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Throwing the Bones; How to Foretell the Future with Bones, Shells and Nuts
This practical manual explains and teaches ancient and modern methods for predicting future events by means of Scottish speal bones, American pyromantic furculomancy, Yoruban obi, Shona hakata, Mongolian shagai, British fortune telling dice, the Gypsy domino oracle, the Persian standing bone oracle, Alabama 'Possum bones, Virginia Chicken bones, Zulu-style sangoma bone reading, and more.
Slaughter-Bone Oracles
Mathematical Systems of Bone Reading
Sortilege Systems with Bones
Spirit-Led Interpretive Bone Reading
Slaughter-Bone Oracles
Mathematical Systems of Bone Reading
Sortilege Systems with Bones
Spirit-Led Interpretive Bone Reading
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
6 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Yronwode
63 books70 followers
Catherine "Cat" Yronwode
(b. 1947) is an American writer, editor, publisher, and teacher. A practitioner of herbalism and traditional magic, she is a founding member of the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers. She has had an extensive career in the comic book industry, and coauthored Women and the Comics (1985), the first book on women in comics. Born and raised in California, Yronwode attended Illinois' Shimer College in the 1960s, through the school's unique early entrance program.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 16, 2017
So. Much. Info! This slim book is *packed* with systems for reading bones, dice, and dominoes. And she even tossed in a section on tea leaf reading. I will be enjoying this book for years to come.
July 14, 2017
The final section was on spirit led interpretive bone reading and I really wanted the entire book to be about that, but that isn't the author's fault. The historic types of bone reading were interesting but not why I picked up the book.
September 26, 2016
Another amazing book by Catherine Yronwode. The more I read from her and her Lucky Mojo Curio Company, the more I respect her. She may not have a degree in magic from UC Berkley like Isaac Bonewits, but it goes to show you that, just because you can't get an accredited degree like that anymore, it doesn't mean you can't tell the establishment to kiss off and still end up being a scholar. This is the best book of all the ones that I've read from her so far.
This book may only have ninety-six pages, but the author packs it with a ton of information. It's true it doesn't have footnotes or references in the back of the book, but I think she does adequate work in including her references within the body of her writings for a person that hasn't studied in a formal university situation. She has the capacity of doing her homework independently of being told what to do.
I got to admit, I was expecting one thing but got something entirely different. Instead of her just telling me how to read this system of divining right from the word "go", she first went into building up a lot of background and making references to historical and anthropological studies of how people from other cultures around the world and throughout history did it...and not simply focusing on African and Southern African-American cultures...which was, to me, impressive. She didn't get to the possibilities of how it's done until near the end of the book. By that time, it was rather clear to me that most, if not almost all, of these systems were probably not for me; nevertheless, it was worth the wait anyhow.
Having an interest in social science helps in reading this book, or at least maybe an interest in animal anatomy. But if you're interested in only learning how to divine using bones, shells, and other different types of paraphernalia...and that's it...you might want to pass it up before it puts you to sleep. This is for the serious.
I know for me, when I was done with this book, the author had given me an even better overall awareness and understanding of this form of divination than I had before. I can appreciate that.
Congratulations and thanks, Ms. Yronwode. You just might have surpassed Ms. Z. Budapest as being a major influence on me. :-) Nice job.
This book may only have ninety-six pages, but the author packs it with a ton of information. It's true it doesn't have footnotes or references in the back of the book, but I think she does adequate work in including her references within the body of her writings for a person that hasn't studied in a formal university situation. She has the capacity of doing her homework independently of being told what to do.
I got to admit, I was expecting one thing but got something entirely different. Instead of her just telling me how to read this system of divining right from the word "go", she first went into building up a lot of background and making references to historical and anthropological studies of how people from other cultures around the world and throughout history did it...and not simply focusing on African and Southern African-American cultures...which was, to me, impressive. She didn't get to the possibilities of how it's done until near the end of the book. By that time, it was rather clear to me that most, if not almost all, of these systems were probably not for me; nevertheless, it was worth the wait anyhow.
Having an interest in social science helps in reading this book, or at least maybe an interest in animal anatomy. But if you're interested in only learning how to divine using bones, shells, and other different types of paraphernalia...and that's it...you might want to pass it up before it puts you to sleep. This is for the serious.
I know for me, when I was done with this book, the author had given me an even better overall awareness and understanding of this form of divination than I had before. I can appreciate that.
Congratulations and thanks, Ms. Yronwode. You just might have surpassed Ms. Z. Budapest as being a major influence on me. :-) Nice job.
April 7, 2013
This is a very short book - a total of 96 pages - but it is definitely packed with good research, information and suggestions for further learning down different paths of bone reading.
The author does preface the book with a bit of a warning to those who may be squeamish about bones in general, using bones, touching bones, etc. that this may not be for them. Bones do not make me squeamish (though a real human skull might as I have never held one but I am fascinated so that fascination may overpower anything else in me if I ever get the chance) so I continued on my read.
