Divination

[AkuTurey]

I am putting this out there to see what comes back,my question doesn't imply knowing or total ignorance on the topic!....
What oracular methods,if any,did our people use(besides the trance/communication with Cemi)

[Ray Osborne]

Frank, this is a subject I would like to find out more about.

In many archaeological site, pendants are found that look like pendulums. They are found all over the North American continent and nobody knows what they were used for. Prof. Milanich writes about them in his books and he suggests that one possible use is charms.

I have some theories.

[AkuTurey]

I just got internet re-hooked up! Tell me your theories about the pendants,I am interested.Thanks,
Frank Aku Turey

[AkuTurey]

My aunt braided ribbons and attached a weight,and used it as a medium.

[Anita Pagan]

In PR they still do this to tell if the baby is a boy or a girl. They usually use the wedding ring as the weight.

[Anita Pagan]

Cohoba powder sniffed fer sure and Ayahuasca... I think. I know it's still done in South America. We came up from there but doesn't mean we continued using it... :)

I know Voudun and Santeria uses shells, but I don't know if that is syncretism from african or taino divination.

Cool question- I look forward to reading answers...

[AkuTurey]

I just got my internet again!! Cowrie shells are and were used in the 16 cowrie divination system of the Yoruba priests and priestesses,not the High priests (Babalawos)Tainos did use the snuff,as there are plenty of snorting intruments found,and we have cigars now that are called"Cohibas"as a brand,from Cuba.Taino divination,I don't know what they used,except for direct mediumship...I don't think anyone knows for sure...tell me if you know.We use a shell system in the Caney Spiritual Circle,but they are not cowrie shells,nor did my Beike tell me he was sure they were used by the Tainos in divination.Take care,Frank AkuTurey

[Miguel Sague Jr]

The word "beike" is derived from one of the many terms used by the colonial era chroniclers to identify spiritual leaders of the Tainos. The chroniclers used a variety of spellings to present the sounds that they thought they heard when they listened to the Tainos speak. Since the Tainos themselves did not have a system of spelling, this effort was a difficult one because there were very probably sounds in the Taino language that could not be represented by the Latin letters that the chroniclers used to write these words. Some of these spellings are "behique", "bohique", "bohiti", "bohitihu", "bohito" and at least five or six other variations.

We in the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle have attempted to reduce the confusion by using only two of the terms as we have been guided by the spirits. One term is "beike" (derived from "behique")and it represents the type of spiritual guide whose responsibility it is to lead group ceremonies and teach the traditions, among other duties. The other term is "boitiu" (derived from "bohitihu") and it represents the type of spiritual guide whose duty is to perform individualized ceremony on his or her own. The ceremonies that this person performs are designed to allow him or her to temporarily leave the realm we know as "Ordinary Reality" and move on to the other realm called "Non-Temporary Reality". This other realm is the one in which humans are capabe of corresponding with the cemies, the spirits. It allows humans to see and hear things, to learn things that are not readily accessible in the realm of Ordinary Reality. Sometimes we call this other realm the "Spirit Realm" or the "Spirit World". This practice of the boitiu is what some people refer to as "Shamanaism".

I hope this has answered your question. I will be glad to address any other questions that you may have in the future.
Taino Ti
Miguel Sobaoko Koromo Sague

[AkuTurey]

Tainos definitely used the Cohoba...the writings of the chronicles describe it and the archeaology supports it,with the "snifters", inhaling instruments they found.

[Anita Pagan]

Drug induced direct divination.

I have participated sweat lodges here in the us, and you can experience visions during this ceremony. I know the Taino had a similar ceremony to this one... would this be considered direct divination?

Many of the native peoples in the Americas do drum and rattle induced meditation- journeys. I assume the Taino did the same.

Many of the natives in the Americas also did fasting, "vision quests". Again, I assume the Taino did many of the same things native peoples do world wide.

When you study the religious and spiritual belief systems cross culturally, they seem to all converge on the same truths. Different systems, names and cosmologies but the same basic truths.

All rivers lead to the ocean.

[AkuTurey]

You got it.There were and are many ways of knowing,seeing the future,picking up on important things for a client,etc....in a "Misa espiritual",through prayers,scents,an altar and a trained medium,a person goes into trance,often channeling an ancestor or other spirit guide and proceed to council all present.You are right about the similarities with other tribes and the Taino....the Maya's use of the Sacred Calendar is impressive to me also,very much so.Take care,Frank AkuTurey

[Miguel Sague Jr]

In regards to the use of the Mayan Calendar as a divination technique, this is also a method that we use in the Caney Circle in acceptance of the evidence available that the Tainos and the mayas shared many cultural contacts and much cultural information was traded back and forth between the two peoples. There are two separate methods that we use in the regards to the Mayan Calendar; One is the counting of seeds as taught to me by my Guatemalan Maya teachers. The other is a complex system that takes into consideration the influences that were in force during the date of the questioner's birthday as they relate to the tzolkin day-name and day number, the pertinent Mayan Lord of the Night that ruled that particular date, the direction associated with the date, the haab-year bearer that controlled the year of the questioner's birth, and the position of the planet Venus on that day.
Taino Ti
Miguel Sobaoko Koromo Sague

[Miguel Sague Jr]

Tau My Relatives
Early in the decade of the 1980's I experienced a powerful spontaneous unsolicited vision in which I was taught an oracular technique that also used seashells. This technique was taught to me by the spirits with the understanding that it was one of several techniques utilized by our ancestors. I have to confess that I have no ethnological of archeological verification for this technique and there is no record in the chronicles that supports its use among our people in ancient times so we in the Caney Circle have accepted it as a gift from the ancestors in the faith that. although not verifiable through academic methods it is in fact something ancient that has been reclaimed.
We call it simply the "shell-readings" and have been using it successfully for over twenty years.
Taino Ti
Miguel Sobaoko Koromo Sague