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70-578: North Korea's ruling family are claimed to be superstitious and so the Command's designation number is in reference to the numerological construct "9 and 6+3=9" (double nine), the number "9" being considered lucky. According to official history, the Command participated in the Korean War (known in North Korea as the "Fatherland Liberation War"). The unit has also produced 72 " heroes of labor " and 28 " heroes of

140-561: A querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens , or through alleged contact or interaction with supernatural agencies such as spirits , gods, god-like-beings or the "will of the universe ". Divination can be seen as an attempt to organize what appears to be random so that it provides insight into a problem or issue at hand. Some instruments or practices of divination include Tarot-card reading, rune casting , tea-leaf reading , automatic writing , water scrying , and psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and DMT . If

210-410: A 300-page training book detailing previous security incidents. Numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy ) is the belief in an occult , divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events . It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in words and names. When numerology is applied to

280-460: A distinction is made between divination and fortune-telling , divination has a more formal or ritualistic element and often contains a more social character, usually in a religious context, as seen in traditional African medicine . Fortune-telling, on the other hand, is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Particular divination methods vary by culture and religion. In its functional relation to magic in general, divination can have

350-429: A general wanted to know if the omens were proper for him to advance on the enemy, he would ask his seer both that question and if it were better for him to remain on the defensive. If the seer gave consistent answers, the advice was considered valid. During battle, generals would frequently ask seers at both the campground (a process called the hiera ) and at the battlefield (called the sphagia ). The hiera entailed

420-420: A good theory that is not yet known but 'exists' in the universe of possible reasonable ideas. Divination Divination (from Latin divinare  'to foresee, foretell, predict, prophesy, etc.') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how

490-703: A new dedicated section. The Command has camps located throughout the country, usually near official residences, and has a strong presence in Pyongyang . The Command also monitors key military and party figures to ensure the safety of the Kim family. It also coordinates with the Pyongyang Defense Command (with its 70,000 men) and III Corps (North Korea) for the defense of the capital and other strategic locations. These other military units provide an additional 95,000-100,000 soldiers, plus artillery and armored vehicles, for

560-419: A person's name, it is a form of onomancy . It is often associated with astrology and other divinatory arts. The term numerologist can be used for those who place faith in numerical patterns and draw inferences from them, even if those people do not practice traditional numerology. For example, in his 1997 book Numerology: Or What Pythagoras Wrought ( Dudley 1997 ), mathematician Underwood Dudley uses

630-575: A popular form of divination from physiology. Stemming from Western influences, body reading or ninsou , determines personality traits based on body measurements. The face is the most commonly analyzed feature, with eye size, pupil shape, mouth shape, and eyebrow shape representing the most important traits. An upturned mouth may be cheerful, and a triangle eyebrow may indicate that someone is strong-willed. Methods of assessment in daily life may include self-taken measurements or quizzes. As such, magazines targeted at women in their early-to-mid twenties feature

700-410: A practitioner to "a physician trying to heal the sick with the help of the same natural principles." Divination was a central component of ancient Mesoamerican religious life. Many Aztec gods , including central creator gods , were described as diviners and were closely associated with sorcery . Tezcatlipoca is the patron of sorcerers and practitioners of magic . His name means "smoking mirror,"

770-427: A preliminary and investigative role: [...] the diagnosis or prognosis achieved through divination is both temporarily and logically related to the manipulative, protective or alleviative function of magic rituals. In divination one finds the cause of an ailment or a potential danger, in magic one subsequently acts upon this knowledge. Divination has long attracted criticism. In the modern era, it has been dismissed by

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840-528: A reference to a device used for divinatory scrying . In the Mayan Popol Vuh , the creator gods Xmucane and Xpiacoc perform divinatory hand casting during the creation of people. The Aztec Codex Borbonicus shows the original human couple, Oxomoco and Cipactonal , engaged in divining with kernels of maize. This primordial pair is associated with the ritual calendar, and the Aztecs considered them to be

910-415: A standstill. “Negative poe” is when the flat sides fall downward and abruptly stop; this indicates "No". When there is a positive fall, it is called “Sacred poe”, although the negative falls are not usually taken seriously. As the blocks are being dropped the question is said in a murmur, and if the answer is yes, the blocks are dropped again. To make sure the answer is definitely a yes, the blocks must fall in

