Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LV — How Auspicias Are Verified by the Light of Natural Instinct, and of Some Rules of Finding It Out · 4 of 4 · tr. Henry Morley; L. W. de Laurence ed.
Chapter LV, Section 1d
Hence it was accounted a thing of great concernment amongst the ancients as oft as any thing unusual was found in the inwards, as when Sylla was sacrificing at Laurentum, the figure of a crown appeared in the head of the liver, which Posthumius, the soothsayer, interpreted to portend a victory with a kingdom, and therefore advised that Sylla should eat those entrails himself.
The color, also, of the inwards is to be considered.
Of these Lucan made mention: Struck at the color Prophets were with fear, For with foul spots pale entrals tinged were.
Both black and blue, with specks of sprinkled blood They were— There was in times past such a venerable esteem of these arts that the most potent and wise men sought after them; yea, the senate and kings did nothing without the counsel of the Augures.
But all these in these days are abolished, partly by the negligence of men and partly by the authority of the fathers.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Divinationpraxis
The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. Distinct from gnosis_direct_knowledge (unmediated inner apprehension of ultimate truth, not a technique applied to an external medium) and cosmic_sympathy (the underlying doctrine of hidden affinity that many divinatory techniques presuppose, rather than the practice of consulting it).
The entire passage is a treatise on haruspicy (divination from entrails), describing how unusual shapes and colors in animal inwards were interpreted as portents of future events.
All passages →Related passages · 5 parallels
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVII-b
“For, as he sometimes makes some stupid man to speak wisely, through which it becomes manifest to every one, that this is not a certain human but a divine work; thus, also, he reveals through things which are deprived of knowledge, conceptio…”
Shared concept: Divination — The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter I
“In the first place, therefore, you ask me to explain to you distinctly, “ what that is which is effected in the foreknowledge of future events? ” Immediately, however, that which you endeavour to learn is impossible. For, according to the m…”
Shared concept: Divination — The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. (derived)
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Shared concept: Divination — The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus)|Page 54
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Shared concept: Divination — The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 110
“Section 7 7. But, if the stars announce the future- as we hold of many other things also- what explanation of the cause have we to offer? What explains the purposeful arrangement thus implied? Obviously, unless the particular is included un…”
Shared concept: Divination — The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. (derived)