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#divination theory
aesethewitch · 8 months
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Digital Divination: Common Theories & Thoughts
Let's get into it.
In my previous post, I talked a bit about my personal theories about divination as a whole. Now, I want to get into the origin of this whole thought process and hyperfixation: digital divination.
So many practitioners that I've talked to thus far about digital divination seem to either dislike it entirely or distrust it for one reason or another. On my Tumblr post on the topic, several users cite inaccurate results, particularly from tarot apps.
Similarly, in a poll done by jbird-the-manwich about algorithmic divination, around 20% of respondents (myself included) out of 213 respondents stated that they experienced reduced accuracy consistently in comparison to physical tools. 27% of respondents said they don't use digital tools at all. Only 3% reported improved results with digital tools over physical tools, and 4% selected a separate option stating that they've had particular success with an application.
It's a fascinating result, to say the least. I'd expected the reduced accuracy result to be the most-voted-for. That 27% of respondents who say they don't use digital tools at all is staggering, but not necessarily surprising. Many books and online resources talk about, advertise, and otherwise endorse physical divination means. I'm on the hunt for resources specifically about digital tools, so stay tuned for more as I dig.
Interestingly, in that same poll, 21% of respondents said they found no correlation in accuracy between digital and physical tools. There is a substantial crowd out there who clearly believe that digital divination is just as good as physical divination. So why do I keep finding the very vocal sentiment that digital tools aren't as accurate, aren't as reliable, aren't as good as physical tools?
Common Divination Theories
Yep, we're back to theory. This time, it's common theories I'm seeing repeated in conversations over and over again.
Divine communication. Speaking directly with a deity for guidance, messages, etc. about the past, present, and future. This includes deities' oracles, deity workers, and any others who use divination to commune with their god(s) or who believe their divination is mostly or entirely provided by their god(s).
Spirit communication. Along the same lines as divine communication. This includes spirit messages, ancestor work, and so forth. Spirits provide answers and guidance via divination. This also includes anyone with an animistic view of their tools, seeing them as having a personality or spirit that communicates or interacts directly with the reader.
Subconscious influence. Depending on the divination method being used, the specifics of this vary. Essentially, the idea is that divination taps into the subconscious mind and "delivers" messages from oneself into the open air. Whether this is because of subconscious psychic abilities or a psychological effect, it's covered under this theory.
Active psychic ability. Some diviners believe they have a natural psychic talent that they tap into. It has nothing to do with divinity, spirits, or anything other than their own ability. It's also not "subconscious" - it's an active skill being put to use. (An extension of this is sometimes the clair- senses and ability to sense spirits on their own without outside assistance.)
Intuitive powers. Similar to subconscious influence, I think, but quite different from psychic ability. This is either tied into other methods *or* stands on its own. Rather than psychic or mystical forces, this theory relies on the human mind and its powers of making connections. It differs from the subconscious slightly by way of phrasing and activity. Instead of letting passive connections come to the surface, intuitive readers actively stretch and feel for answers. This is psychic abilities' mundane, grounded cousin.
Often, you'll see some of these ideas blended together. It makes sense - an animist is likely to view their tool as having its own spirit or energy, but they may also say that they rely on their intuitive mind to work with that spirit.
Interpretation
Note that these are just theories for the method in question. All of these theories rely on interpretation by the diviner, whether it's interpreting imagery or a message from the gods. Divination can't work if someone isn't interpreting. At that point, it's just dust in the wind, a nothing message with no recipient; and in that case, why send a message at all? What's the point?
Methods of interpretation are as varied and unique as the diviners themselves. Blending color theory, positioning, traditional meanings, numerology, and more, it all depends on the practice, the tool, and the diviner.
This is why you're going to find a thousand different answers, each more esoteric than the last, when asking about how divination works. The answer is, there's no general consensus. There's no agreement on how it works or why.
But does that matter?
I think no.
Honestly, I think we're all tapping into the same "source" using different methods. I can't definitively prove that gods don't exist, just as I can't definitively prove that spirits do exist. There's only belief.
And maybe that's the kicker. Perhaps it's not the method itself that works; it's the "reaching" that works. Whatever method, whatever way, it doesn't matter. If it works, it works. It's one of those things that may never be fully understood, but we can certainly hold it up to the light and examine it. Perhaps all that matters is the belief that the divination will work.
This same philosophy can be applied to all witchcraft, I think. We're all doing generally the same thing in different ways according to our cultures, our traditions, our beliefs. There is no right or wrong way, because all that matters is that we're doing it.
There will always be some methods that work better than others, just as there will always be people who do it better than others. But anyone can do it. Anyone can learn divination and make it work for themselves.
