The Animal/Plant/Mineral Method
The second method of bone reading is another tripartite method, a circle is divided into three sections: animal, vegetable and mineral, or more accurately, animal, tree and earth. With this chart you’re going to cast the bones three times, once for the past of the situation, once for the present, and once for the future.
Because animals live such comparatively short and transitory lives, compared to trees and the earth, the animal section of this chart relates to more immediate concerns, such as worldly ambition, material possessions, travel, and transitory matters. The animal section has an ‘active’ feel to it.
The plant section covers the more medium-term aspects of life, things that go on during life, but can change as life changes, such as work, health, finances, intellectual development, and relationships. This section is concerned with planning for the foreseeable future, and has a more contemplative or ‘brooding’ feel to it.
The mineral or earth section covers the fundamentals of life, and the deeper aspects of human nature, such as love, hate, trust, deception, treachery, jealousy, happiness, satisfaction, contentment, and so forth. The earth section tends to have a longer time-frame or even a whole-life time-frame, both about problems and their solutions.
In casting the bones onto this chart, both hands are used at different times in three separate throws. The reading for the past is cast with the left hand. This reading shows how the current situation came into being, and what kind of thinking led to it. The reading for the present is cast with both hands, and shows both current actions and motivations for those actions. The reading for the future is thrown with the right hand, and it shows how matters identified in the past and present readings are likely to play themselves out in the future. It’s considered important to use both hands, in order to get a full and accurate picture of the situation.