We want to record ways in which the Weston Library exhibition Oracles, Omens & Answers has made a difference in your life or the lives of those around you.
Did the exhibition prompt you to think differently about divination and its history? Has your mind been changed in anyway? Have your attitudes towards or engagement with divination changed? Perhaps you downloaded – or deleted – an astrology app? Perhaps the interactive cartomancy AI in the exhibition gave you good – or bad – advice, which helped you to make a decision?
We would love to hear from you.
The Exhibition: “Oracles Omens Answers” at the Weston Library, Oxford Dec 2024-April 2025
https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oracles-omens-and-answers
and the related Book: Divination Oracles Omens
UK/Europe orders:
USA orders:
Both of which were reviewd in TLS on 28 Feb 2025:
There was also an article by Tim Harford about the exhibtion in the Financial Times
Note on data and ethics: We are asking for feedback as part of The Using Oracles project
Purpose of the Study: we are asking for feedback on the impacts of the Oracles, Omens & Answers exhibition.
Potential Risks and Benefits: It is unlikely that you will experience any risks or discomfort by participating beyond what would be experienced in everyday life. There are no specific benefits associated with participating.
Compensation: participation is voluntary and is not compensated.
Confidentiality: The data collected in this study are completely anonymous. No personally identifiable information will be collected and the information you choose to provide in this study cannot be connected back to you. Results from this study may be published or presented at research conferences, and the anonymous data and may eventually be shared with other researchers through an online data repository.
Voluntary Participation: Your participation in this study is voluntary and you may choose to not participate or end your participation at any time without penalty.
Questions or Concerns: If you have any questions or comments about this study, you may contact the researcher: David Zeitlyn, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, 51 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PF, UK. tel: +44 1865 612374 email divination_project@anthro.ox.ac.uk
This study has been approved by the University of Oxford Central University Research Ethics Committee ‘CUREC’ Reference: SAME_C1A_24_020
Consent: I have read and understand the above consent form. By leaving feedback I certify that I am 18 years old or older.
The exhibition demonstrated the wide range of beliefs from attempts to carefully calculate probabilities to wildly magical thinking. I taught ‘psychic skills’ for ten years and wrote a book as a training process in 2017 but the interesting thing I learnt from my students was that almost without fail they wanted to believe in the supernatural rather than pay attention to their own internal process. My process was based on behavioural modelling and carried no supernatural element whatsoever. The exhibition reinforced the human tendency to drive behaviour through beliefs.
I had never heard of Spider Divination before this exhibition so was very interested to learn a little about this. I was impressed by the range and breadth of the exhibition and learning about Dr Simon Forman’s predictions of the Plagues sent me down a few rabbit holes in search of more information about him. I’ve now read one of Judith Cook’s (very enjoyable) novels and am about to start her biography.
Having had some excellent tarot readings over the years (notably from Sally Morningstar (https://www.sallymorningstar.com/) I was somewhat chary of A1 being a source of a comprehensive tarot reading, so approached it with interest, but rather lightheartedly. The reading offered more detail than I was expecting, but I would go for a human every time…
It was lovely to see some of the ancient astrological texts (astrology is an art which has guided my life, with ever deepening and widening knowledge, since 1973). I sent some of those pictures to a professional astrologer friend in Holland (https://johannavanderschaft.nl/kosmogram/) who ordered the book on the strength of them.
I visited the exhibition on a whim after seeing it in the Weston Library. My family and I walked in to the library one afternoon to have a rest as we were in Oxford for a family holiday. We had flown in from overseas so we were approaching everything with an open mind – we may as well try out everything we can see while we’re here.
I went with my mother that day and while I’d describe myself as a skeptic, she is much more open to the idea of the supernatural. However we both saw the exhibition as a curiosity full of artifacts and antiquities. Learning how people from past ages used to view the world through a superstitious lens was amusing. Of course in those days they didn’t have the benefits of modern science to explain everyday phenomena and how different cultures converged or reached wildly separate explanations was something we enjoyed.
I haven’t interacted with any other divination or astrology content since. My mother infrequently uses Buddhist divination techniques and seeing the exhibition didn’t influence her to use them more or less.