980-487: A system of English gematria using prime numbers which he calls Prime Qabalah in his book Becoming Magick (2004). Scientific theories are sometimes labeled "numerology" if their primary inspiration appears to be a set of patterns rather than scientific observations. This colloquial use of the term is quite common within the scientific community and it is mostly used to dismiss a theory as questionable science. The best known example of "numerology" in science involves

1050-465: A “yes” position three times in a row. A more serious type of divination is the Kiō-á. There is a small wooden chair, and around the sides of the chair are small pieces of wood that can move up and down in their sockets, this causes a clicking sounds when the chair is moved in any way. Two men hold this chair by its legs before an altar, while the incense is being burned, and the deity is invited to descend onto

1120-415: Is a practice in which one would fast and keep themselves away from light in a room until midnight to then complete a set of complex events to interpret symbols encountered throughout the journey to foresee the coming year. In Islam , astrology ( ‘ilm ahkam al-nujum ), the most widespread divinatory science, is the study of how celestial entities could be applied to the daily lives of people on earth. It

1190-602: Is famous for arulvakku in Tamil Nadu . The people in and around Mangalore in Karnataka call the same, Buta Kola , "paathri" or "darshin"; in other parts of Karnataka, it is known by various names such as, "prashnaavali", "vaagdaana", "asei", "aashirvachana", and so on. In Nepal it is known as, "Devta ka dhaamee" or " jhaakri ". In English, the closest translation for these is, " oracle ." The Dalai Lama , who lives in exile in northern India, still consults an oracle known as

1260-558: Is forbidden. Only one member per family is allowed to serve as a bodyguard. Recruits are then taken to special training camps for six months and are trained for a total of two years. Training includes, Taekwondo classes, marksmanship, 25 km marches in full gear and special operations tactics. According to defector Oh Young-nam, a former member of the State Security Department , the Supreme Guard Command published

1330-427: Is important to emphasize the practical nature of divinatory sciences because people from all socioeconomic levels and pedigrees sought the advice of astrologers to make important decisions in their lives. Astronomy was made a distinct science by intellectuals who did not agree with the former, although distinction may not have been made in daily practice, where astrology was technically outlawed and only tolerated if it

1400-495: Is increasingly important for young Japanese, who consider personality the driving factor of compatibility, given the ongoing marriage drought and birth rate decline in Japan. An import to Japan, Chinese zodiac signs based on the birth year in 12 year cycles (rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, and boar) are frequently combined with other forms of divination, such as so-called 'celestial types' based on

1470-562: Is known as gematria . The Mandaean number alphasyllabary is also used for numerology ( Mandaic : gmaṭ aria ). The Book of the Zodiac is an important Mandaean text on numerology. In the Pythagorean method (which uses a kind of place-value for number-letter attributions, as does the ancient Hebrew and Greek systems), the letters of the modern Latin alphabet are assigned numerical values 1 through 9. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa applied

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1540-574: Is the Chaldean method; in this context, "Chaldean" is an old-fashioned name for the Aramaic languages . In the Chaldean method number 9 is not used in the calculations, at least in practice. It is left out because it is thought to be divine and sacred, and therefore unassignable. This method is radically different from the Pythagorean (as well as both the ancient Greek and Hebrew systems) as letters are assigned values based on equating Latin letters with letters of

1610-490: Is “based on the interpretation of figures traced on sand or other surface known as geomantic figures .” It is a good example of Islamic divination at a popular level. The core principle that meaning derives from a unique occupied position is identical to the core principle of astrology. Like astronomy, geomancy used deduction and computation to uncover significant prophecies as opposed to omens ( ‘ilm al-fa’l ), which were process of “reading” visible random events to decipher

1680-739: The Nechung Oracle , which is considered the official state oracle of the government of Tibet . The Dalai Lama has according to centuries-old custom, consulted the Nechung Oracle during the new year festivities of Losar . Although Japan retains a history of traditional and local methods of divination , such as onmyōdō , contemporary divination in Japan, called uranai , derives from outside sources. Contemporary methods of divination in Japan include both Western and Chinese astrology , geomancy or feng shui , tarot cards , I Ching (Book of Changes) divination , and physiognomy (methods of reading

1750-597: The Hebrew alphabet in accordance with sound equivalents (then number associations being derived via its gematria ) rather than applying the ancient system of place-value used by the Hebrew and Greek gematria (although 'place-value' is almost universally interpreted in the ancient world according to units, tens and hundreds, which nonetheless have the same digital root as place value); in consequence of this there are several slightly different versions, there being disagreements over some of