The first part of the book is a quick overview of what can be found or known about the history of bone throwing. There is a brief overview of several different types of divinatory ways that people have used bones or items made from bones. There is just enough to educate the reader to know but not quite enough to actually practice one of those touched upon methods without further study and practical use outside of this book.
The second part of the book really gets to the bones of it all (pardon the pun) in presenting the reader with a rudimentary introduction to divining with bones; several different ways one may want to use this practice and good references for further learning. Practice in itself along with a set of "bones" and an already good foundation in different divination techniques should help a person wanting to try their hand at such a casting (and I fully intend to further myself with this through practice and further education in different ways - likely much of the spirit kind).
The author does preface the book with a bit of a warning to those who may be squeamish about bones in general, using bones, touching bones, etc. that this may not be for them. Bones do not make me squeamish (though a real human skull might as I have never held one but I am fascinated so that fascination may overpower anything else in me if I ever get the chance) so I continued on my read.
The first part of the book is a quick overview of what can be found or known about the history of bone throwing. There is a brief overview of several different types of divinatory ways that people have used bones or items made from bones. There is just enough to educate the reader to know but not quite enough to actually practice one of those touched upon methods without further study and practical use outside of this book.
The second part of the book really gets to the bones of it all (pardon the pun) in presenting the reader with a rudimentary introduction to divining with bones; several different ways one may want to use this practice and good references for further learning. Practice in itself along with a set of "bones" and an already good foundation in different divination techniques should help a person wanting to try their hand at such a casting (and I fully intend to further myself with this through practice and further education in different ways - likely much of the spirit kind).
October 25, 2015
I'm finished... unfortunately...
The book is amazing and I just wish he had much more pages, although it is full of information. I will want to read it several times to let it all sink in.
The author has a passion for history: the book was written with great respect for the cultures that bone reading came from. A wonderful guide for anyone wanting to learn to throw bones.
Includes topics like;
Slaughter bone oracles
heat induced bone reading
Wishbones (yes the thanksgiving tradition is in essence, a bone oracle)
Oracle Bones in Ancient China
Oracle Bones of the Native American Naskapi Tribe
Mathematical Bone Reading Systems
I Ching (complete with the 8 trigrams and sixty 4 hexagrams depicted)
Yoruba Obi of west Africa (Nigeria)
Hakata 4 binary bone oracles of the Shona people of Zimbabwe (with pictures of carvings and a chart of outcomes)
Diloggun with cowrie shells
Bone Dice and Sheep Knuckles
Dominoes and Gypsy Dominoes
Sortilege
Rune Bones (my favorite)
Possum Bone Reading (heard about it here in the South but never knew anything about it, thanks cat)
Chicken Bone Reading
Mingled Species Bone Meanings
Bones of the Body meaning...with Zodiac Chart of a naked dude...for the ladies
Containers
Ancestor Altars
Guidlines for casting bones (any system)
And a Tea Leaf reading/meaning chart for good measure.
LOVE it!
The book is amazing and I just wish he had much more pages, although it is full of information. I will want to read it several times to let it all sink in.
The author has a passion for history: the book was written with great respect for the cultures that bone reading came from. A wonderful guide for anyone wanting to learn to throw bones.
Includes topics like;
Slaughter bone oracles
heat induced bone reading
Wishbones (yes the thanksgiving tradition is in essence, a bone oracle)
Oracle Bones in Ancient China
Oracle Bones of the Native American Naskapi Tribe
Mathematical Bone Reading Systems
I Ching (complete with the 8 trigrams and sixty 4 hexagrams depicted)
Yoruba Obi of west Africa (Nigeria)
Hakata 4 binary bone oracles of the Shona people of Zimbabwe (with pictures of carvings and a chart of outcomes)
Diloggun with cowrie shells
Bone Dice and Sheep Knuckles
Dominoes and Gypsy Dominoes
Sortilege
Rune Bones (my favorite)
Possum Bone Reading (heard about it here in the South but never knew anything about it, thanks cat)
Chicken Bone Reading
Mingled Species Bone Meanings
Bones of the Body meaning...with Zodiac Chart of a naked dude...for the ladies
Containers
Ancestor Altars
Guidlines for casting bones (any system)
And a Tea Leaf reading/meaning chart for good measure.
LOVE it!
August 30, 2015
Excellent resource. This is one of the better books on divination I've read. She covers many variations of tossing the bones, some history, a lot of how-to, some philosophy, and all in a small book.
September 2, 2022
THIS is the osteomancy book you should start with...I read several others looking for this one! A full review is available on cannonballread.com
November 5, 2023
Great introduction and historical overview to bone reading, it really gave me a good grasp of historical
Background as well as a foothold to find what works for me in my practice.
Background as well as a foothold to find what works for me in my practice.
June 8, 2013
Excellent Book!
June 8, 2016
Great overview of the different systems used.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews