#Oracle Bone

[niteshade925]

April 13, Xi'an, China, Shaanxi Archaeology Museum/陕西考古博物馆 (Part 1 - Neolithic to pre-Qin dynasty):

Unfortunately I was not able to acquire tickets to the Shaanxi History Museum/陕西历史博物馆, which is one of my biggest regrets from this entire trip, because Shaanxi History Museum is the provincial-level museum, it has a lot more artifacts. Xi’an is the capital city of Shaanxi Province, so it has both the city-level museum and the provincial-level museum; the one I posted about previously, Xi’an museum, is just the city-level museum.

But fortunately Xi’an has a quite a few history museums, which makes sense considering the city’s very long history, so on we go to the Shaanxi Archaeology Museum:

For the longest time I also thought archaeology was a very European thing, but actually? It did also exist in ancient China. The word guxue/古学 (lit. “Antiquity Studies”) existed as early as Eastern Han dynasty (25 - 220 AD), and by Song dynasty (960 - 1279 AD), kaoguxue/考古学/archaeology was pretty well known. Sidenote: the word 考古学 may not mean exactly the same thing as archaeology in Song dynasty, but today it just means archaeology. Below is the Song-era kaoguxue work named 《考古图》 (this book on display was printed in Qing dynasty, judging by the cover):

Compare the above with the notes of a modern archaeologist:

A collection of interesting Neolithic era pottery artifacts with various faces on them. Some are from Yangshao culture/仰韶文化 (5000 - 2700 BC). I swear you can make reaction pics out of these lol

They even have these refrigerator magnet souvenirs lol

Is that a pottery piggy on the right? This piggy looks oddly familiar…

Which reminds me of this other pottery pig found near the Sanxingdui/三星堆 site (Picture from Douyin user 姜丝炒土豆丝). Looks very familiar indeed lol

A pottery drum reminiscent of an udu drum. The one in the front is a replica that visitors can try out

Left: a pottery artifact with a frog face on it. Right: a pottery tiger I think? Not sure.

Shang dynasty (1600 - 1046 BC) jade dragon:

Carved stone bricks from the neolithic site of Shimao/石峁 (~2000 BC). These were originally found in the outer walls of the site, which is why they are presented this way:

Mouth harp artifacts from Shimao culture (top one is a modern one, for comparison). There’s also a map on the many variations of mouth harps from cultures around the world, which is really cool:

Fragments of bone flutes. These were flutes fashioned from crane bones, the most famous of which were the intact flutes unearthed from the Jiahu/贾湖 site dating back to 7000 - 5700 BC, and they were still playable (first link is the 1999 Nature article regarding this discovery, second link goes to a recording of a modern musician playing the song 小白菜 on one of these bone flutes)

A Western Zhou dynasty (1046 – 771 BC) bone hairpin. There were quite a few hairpins in the exhibition, but this is my fav:

And now comes the really cool stuff: oracle/divination bones. Oracle/divination bones were animal bones that ancient Chinese people (mostly of Shang-era) used for divination. These bones have holes drilled into them in a pattern and have oracle bone script/jiaguwen/甲骨文 carved into them (the carved text consists of questions presented to the gods), and then they were heated slowly over a fire until the bone starts to crack. A priest or priestess would then interpret these cracks, as they were seen as answers from the gods, and record the answer on the bone. Sometimes these bones were used purely as records for important events:

Since oracle bone script is the oldest form of Chinese written language, it is possible to decipher the text carved onto these bones:

[gennsoup]

"The cycle of life is not necessarily straightforward and predictable."

Lydia Kwa, Oracle Bone

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

stop using chatgpt!!!! take a bronze pin and carve your questions onto an ox scapula, then toss it into the fire!!!! use the cracks to divine the gods answer!!!!

[tidapencil]

When you close your eyes

Is it her that you see

Gallery

[cosmicpoutine]

i think bernard dowd should be aroung the batfamily 24/7. not to help with their cases or anything, just to judge them for being absolutely fucking insane

[oracleandbone]

Happy Qixi Festival ✨ We wish you a lifetime filled with love.

[clayspacestation]

Back in the Zelda hyperfix

I love Ralph I need him to come back…

V Additional doodles!! V

[lionheartapothecaryx]

Hoodoo WitchTips: Divination🔮✨

Here are some quick but powerful protective tips to help with divination when working with tarot, oracle, bones & more. 
Divination is still a form of labor, so it’s important to ground yourself and even do a bit of light healing work afterwords. It’s so easy to do divination most people forget or don’t know about these simple spiritual hygiene tips. Good spiritual hygiene, protection and healing is important during divination because you are tapping into unknown energies. 
Doing these small things routinely, can help you keep your clarity of mind and even possibly prevent psychosis or trigger other mental health issues.

While Hoodoo is a closed practice, the MAJORITY of tips/tricks are present in many cultures and are not Hoodoo specific, with the exception of the usage of Florida & Kananga Water. Non Hoodoo, Brujeria or ATR practitioners can use holy or blessed pagan water as a substitute.

[tanadrin]

Infuriating that our attempts to understand if any Japonic languages survived on the Korean Peninsula into the historical period depend on your reconstruction of (the Korean pronunciation of) Middle Chinese. Gotta go back in time and teach these Hanja-obsessed chroniclers a proper phonetic alphabet.

[gonchillunchis]

enterprise doodles yes i love eating from the supermarket's trash containers no i won't stop

[extrasfromthevoid]

been looking into oracle bone script for...reasons, and am losing my mind a little over the fact that the symbols in the Lady Bone Demon's spell rings are literally just the Chinese zodiac in oracle bone script.

(source)

From left to right: horse, tiger, boar, dragon, rabbit, bull, rooster, bull (again), monkey, rat, dragon (again), rooster (again)

(source)

maybe not the most reputable academic source, but just look at it. they're identical, and match up with other reference sites i found (this one just happens to be the nicest graphic, clearly sporting all twelve of the zodiacs in both oracle script and the modern Chinese).

top row, left to right: rat, bull, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake

bottom row, left to right: horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, boar

like seriously? how cool is this?

[st-jinx-art]

🧙🏻‍♂️ Wood and Bone: REINVENTED Oracle, uncensored edition

[gennsoup]

"Humans have vast, ambitious notions of how to harness the universe for their own purposes. But what if the bones of other creatures have lives that assert themselves in extraordinary ways? What if they carry wisdom beyond human beings' narrow conceptions of what is acceptable?"

Lydia Kwa, Oracle Bone

[gingermintpepper]

I know everyone knows the story of Actaeon and how he met a terrible fate by stumbling upon Artemis bathing in her forest but did you know that Actaeon was Apollo's grandson? That his father was Aristaeus, lord of the bees and the rustic arts and his mother was Autonoe, daughter of Cadmus and princess of Thebes?

Did you know he was trained by Chiron? That he was considered a hunter so skilled his talent was considered divine, that he was his parents' only child and that he was loved?

Did you know the grief that consumed the household when word of Actaeon's fate reached them? That Cadmus cut his hair, that Harmonia wept and was disconsolate and that his parents... well, Autonoe walked the length of the forest, keeping a sharp eye out for her son, but all she saw were the scattered bones of a fawn. Aristaeus too, had heard his son was torn apart and so fruitlessly, foolishly searched for the bones of a man. (There was none to be found)

Did you know that it was Actaeon's ghost, unhappy and unburied, trapped on the earth, who leaned over his sleeping father and told him of his fate? "You will not find me as you knew me, gather me as a stag." And Aristaeus immediately woke his wife and told her the truth, and together they grieved all the night long.

(Did you know that this is why Aristaeus abandons Boeotia? He could not stand the sight of it and so he went to Ceos. And there he slayed the dog-star. And there he became a healing wind. All in the name of his only son, that foolish, beloved Actaeon.)

[tidapencil]

Stay

- A Summer’s End - Hong Kong 1986

@oracleandbone

[gallusneve]

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986

A Summer's End is a visual novel set in 1980s Hong Kong. It tells of a love story between two women. Lush and vibrant visuals, the game features over 400 unique hand-drawn artwork inspired by Asian cinema and 1980s anime.