KAMALA / HOME
MATTER / Landscape, weather & animal signs
Scapulimancy & plastromancy.
Historical oracle readings of shoulder blades and turtle plastrons, often involving cracks and inscriptions.
LEXICON / LANGUAGE & MEANING
Names in context.
- Scapulimancy
- Escapulimancia
Divinatory interpretation of a shoulder blade, with a specified historical method.
- Plastromancy
- Plastromancia
Divinatory interpretation of the plastron, the underside of a turtle shell.
- Oracle bone
- Hueso oracular
A bone or shell object used in a documented oracle procedure, sometimes bearing inscriptions.
PROVENANCE & INTERPRETATIONA practice,
A practice,
a setting.
Shang oracle bones provide documented examples of these practices and early writing. The materials and procedures vary by tradition; museum objects and archival images support study without reenacting the process.
FIELD NOTE / METHOD
Keep a record.
- Select a cataloged existing object and retain its accession number.
- Describe the material, visible cracks and inscriptions from the catalog.
- Compare a published reading with the image, marking uncertain or missing features.
POTPOURRI / PHOTO GUIDE
What to include.
- Send a permitted museum or archive image with full credit and object number.
- Include an overview and a detail of the relevant inscription or crack pattern.
POTPOURRI / PERSONAL INTERPRETATION
Photo instructions & submission ↗Share a photograph or a record.
A photograph, drawing or dated record can be sent privately for a personal reading. Include the procedure and the question.