Simple thoughts on World religions - part 2 (Omens from time to time)

When living your life you cannot help but wonder about people and the way they live their lives.

Through technological developments we now have internet. We can hardly imagine a world without that anymore. Meeting people from other cultures has become very simple and as it is, trying to understand them usually involves a bit of study into their background.

Because religion is such an important part of every community I made an effort trying to understand a number of what we call "world religions". I did so by working through a course offered by the SNU (Spiritualist National Union).

People's reliance on external signs or “omens” is as old as history.

In the old days special functionaries, named augurs had to observe and explain omens in nature. On the basis of their findings they had to advise in public matters. Although the augurs were originally specialists in bird language and listened to what birds said the term augur was eventually used for everyone predicting on the basis of animals, their signs and languages. Augurs who studied the activities of birds and other animals were called auspices. We can mention the following types of augury being practised in the old days from time to time.

• Omens from birds. These are the oldest signs used as augury, but later the meaning was extended to include other omens. Birds were considered to be symbols of the spirit. Their capacity to fly reminds us of our own capability to rise and reach new levels of awareness, thus crossing the bridge between earth and heaven and having knowledge of all things. The movement of birds gave sailors warning of oncoming storms and nearness of land. To the augur the type of bird, their number, their flight, their cries, even the way they fed, were meaningful. In shamanism the specific meaning of lots of birds is described and it is very interesting to discover how each type of bird has its importance, from the simple looking sparrow to the regal and fierce looking eagle.

• Omens from other animals. In the old days the crossing of one’s path by a black cat, a wolf or a hare was a warning of some kind, something to take seriously. A raven sitting on your rooftop was certainly a sign of something bad going to happen. In the old days even horses (like dogs) were regarded to be psychic and told to have foreboding of calamities. In fact the appearance of all kinds of animals in dreams or in real life were considered to be meaningful especially in Shamanism. There was even meaning in carcasses and viscera of sacrificial victims like calves, oxen, lambs or goats. Especially the condition of the liver, believed to be the seat of life, was significant. These animals were sacrificed before undertaking an important mission like the founding of a city or going into battle in Babylon, Chaldea, Greece and Egypt. Even today, in some communities, the howling of a dog means a warning of something coming and .. watch out if a black cat crosses your path.

• Sky and weather omens. The sky and weather signs were thought to be of great importance in very different cultures. All kinds of meaning and interpretation were given to them and even the direction from which the wind, thunder and lightning came was of significance. They influenced greatly the behaviour of a community.

• Unusual occurrences. Anything unusual, especially one causing fear, was regarded as a warning from the gods and should not be ignored. Here we can mention for instance the spilling of salt, stumbling, eye-lid twitching, sneezing (today in The Netherlands: three sneezes in a row bring nice weather tomorrow).

• Throwing of dice and drawing of lots. The drawing or casting of lots and throwing of dice and knucklebones were widely employed in divination by ancient nations. Even today people love to draw a card from a deck and use and interpret its picture as meaningful. (There are hundreds of decks available). Someone who wanted advice might cast coins into a bowl of water or a sacred pool. The water was supposed to have a divine power and its movement could be interpreted by the auspice.

• The Sibylline scripts. Instead of drawing lots the Romans used the Sibylline scripts sometimes. These were in verse, believed to have been written under inspiration and to be prophetic in nature. Later, when books supplanted rolls, they were opened at random and the passage exposed was regarded as predicting the future. This is being done today, with different books that contain philosophical texts as a guideline for the day.

• Omens from words and names. Certain words or names were regarded as lucky and care was taken to ensure that a person with such a name headed any list. I recall a couple of years ago when my grandson was born and my daughter said his name was Merlijn. I was in mild state of shock, having met the very wise and intense Merlin energy around Glastonbury a couple of months earlier and thinking, phew, that’s a load to carry for this little boy.

• Astrology. Astrology has almost become a science of its own. Since ancient times people have interpreted the signs of the stars and constellations to predict the future. Today astrology is widely used in different forms whereby Western, Hindu and Chinese astrology are the best-known forms. There are even several computer programmes where birth signs are being fed to the computer and complete life predictions or a prediction for the new birth year or calendar year comes rolling out.