Oracle consultation and extinct omen divination

Domain XVI · Historical, discredited & harmful · Tages · -1250

What it is

This guide covers a family of practices, not a therapy: consulting a god's oracle (Delphi, Dodona) and reading omens. These included haruspicy and extispicy (reading the entrails of sacrificed animals), Roman augury (reading signs such as birds), and Shang Chinese scapulimancy and plastromancy…

Format

• Greece (Dodona, Delphi). Dodona was the oracle of Zeus and Dione in north-west Greece. Over 4,000 inquiries survive, written on lead tablets dating from the late 6th to the mid-3rd century BC, and most are held at the Archaeological Museum of Ioannina. Most askers were private individuals, men and…
• Format is ordinary individual therapy; the number and length of sessions follow the client's presenting problem.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• over- or under-pathologising. Signs it is working: you have a clear differential and a shared plan.
• complicated grief or depression, which need their own treatment. Signs it is working: self-blame softens.
• giving advice to relieve your own discomfort. Signs it is working: the client tolerates the therapist not knowing.
• referrals that feel like rejection. Signs it is working: the client takes up the referral and the therapy continues.
• the client guarding against expected ridicule. Signs it is working: the client describes frequency, spending and feelings openly.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.