“There is a mode of knowledge which is intuitive, divinatory, combining the action of imagination and feelings, and which as such is the mode, essentially, of all religious knowledge.”

(Henry Corbin, Temple and Contemplation)

What is Divination?

Divination is a practice which arises from a multi-dimensional worldview, involving human interaction with ‘hidden’ forms of intelligence which may be given various epithets, such as ‘god’, ‘spirit-like’, or ‘divine’, in all cases implying a) an authoritative or illuminating spiritual or psychic relationship with respect to the practitioner, and b) an underlying cosmological frame of reference.  Post-enlightenment epistemology (arising from the radical developments of Galileo, Newton and Kant onwards) inevitably casts a heavy shadow into which divinatory practices easily fall.  Without wishing to react against the dominant rational and empirical paradigms, it is important to understand the problem - in our time - of addressing divinatory practices on their own terms and within their own philosophical and metaphysical discourses. Methods of study need to be found which may begin to heal the split between theoretical and participative knowledge, and this would also have wider implications for the fields of ecological concern and the 'science-religion' debate. In this sense, divinatory studies would contribute to the inter-disciplinary fields of consciousness and transpersonal psychology, new-age religion and complementary medicine.

Although the broad definition of divination covers a wide spectrum, from anagogic union with the divine (‘divinisation’), prophecy and spirit possession, through horoscopes and Tarot, to palmistry and some aspects of dowsing, there is a consistent core of interpretive stances bearing on metaphysical, religious, psychological and cosmological perspectives. This is a human activity of extraordinary scope and vitality and a singular and highly distinctive phenomenology, identifiable across cultures and historical epochs, and of great significance in its contemporary cultural manifestations. It is therefore surprising that there are no other academic programmes which address it in the UK.

The transmission, survival and modern revival of astrology, European culture’s most enduring divinatory form, is in its own right worthy of close scholarly scrutiny, and is an important aspect of the MA programme. Another aspect involves the study of symbolic perception and interpretation, through considering the role of the visionary imagination in facilitating the mode of insight termed ‘divinatory’. This leads to a broader evaluation of the relationship between the arts and religious experience and facilitates dialogue with literature, art, film and theatre studies. Collaborations with classics and archaeology is also founded on the mutual interest in ritual practice, traditional cosmology, philosophical and magical texts.

In the academic context, studies in divination are at an embryonic stage but growing fast. Such studies have generally been subsumed within other disciplines (anthropology, sociology, psychology, religion, new age spirituality, cultural and historical studies). Our project, with its unique focus, will therefore also be an opportunity to consolidate a multi-disciplinary gathering point for those working in the field through these varying perspectives.

The work already achieved at the University of Kent offers a secure foundation for our future initiatives. Since 2001 there has been a sustained development of Cosmology and Divination teaching and research, growing out of its original host, the MA in the Study of Mysticism and Religious Experience. Angela Voss and Patrick Curry have convened three international research conferences and published the papers in recognised academic forums (as The Imaginal Cosmos, Seeing with Different Eyes and Divination and Dialogue). There is a thriving postgraduate research community at Kent and working relationships have been developed with respected authorities in the area of divination studies. Significant reciprocal contacts have also been established with internationally recognised authorities in anthropology and divination scholarship (see Friends and Colleagues) and there is an extensive network of further scholars who have been involved in the Conferences and whose help and interest is likely to be engaged in the future. Related UK MA programmes such as the MA in Western Esotericism at Exeter, the MA in cultural astronomy and astrology at Lampeter and the MA in transpersonal arts and practice at Chichester demonstrate the growing field of interest in the study of the history, theory and practice of astrology, magic and divination in both past and present contexts of esotericism, culture and transpersonal psychology.