1820-478: The Korean People's Army Ground Force and is divided into approximately six departments, three combat brigades, several bodyguard divisions, and one construction battalion. The unit is composed of 95,000-120,000 personnel. Bodyguard divisions are divided into at least two sections, Section 1 was dedicated to the protection of Kim Il Sung and Section 2 protected Kim Jong Il . It is unknown if Kim Jong Un has

1890-571: The Middle Ages . In the constitution of 1572 and public regulations of 1661 of the Electorate of Saxony , capital punishment was used on those predicting the future. Laws forbidding divination practice continue to this day. The Waldensians sect were accused of practicing divination. Småland is famous for Årsgång , a practice which occurred until the early 19th century in some parts of Småland. Generally occurring on Christmas and New Year's Eve, it

1960-675: The Rider-Waite-Smith tarot published by the Rider Company in London in 1909. Since, the practice of Japanese tarot has become overwhelmingly feminine and intertwined with kawaii culture. Referring to the cuteness of tarot cards, Japanese model Kuromiya Niina was quoted as saying "because the images are cute, even holding them is enjoyable." While these differences exist, Japanese tarot cards function similarly to their Western counterparts. Cards are shuffled and cut into piles then used to forecast

2030-519: The Siwa Oasis was made famous when Alexander the Great visited it after conquering Egypt from Persia in 332 BC. Deuteronomy 18:10–12 or Leviticus 19:26 can be interpreted as categorically forbidding divination. But some biblical practices, such as Urim and Thummim , casting lots and prayer , are considered to be divination. Trevan G. Hatch disputes these comparisons because divination did not consult

2100-418: The coincidental resemblance of certain large numbers that intrigued mathematical physicist Paul Dirac , mathematician Hermann Weyl and astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington . These numerical coincidences refer to such quantities as the ratio of the age of the universe to the atomic unit of time, the number of electrons in the universe, and the difference in strengths between gravity and the electric force for

2170-645: The scientific community and by skeptics as being superstitious ; experiments do not support the idea that divination techniques can actually predict the future more reliably or precisely than would be possible without it. In antiquity, divination came under attack from philosophers such as the Academic skeptic Cicero in De Divinatione (1st century BCE) and the Pyrrhonist Sextus Empiricus in Against

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2240-461: The "one true God" and manipulated the divine for the diviner's self-interest. One of the earliest known divination artifacts, a book called the Sortes Sanctorum, is believed to be of Christian roots, and utilizes dice to provide insight into the future. Uri Gabbay states that divination was associated with sacrificial rituals in the ancient Near East, including Mesopotamia and Israel. Extispicy

2310-554: The 6th century BCE. Aristotle wrote that the Pythgoraean tradition , founded in the 6th century by Pythagoras of Samos , practiced isopsephy , the Greek predecessor of Hebrew gematria . Pythagoras was a contemporary of the philosophers Anaximander , Anaximenes , and the historian Hecataeus , all of whom lived in Miletus, across the sea from Samos . The Milesian system was in common use by

2380-554: The 8th century BC, commissioned by Sargon II declares "the king built the wall of Khorsabad 16,283 cubits long to correspond with the numerical value of his name". Rabbinic literature used gematria to interpret passages in the Hebrew Bible . The practice of using alphabetic letters to represent numbers developed in the Greek city of Miletus , and is thus known as the Milesian system. Early examples include vase graffiti dating to

2450-480: The Astrologers (2nd century CE). The satirist Lucian ( c. 125 – after 180) devoted an essay to Alexander the false prophet . The eternal fire at Nymphaion in southern Illyria (present-day Albania ) also functioned as an oracle. The forms of divination practiced in this natural fire sanctuary with peculiar physical properties were widely known to the ancient Greek and Roman authors. The Oracle of Amun at

2520-718: The Qur'an (the book of Muslims) include the understanding of numerical meanings, numerical symbols and their combination with purely textual approaches. There are various numerology systems which assign numerical value to the letters of an alphabet . Examples include the Abjad numerals in Arabic , Hebrew numerals , Armenian numerals , and Greek numerals . The practice within Jewish tradition of assigning mystical meaning to words based on their numerical values, and on connections between words of equal value,