But why the seeming stigma against digital divination?
Opinions Against It
Many of the opinions I'm finding so far online against digital divination are largely similar. Practitioners I've encountered believe that:
A connection to the tool is required, and connecting with apps/websites is more difficult (or impossible) than with a physical tool
Digital tools aren't truly random; an algorithm chooses the outcome, meaning it's not authentic
Digital tools don't have a "spirit" like physical tools do
They're "good for beginners" but like using guidebooks, they're almost like a crutch to lean on or a place to start before becoming more "serious"
Inaccurate results with no clear digging into "why" they're not accurate
Channeling energy through the tool is required, and channeling through an app/website is more difficult (or impossible) with a physical tool
All of these opinions are directly sourced from conversations I've had with other diviners. For my part, the difficulty comes from the disconnect between myself and the tool in question. Whether this is because I just haven't applied myself, I'm coming at it the wrong way, or it simply doesn't work for me, I'm not sure yet! As I move into testing apps and websites, I suppose we'll see.
Opinions in Favor
Of course, there have been people who say they use digital divination tools frequently or even exclusively. Most often, they do divinations for themselves only; I'm not sure why.
Their opinions in favor of digital divination are, largely:
Financial accessibility - Little to no cost for apps/websites (or there are free versions of apps with buy-in options for more features
Accessibility features - No physical shuffling for those who can't, users of screenreaders can utilize tools they otherwise couldn't, etc.
Available anywhere - No need to travel with tools when they're in your phone
Good for witches who practice in secret
Great for learning/trying divination - apps/websites often have resources for pull meanings, features for daily pulls, and spreads to use
Learning & Accessibility
Once again, we see the sentiment of learning in connection to divination apps. I wonder if this is a product of the branding or advertisement of the applications. Or, maybe, it's because digital tools are accessible. They're not $60 a pop in Barnes and Noble; they're discreet; they're easy to access for literally anyone with a computer or smartphone.
Is it this ease of access that creates a sort of stigma against it? Does digital divination - particularly digital tarot - have the connotation of being for beginners only?
Does anyone offer professional, paid services using digital tools?
The other thing about digital tools is, as mentioned, the accessibility. People who use screen readers, who can't shuffle a whole deck or hold up a pendulum, who have difficulty with memory - they may need the sort of accessibility that a digital tool provides. Who's to say that their divinations are less accurate than someone using a physical tool?
Increasingly, I'm coming to believe that it's less about the tool and more about the user. Everyone has a penchant for a particular one, sure, and everyone has a preference. But anyone can learn divination. And the more accessible it is, the better.
Next Up: Reading into apps' websites and reviews, deciding on what to try first, and first impressions.
If you like my work and want to throw a couple dollars my way via Ko-Fi, it would be much appreciated! This research is going to be mostly public for exposure and interaction, but there may be behind-the-scenes notes and more in-depth UPG stuff that'll be Ko-Fi exclusive. Plus, even one-time supporters get extra and early stuff all the time!
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daportalpractitioner · 11 hours
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scorpio degrees in the natal chart (8°, 20°)
8° = emotionally strong. deals with loss at a young age. socially hyperaware. brings out the vulnerability in people. money savvy. financial magnet. childhood trauma significantly impacts outlook on life. a need to address fears in order to overcome them. fear passed down from the bloodline. holds grudges. betrayal is a common theme. wounded relationship with at least 1 parent from neglect. trust issues. grew up in poverty (or with poverty consciousness). a need to heal low self-esteem. other people recognize their innate power before they do. attracts competition. sensitive root + sacral chakras. unlocking your potential in this lifetime. embrace the shadow, don't run away from it.
20° = dark feminine energy. hypersexuality due to trauma. overcoming low self-esteem is a karmic lesson. must hit rock bottom to truly ascend. poor relationship with food. reproductive/sexual diseases (especially if placement is venus). billionaire potential. loneliness is a theme due to lack of trust. abusive relationships is a theme. needs to get comfortable with death. toxic attachments. addictions. very aware - if you know better, then do better. it's okay to be bougie. a need to constantly elevate the standards cause the price is always going up. miscarriages + infertility. sex can be used as a powerful tool. overcoming self-neglect. burns bridges easily.
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beaulesbian · 10 months
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so, a 3-part act makes sense, with the tone s2 set up, it also made me think:
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where first act is hell,
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second is purgatory
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and third is heaven?
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like a divine comedy maybe?
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.
also the big one from the book/ 1x6 (probably the same thing as metatron calls it the second coming in 2x6)
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the s2 really was more like a breathing space between s1 and s3.
