Elemental Divination: A Dice Oracle

by Stephen Ball

Discover a simple practice that yields life-changing results. With just three dice, you can receive answers to basic questions or initiate a deeper interpretive journey. Based on elemental forces that have been consulted by healers and sages for thousands of years, this dice oracle will inspire you to see yourself and the world with a whole new perspective. This book shares instructions and rituals for using the oracle with dice or other divinatory tools. You will also find a list of meanings for every possible elemental combination, and explanations of how Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Sun, and Moon manifest in this divination system. When you explore the oracle's patterns and correspondences, you gain insight into the challenges and concerns that we all face. Integrate the power of the elements as you make your way through the magic and mystery of life with Elemental Divination as your guide.

Genres: Divination, Paganism, Nonfiction, Occult

240 pages, Paperback

Published March 8, 2018

About the author

Stephen Ball is the author of "Elemental Divination: A Dice Oracle" and "Playing Card Divination: Every Card Tells A Story", and has taught and created
systems of divination for over twenty years.

He previously published "The Apple Branch: An English Shamanism" as Stephen Blake, and contributed to Avalonia books and to Steve Drury's "Dice Mysteries". He lives in London.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

When reviewing a book on a new divination system, there are basically two issues: how good is the book and does the divination system work. I haven't worked with Ball's system enough to answer the second question except to say that it has some similarity to the I Ching: roll the dice to find out the combination of two elements for your question—with the I Ching, that's toss the coins or count yarrow stalks to get a combination of two hexagrams—then look the combination up in the book for an answer.

The book itself, though, is pretty good. Ball makes it clear that his explanations of the various combinations are starting points, not the final absolute meaning to what they signify. Each explanation is long enough to give you a sense of what the combination means, but not so long that you miss the essence. He writes in a straightforward, easy-to-understand style and his tone is friendly and casual. Ball's explanations do stress the positive. While he mentions possible challenging or difficult outcomes for many of the elemental combinations, the explanations are mainly upbeat and encouraging. (Of course, you can come up with difficult meanings on your own.)

The system itself is relatively inexpensive to experiment with, as you need only this book and a six-sided die (it'll be easier with three dice, but they aren't mandatory). If you're looking for a simple divination system with room to add deeper meaning, this has potential.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great way to learn a new way to divinate with dice.

The book presents a very new and original way to conect the faces of the dice with the elements, the Sun and the Moon.
The tone of the book and its contents are very well laid, and are handled in such a manner sot that you do not need to be an expert in the topic to get it.
Mr. Ball explains the history of dice related to their use in divination through the ages. He gives a (very) brief introduction to the symbolism of the elements and their relationships so that you can, at some point, derive your very own relationships and meanings to the different elemental combinations.

I personally enjoyed the book and find the method quite interesting. Although I would have enjoyed a little less "positivism" in the meanings; personally I think that it takes away a lot of the "teaching and revelatory" significance to an oracle.

The reason why I give such a low rating is because in the case of the Kindle version, the contents are POORLY structured. There are no graphics for the chapters as the printed version, but most annoyingly, there's no "go to" index nor hyperlinks from the tables which, are also not very well formatted for a screen.
Given that this book is intended to be used as part of the oracle, so that you are able to cast the dice and then search for the meanings, the lack of index and hyperlinks on tables makes the experience tiring and "disconnected", making it hard for me, at least, to stay engaged and explore the method deeper. For the moment being, I just cannot recommend the digital version, I think you will be better off with faster "access" in a printed edition (as odd as it sounds).

I get this is an early version, so I have high hopes that this issues will be fixed soon through a book update.

A very, very interesting method nonetheless.

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was clueless about the contents. I endeavored to remain unbiased until it arrived.
As soon as I got my hands on the pint-sized book, I - momentarily- was disappointed by the dimensions; not much larger than a quarter folio. Then, I opened the book...immediately, thunderstruck, gobsmacked, and dazzled into reverential silence. This was a method I have never seen used with dice.

Immediately, one should recognize a similarity to forms of geomancy, such as I Ching or the dice method. Assigning elements to each pip, and then a degree of intensity, as an added component. The author includes advice for how to cast the dice, how to ask questions properly, and other methods to use this system, such as for ritual before diving into the interpretations of the toss of the dice.

[Edric Unsane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about divining with dice. Thorough descriptions of how to divine, what the dice mean, and all of it was easy to understand. I liked the book and its premise of elemental associations for each of the pips on the dice. If you wish to learn this method, and do it on the go, I highly recommend picking up a digital edition because there are many combinations for the dice and lugging a book around can be quite, well, burdensome at times.

[Oliver Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reading system—well thought-out and imaginative.