2590-688: The Republic ". The first incarnation of the Command was created in 1946. Between 1970-mid 1990s the Command was part of the State Security Department. However, to deal with several coup attempts, Kim Jong Il reorganized the Guard by dismissing dozens of officers and expanding his own private bodyguard unit by 200 men and named it the "2.16 Unit". On April 27, 2018, the SGC was deployed to protect Kim Jong Un during his visit to Panmunjon . The Command falls under

2660-474: The body to identify traits). In Japan , divination methods include Futomani from the Shinto tradition. Personality typing as a form of divination has been prevalent in Japan since the 1980s. Various methods exist for divining personality type. Each attempt to reveal glimpses of an individual's destiny, productive and inhibiting traits, future parenting techniques, and compatibility in marriage. Personality type

2730-401: The chair. It is seen that it is in the chair by an onset of motion. Eventually, the chair crashes onto a table prepared with wood chips and burlap. The characters on the table are then traced and these are said to be written by the deity who possessed the chair, these characters are then interpreted for the devotees. Divination is widespread throughout Africa. Among many examples it is one of

2800-561: The concept of arithmancy to the classical Latin alphabet in the 16th century in Three Books of Occult Philosophy . He mapped the letters as follows (in accordance with the Latin alphabet's place-value at that time): Note that the letters U, J, and W were not commonly considered part of the Latin alphabet at the time. A lesser known method, more popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth century,

2870-650: The concept of language, specifically Arabic , as the expression of "the essence of what it signifies." Once the believer understood this, while remaining obedient to God’s will, they could uncover the essence and divine truth of the objects inscribed with Arabic like amulets and talismans through the study of the letters of the Qur’an with alphanumeric computations. In Islamic practice in Senegal and Gambia , just like many other West African countries, diviners and religious leaders and healers were interchangeable because Islam

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2940-497: The defense of the country's leadership. According to the testimonies of North Korean defector Lee Young-kuk , recruiters for the Guard look for new recruits in high schools where students are lined up for inspection. Physical prerequisites include no facial scars and a well-proportioned body. Potential candidates have their family histories scrutinized for party loyalty and good " songbun ". Once chosen, they are given an ID number while all other records are erased; contact with family

3010-560: The electron and proton. (See also Fine-tuned universe ). Wolfgang Pauli was also fascinated by the appearance of certain numbers, including 137 (a prime number), in physics. British mathematician I. J. Good wrote: There have been a few examples of numerology that have led to theories that transformed society: see the mention of Kirchhoff and Balmer in Good (1962) , p. 316 [...] and one can well include Kepler on account of his third law . It would be fair enough to say that numerology

3080-568: The end of the millennium in the Islamic calendar approached. Dream interpretation, or oneiromancy (‘ilm ta’bir al-ru’ya ), is more specific to Islam than other divinatory science, largely because of the Qur’an’s emphasis on the predictive dreams of Abraham , Yusuf , and Muhammad . The important delineation within the practice lies between “incoherent dreams” and “sound dreams,” which were “a part of prophecy” or heavenly message. Dream interpretation

3150-579: The first diviners. Every civilization that developed in pre-Columbian Mexico , from the Olmecs to the Aztecs , practiced divination in daily life, both public and private. Scrying through the use of reflective water surfaces, mirrors , or the casting of lots were among the most widespread forms of divinatory practice. Visions derived from hallucinogens were another important form of divination, and are still widely used among contemporary diviners of Mexico. Among

3220-399: The forehead level. Once in this position, the blocks are dropped and the future can be understood depending on their landing. If both fall flat side up or both fall rounded side up, that can be taken as a failure of the deity to agree. If the blocks land one rounded and one flat, the deity indicates "Yes", or positive. “Laughing poe” is when rounded sides land down and they rock before coming to

3290-520: The future, for spiritual reflection, or as a tool for self-understanding. A common act of divination in Taiwan is called the Poe . “The Poe” translated to English means “moon boards”. It consists of two wood or bamboo blocks cut into the shape of a crescent moon. The one edge is rounded while the other is flat; the two are mirror images. Both crescents are held out in one's palms and while kneeling, they are raised to

3360-443: The high demand for oracle consultations and the oracles’ limited work schedule, they were not the main source of divination for the ancient Greeks. That role fell to the seers ( Greek : μάντεις ). Seers were not in direct contact with the gods; instead, they were interpreters of signs provided by the gods. Seers used many methods to explicate the will of the gods including extispicy , ornithomancy , etc. They were more numerous than