Us against Them
conclusion: i need s3 like, immediately
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glouris · 6 months
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Gross oversimplification of how Furina & Focalors split works
The hydro archon - Furina + Focalors, one being
Furina, separated - body and spirit of the hydro archon
Focalors, separated - divinity of the hydro archon
Now, imagine that you’re Furina, while Focalors is some aspect of yourself - like your ability to play the piano. This aspect breaks away from you, taking all the memories connected to it - you learning how to play, people you knew in music school, crying over homework, everything. After that, it becomes a formless entity that haunts a piano in your living room, and plays it from the inside, directly on the strings.
Despite this entity being separate, it’s still you, because it’s you that learned the piano, it’s your skills, memories, emotions. This aspect of yourself is incomplete without the rest of you, and you’re incomplete with a chunk of your life missing, but it’s okay because you can still move on without knowing how to play the piano. 
Genshin goes out of its way to state that Furina and Focalors are one in the same several times. Focalors is not a clone, sister, mother - she doesn’t even have a body. Focalors is Furina’s allegorical ability to play the piano, she’s the act of “Furina being a god” itself.
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ruger35mm · 15 days
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FEMinism is for FEMales
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luck-of-the-drawings · 2 months
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!!! FLASHING LIGHTS WARNING!!! [IM NOT FUCKIN AROUND!!]
REACHED THE CUSP OF 'THIS MAY NEVER BE ABSOLUTELY FINISHED N IF I DONT SHOW IT NOW, IT WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY.' SO HERE, A PROJECT IVE BEEN ORBITING AROUND UHH SINCE 2021 OR SO.
#jrwi fanart#jrwi show#jrwi riptide#gillion tidestrider#cw flashing lights#LOOORRD OF LIGHTNING SAAAAVE ME!!!!#RAAAHHHH I LOVETHIS SONG SO FUCKIN MUCH AND I LOVE GILLION SO FUCKIN MUCH RAAHHHH!! RAAHHHH!!!#BUT YES YES I HAD LIKE A WHOLE OTHER HALF TO THIS SKETCHED OUT BUT IT WONT FINISH COOKIN FOR A MILLION YEAARS!!!!#MAYBE SOMEDAY.....#ANYWAY. this is my first time actually syncing audio to my animations. normally i domnt know howww.#i animated it all in fire alpaca AND THEN i mixed everything in a pirated movie maker. it kinda uh. sucks. but its WHAT I GOT BAYBE!!#i relaly like how i animate swishy hair... i was inspird by eris from sinbad. i can only HOPE i got on that level w the watery flowyness#LIUGHTNING IS HARD TO ANIMATE TOO. I WATCHED ALOTTA VIDEOS ABSORBED MINIMAL TUTORIALS AND UHH I THINK I DID OKAY!!#better than bad!!! but i can still do better. eventually. ugh. FLASHING LIGHTS TOO HUH? U LIKE ANIMATINGB FLASHING LIGHT?#U LIKE MAKING THE BLACK N WHITE FLICKER RLY FAST UNTIL UR EYES BLEED OUT UR SKULL?? YEAAAHH YOU DO!!!#im also vry proud o the title cards i made at the beginning teheheheh. dependign on where riptide goes i MIGHT change it#BUT HEY THEORY TIME? I HOPE ONE OF THE GODDESSES COMES DOWN TO PILOT GILLIONS BODY SO THEY CAN BEAT THE FUCK OUT O THE OTHER GODDESS#WHO IS ALSO IN SOMEONE ELSES MORTAL BODY. GODS COMING DOWN TO WREAK HAVOC OVER PETTY DISAGREEMENTS OOOGH HOW FUN!!#GOOD ON YOU CHAMPION!! YOUR VESSEL HAS BEEN TRAINED TO BE STRONG AND HARDY. PERFECT FOR CHANNELING DIVINE ENERGY.#OHHHH WHAT A PERFECT WEAPON YOU ARE. NOW GO AND IMMANENTIZE A WATERY ESCHATON#PARAGON OF OCEANS WRATH I WANT TO SEE YOU DROWN THE LAND. DESTROY!!! EAT!!! BURN!!! RAAAGHH I NEED GILLION TO GET MORE POWER!!!!#ALSO in other news i uh. actually posted this onto twitter forever ago but forgot to post it here bc i can only post it from pc and BABY!!#IM NOT ON THE COMPUTER OFTEN! NOT ANYMORE!! NOT ANYMOREE!!! IM FREE BAYBE!! i used to be so miserable. sometimes i think abt that.#ANYWAY. pls enjoy. just this much took so long. i love makin the lil guys move.... ouh.... hava good day if u get the chance to.
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birdhaslostit · 9 months
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I had a revelation. Look at this.
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Dante Alighieri versus Secondo.
