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DICE

Dice have a history as old as mankind himself. In terms of the more spiritual applications of dice, we list just a few examples:

The most likely originator of dice is the witch doctor. Before developing into gambling implements, dice were magical devices of sticks bones and feathers which primitive man used to divine the future. Primitive dice dealt with the realms of good and bad luck. When the prehistoric priest or witch-doctor threw the sacred arrows (sticks, reeds and straws were also used) upon the ground and recited his magical spells, he read the future and foretold what good or bad fortune would attend the tribe.

The Greeks and Romans used the anklebones of a sheep and called them Astragali or Tali. The Greek word Astragalomancy meaning divination by the astragalus, shows that they were also still being used as fortune telling devices.

The first home of modern dice, however, was probably the Orient. The Korean dice used in the Buddhist game of Promotion, bear both a magical formula and directions for the next move, and the game sheet with which it was played, bears directions in Sanskrit which suggests India as the origin.

The custom of fortune-telling with a die is practiced as a science under the name Ramala and the dice used are of a very familiar pattern. They are cubical and marked with the "birds-eye" spots, seen above. They are strung upon a central axis about which they are spun to determine the magical numbers, reference then being had to the pages of a book of fortunes numbered to correspond.