3430-923: The highest concentration of personality assessment guides. There are approximately 144 different women's magazines, known as nihon zashi koukoku kyoukai , published in Japan aimed at this audience. The adaptation of the Western divination method of tarot cards into Japanese culture presents a particularly unique example of contemporary divination as this adaptation mingles with Japan's robust visual culture. Japanese tarot cards are created by professional artists, advertisers, and fans of tarot. One tarot card collector claimed to have accumulated more than 1,500 Japan-made decks of tarot cards. Japanese tarot cards fall into diverse categories such as: The images on tarot cards may come from images from Japanese popular culture, such as characters from manga and anime including Hello Kitty , or may feature cultural symbols. Tarot cards may adapt

3500-483: The images of Japanese historical figures, such as high priestess Himiko (170–248CE) or imperial court wizard Abe no Seimei (921–1005CE). Still others may feature images of cultural displacement, such as English knights, pentagrams , the Jewish Torah , or invented glyphs . The introduction of such cards began by the 1930s and reached prominence 1970s. Japanese tarot cards were originally created by men, often based on

3570-449: The invisible realities from which they originated. It was upheld by prophetic tradition and relied almost exclusively on text, specifically the Qur’an (which carried a table for guidance) and poetry, as a development of bibliomancy . The practice culminated in the appearance of the illustrated “Books of Omens” ( Falnama ) in the early 16th century, an embodiment of the apocalyptic fears as

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3640-581: The letter-sound equivalents. Angel numbers , as defined by Doreen Virtue and Lynnette Brown in 2004, are numbers consisting of repeating digits , such as 111 or 444. As of 2023 , a number of popular media publications have published articles suggesting that these numbers have numerological significance. Doreen Virtue has since renounced the concept of angel numbers in a 2024 interview with The Cut declaring that "It’s garbage. I regret it, and I’m sorry that I made them." There are various systems of English gematria or numerology. These systems interpret

3710-457: The letters of the Roman script or English alphabet via an assigned set of numerological significances. English Qaballa , on the other hand, refers specifically to a Qabalah supported by a system discovered by James Lees in 1976. The first system of English gematria was used by the poet John Skelton in 1523 in his poem "The Garland of Laurel". The next reference to an English gematria found in

3780-542: The literature was made by Willis F. Whitehead in 1899 in his book, The Mystic Thesaurus , in which he describes a system he called "English Cabala". In 1952, John P. L. Hughes published The Hidden Numerical Significance of the English Language, or, Suggestive Gematria , based on his lecture delivered at Holden Research Circle on July 4, 1952. A system related to the Spiritualist Agasha Temple of Wisdom

3850-520: The more common hallucinogenic plants used in divination are morning glory , jimson weed , and peyote . Theyyam or "theiyam" in Malayalam is the process by which a devotee invites a Hindu god or goddess to use his or her body as a medium or channel and answer other devotees' questions. The same is called "arulvaakku" or "arulvaak" in Tamil , another south Indian language - Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam

3920-473: The names of substances in the Arabic language . Numerology is prominent in Sir Thomas Browne 's 1658 literary discourse The Garden of Cyrus . Throughout its pages, the author attempts to demonstrate that the number five and the related quincunx pattern can be found throughout the arts, in design, and in nature – particularly botany. Some approaches to understanding the meanings of

3990-425: The oracles and did not keep a limited schedule; thus, they were highly valued by all Greeks, not just those with the capacity to travel to Delphi or other such distant sites. The disadvantage of seers was that only direct yes-or-no questions could be answered. Oracles could answer more generalized questions, and seers often had to perform several sacrifices in order to get the most consistent answer. For example, if

4060-711: The planets (Saturn, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, or Uranus). Personality can also be divined using cardinal directions, the four elements (water, earth, fire, air), and yin-yang . Names can also lend important personality information under name classification which asserts that names bearing certain Japanese vowel sounds (a, i, u, e, o) share common characteristics. Numerology , which utilizes methods of divining 'birth numbers' from significant numbers such as birth date, may also reveal character traits of individuals. Individuals can also assess their own and others' personalities according to physical characteristics. Blood type remains

4130-856: The reign of Alexander the Great (336–323 BCE) and was adopted by other cultures during the subsequent Hellenistic period . It was officially adopted in Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284–246 BCE). In 325 AD, following the First Council of Nicaea , departures from the beliefs of the state church were classified as civil violations within the Roman Empire . Numerology, referred to as isopsephy , remained in use in conservative Greek Orthodox circles. Some alchemical theories were closely related to numerology. For example, Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (died c. 806−816) framed his experiments in an elaborate numerology based on