SOMETHING IS THERE. This might have been intentional. Look at their noses and profile. They are strikingly similar.
I always thought Secondo looked familiar, but I never could figure out who it was (not just Pitbull) until just now. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized. I’ve seen Dante’s death mask in person, as well as several other works depicting Dante. Their faces are definitely similar, especially the nose. I can’t be the only one who sees this.
Tobias may have done this intentionally, but I don’t know for sure. Am I the only person who’s noticed this?
And to further expand on this theory, wouldn’t it be cool if Dante Alighieri was the founder of the Emeritus line? There’s no precedent or evidence for it, but it’s an interesting concept.
MORE ANALYSIS HERE
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Elemental Work Crash Course
Hello friends! As a west witch I find myself in a lot of elemental spaces, but as an elemental pagan I feel like we get little to no representation without wicca being present so this post is for all my friends who may be looking into elemental work and want to know what to expect! This is an introductory post so if anyone is interested in further information let me know in the comments!
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Earth
Common Lessons tend to include grounding, understanding your place within it all like your social circles, life itself, or even the ecosystem. People also tend to find out how to see beauty even when they feel there is none, home and hearth magic, generational magic, and harnessing your own power. Its important to recognize earth is extremely giving, often giving things without expecting anything in return. Remember to give back to the earth when you can in your practice, it isn't fair to take things without giving back. Eventually earth takes all things back from the living, so remember that earth is as powerful as she is kind Darker Aspect/Element: Rot How to honor and find these teachings:
Going out in nature
Taking care of plants
Herbal work
Community service
Exploring
Grounding and meditation outdoors
Connecting to earth itself
Evaluating what it means to be human
Common forms of divination
Osteomancy (Burning Bones)
Abacomancy (Dirt)
Dendromancy (Tree reading)
Falling petals or leaves
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Air
Common lessons from air tend to be quick and ever present, air speaks rather quickly to people and messages change! Its best to keep a log of signs and messages you receive because it tends to be a pebble trail on your journey. Air teaches how to keep calm in tense situations, creating your own path on the journey of life, going with the wind and learning to not value materialistic lifestyles, plus learning how to be more gentle with yourself and others!
Darker Aspect: Tempest How to honor and find these teachings:
Breath work
Spontaneity and leaving your comfort zone
Living to the fullest (however that might look for you!)
Dance or Hand motions
Meditations
Keeping sword or athame imagery as a talisman
Storm tracking
Common forms of divination:
Smoke Scrying
Wind Watching
Electromancy (By Lightning)
Austromancy (By Clouds)
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Fire
Common lessons in fire encourage you to listen closely and not rely so much on searching for messages. In most mythos fire speaks once per session, when its burnt out usually the message is over. Fire teaches us how to be confident in our work, ambition, and performance. Fire likes to throw a lot at you and teach you adaptability, and most importantly how to be the best you can be. You can learn a lot from just a little flame.
Darker Aspect: Magma
How to Honor these teachings:
Practicing Confidence
Glamour Magic
Using your backbone/saying no more
Making friends in odd places
Hosting bonfires/tending to a hearth fire
Using candle magic
Common forms of divination:
Fire Scrying
Candle/Wax reading
Flame Shape reading
Casting knives
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Water
Common lessons range depending on what you are looking for! Water can teach you how to be calm and collected, but also encourages you to be fluid! so if you need to unleash the flood you know when its appropriate to do so. You also learn how to go with the flow, how to be persistent, and how to be a fierce enigma. Water is also very humbling at times, so you will learn a lot about yourself.
Darker Aspect: Abyss
How to honor these teachings:
Emotion based meditations
Shadow work
Being in tune with yourself
Swimming
Boating
Fishing
Beach cleanups
Exploring your waterways
Common types of divination:
Water scrying
Waves
Rainfall
Storm tracking
Mist/Dew
Tip Jar
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alpaca-clouds · 8 months
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Divine Bloodlines
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Alright. I need to get this one idea out of my system as well. Because I cannot help but wonder... Richter's Theme is called Divine Bloodlines. Which, yeah, fair. Within the context of the games this is just very much a "yeah, the Belmont bloodline is super special". And was the anime worldbuilding the same as the game worldbuilding I would not have put a second thought on this. But... it is not.
In Nocturne we now clearly establish that there is actually such a thing as divine bloodlines. Annette has the blood of a god. Heck, it might well be a theme for this series now, given that Erzsebet has drunken from a goddess and there is a good chance the same might be true for Olrox. And this makes me think: What about the Belmont bloodline?
