{"id":11824,"date":"2015-11-01T01:10:06","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T06:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=12414"},"modified":"2015-10-29T09:02:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T14:02:04","slug":"seeing-the-signs-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2015\/11\/01\/seeing-the-signs-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing the Signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oracle of Napoleon: divination, Secret Code, <\/span>or Both<\/i><\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Oracle of Napoleon is one of the most involved divination systems I have ever encountered. Unlike other methods of divination \u2013 such as dice or cards or a pendulum, which can be easily carried in a pocket or a handbag \u2013 the Oracle of Napoleon demands that you have a set of questions that go with a chart \u2013 called \u201cThe Key\u201d \u2013 which then the querent needs to further refer to another set of charts \u2013 it\u2019s almost as bad as doing your taxes before we all had Turbo Tax and we had to refer to charts and booklets and try to figure out mysterious codes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, I never would have reviewed this \u201cmethod\u201d of \u201cdivination\u201d at all \u2013 except that I couldn\u2019t think of anything else to write about this month. So I opened up <\/span>The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook<\/u><\/span> by Sasha Fenton and tried to make a go of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right off the bat, I was annoyed. After writing about the supposed history of the Oracle, and how she \u201cmodernized the instructions but left the interpretations in their original forms\u201d (36), she goes on to tell us how to go about obtaining the Oracle\u2019s wisdom. First, the \u201cEnquirer\u201d has to make five rows of dots on a page without thinking about it \u2013 \u201c<\/span>purely by chance\u201d \u2013 <\/i><\/span>as she puts it and those italics are hers, so we know this is an important point. But \u2013 at the same time, we have to stay cognizant of the fact that each line has to have <\/span>at least <\/i><\/span>eleven dots \u2013 those italics are mine. So while we are not paying attention to placing the dots on the page, we are also paying attention to how many dots we are placing on the page. Which doesn\u2019t make sense. I thought, why not just put five or three or seven or how many you want on the page? But I did it as instructed. But of course I had to pay attention. There\u2019s no way to consciously put eleven dots on a page and not pay attention to that fact. <\/span><\/p>\n

So then you count all your dots in each line. If a particular line has an odd number of dots, you place a single dot at the end of the line. If the line has an even number of dots, you place two dots at the end of the line. So then you have a pattern of single & double dots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"divination1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You then turn to the page with all the questions on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"divination2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I also thought this was strange. What if your question wasn\u2019t one that was on this list? But I chose one and I continued. So then I had to find the number that matched the pattern of my dots on \u201cThe Key\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Deivination3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see, the patterns of my dots match up to number 26. So I matched it up to my question and looked it up in the book. I thought it was a little off but not out of the ballpark.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought a better way of choosing your dots would be rolling a single die. Any odd number that came up would be one dot and any even number that came up would be two dots. Any soldier would have a pair of dice with him and Napoleon was a soldier. I tried this a few times and I thought it worked much better. Even so, it seems like an awful lot to carry around with you \u2013 all these charts and list of questions and what-not. And why would Napoleon \u2013 the General of the Revolutionary Army, the Emperor of the French, a man who was educated in the rational and reasonable rhetoric of Rousseau and Voltaire be doing using such a superstitious method of arranging his affairs?<\/span><\/p>\n

Unless it wasn\u2019t an Oracle at all. In my research, I found a link to a copy of the \u201cOracle of Napoleon\u201d, published in 1839. You can access it here:<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/publicdomainreview.org\/collections\/napoleons-oraculum-1839\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, the wording is vastly different than what we see in Fenton. Of course, she did say she \u201cmodernized\u201d it and I think she may have been working from an entirely different edition. But what intrigued me was the use of italics. Not only on the \u201cQuestions\u201d page but in the \u201cOraculum\u201d section. What if those words had meanings other than what was written there? In terms of a military or political code? <\/span><\/p>\n

I looked again at the piece of paper I had with my dots on it. It seemed silly to me \u2013 at first \u2013 to have eleven dots <\/span>before <\/i><\/span>I started putting down dots but when I looked at the piece of paper, it started to make sense. What if I was a courier for the army and this was all I had in my pocket? Nobody but the\u00a0<\/span>person with the key would know what I was carrying. Perhaps I would be told to ask a specific question. Let\u2019s say, Number 25 on Napoleum\u2019s Oraculum. \u201cShall the patient recover from illness?\u201d \u2013 Will the army recover from the recent loss? \u2013 or whatever it means. When you think about it, this is a <\/span>brilliant <\/i><\/span>code.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Devination4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I also found a website where you can ask The Oracle of Napoleon questions in real time and get real answers immediately. It\u2019s called \u201cNapoleon\u2019s Book of Fate\u201d and it\u2019s at http:\/\/www.e-tarocchi.com\/bof\/index.php<\/a>. Try it out \u2013 it\u2019s a lot of fun!<\/span><\/p>\n

So far from being initially annoyed, I found myself being <\/span>totally<\/i><\/span> intrigued and I have to say that now I want to find out more about secret codes and how they mix with oracles and divination in general. It brings another layer to this subject that I never thought about. Seeing the signs \u2013 in lines of dots!<\/span><\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/u><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fenton, Sasha. <\/span>The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook<\/u><\/span>. Hertfordshire: The Aquarian Press, 1988<\/span><\/p>\n

