Divination has existed in all cultures throughout history. Its basic idea involves foretelling the future or accessing occult information by various means. Traditionally, the person who practiced divination was regarded as having supernatural powers.

Despite its frequent modern reformulation in psychological or parapsychological terms (e.g., receiving information from "the unconscious" or "higher" mind), historically, divination has always been an attempt to communicate with the supernatural or "divine" realm in order to secure information from the "gods." Its fundamentally pagan and spiritistic nature has never changed, regardless of how "modern" its practices have become today.

With the contemporary occult revival, many ancient methods of divination have reappeared in the last quarter century, and many new forms have also appeared—usually, it seems, through the assistance of the spirit world. Although some of these divination practices are marketed as "games," many declare to be dealing with serious magic.

The following list includes several popular methods, their possible or probable origins, and examples of their use:

With one exception, Dungeons and Dragons, the goal of these practices is either divination or some form of occult self-knowledge or spiritual "enlightenment." This is not unusual in that such methods are typically tied to a worldview based on ancient pagan magic or Eastern or Western occultism. Thus, those who author books on these subjects typically have a prior interest in the occult. For example, Murray Hope, the author of The Way of the Cartouche: An Oracle of Ancient Egyptian Magic (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985), is also the author of Practical Egyptian Magic, Practical Greek Magic, and The Runes and Crystal Gazing.

Because of their alleged accuracy and power for self-transformation, certain segments of modern psychology show an increasing interest in these ancient forms of divination, particularly where they help achieve what can be interpreted as psychological insight or "growth." This occurs principally through their ability to act as "counselor" or "guide" in psychological self-evaluation and by their ability to uncover relevant "unconscious dynamics" (e.g., archetypes or dream symbolism), which allegedly promote a more successful experience in psychotherapeutic treatment or in personal and spiritual "growth."

As a result, their alleged "therapeutic" potential has attracted the interest of at least some segments of modern psychology. This is especially true in those schools most open to such an encounter: Jungian, transpersonal, humanistic, and now hundreds of fringe psychotherapies.

The famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung was a believer in the runes, I Ching, and the tarot, and his theories are often cited in support of the alleged psychological dynamics involved in these forms of divination. And articles in many psychology magazines also explore the psychotherapeutic "potential" of these or related methods.

In essence, modern methods of divination constitute one small portion of the contemporary American occult revival and, given our culture’s fascination with the supernatural (not to mention the national penchant for novel psychotherapy), their success seems ensured.

But a fundamental question remains. If these methods work, especially supernaturally, what is their true source of power? Books on these topics often speak in terms of some kind of genuine, even supernatural, power behind these methods. And we will argue that by engaging in these divinatory arts, one can indeed tap a personal source of occult power that has access to hidden information, as well as an ability to manipulate events. In other words, we will show why we believe people are ultimately dealing with contacting spirit entities, and that this is where the genuine source of power is encountered. To our way of thinking, it is more logical to conclude that a supernatural personal intelligence outside space (and, perhaps, to some degree, time) is the source of information and volition, rather than to argue that sticks, dice, cards, and numbers can predict the future or reveal secret information about individuals.

Modern explanations for such uncanny powers often discard or downplay the supernatural in preference for natural, psychological, or parapsychological theories. As occult writer Michael Howard writes in The Magic of the Runes: Their Origins and Occult Power:

Thus, historically, those who used these forms of divination viewed their source of power far differently than most modern psychologists and parapsychologists. The real power was attributed to magic and spiritism. When people sought out and obeyed the spirits through these methods, they often achieved their goals; the spirits also achieved theirs.

(to be continued)