Like, is there a posibility that they actually also have a divine ancestor? Given they originate from France the ancestor might be a gaulic or brittanic deity. Though I am perfectly honest with you: Those are the celtic gods I know little about. Like, I know stuff about Anglo-Saxon deities, gaelic ones and those from Welsh. But the French ones? Yeah, I know very little about outside that due to the Roman contact they kinda got merged with a lot of Roman gods. And I also know that they still had a lot of animal gods and also a ton of gods associated with the crafts.
Nodens is a god associated with both healing and hunting, so that might be a possible fit. But there are also a ton of local protector deities.
It is just such a weird little thing, though.
One thing I am almost certain off: Annette is gonna teach Richter to enter the Ancestoral plane and we get to see some other Belmonts.
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aesethewitch · 7 months
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Divination Survey - Early Thoughts
I've been running a divination theory survey to look into divination trends, common theories, thoughts around digital tools, and the conflict/bias surrounding digital tools. It's still early days, and I don't have a ton of responses yet, but I figured I'd put together a quick summary of what I've got so far.
(And by "quick summary" I mean "detailed overview of the questions I'm most excited about right now." This post got away from me, lol.)
Preferred Tools:
Right up at the top, it's no surprise that tarot is the most commonly used tool with a whopping 88% selection rate. In second place is oracle cards with 54.5%, followed closely by pendulum at 45.5%.
Custom entries include runes (which I can't believe I forgot to put as an option!!!), smoke divination, candle divination, geomancy, astrology (horary astrology, specifically), numerology, tasseomancy, and dream divination.
And 15.2% of respondents selected shufflemancy! Considering my recent interest in the history and theory of shufflemancy, this is very cool to me.
Under the question about most preferred tools, tarot wins out again with 75% of respondents selecting tarot as their primary tool. Oracle cards sit at a distant second place with 12%.
How Does Divination Work for You?
BY FAR the question I was most excited about in this entire survey. The answers to this are so, so interesting. Just over 50% of respondents selected that they have a combination of beliefs surrounding how divination works, and no two explanations are exactly alike.
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The 12.1% slice is "I intuitively understand the messages presented by my tool using patterns and imagery." The rest are most of the other default responses. It's a very cool spread of choices, and I'm almost surprised to see that nearly every option I laid out was selected.
But that big slice, hoo boy. That's where the super interesting stuff is. Responses include:
Animism, lots and lots of animism. I'm not surprised! It's a common theory that tools have spirits and/or minds of their own. This is most often in combination with messages from deities (the tool's spirit helps to interpret) and with the reader's intuition.
A lot of introspection. Using intuition and personal ability to "tap into" the subconscious or the universe, the tool becomes a conduit for these messages.
Tons and tons and tons of spirit work. Messages from spirits, signs from deities, help from ancestors... This is overwhelmingly the most common response, most often in combination with personal intuition.
So interesting. There are a lot of common threads, but everyone describes it differently. The connection to something "higher," a spirit or deity or somesuch thing, is pervasively common.
Expertise
Just a quick pause at the expertise questions, because it's really interesting to note. I've gotten a wide spread of self-reported expertise levels; at first, it was mostly beginners rating themselves anywhere from a one to a four. Now, It's evenly spread.
Respondents most commonly report their expertise with their most preferred tool between a four and a seven, with precisely two ten out of tens. The overall expertise in divination falls, though, skewing significantly lower. 30% chose a six, and only 15% chose something higher than that.
I suspect that this is due to the huge range of divination methods out there. It'd be impossible to be perfect at every method... I type, staring very curiously at the single ten out of ten.
Divination & Predicting the Future
Skipping downwards a little bit, I asked whether respondents believe divination can actually predict the future. This question has, by far, the most even split between options. Let me run through everything and let you draw your own conclusions here:
18% chose "Yes, I do"
3% chose "No, I don't"
18% chose "Yes, but it's better as an introspective tool"
15% chose "Yes, but it's better for communication with spirits or deities"
15% chose "Sometimes, it isn't accurate or reliable"
15% chose "Maybe, I'm not sure"
3% chose "Maybe, it hasn't been proven or disproven by science"
6% chose "No, it's just a self-improvement or introspective tool"
3% chose "Yes, but only under certain circumstances"
And one person wrote in an answer that summarizes as "Yes, but only if things stay on the path exactly as they are now"
Conflicted respondents state similar reasonings -- the future being in flux, free will making changes, reading only one possible outcome, and so forth.
Accuracy Reports
No matter what respondents said to whether divination can predict the future, every single respondent rated their accuracy at five or higher. 40% rated themselves an eight. Readings done by other readers skewed only slightly lower.
We're a reasonably accurate bunch, I suppose!
Digital Tool Usage
88% of respondents report using a digital tool for divination at some point. This is mostly tarot, unsurprisingly. Other responses include oracle, lenormand, and (!!!) shufflemancy.
