Divination for Dice Goblins

In the tabletop gaming community, there are people referred to as Dice goblins. Dice Goblins are simply people who love to collect sets of dice, or single die, and they very rarely meet a set of dice that they don’t want to own. Polyhedral dice are a staple tool in many tabletop RPG games and I’m always trying to find new things I can do with my dice to justify my dice obsession. So I began looking into ways to use my dice to do divination.

Not only did I develop my own system of divination and test it to see if it works, but I also found out it has a name and a history. Divination using dice is called Astragalomancy and it has quite a history. Humans love dice and polyhedral dice are older than most people think.

Some of the oldest dice found are made from animal bones, mostly the knuckle bones for sheep and goats. These dice can be found all over the Mediterranean area and into the Neat East. It is estimated that these knuckle bone dice, often found in religious sites, are from around 500 BCE. They are often found at the sites of funerals, in temples, and other religious locations. It has been suggested that they may have been used for divinatory purposes.

The Mediterranean wasn’t the only area in the ancient world that had dice and used them for divination. In Southern Africa, the Shona people utilized bone dice that they called Hakata for divination purposes. Some sets of these dice were created before they began recording their history and are still in use today.

All along the historic trade route known as the Silk Road, dice divination and games were practiced. There are divination texts written between the 6th Century CE and the 10th Century CE found in a multitude of languages including Turkish, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Sogdian. These manuscripts demonstrate the importance of dice in divination.

In modern times our love of dice and divination continues. The first thing you will need to practice this divination is a set of Tabletop RPG dice. You can find them in game stores, bookstores, and even some toy sections in the local department store. A basic set will set you back less then $15 (as of June 2024). If you wish to incorporate color magic into your divinations, choose dice that match your intention. There are dice that you can buy that are made from actual crystals if you wish to incorporate crystal energy into your divination, as well as, dice made from metals, resin with various inclusions, and even glass. What dice you use is up to your aesthetic and your budget.