Bibliomancy

[oakenguy]

So I'm reading Daniel DeFoe's Journal of the Plague Year, about which I'll hopefully have time to yammer about later because lots of interesting parallels with our post-9/11 society, but that's neither here nor there except that DeFoe, being devout, used bibliomancy to help him decide whether to stay in London or to flee into the countryside. He opened a page of the Bible at random, it was an Old Testament passage about how God would slay hundreds to his left and thousands to his right yet he would be spared, he took comfort from that and stayed, bang zoom, classic work of literature. (Though I'm sure 'Journal of the Year Spent in the Countryside Avoiding People' would have been just as gripping.)

Now another person, upon reading this, could have been struck by the particular Bible verse, decided to ponder aloud that at times the Old Testament God sounded like Not A Very Nice Person, and that by 'at times' he meant '23 hours out of every 24', and gotten in a very stimulating discussion. But I was struck by the whole Bibliomancy concept. Thinkz I, it's worth a try. But even if the Bible was my cup of manna, I don't have one in the house. What else could I use? What else has the panoramic spread of human existence, with highs and lows and keen observations that can act as guidance and comfort?

I've spent the last few minutes counting up the total pages of my Terry Pratchett books. 7,316, spread over 23 volumes. Each page has 34 lines. I've run the random.org randomizer two different ways, once to generate a totally random page and then a random line, and once to generate first a random book, then a random page, and then the line.

The Question: How Should I Spend My Evening Tonight? (A nice, easy one for starters)

Answer 1: "Twoflower grabbed him quickly."

Ooookay. Hrm. Let's try the other method.

Answer 2: "On the other hand, he gravitated quickly to anything with money in it."

It's true, I DO need to find new sources of income. I just may be onto something here.

Comments

[godswraith.livejournal.com]

There is actually an old ministry joke along these lines, as some ministers still do let the bible plop open to a passage and make it relevant.

So a minister decides he needs advice from God on what to do, and opens the Bible randomly for inspiration. He reads: "Judas hung himself"
Well, that can't be right, so he tried again: 'Go ye and do likewise"
Once more: "The multitudes rejoiced"!

"Twoflower grabbed him quickly."

[the-lady-rissa.livejournal.com]

Well........if you want I'll come down and grab you quickly.

Re: "Twoflower grabbed him quickly."

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Sweet!

[rantarn.livejournal.com]

Daniel DaFoe = Omega Man!

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Now THAT is an obscure reference! I bow to you, my Jedi.

[sairisse.livejournal.com]

I've heard about people doing this with books of Russian poetry... though this was probably because nobody had Bibles...

[ah42.livejournal.com]

Heh... Trying it with my Bible, H2G2:

Question: What will today bring?

Answer: "I don't know," said Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Truly enlightening.

[frla.livejournal.com]

POO!

I did that when I read this.
I was gonna be so fancy when I posted this comment,.. and then to find out someone else had already posted that.
poo poo poo

I used the "The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide" 5 book compendium.

I got

"he picked up a piece of paper from the table"

KK!

Old As the [flip, flip] Hills

[my-tallest.livejournal.com]

I've always loved bibliomancy; it's my favorite mancy. Ever since reading St. Augustine's Confessions in college, and hearing his conversion story coming down to a flip in the Big Book of Western Civ. I almost wrote a paper on it, 'cause he was flipping through a different bible than we think of. Plus, at the time I was into alternative history, and I kept wondering what would have happened if the great church father had hit the wrong passage. Well, I wondered for a why, but a re-read of the Confessions would pretty much convince you that he would have ended back up flipping through the book again.

My current delight is iTunes Castings. Party Shuffle can come up with entire paragraphs of textual instruction. Currently mine reads "Money Song" (Monty Python) followed by "Welcome to the Working Week" (Elvis Costello) followed by "The Man Who Would Be King" (The Libertines).

Re:Daniel DeFoe's Journal of the Plague Year

[lilacsinmarch.livejournal.com]

It's a great book,I started reading it online and then bought it.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I tried your idea. Um. My question was, how should I solve my relationship problems (i.e. lack of any relationship whatsoever at the moment)?

Answer? - "But this one had the sinking built in right from the start.

(Jingo, p. 241)

Um. Somehow, a quote about sinking being built in does not inspire confidence in my future relationship happiness.

Unless I'm supposed to find a relationship that would clearly never work, and pursue it, because it will turn out to be awesome...

No. No. I think I'm doomed.

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Erm...wellllllllll? It *could* mean that trying to *solve* your relationship problems is a doomed idea, because they'll solve themselves! You shouldn't waste effort on something the universe will drop into your lap all gift-wrapped in a few days, maybe a week or two, tops!

That's my reading, and I'm sticking to it. ;)

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Hah! Brilliant. This is why I need you around, to interpret portents and Pratchett-flips for me! I like your version much better :)

[danielgreyman.livejournal.com]

Good for you! Bibliomancy rocks. I once spent 3 hours in a BDalton bookseller wandering into different sections and asking questions. I don't remember any of the answers, just that they seemed increasingly funny as I went along. Which proves to me that the Universe has one hell of a sense of humor.
If it didn't, we wouldn't have been given you!