Turtle Shell and Coins Oracle.
There are many methods used for Chinese coin divination. One that is rarely seen are the ones that uses a turtle shell.
Certain masters would do prayers before the session. Some that i have seen would do prayers to the deity Gui Gu Zi / 鬼谷子 aka Gui Gu Xian Shi / 鬼谷先師 / Sage of Ghost Valley (Deity for these divination). Burning of josstick and candles are sometimes included.
A turtle/tortoise shell and some chinese coins with hole in the center would be brought down from the altar. Usually three chinese coins would be use but the numbers of coin used may also varies with different masters. .
When a person seek a master/interpreter for coin divinition, the master would place all Chinese coins into the tortoise shell. The client would then have a question for the master/interpreter to ask the oracle.
The master will then shake the tortoise shell a couple of times and cast the coins out on the table. He may repeat this a couple of time. Writing/remembering down each cast.
When he is done, he would seek a book (usually the yi-jing) for intepretion.
Then only… Your question will be answer. 🙂
In the t’ung shing, there are a few pages about coin divinition.
Some has said that the person who practice this tortoise shell divination should be spritually cleanse. All this prayers/ceremony done is to ensure the accuracy of the casted coins. There are many more version of it.
My Time – my.72dragon.com – A web blog where i catalog chinese temples in malaysia.
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