This new version gives a shamanic spin to the ancient divination tool.
Needles are a popular divination tool among the Gypsies of the British Isles, and are used by other cultures as well.
In the most popular method, the diviner allows a number of these sharp or pointed objects (usually seven) to fall onto a table or any other appropriate flat surface. He then reads from the patterns they make.
In another method, used since ancient times by Gypsies, seven needles (or up to twenty one) were dropped into a shallow bowl filled with water. Prognostications were read in the needles pattern in the water. Sometimes the dish was slowly filled with water, and as the needles moved about, futurity was determined. Gypsies would also use needles or sharp sticks as pointers while performing divination readings.
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Another method uses thirteen pins, ten of them straight and the other three bent. They are shaken in the hand and dropped onto a surface sprinkled with powder, usually sugar, flour or talcum. The patterns in the powder as well as the positioning of the pins are then read by the diviner.
On yet another method, the pins are marked with mystical symbols or letters, cast into a quiver and mixed together. The diviner then proceeds drawing one or more pins, one at the time, to interpret the results and make the prognostication.
In a European version of this type of divination, twenty-five needles are placed in a plate or dish. Water is then poured over the plate until the needles float. If any of the needles cross, the future looks ill. If, however, none cross, all will be fine.
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