Divinations

Divination is an effort to know the future by usingsuperstitious means. It attributes to creatures the power of knowing, or disclosing the future absolutely, whereas this power belongs to God alone. Therefore, divination is always a sin.

Divination often takes the form (indeed, this is usual)of an appeal to demons or devils for knowledge of the future, or for knowledge of what one should do now to achieve good or avoid trouble in time to come.

There are three major classes of divinations: directinvoking of demons; reading auguries; using other means of reading the future (dreams, necromancy or pretended apparitions, utterancesof the dead, etc.).

The invoking of demons is unlawful, for it (a) involves an implicit pact with an evil spirit; (b) results in what isprejudicial to man’s salvation.

Divination by the stars is a vain practice, forman’s future is not determined by heavenly bodies. Besides,this is a practice into which evil spirits readily enter to findgullible victims for further bad influencing. Hence, divination bythe stars is sinful.

Divination by dreams is also unlawful. God can indeed make use of dreams and turn them into revealing visions. But unless God make manifest the character of a dream as a revelation,it is wrong to attach to the dream a prophetic value. Of course, aman may know that when he has dreams of a certain type, he is taking cold, or some such matter. This is not divination or superstition. Only when dreams are accepted as things preternaturaland prophetic are they a variety of superstition, that is, ofdivination.

Auguries, omens, use of external superstitiouspractices as means of getting knowledge or guidance, are all forms of divination, and share its foolish and sinful character. The evil of using such things is in the assumption that the future depends on them. To read the natural signs of causes now in operation is not superstitious. Thus, to predict the morrow’s weather from the clouds, or currents of air, or fromthe cry of birds, is not divination.

To draw lots in the sharing of goods, or in determining the winner of a prize, is not divination. But to draw lots to determine what course of action to pursue, with the assumption that fated necessity rules lives, and that somehow the chance selection of a card or the drawing of a straw will indicate what one is fated to enjoy or endure, is divination, and, in consequence, is foolish,unreasonable, and sinful.