She Who Seeks: Spirituality

Wednesday 22 February 2023

New Age LOLs

I don't just make fun of my buddy Jesus

and his wackier, more obnoxious

Christian followers, you know.

I'm an Equal Opportunity Mocker,

as this post proves!

Tuesday 16 August 2022

When I was a kid, I learned two ways to use the Bible for divination purposes. I had no idea at the time (nor did anyone else around me, apparently) that the Bible is simply crammed full to the brim with damning strictures against divination, use of pendulums, dowsing, etc. On the contrary, we figured it must be okay to use the Bible for divination because the Bible is, like, you know, HOLY.

Anyway, the first method I learned was the ever-popular "Bible Dipping" technique, where you posed a question, randomly opened the Bible and (with your eyes closed) pointed to a verse which supposedly gave you Divine Guidance regarding the answer. This worked about as well (and about as clearly) as you might imagine. I can't remember who taught me this form of bibliomancy, but it was probably other kids at school (maybe even at Sunday School, LOL).

The other method was taught to me by one of my aunties and was used to determine that era's all-important and all-consuming question for girls -- "which boy will I marry?" (*gag*)

To answer this, you needed to hold one of your necklaces over Bible verse Ruth 1:16, which reads --

And Ruth said: Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

Then you asked: "will I marry [insert boy's name here]?"

If the necklace pendulum swung in a straight line, the answer was yes. If it swung in a circle, the answer was no. Or perhaps it was vice versa -- who remembers now? Hey, it was decades ago and my memory is not what it used to be.

I noticed, of course, that the Bible verse in question was spoken by one woman to another woman and so how was that really relevant to marital devotion? But this proved to be an issue for another time.

The oscillating pendulum method was also used to determine an unborn baby's gender. I think the same auntie taught me this as well. You didn't use a Bible for it, though. The pregnant woman simply put her wedding ring on a necklace and held it over her belly while asking "will my baby be a boy or a girl?" Straight line oscillation meant "boy" and a circular motion meant "girl." (Note the assumptions from 50+ years ago that every pregnant woman had a wedding ring and only two gender options existed).

So -- did anyone else out there learn these forms of (let's face it) witchcraft when you were young?