Buckland's Domino Divination

by Raymond Buckland

Tarot cards have been a staple of the divination market for years, as has been the I-Ching, numerology, astrology, tea-leaf reading and palmistry. More recently runes have joined these and become very popular. In 1982 Ralph Blum's The Book of Runes started the trend and a wide variety of books on reading runes is now available. Almost as old as tarot cards are the dominoes, the first records of their use being found in China in the early twelfth century. Although today familiar to most people only as a game, dominoes were originally used by the Chinese for divination and fortune-telling. The reading of dominoes comes under the heading of sortilege and, as such, can be traced back to early Greek and Roman methods of divining the future. Divination with dominoes would seem to be a natural follow-on to the popularity of runes. Domino sets are much more readily available than are runes, which are usually manufactured solely for divination use. To be able to do similar readings but with such an accessible tool could not only fulfill the needs of those who are always searching for new lines of psychic development but could also be instrumental in introducing previously hesitant would-be diviners into the field. One of the unique features of domino divination is the fact that more than one person may be "read" at the same time.

146 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

Raymond Buckland was a highly influential figure in the development of modern Wicca and the occult in the United States. Born in London, he became interested in the supernatural at an early age and was initiated into the Gardnerian Wiccan tradition in 1963 by Monique Wilson, a high priestess appointed by Gerald Gardner. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1962, Buckland introduced Gardnerian Wicca to the country, founding its first coven in New York in 1964. He later developed his own tradition, Seax-Wica, inspired by Anglo-Saxon paganism, and published The Tree: Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft to make it accessible to all.
In 1968, he established the first Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in the U.S., which helped normalize and educate the public about Wicca. Over the course of his career, Buckland wrote more than sixty books on Wicca, divination, and the occult, including Witchcraft from the Inside and Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, both regarded as essential texts in Neopaganism.
Throughout his life, Buckland remained a prolific teacher, writer, and practitioner. He continued to write and teach until his death in 2017, leaving behind a lasting legacy that shaped the spiritual practices of countless Wiccans and Pagans worldwide.

Reviews

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some interesting experiences at the beginning of the year got me interested in domino divination, so I was very grateful to discover this book. It's very easy to read and understand, and is quite comprehensive. The sections on tarot associations and numerology serve to make this volume open-ended, allowing for readers to see this as a starting point in learning about dominoes.
Given that it's about game pieces, the book is fittingly also a fun read, which is not always to the case with divination guidebooks.