
The popular Iranian tradition of using Hafez’s poems for divination - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181023-irans-fascinating-way-to-tell-fortunes
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kopo
Reminds me. Few months ago a friend was wrestling with one of those big life
changing decisions everyone faces sometime or the other. He spent a whole lot
of time meticulously analysing pros and cons, but just couldn't decide one way
or another. Then one day he does this "remote" tarot card reading session
(facepalm) and bam! Decision made. I was shocked. Don't know how many times I
had to then hear, "...but dude just look at what the tarot card said".
Psycologists really need to figure out how this "magic" works and how we can
use it more effectively.

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qwerty456127
You don't even need tarot for such a case usually. Just promise yourself you
are going to do what it decides and flip a coin. As soon as the coin falls and
demands you to go particular way you will feel either joy or sorrow about the
fact it has fallen this way and you are to obey. This will make it clear what
do you actually want. Now you can forget about the promise and go the way you
know you want now.

It also doesn't take to be particularly irrational magically-oriented mind to
make use of some astrology, numerology, tarot or whatever of this kind
occasionally - trying these and getting some shockingly precise data about
yourself and predictions about events in your life is enough for a mind that
is predominantly pragmatic although rational).

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kopo
Interesting point. Thanks!

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unmole
See also: Parrot Astrology of India -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot_astrology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot_astrology)

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M_Bakhtiari
Where do the stars enter into the equation in this parrot astrology?

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unmole
Astrology is actually a mistranslation. Indian languages usually use the same
word, _Jyotiḥśāstra_ to refer to both astrology and and fortune telling.

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openfuture
I really believe in this tradition, you should try it:
[https://www.hafizonlove.com/fal.htm](https://www.hafizonlove.com/fal.htm)

There's always a fresh perspective and amazing poetry, it has given me insight
many times in my life.

It's not only bards that offer divination's from the divan, in Tehran the
street kids sell a page from the divan for a dollar and in general I'd say the
dominant religion in the country is the wisdom of its poets (the greatest ones
being Rumi, Saadi, Omar Khayyam and debatably the most popular, Hafez).

I wish I had the time to go learn the language so that I too could appreciate
the depth of their poetry.

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eternalban
The English language simply can not convey Hafiz. Shahriari has made a very
good effort but his personal faith (he is a Zoroastrian) colors his rendition
of some of the poems.

Also as a note, as C. G. Jung warned in his introduction to the Wilhelm
translation of the "I Ching", divination is not without hazardous
consequences.

There is no free lunch in the universe. You are not getting "free information"
here. Remember that before you decide to weaken your faculty of Choice when
using divination tools.

[p.s. Hafiz is also very much coded with Sufi terminology. You can take it at
face value and admire his mastery of the Persian language but the embedded
messages require exegesis.]

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Jun8
Very cool. 10-20 years ago it was quite common in Istanbul to see a similar
method of divination but done with a rabbit! Haven't seen them for some time
but here's a recent video of the operation:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KFKbieSe8c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KFKbieSe8c)

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azar1
Another tradition of divination in Iran is called fal-gush. You hide behind a
fence and listen to the conversations of people passing by and use it to
answer your questions.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fāl-gūsh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fāl-
gūsh)

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eternalban
And this pretty much explains why a nation like Iran is stuck where it is (for
the past n 100 years). No shortage of brains but a corrosive fatalism that
became ingrained in the very culture, likely as a consequence of successive
disasters of Arab and Mongul invasions. The Persians of lore that managed 3
empires were not fatalistic fools.

[Fair disclosure: born Iranian.]

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JoeAltmaier
So much better, cooler, more romantic than 'Ask again later'. We settle for so
little. Sigh.

