"Gaiaology" instead of astrology

[Legolas]

Most of us know that astrology is bullsh*t. However, once it was considered a very important thing, developed, if I am not mistaken, on orders from a king to divine his future.

Now what if instead of stars, natural cycles (i.e. seasons) were used as a basis for a similar system of divination? What kind of a society could develop such a system? Would it be discredited as easily as astrology once science evolves to approx. present day levels? After all, intuitively there seems to be more relation between seasons and human traits than between said traits and planetary/solar motions.

 

[MrP]

Geology, not Gaiaology - that makes my brain hurt. But that's study of the earth, anyway. Arotology would be a bit better, I think.

 

[OneUp]

I have a feeling they chose the cosmos because it gave them more freedom to disobey the gods. With "Gaiaology" it won't work, it's too rigid a system.

 

[Paul Spring]

I thought that a lot of cultures did use aspects of more "down to earth" phenomena like weather, geography, animals, and plants, to try to divine the future. Various peoples examined the flight patterns of birds, the migrations of various land animals, the entrails of slaughtered animals, the fertility of crops, or even how quickly chickens snapped up grain that was fed to them in order to try and divine the future (the one with the chickens was practiced by the early Romans).

 

[MrP]

I thought that a lot of cultures did use aspects of more "down to earth" phenomena like weather, geography, animals, and plants, to try to divine the future. Various peoples examined the flight patterns of birds, the migrations of various land animals, the entrails of slaughtered animals, the fertility of crops, or even how quickly chickens snapped up grain that was fed to them in order to try and divine the future (the one with the chickens was practiced by the early Romans).

Aye, an auspex looked at the flight of birds, a haruspex looked at innards.

 

[Legolas]

I wrote "gaiaology" to make it sound different from geology, and because I could not think of any other name. If you say "arotology" works better, let it be arotology.

I know that many cultures used observations of nature to divine things, but nowadays astrology is far more widespread than the others. What I want to see is if it is possible to reverse that - have astrology a barely known method of divination, while usage of various natural processes (combined into one system) is commonly known and widespread, with *horoscopes printed in newspapers etc.

 

[Wozza]

Aye, an auspex looked at the flight of birds, a haruspex looked at innards.

How can I get the word "haruspicious" into everyday conversation the way "auspicious" is??

Auspicious is usually something big and external, perhaps haruspicious could refer to micro-events that I think will have major consequences?

 

[MrP]

How can I get the word "haruspicious" into everyday conversation the way "auspicious" is??

Auspicious is usually something big and external, perhaps haruspicious could refer to micro-events that I think will have major consequences?

It doesn't seem to exist (not in the big OED, maybe half a dozen appearances on Google), so I don't see why not. Haruspical and haruspicine are the adjectives we seem to have ended up with relating to the haruspices.

 

[Leo Caesius]

It doesn't seem to exist (not in the big OED, maybe half a dozen appearances on Google), so I don't see why not. Haruspical and haruspicine are the adjectives we seem to have ended up with relating to the haruspices.

Interesting. As you know, the word "temple" originally denoted the region of the heavens within which the auspex sought omens. This is further proof that in the million year battle for Earth between the bird-diviners and the entrail diviners, the bird-diviners had the last say. I wonder why.

My favorite haruspical bit of lore involves the demon Huwawa, whose face was occasionally discovered inside the entrails of sacrificial animals, as it apparently consisted of a mass of writhing intestines, frequently celebrated and replicated in ceramic form.

 

[Dan1988]

My favorite haruspical bit of lore involves the demon Huwawa, whose face was occasionally discovered inside the entrails of sacrificial animals, as it apparently consisted of a mass of writhing intestines, frequently celebrated and replicated in ceramic form.

That's fork-worthy, Leo.

 

[Leo Caesius]

That's fork-worthy, Leo.

Much of Mesopotamian civilization is!

 

[Nicole]

Much of Mesopotamian civilization is!

And to make matters worse, I suppose this is all before the invention of the fork...

 

[MrP]

Interesting. As you know, the word "temple" originally denoted the region of the heavens within which the auspex sought omens. This is further proof that in the million year battle for Earth between the bird-diviners and the entrail diviners, the bird-diviners had the last say. I wonder why.

My favorite haruspical bit of lore involves the demon Huwawa, whose face was occasionally discovered inside the entrails of sacrificial animals, as it apparently consisted of a mass of writhing intestines, frequently celebrated and replicated in ceramic form.

I'd not heard of Huwawa before. That is rather marvellous.

I wonder if taking the auspices can be done more, er, on the fly (apologies), as it were, and so that makes it more attractive. But I dunno.

 

[Paul Spring]

Maybe it's just because watching the flight of birds wasn't nearly as messy, unless you happened to be standing directly beneath them and they had all recently eaten a big meal.

 

[Dan1988]

Much of Mesopotamian civilization is!

That makes sense!

 

[HARRY]

My favorite haruspical bit of lore involves the demon Huwawa, whose face was occasionally discovered inside the entrails of sacrificial animals, as it apparently consisted of a mass of writhing intestines, frequently celebrated and replicated in ceramic form.

Which sounds strangely like this.