Napoleon\u2019s Oraculum and Dreambook. http:\/\/publicdomainreview.org\/collections\/napoleons-oraculum-1839\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Free Napoleon\u2019s Book of Fate. http:\/\/www.e-tarocchi.com\/bof\/index.php<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oracle of Napoleon: divination, Secret Code, or Both? The Oracle of Napoleon is one of the most involved divination systems I have ever encountered. Unlike other methods of divination \u2013 such as dice or cards or a pendulum, which can be easily carried in a pocket or a handbag \u2013 the Oracle of Napoleon demands that you have a set of questions that go with a chart \u2013 called \u201cThe Key\u201d \u2013 which then the querent needs to further refer to another set of charts \u2013 it\u2019s almost as bad as doing your taxes before we all had Turbo Tax and we had to refer to charts and booklets and try to figure out mysterious codes. Indeed, I never would have reviewed this \u201cmethod\u201d of \u201cdivination\u201d at all \u2013 except that I couldn\u2019t think of anything else to write about this month. So I opened up The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook by Sasha Fenton and tried to make a go of it. Right off the bat, I was annoyed. After writing about the supposed history of the Oracle, and how she \u201cmodernized the instructions but left the interpretations in their original forms\u201d (36), she goes on to tell us how to go about obtaining the Oracle\u2019s wisdom. First, the \u201cEnquirer\u201d has to make five rows of dots on a page without thinking about it \u2013 \u201cpurely by chance\u201d \u2013 as she puts it and those italics are hers, so we know this is an important point. But \u2013 at the same time, we have to stay cognizant of the fact that each line has to have at least eleven dots \u2013 those italics are mine. So while we are not paying attention to placing the dots on the page, we are also paying attention to how many dots we are placing on the page. Which doesn\u2019t make sense. I thought, why not just put five or three or seven or how many you want on the page? But I did it as instructed. But of course I had to pay attention. There\u2019s no way to consciously put eleven dots on a page and not pay attention to that fact. So then you count all your dots in each line. If a particular line has an odd number of dots, you place a single dot at the end of the line. If the line has an even number of dots, you place two dots at the end of the line. So then you have a pattern of single & double dots. You then turn to the page with all the questions on it. I also thought this was strange. What if your question wasn\u2019t one that was on this list? But I chose one and I continued. So then I had to find the number that matched the pattern of my dots on \u201cThe Key\u201d. As you can see, the patterns of my dots match up to number 26. So I matched it up to my question and looked it up in the book. I thought it was a little off but not out of the ballpark. I thought a better way of choosing your dots would be rolling a single die. Any odd number that came up would be one dot and any even number that came up would be two dots. Any soldier would have a pair of dice with him and Napoleon was a soldier. I tried this a few times and I thought it worked much better. Even so, it seems like an awful lot to carry around with you \u2013 all these charts and list of questions and what-not. And why would Napoleon \u2013 the General of the Revolutionary Army, the Emperor of the French, a man who was educated in the rational and reasonable rhetoric of Rousseau and Voltaire be doing using such a superstitious method of arranging his affairs? Unless it wasn\u2019t an Oracle at all. In my research, I found a link to a copy of the \u201cOracle of Napoleon\u201d, published in 1839. You can access it here: http:\/\/publicdomainreview.org\/collections\/napoleons-oraculum-1839\/ First of all, the wording is vastly different than what we see in Fenton. Of course, she did say she \u201cmodernized\u201d it and I think she may have been working from an entirely different edition. But what intrigued me was the use of italics. Not only on the \u201cQuestions\u201d page but in the \u201cOraculum\u201d section. What if those words had meanings other than what was written there? In terms of a military or political code? I looked again at the piece of paper I had with my dots on it. It seemed silly to me \u2013 at first \u2013 to have eleven dots before I started putting down dots but when I looked at the piece of paper, it started to make sense. What if I was a courier for the army and this was all I had in my pocket? Nobody but the\u00a0person with the key would know what I was carrying. Perhaps I would be told to ask a specific question. Let\u2019s say, Number 25 on Napoleum\u2019s Oraculum. \u201cShall the patient recover from illness?\u201d \u2013 Will the army recover from the recent loss? \u2013 or whatever it means. When you think about it, this is a brilliant code. I also found a website where you can ask The Oracle of Napoleon questions in real time and get real answers immediately. It\u2019s called \u201cNapoleon\u2019s Book of Fate\u201d and it\u2019s at http:\/\/www.e-tarocchi.com\/bof\/index.php. Try it out \u2013 it\u2019s a lot of fun! So far from being initially annoyed, I found myself being totally intrigued and I have to say that now I want to find out more about secret codes and how they mix with oracles and divination in general. It brings another layer to this subject that I never thought about. Seeing the signs \u2013 in lines of dots! Works Cited Fenton, Sasha. The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook. Hertfordshire: The Aquarian Press, 1988 Napoleon\u2019s Oraculum and Dreambook. http:\/\/publicdomainreview.org\/collections\/napoleons-oraculum-1839\/ Free Napoleon\u2019s Book of Fate. http:\/\/www.e-tarocchi.com\/bof\/index.php<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11269,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824\/revisions\/11269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}