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of everyday events" by means of "the image of a universal grid on which all people and all agencies (including pathogenic threats) can be located in space and time" (1977:192). This echoes the processes of Antemoro and Yaka divination (see the essays by Vérin and Rajaonarimanana and by Devisch above). |
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The persistent search for meaningful patterns is presented by Jahoda as his "alternative interpretation" for the presence of superstition (1971:120). Despite divination's universality and the great reliance on resultant plans of action, not just revealed patterns, a psychological need to relieve anxiety is sufficient explanation for Jahoda (and many anthropologists). Still, it is correct to say that divination reveals signs when none are forthcoming from other sources. If there is a dream or omen and the general espistemological system readily provides an explanation, divination may not be necessary. But if there are ambiguities with the immediately apparent associations of elements or no pattern vividly emerges, then divination must be resorted to. |
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Not only does divination reveal the basic patterns underlying human activities; it also reveals individual life patterns and relationships with others. Divination produces a narrative of a client's life and a correct history of the event in question. As Ahern observes, oracular communication is cryptic and metaphoric and thereby apparently very general, but it is in reality specifically relevant to the problem at hand. Therefore, the diviner and/or client must expand the coded message "to be what the god would say if he were conversing freely" (1981:62). The final divinatory narrative contains all the elements, now placed in proper order and in proper correspondence. Even among peoples who believe that life patterns are established prior to birth into this world, it is possible through correct action based on proper informationinformation available only through divinationto improve one's life. |
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But it is the final establishment of these patterns which brings us up against the apparent contradiction of divination systems. How can we reconcile divination's "mystical" process with its immensely practical results? Why are palm nuts, for example, cast in Ifa divination to determine which of the already known verses to recite? It is exactly at this point that earlier analyses of divination floundered. We have seen how divination is marked off from other means of decision making by the nature of the diviner (in terms of dress, behavior, cultural attributes), by location, by myriad symbolic elements, and by the occult communication invoked. Nevertheless, in the end we are firmly grounded in this world of practical action. This transition occurs in the crucial dialogue between diviner and client as the revealed information is discussed and debated. The all-important pattern may be brought forth before or through this dialogue, but it is in this dialogue, which previous studies have largely ignored, that the unique synthesis of cognitive modes occurs. |
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The divination process reviews all known factors as well as bringing forth new knowledge of the client's problem. The characteristic randomization of divination's presentation of these relevant elements neutralizes them so that each can be closely scrutinized, so that the true and the false can be clearly distinguished.
17 The cognitive process engaged in by the divinatory contingent which generates and interprets |
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