Divination and the Studio Esoterico Cornelio

In the 1st century BC Marcus Tullius Cicero, who in Rome belonged to the college of augurs, wrote De divinatione, a dialogue in which his brother Quintus defends divination and Cicero himself examines its foundations with subtle irony. It is one of the most valuable books for anyone studying the oracles and omens of the ancient world today: a priest who carefully gathers the evidence of his own tradition and, at the same time, subjects it to criticism. That attentive, well-documented attitude is also the one with which «The Art of Divination» has been built.

A site in the Studio's network

Behind the site is the Studio Esoterico Cornelio, which has worked online since 2014 in the field of esotericism and the esoteric tradition and which, besides its official website, curates several educational sites, each devoted to a theme of history, symbols or traditions. Divination has a natural place there: for centuries the idea that the cosmos speaks through readable signs was one of the pillars of esoteric thought. The Studio's name recalls, as a cultural reference, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), who in De occulta philosophia devoted ample space to auspices, geomancy, dreams and omens, gathering what classical and medieval authors had written about them.

Divination, after all, was never a marginal phenomenon. It decided wars and the founding of cities, guided the Roman assemblies, shaped masterpieces such as the Sistine Chapel, where the Sibyls sit beside the prophets, and left deep traces in language: words such as «auspicious» and «inaugurate» come from the vocabulary of the augurs, and «contemplate» from the templum they traced in the sky.

Telling, not foretelling

The articles describe divinatory techniques as historical facts. They explain how the Oracle of Delphi worked according to Plutarch and Strabo, how the haruspices read the liver, how Artemidorus classified dreams, what Nostradamus's quatrains really contain. They do not teach anyone to practise these arts and make no predictions. Legendary figures, such as Merlin or Mother Shipton, are presented for what they are; when a famous prophecy has turned out to be a forgery, like the one attributed to Malachy, this is said openly, reconstructing how and when it arose.

The same applies to ancient testimony: when a famous response, such as the «wooden wall» given to the Athenians before Salamis, is known to us mainly through Herodotus, the text points this out, so that readers always know where what they are reading comes from.

The Studio protects its name with a registered trademark; anyone wishing to know more will find on the official website, studioesotericocornelio.com, its presentation and the other projects in the network; here, meanwhile, you can continue the journey among the sanctuaries, priests and seers of the past.