4200-471: The same titles as those who did. From the beginning of Islam, there "was (and is) still a vigorous debate about whether or not such [divinatory] practices were actually permissible under Islam,” with some scholars like Abu-Hamid al Ghazili (d. 1111) objecting to the science of divination because he believed it bore too much similarity to pagan practices of invoking spiritual entities that were not God. Other scholars justified esoteric sciences by comparing

4270-407: The seer slaughtering a sheep and examining its liver for answers regarding a more generic question; the sphagia involved killing a young female goat by slitting its throat and noting the animal's last movements and blood flow. The battlefield sacrifice only occurred when two armies prepared for battle against each other. Neither force would advance until the seer revealed appropriate omens . Because

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4340-559: The seers had such power over influential individuals in ancient Greece, many were skeptical of the accuracy and honesty of the seers. The degree to which seers were honest depends entirely on the individual seers. Despite the doubt surrounding individual seers, the craft as a whole was well regarded and trusted by the Greeks, and the Stoics accounted for the validity of divination in their physics . The divination method of casting lots ( Cleromancy )

4410-691: The term to discuss practitioners of the Elliott wave principle of stock market analysis. The term arithmancy is derived from two Greek words – arithmos (meaning number) and manteia (meaning divination ). "Αριθμομαντεία" Arithmancy is thus the study of divination through numbers. Although the word "arithmancy" dates to the 1570s, the word "numerology" is not recorded in English before c. 1907. The practice of gematria , assigning numerical values to words and names and imputing those values with religious meaning, dates back to antiquity. An Assyrian inscription from

4480-411: Was a common example, where diviners would pray to their god(s) before vivisecting a sacrificial animal. Their abominal organs would reveal a divine message, which aligned with cardiocentric views of the mind. Both oracles and seers in ancient Greece practiced divination. Oracles were the conduits for the gods on earth; their prophecies were understood to be the will of the gods verbatim. Because of

4550-430: Was always tied to Islamic religious texts, providing a moral compass to those seeking advice. The practitioner needed to be skilled enough to apply the individual dream to general precedent while appraising the singular circumstances. The power of text held significant weight in the " science of letters " (‘ilm al-huruf ), the foundational principle being "God created the world through His speech." The science began with

4620-552: Was closely related with esoteric practices (like divination), which were responsible for the regional spread of Islam. As scholars learned esoteric sciences, they joined local non-Islamic aristocratic courts, who quickly aligned divination and amulets with the "proof of the power of Islamic religion." So strong was the idea of esoteric knowledge in West African Islam, diviners and magicians uneducated in Islamic texts and Arabic bore

4690-515: Was described by William Eisen in his two volume The English Cabalah (1980–82). William G. Gray proposes another system in his 1984 book, Concepts of Qabalah , more recently republished as Qabalistic Concepts . This system includes correspondence attributions of the English letters to the positions on the Tree of Life . Michael Bertiaux described a system called Angelic Gematria in his The Voudon Gnostic Workbook (1989). David Rankine described

4760-452: Was employed in public. Astrologers, trained as scientists and astronomers, were able to interpret the celestial forces that ruled the "sub-lunar" to predict a variety of information from lunar phases and drought to times of prayer and the foundation of cities. The courtly sanction and elite patronage of Muslim rulers benefited astrologers’ intellectual statures. The “science of the sand” ( ‘ilm al-raml ), otherwise translated as geomancy ,

4830-408: Was the origin of the theories of electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, gravitation. [...] So I intend no disparagement when I describe a formula as numerological. When a numerological formula is proposed, then we may ask whether it is correct. [...] I think an appropriate definition of correctness is that the formula has a good explanation, in a Platonic sense, that is, the explanation could be based on

4900-751: Was used by the remaining eleven disciples of Jesus in Acts 1:23–26 to select a replacement for Judas Iscariot . Therefore, divination was arguably an accepted practice in the early church. However, divination became viewed as a pagan practice by Christian emperors during ancient Rome . In 692 the Quinisext Council , also known as the "Council in Trullo" in the Eastern Orthodox Church , passed canons to eliminate pagan and divination practices. Fortune-telling and other forms of divination were widespread through

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