What do astronauts and augur nuts (divining enthusiasts) have in common?
A willingness to explore the unknown, to expand the limits of the known world, and to take risks all come to mind as qualities of these intrepid explorers. Various implements, elements, fauna, and flora have been used for augury. Crystals, water, black cats, chicken entrails, flocks of geese, dreams, weather phenomena, and catastrophic events have all been interpreted as signs about the future. Lovestruck maidens plucked daisy petals to divine their true love’s intentions. Medicine women tossed sacred bones and stones to divine a person’s health, fortune, or misfortune. Divining systems developed over the centuries, such as, the I Ching, Astrology, Tarot, Numerology, and Runes are still in use today. Anything and everything has been used and can be used for divination. Or not. We don’t have to use animal entrails. We don’t have to perch on the rim of a volatile volcano and peer into the belly of fiery gases for glimpses into the future. We don’t have to acquire a foot-long, twenty poun
