Six paths, six different histories.

Tarot

Early references to tarot cluster in northern Italy in the 1440s and 1450s. The cards were used for games; their strong association with occult fortune-telling developed much later.

Western astrology & the zodiac

The twelve-part zodiac has deep roots in ancient Mesopotamian astronomy and astrology. A Late Babylonian tablet in the British Museum, dated around 500 BCE, lists months with zodiac signs.

I Ching / Yijing

The Yijing is a composite Chinese classic centered on trigrams and 64 hexagrams. Its layers developed over long periods and later became central to philosophical reflection on change.

Numerology

Symbolic meanings have been attached to numbers across many cultures and periods. The specific calculations used on this site are common modern Western numerology conventions rather than a claim of one unbroken ancient system.

We label the calculator this way deliberately so visitors can distinguish historical number symbolism from modern practice.

Western geomancy

Western geomancy became systematized in the medieval Arabic world and spread into medieval Europe. Its figures use binary combinations of one or two points and can be developed into a Shield Chart.

North Sámi goavddis — Poala-Ánde / Anders Poulsen

The sixth path is deliberately narrower than a generic “Sámi drum” category. It is built around the surviving North Sámi goavddis associated with Poala-Ánde / Anders Poulsen and the unusually detailed testimony recorded at Vadsø in 1692. The source describes a pine bowl drum with prepared reindeer skin, four dividing lines making five rows, 25 figures, reindeer-horn hammers and a small brass cap/ring used on the skin.

The testimony also records movement of the brass cap: movement with the sun was described as favourable, movement against the sun as unfavourable, and particular questions could involve movement toward particular figures. The current site visualises this as a clearer multi-symbol Drum Journey with the full figure field shown more openly on the drum. The generated sequence and combination meanings are modern design, not claimed surviving 1692 rules.

Because the testimony was produced during a coercive witchcraft prosecution, the site treats its Christian imagery and explanations critically. Modern reflective text is clearly separated from the historical record.