I threw in the random number generator and color/hex generator options for fun, but they did get selected a couple times each!
As for usage preferences, the majority of respondents rated digital tools very, very low. When compared to physical tools, most of the respondents selected that they'd be significantly more likely to choose a physical tool over a digital tool. For readings done for others, this opinion is even stronger, with ratings skewing closer to one.
Written opinions on this vary. Several respondents indicated that they distrust the internet or algorithm behind the digital tools. One person said, and I cannot stop thinking about this, "I trust whatever spirit is in the internet way less." They make specific mention of distrusting algorithms, often stating it's not true divination due to being computer generated.
The most common hangup is the lack of connection with the tool in question. Respondents report difficulty making the connection to the digital tool, which impacts the quality of their readings. Others state it's difficult to get in the divination "mindset" with a digital tool as opposed to a physical one.
On the other hand, proponents of digital tools mention that they've made those connections and have no trouble with it. They note the ease of access, the convenience, the portability, and the subtlety of digital tools kept in one's phone.
The AI Problem
Shock and awe! Opinions on AI-generated divination are overwhelmingly negative. Reasoning ranges from moral quandries over the sentience of AI to issues with misinformation to sustainability to stealing jobs from human diviners.
Interestingly, though, several respondents stated that they would be willing to try AI divination at least once. As it becomes more accurate, reliable, and has improved limitations/laws surrounding it to protect workers and prevent misuse, they might just give it a go.
For now, the vast majority of respondents state that they'll be sticking to divination done by real, live, humans.
Stick Around for More!
Thanks for reading! Drop a comment or a reblog and let me know what you think. The conversation keeps my brain afloat in the Tank of Research and helps me focus and consider new perspectives.
If you're interested in my work on this subject, check out my #digital divination tag. And, if you haven't already, consider dropping a response into the survey this data came from! I don't have enough to draw solid conclusions yet, so every bit helps. I'm sharing my data and additional research every week.
AND, if you like my work and would like to facilitate this research and help me keep food on the table, consider visiting my Ko-Fi page! Every dollar helps me worry less about staying alive and worry more about the origins of divination methods.
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vampirepunks · 3 months
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I really love all the DS2 theories I've seen so far but one thing I'm picking up is a lot of people expecting Higgs to still be on the same trajectory/goal set as he was in the first game and y'know....... I don't think that's the case.
The overall theme of DS2 from what we've seen so far + Kojima's comments seems to be the concept of opposites, inverses, and dualities, as though it's saying, "take the entire idea and turn it inside out and upside down." It appears to challenge the viewer to subvert whatever expectation/understanding they have based on the first game. It's eternal recurrence as seen through a mirror. The first game was themed around blue and black, this one is red and white. Connection becomes disconnection. Hope becomes despair. Age becomes youth. Repetition becomes change.
Buckle up, I've got thoughts.
(This pattern of contrasts illustrates a theory I've had since DS1 based on Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra" and the three-stage journey of metamorphoses--camel -> lion -> child--required to become the overman, but that'll be a separate post. If you're already familiar with the book, just know that in this context DS1 would be the camel and thus DS2 encompasses the lion.)
So, in DS1, Higgs is a hyper-fatalist obsessed with extinction. It's easy to assume that hasn't changed, that he's still dedicated to Amelie and wants to end the world... Too easy, right? Has anything Kojima has written ever been that simple?
I raise you this: In the vein of eternal recurrence, Sam becomes Cliff and Higgs becomes Amelie/Bridget... but this is not a literal retelling, rather, a metaphorical one. A dark mirror to the stories we already know.
So if the theme is opposition, what's the opposite of extinction? Creation. What's the first thing we learn about Higgs in the DS2 trailers? He's a musician now. He sings and he plays guitar. And, arguably, music is the very essence and lifeblood of creation itself, one of the very first things mankind created when our species was in its infancy. Further, Higgs uses his own umbilical cord (yes, it's an umbilical cord), as a guitar jack, channeling his ties to life, death, and his own soul in his performance, highlighting that he has an intimate connection to this core act of creativity. More about that in this post.
Now, DS1 already has a lot of themes and motifs surrounding duality, most notably the concept of chirality: two things that are each other's opposite, two hands imperfectly overlapping, two objects that act as one another's mirror. Powerful things happen when they collide--anything ranging from drug interactions to voidouts to the very birth of the universe.
If I'm reading this right, Sam is set to become the chiral counterpart to his father's tragedy and Higgs is set to become the chiral counterpart to the extinction entity. The same narratives we know, recurring once more, but flipped to become something entirely new at the same time. A rope that becomes a stick and a stick that becomes a rope. Humanity will always need both; the stick is not evil for serving its purpose, nor is the rope inherently good for doing its job. "Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil."
