to rules related to a religion, such as Norse paganism or Tibetan Buddhism.
The tossing of stones is pessomancy, or augury using colored or marked objects. The pebbles are shuffled and cast or randomly selected from a bag. Colors and symbols relate to such concerns as romance and wealth.
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Marked astragali are used in lotteries or elections. The astrogali are dice, bones or imitation bones of bronze or wood. Sides are marked with values 1,3,4 and 6, with opposing sides adding up to seven. The diviner rolls the astrogali, then consults the relevant dice oracle.
Dice oracles are systemized divination results equated to each sign or number, explaining the meaning of the roll. Often carved into statues or monoliths, they're found throughout the Mediterranean and in Anatolia. Pillars can be about 1.7 m or 5.5 ft tall.
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In consulting the astragali or dice, every set or total of numbers relates to a certain deity. A roll of five ones is fortunate, associated with Zeus. The oracle reads "because Zeus will give good counsel to your mind".
Dice oracles of Anatolia follow a specific format. They address the reader in a first person singular. The desire or query of the reader is silently or openly expressed, the dice or bones are cast and the oracle gives a response.
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Answers tend to be positive such as “You will find that for which you are consulting the oracle, and nothing will be bad” or “you will get everything about which you are asking”.
Negative responses happen, for instance: “The sun has gone down, and terrible night has come. Everything has become dark: interrupt the matter, about which you ask me.” These are less common than the positive answers.
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In South America, huayru is played at funerals. Traditionally the game uses llama bones, as they are thought to have a power of attraction to the soul of the dead person. Versions are several. The fundamental object is to divine the will of the deceased.
The practice can also represent the journey of the deceased. The dice are llamas taking a journey through places associated with commodities, such as a silver mine. The players try to influence the results of the dice by offering prayers or pouring libations.
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In a cultural context of the game, the deceased controls how the dice fall. The players react to bad news by beating the corpse and demanding to know why it wishes them to fail. Sometimes the dice are carved from other materials in the shape of canoes.
Both llamas and canoes are significant as both are used to carry cargo long distances. Playing the game helps the soul on its journey. Some Amazonian societies place the corpse in a hollowed tree, called a canoe.
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Astragalomancy is popular in the Middle Ages. Sheep, goat and pig knucklebones are most commonly used. An early Christian work, the book Sortes Sanctorum c. 500 CE, is a guideline of divination by dice to provide insight into the future.
In many places like Africa and Mongolia knucklebone fortune telling is still in practice. It's tradition and superstition in Mongolian culture. Not everyone believes in a connection to the dead but plays anyway. Mongolians usually use wrist bones of a sheep or goat.