- Scapulimancy
Scapulimancy (also spelled "scapulomancy" and "scapulamancy", and also termed "omoplatoscopy" ) is the practice of
divination by use ofscapula e (shoulder blades). In the context of theoracle bone s of ancientChina , which chiefly utilized both scapulae and theplastron s of turtle, "scapulimancy" is sometimes used in a very broad sense to jointly refer to both scapulimancy andplastromancy (similar divination using plastrons). However, the term "osteomancy" might be more appropriate, referring to divination using bones. Many archaeological sites along the south coast and offlying islands of theKorean peninsula show that deer and pig scapulae were used in divination during the Korean Protohistoric, c. 300 B.C. - A.D. 300/400.Historically, scapulimancy has taken two major forms. In the first, "apyromantic", the scapula of an animal was simply examined after its slaughter. This form was widespread in Europe, Northern Africa and the Near East. In Northeast Asia and North America however, the second form, "pyromantic" scapulimancy was practiced, involving the heating or burning of the bone and interpretation of the results.
Scapulimancy was also mentioned in Chapter 5 of the
Kojiki , the Japanese Record of Ancient Matters, in which the heavenly deities used this process of divination during a consulation by lesser gods.ee also
*
Oracle Bones
*Plastromancy
*Pyromancy
*Slinneanachd References
Keightley, David N. (1978). "Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China." University of California Press, Berkeley. Large format hardcover, ISBN 0-520-02969-0 (out of print); A ppbk 2nd edition (1985) ISBN 0-520-05455-5 is still in print.
Andrée, R. (1906) Scapulimantia. In "Anthropological Papers in Honour of Franz Boas", edited by Berthold Laufer, pp.143-165
Eisenberger, Elmar Jakob (1938). Das Wahrsagen aus dem Schulterblatt. "Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie" 35, pp.49-116.
Philippi, Donald L. (1968). "Kojiki." University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo. p. 52.
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