I'm calling it now: Higgs is not serving Amelie, not seeking to bring her back, not trying to become her. He is rebelling against the idea of her, unshackling himself from the role she placed him in, taking back the autonomy he lost and acting to avenge the abandonment and manipulation he suffered. He's claiming her image as his own to make a mockery of what she represents, painting himself up to look like her decaying corpse, all in an effort to prove she no longer controls him, defiantly asserting, "The queen is dead... long live the king." And so, what is there left for him to do but throw himself into reckless acts of creation? Life from death. Extinction Entity? Cute. Try this on for size: Creation Entity.
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kaiju-krew · 2 months
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I wanted to know. Is battra and Space Godzilla Gay together? If so nice. If just friends. Then Still cool
they are in fact.......... Gay Together
in my delulu little world at least
idk how it started honestly?? i just like the idea that gojirans are inherently weak for big moths :'') they're essentially mosugoji if you hit it with a emo-yaoi-beam or something
imma draw more with them soon to help flesh it out and spread more spacebat propaganda o7
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diviinaee · 10 months
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FINALLY HUSH IS PUBLIC NOW TIME FOR DIV TO SCREAM ABOUT HER THEORY
SPOILERS FOR HUSH'S VIDEO
hush is a shade. don't believe me? dw ik it can sound like a stretch. and thats why.
I'VE GOT PROOF.
ALRIGHT BITCHES N BROS N NONBONARY HOES LETS GO
In the audio where he finally meets Brachium, Blake mentions that shades were created beyond death to relay a message to the living world. From what we know, the Sovereigns were imprisoned beyond death because of the actions and plans for demons, daemons, and humanity (controlling them, experimenting on them, etc). Hush mentions that he was put on Elegy to do something very important. Might be a stretch, but he could be referimg to the message from the Sovereigns.
Ever since we first learned about shades in Milo's series, we learn 2 things. One: they are usually like rabid animals. Attacking anything they find, draining until they had their full, etc. Two: They haven't been doing that recently. Sweetheart tells Milo that they are getting smarter. The shade Sweetheart was tracking down was purposefully taking only a bit of lifeforce from alot of people to avoid being detected. We also see this intelligence play out in the Inversion. The shades are depicted attacking in groups and what not. We really see their level of intelligence with the ones that attack Huxley and Damien. At some point, they were trying to defend a group of people from the Shades and the shades planned ahead. They lured Huxley and Damien away, and then killed the group they were defending. That's strategy. We see it later with how a shade waited until Damien was dostracted by Huxley to attack him even after Damien was basically yelling at the shades to attack him when he ran out of magic. These shades are developing. What's to say they didn't find a way to fully evole into a walking, talking, intelligent being like Hush.
Hush mentions that he doesn't have a core. Shades, from what we know, do not have cores.
He couldn't kill the demon without the help of a core. Gavin mentions in the Inversion that shades can't kill a demon because they don't habe a life force. The only way the shades would have responsibility of Gavin's death was if a core or the the spellsong, which Hush mentions, is too strong and causes him to unravel. That is the only known way that a demon could die. And it's exactly how Hush says. He says he used the listener's core to focus the spellsong at a point to kill Reticuli.
What's to say the distorted nature of his voice isn't related to the fact that he was previously just pure snarls and screams.
He says he's new to Elegy. He comes from somewhere else. As I said, shades come from beyond death. He could be referring to the fact that he either just got to elegy, OR he just remembered his purpose for wlegy after gaining a consciousness.
Hush says that the complicated answer to what he is is like..... complicated and then he jumpscares us with wtv the hell that was... SO I LISTENED ON LIKE FULL BLAST hurt my ear drums but did it for the vine ANYWAY I WAS REPLAYING THAT PART AND YOU CAN HEAR LIKE VOICES IN THE BACKGROUND BEHIND LIKE THE GLASS BREAKING NOISES AND OTHER STUFF. WHATS TO SAY THOSE ARENT THE SOVEREIGNS
also he mentions river one time and what is is a river? DEATH. whats beyond the river of death? SOVEREIGNS. what also is related to death and sovereigns? SHADES.
THATS ALL FOLKS THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK AND I HOPE YALL HAVE A LOVELY TIMEZONE. PEACE OUT 😻🫶🏽🩷
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ybcomplicated · 4 months
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we know based on sir pentious that a sinners soul can be redeemed- aka reevaluated through divine judgement- even after the afterlife.
Sadly it seems that the sinner has to die again for their soul to face judgement again and be deemed ‘redeemed’.
