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OK, we're going to throw the bones in order to determine the god's will in a given matter, but first we have to give the bones a ground.

The ground is always either circular or square. Can anyone tell me why?

Good: it's a horizon, a world in microcosm. The horizon is a circle, and the square marks out the four directions. Circle and square are analogous: the circle is a curvilinear square, the square a rectilinear circle.

(Incidentally: these days people mostly cast circles, but back in the days of our people's wandering—nomads don't have fixed holy-places, mostly—our temporary sanctuaries were square.)

So, we begin by spreading out the casting-cloth on the ground. The casting-cloth is square and woven of linen. Why linen? Anyone?

Good: it's the ancestral fabric. Wool would be the other good option here, but with linen and the bones we have both Plant and Animal: Red God and Green, the Horned and his Twin. Wool or linen, though, we're talking Web of Wyrd imagery here, right? The weaving of Fate? Of course, that's something that's intrinsic to our divination.

(In days before weaving, I suppose you'd have used an animal skin, but of course it would need to be the whole skin of a small animal, not something cut from a larger hide, right? Be thinking about why that might be, and what animal you'd want to use; we'll discuss it further next time.)

So, you lay out the casting-cloth. If we were outside, we'd align it with the corners pointing to the four directions, but since we're indoors, we align it with the corners pointing to the four walls.

Can anyone tell me why we lay it out like this, instead of with the four sides of the cloth parallel to the walls?

An Introduction to Astragalomancy

Paganicon 2025

At the upcoming Paganicon 2025, I'll be teaching a workshop in Astragalomancy: divination by the casting of knucklebones.

As divinatory systems go, one could characterize this one as quick and deep. I can (and will) teach you the basics of the Bones in five minutes.

So what do I plan to do with the remaining 55 minutes of the workshop? Easily told.

Context, context, context.

In the waking time between first and second sleeps, I lie abed alert, drawing up the story arc of the forthcoming workshop.

In so doing, I come to the heart of the Old Ways.

What is that, you ask?

Listen, and I'll tell you.

The Horned speaks in many ways, but perhaps most clearly through the Bones.

(They come, after all, from His own Body.)

Who is the Horned? The God of Witches.

Who are the Tribe of Witches? The People of the Horned.

Listen, and I'll tell you.

It's paradigmatically Neo-Pagan behavior to rip gods, practices, and concepts from their cultural contexts and claim them for our own, we whose natal gods, practices, and concepts were torn from us long ago.

Behold: the violated becoming, in turn, the violator.

This we do even though, in so doing, we strip said gods, practices, and concepts from that which makes them truly pagan.

Behold, I will tell you all of paganism in three words.

In Which Our Intrepid Blogger Considers Buying a Human Bone, But Doesn't

“Maxilas and Mandibles.” That was the name of the bone store.

I'm visiting a friend in NYC. “You've got to see this one,” he says, so we go.

The store is long and narrow as a coffin. The bones are beautiful.

“Do you have any human bones?” I ask. It would be cool to have a femur to beat the drum with at Samhain, right?

Right?

Femur in hands, I kneel down on the floor. This was, after all, part of someone's body once. Always ask before you take.

Something's wrong. My heart is pounding, the sweat is pouring off of me. “Where is this from?” I can barely manage to get the words out.

“India, I think,” says the clerk.

Gods. Who knows what the story here is? I rise. I don't want this thing. I don't want it in my house; I don't want it in my city.

Bones

In the old days bones and animal parts were used widely for magical purposes.  People were hunters they used all the parts of an animal primarily for food and warmth, and the bones for magic.

Just discovered (and backed) a unique Tarot deck called the Tarot of Bones. Images will be made using actual bones and nature art photographs from the creator, Lupa. Check it out at this link.

I love her video and idea, connecting the "bones" of nature to the symbolism and archetypes of Tarot.