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From: nagasiva@yronwode.com (nagasiva)
Newsgroups: alt.divination,alt.tarot,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.philosophy.taoism
Subject: Re: Mah Jongg Divination
Date: 27 Apr 1996 10:23:02 -0700
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kaliyuga
49960427

jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews):
|>49960413
|    ^ Shouldn't this be a "5"?

4996th year (Western 1996)


|>I have wondered when popular games would begin inspiring
|>divination devices.

|     In fact, the Mah Jongg tiles have been used for divination
|for centuries.  The symbols on them come from ancient Chinese
|systems of mystical knowledge, and they were used for obtaining
|answers from the gods before they were used in games.  This from
|"The World Atlas of Divination", ed. John Matthews, Headline, 1994.  

Excellent!  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.


|The author of the Mah Jongg chapter (Derek Walters) gives
|a brief description of the traditional divination system.

Is it possible that, since it comes out of a single source, he is
making it all up?  I have *never* heard of Mah Jongg being used in
this way and I'm surprised, given the popularity of I Ching, that
many other systems would be used, especially of gaming tools.


|     Of course Tyagi already knew this, and was just trying
|to throw us off with the comment above.  :)

False.


|>I love the sound of the tiles clicking, tho.  Very
|>like bones in the wind.

|Apparently it is called "the twittering of the sparrows" in Chinese.

Folklorically significant.

nagasiva@yronwode.com 
nagasiva