We dont fully know what happens to sinners after they are killed again- just as we dont know what happens when angels get killled.
But what if sinners and non-heaven born both face divine judgement when they face a second death?
And if sir pentious -a SINNER; non hell-born- got sent to heaven because if his selfless martyrdom, then that begs to wonder…
What about Adam?
Hes not a heaven born. He was the first man. Human. He wasnt a born angel like the sarephems or even st. Peter, or hell, even LUCIFER.
So- does his human soul get reevaluated too?
And based on his actions and lifestyle in the afterlife… he doesnt seem very heavenly does he? Very prideful, violent for violence’s sake.
I’d dare say even… damned
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quitealotofsodapop · 4 months
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Theory on that Crimson Jimson-Weed;
So I was re-watching "To Catch a Leaf" like any good Sandy-fan when I recognised the name of the flower (Crimson Jimsonweed/Scarlet Mandala flower) being something I encountered in my horticulture/pharma studies;
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You see, Jimsonweed is another name for Datura - a super-toxic nightshade flower known for it's psychoactive effects that was occasionally used in traditional Chinese medicine. A few seeds or leaves is enough to send someone into days-long potentially fatal delirium. Monk in India particularly used it to induce horror/madness in order to have a better understanding of the world.
My first thought was; "Why tf would Sandy reccomend a flower that's like a million acid trips in one?" and second "Why did LBD need it?"
According to Sandy the Crimson Jimsonweed can "influence mortality itself" - something that would be very useful if your opponent is someone who's pretty protective of their immortality. NO wonder why LBD was pissed. Huntsman "only" taking a single petal could have saved the gang's lives in the long run.
And I thought: "Cool!"
And then I was researching an au idea/theory @dorothygale123 brought up about "Shennong/The Flame Emperor/Divine Peasant" having connections to the Demon Bull King and Red Son; only to read how he (a primordial god of fire and medicine) died;
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You see, after he retired/lost the godly throne, Shennong decided to put his brain and super-durable/transparent stomach to use and self-experiment on himself and document the results. He apparently got poisoned quite a lot in his research (he also discovered many ways to get high) to classify all plant life.
Ultimately Shennong died after eating a "small yellow flower" and being unable to find an antidote or "clean out his instestine" in time. Kind of a sad but expected end to the chinese mythos version of the first farmer-scientist. A rule of medicine is that anything that can heal can also kill at a certain dosage.
But the flower that killed him is up for debate. The book I have suggests it to be "Intestine-Breaking/Heartbreak Grass"(Gelsemium sempervirens). This Oxford paper suggests Tansy, an old treatment for worms. But a common theme is that the "flower of a weed" was the cause.
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After my research into Jimsonweed and it's connections to mortality in Buddhism I must suggest a hidden culpurit;
This could be my mild red-colourblindness acting up; but The flower we see throughout the "To Catch a Leaf" is gotdamn yellow.
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The flower that can "influence mortality itself" would be the perfect candiate for what killed the legendary Divine Peasant.
Makes sense why Sandy decided to instead brew a very small part of it into tea for MK. He likely read Shennong's research and realised that this super-rare variant of Jimsonweed *was* an amazing tonic... in the right dosage of course. Hence why Sandy didn't feed MK the whole flower.
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mzminola · 1 year
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I think it's fun, and consistent with the rest of his character, that while Tim has no faith in the existence (or perhaps simply benevolence) of any sort of divine higher power, he does believe in the existence of souls.
I think that fits really well with Tim having faith in people. That all individual people are important, that they have amazing capabilities for both good and evil, and that they need support from each other to keep doing good. It fits with his continuing balancing act with both faith in and criticism towards Bruce.
Tim finds it totally believable that Greta is both a ghost & connected to some kind of afterlife pathway. He rolls with Anita's parents souls whooshing into the fetal clones. When Kon is worried he doesn't have a soul, Tim is confident that Kon does have one. He gets pissed when Red Tornado is dismissed as "just" a machine.
When Dick fights against Tim using or sampling the Lazarus Pit to bring back some loved ones, asking "What about their souls?" Tim just retorts that "The Pit brings that back too."
Which leads to one of my headcanons: that some time before she died, Janet expressed either belief in or hope for reincarnation. Tim describes his parents as "My mom was a little religious. My Dad not at all." in the Judgment on Gotham crossover arc. In Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, when thinking of dead loved ones to bring back, he pictures Kon, Steph, and his dad. Not his mom.
Combined with all the above, I'm headcanoning that Tim has reason to think the Lazarus Pit can't bring back Janet Drake. That Tim believes her soul is neither lingering on this plane nor moved on to an afterlife from which it can be summoned, but willingly reincarnated already, and is therefore actually out of reach.
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