Bone Throwing

I have been fascinated since childhood by bone throwing, or bone casting, a form of divination where bones of various sorts are ritually tossed onto a mat, an animal hide, or into a circle drawn in the dirt, and the resulting patterns interpreted. 

Throwing the bones is an ancient practice traditional to many regions of the world, including Africa, Asia, and North America. The number and type of bones employed, as well as the inclusion of other small objects, such as pebbles, shells, and hard nuts, varies quite a bit from culture to culture. 

Recently I began to put together a bone and curio set of my own. I have created one once before, but sadly didn't think to make any record of the collection. Perhaps one day I can get some photos of it. Below are photos of the beginnings of my set - there is no rule regarding the number of items that one should use, and from what I have read of other's journey with bone throwing, the collections tend to change over time, growing and shrinking as needed. 

In my current collection, I have: 

* two long bones that I believe are from deer skeletons,

* a cow tooth,

* a knuckle bone,

* a vertebrae, intact,

* a broken and weathered vertebrae,

* three teeth, possibly coyote,

* a small cluster of clear quartz,

* a small half-geode,

*  smoky quartz point,

* two clear quartz points,

* a diamond-shaped quartz or calcite chunk,

* a  rectangular quartz or calcite piece, semi-transparent,

* a cork,

* a sliced section of spiral shell,

* a piece of mother of pearl shaped like an arrow,

* a piece of slate I carved into a rabbit over 20 years ago, 

* a broken obsidian arrowhead, 

* a pink barnacle or anemone skeleton,

* a sterling silver dragon pendant,

* a weathered spiral shell,

* a piece of shell that is filled with holes,

* a pierced-heart pot-metal charm.

* an evil eye pot-metal charm,

* a pot-metal arm charm, and

* a pot-metal leg charm.

Each of these items will, after careful consideration, have a meaning or symbolism assigned to them, and when tumbled on to a mat (probably a piece of black leather) will tell a story based on their positions and groupings. I made sure to include items in my collection that will help me tell time; the long bones will likely indicate things coming or going over a long period of time, whereas the small mother of pearl arrow will indicate short time periods, and the broken arrowhead will symbolize aborted actions; things that were coming or going but now are not.

I have some stones coming in that I ordered specifically for this collection, some phantom quartz stones; one with green phantom inclusions, one with sulfur-yellow inclusions. I think I will use the green to indicate health or growth, and the yellow one to indicate sickness.

I intend to keep a small journal with my set; I will draw each item and write down what it signifies there, as well as a log of each reading done using the set. This way I can track its patterns and what messages I get from its use, and maybe find a way to teach  others how to build and use their own collections one day.