The Rhetoric of Divination: A Comparative Approach

In a comparative analysis of divinatory practices, such as Christian manna-grains, Yijing, Ifa divination, the Delphic oracle, and modern-day Tarot, this chapter argues that the rhetoric of divination may be studied in three phases: 1) The rhetoric of the act of divination is inherent in the stochastic procedure itself; its outcome parades as the result of fate, chance, a god, or dao. In addition, there is often a myth to account for the procedure. 2) The stochastic procedure nominates a text to be interpreted, e.g. a passage of holy writ, a time-honoured earlier prediction, or a proverb. It is not a straightforward verdict or prediction, but as ritually nominated, it claims relevance. The rhetoric of the text resides in its character as a model to be applied to the matter at hand. 3) The rhetoric of interpretation, then, consists in establishing a convincing continuity between the text and the matter at hand. In sum, the rhetoric of divination is very much a metamorphosis of signs: the act of divination produces a sign, from the beginning without meaning; this is turned into a linguistic sign that does not yet make sense. Finally, the interpretation establishes the full sense, uniting religious authority and relevance.