Oracles / Editorial

Before asking what a symbol predicts

Start with the object, the convention and the person reading it.

Our approach to divination begins with questions that can be explored without claiming to know the future. What is the object? How is a reading organised? Which meanings does a tradition attach to a sign? How does the reader choose among them?

A card, a chart or a marked stone can be studied as a designed object. Its arrangement directs attention. Its vocabulary gives a person ways to describe an uncertainty. The resulting interpretation may be meaningful to that person without becoming scientific evidence.

A place for different kinds of knowledge

This journal will distinguish documented history, established natural explanations and personal interpretation. We want to examine symbolic practices carefully enough that their objects and language remain interesting in their own right.

That distinction is the basis of this cabinet: a place where curiosity can move between nature and culture while keeping track of what each claim can support.

An editorial statement of approach.