The ancients often used animal changes to predict good or bad luck. Why do they believe in this divination method?

One reason is that the turtle was called Xuanwu in ancient times, and one of the five beasts in Huainanzi, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku, Xuanwu and Huanglong, was also called the five beasts of heaven. Originated from the worship of ancient stars, it is the northern god representing Zhuan Xu and the seven nights in the north. It takes gossip as the barrier and five elements as the main water, symbolizing the old yin in the four elephants and the winter in the four seasons.

The theory of divination rose in the Han Dynasty, and its symbolic significance was added to the underworld, non-decadence and wisdom. After the Han Dynasty, Taoism absorbed it as the protector, and called it the god of ghosts, and later became the Zhenwu Emperor. "HongFan. "The Five Elements" said: "The tortoise has spoken for a long time, and the chitose knows the good and evil of this beast.

From these documents and legends, we can clearly see that in ancient times, turtles were closely related to Taoism and the immortals and protectors in Taoism. Even if the tortoise is not mythologized, the longevity of the tortoise will bring a kind of mental and spiritual psychological change to the ancient ancestors, which is one of the reasons why the ancients chose to use tortoise shells for divination.

The ancient divination culture in China has a long history, and the primitive ancestors still lacked a full understanding of the laws of nature. Such as wind, rain, thunder, electricity and other natural phenomena that we are not surprised at present are mysterious events that are difficult to explain to our ancestors.

Therefore, in the communication with nature, people often combine some things that have no causal connection as symbols of ghosts and gods, so as to judge astronomical phenomena, climate, hunting, nomadism, right and wrong, etc. Through the signs of nature, and turn to the will of various forms of gods and ghosts.

However, natural signs are not common and must be tested manually, so the method of divination came into being. Over time, possession has been used as an intermediary to communicate with ghosts and gods, and to predict the good and bad fortune in the future through some signs, so divination came into being.

The second and most important reason is: the skeleton structure of the turtle; There is a turtle pattern on the back of the turtle, and there are 3 squares in the center of the turtle pattern, representing the three talents of heaven and earth; There are 24 squares next to it, representing 24 mountains. There is also a 10 grid, which represents the ten-day stem, and a 12 grid at the bottom of the turtle shell, which represents the twelve earthly branches. On a small turtle shell, there are endless mysteries.

The characteristics of tortoise shell just correspond to the image of heaven and earth, the three talents in gossip and heavenly stems and earthly branches in divination theory. Whether it is coincidence or whether the turtle is really sacred, in short, this feature makes the turtle an important tool for ancient divination.