POTENTIAL- ANSWERS IN LECANOMANCY
At first glance, traditional lecanomancy appears to be particularly good for answering either/or questions. Will there be victory or defeat? Success or failure? Will there be recovery from the illness or death? Will there be a son or a daughter? To have a translation of those six ancient tablets on-hand would be desirable. But I suspect the ancient Mesopotamian’s interpretations of the oil’s behavior on the surface of the water were based firstly on intuitive insight, and secondarily on observation over time. Then my own imagination wants to start filling in the blanks.
Suppose, in addition to having two large blobs of oil appear in the middle of the water’s surface, these two blobs of oil were joined by other drops of oil around the perimeter? Are the smaller dots of oil representative of in-laws or friends of the family? Or are they supporters of one side or another in a fight? I think lecanomancy could, and probably was, pressed into service answering another sort of question—what are the interpersonal dynamics at work in a given situation? What is the ‘gestalt’ at work in a given family, group, school, workplace, society, institution, large-scale plan or event?
Or, following on that line of thought, you can get more specific. For example, ‘what does the Chalmers Family’s upcoming trip to (Fill in the Blank) National Park hold for them?’ or ‘what do the next three months hold for the local school board?’ or ‘how will the parish council fare with its newly-elected members?’ ‘How will the new hire affect the team’s work on the project?’ The behavior of the oil in response to such questions can give you a more nuanced answer than a symbol-set tool, and can aid in the development of your intuition.
Considering these sorts of questions, the PDF below is a suggested ‘glossary’ of potential interpretations of the oil’s behavior on the surface of the water I created. It hopefully will serve as a jumping-off spot for your own intuition: