The Document on Rain (Yushu 雨書): Weather and Prognostication in Early China

The Document on Rain (Yushu 雨書) is a short manuscript that forms part of the Beijing University collection of Han slips. This text, divided into two sections, has thus far garnered little scholarly attention. However, it presents to us an unusual example of a daybook (rishu 日書)-type manuscript, one which is primarily concerned with the weather. The Document on Rain, while sharing many characteristics of excavated daybooks, is unusual in its treatment of humans. Rather than providing advice on whether or not one should undertake activity on a certain day or engaging in the discourse about whether or not humans can manipulate the weather, the Document on Rain represents an understanding of the weather as a phenomenon that cannot be manipulated by humans, but one which can, perhaps, be understood. The Document on Rain integrates practices of prognostication based on calendrical and sexagenary cycles with theories about rain and its relationship to the symbolic characteristics of the twenty-eight lodges (ershiba xiu 二十八宿). This article analyses some of the predictive methods in the text and situates it within a longer tradition of meteoromantic practices.

Who Wants to Live Forever? Astrological Methods for Calculating Lifespan in Western Culture and Perspectives on Determinism in Astrology

The calculation of an individual’s life span has been a constant presence in premodern astrological practice. It was used by physicians to calculate the expected life of a patient or to ascertain if an illness was likely to be fatal. On a personal level, this knowledge could also offer a means of control over one’s life and, more importantly, a way to prepare their access to a rewarding afterlife. This article contains an overview of determinism in astrology and a brief survey of the main methodologies used to determine the length of life, exploring their history, primary sources, and variations from antiquity to the early modern period. Although it discusses to some extent the chief methods for determining the lifespan, an in-depth study of the techniques, with all their details and discrepancies is out of its scope. The goal is to correlate the astrological practice with different perspectives on determinism and free will.

The Book Revealing the Future in a Religion without Books: the Apocalyptic Visions of Yezidi Seers

This article studies the “book,” or defter, of Yezidi seers in Northern Iraq. Following an oral religion in an Islamic environment where only “people of the Book” enjoyed legitimate status and social acceptance, Yezidis have developed various strategies to compensate for the absence of a written sacred book. The most unique among these is the phenomenon of “falling into book,” which refers to the altered state of consciousness experienced by some Yezidi seers. “Falling into book” provides the seer with a glimpse into both the past and the future, thus serving as a source of divination and prognostication, which ranges from addressing personal problems to foretelling the (usually apocalyptic) fate of the Yezidi community and the world. Thus the “book” of the seers is perceived to be a kind of “heavenly knowledge,” equal or even superior to the revealed texts of bookish religions.

The Man-Bird Mountain: Writing, Prophecy, and Revelation in Early China

The Taoist Canon (Daozang) contains a remarkable illustration entitled Renniao shan tu, or Chart of the Man-Bird Mountain, found in a text originally dating from the mid-fifth century. Other Taoist works describe this mountain as the ultimate origin of revealed scriptures and even of the entire Canon. In this article, I examine three main themes related to the Chart. The first is the role of birds in traditional accounts of the origins of Chinese writing. The second theme concerns the function of birds in the revelation of prophetic charts and texts, described in Han-dynasty “weft texts.” The third theme is the early narratives focused on the so-called “winged men” (yuren). This is followed by an analysis of the Chart, including its inscriptions, and of the text that contains it. An appendix provides translations of the inscriptions and of similar passages found in other Taoist sources.

Anselmo Castelo Branco: Profiling an Alchemist Prophet

The prophet, alchemist, and physician Anselmo Castelo Branco, while not an unknown name in Portuguese letters, still stands as a largely misunderstood author of the intellectually troubled Portuguese eighteenth century. He is mostly known for his alchemical opus, the Ennoea, and so far scholars have only given superficial attention to his non-alchemical works, leading to significant bias. While not denying Castelo Branco’s relevance as a medical and alchemical writer, this article hopes to be the first to offer a detailed reconstruction of this author’s biography as well as an extensive analysis of all his known written works. Besides his known contributions to the sciences, his ideas on the Portuguese messianic cult of Sebastianism, prognostication, and the definition of accurate prophecy are analyzed, revealing a complex and nuanced vision which aimed to harmonize the fragmented fields of Portuguese eighteenth-century messianism and millenarianism.

Eschatological Awareness without Apocalyptic or Millenarian Expectations: Facing the Future in the Ottonian World (from the 10th to the Early 11th Century)

This article reconstructs the perception of the future in Ottonian culture by investigating a variety of sources produced within the chronological and geographical framework of the Roman–Germanic Empire (Germany, Italy, and Lotharingia) at the time of Saxon kings and emperors (919–1024). Traditional scholarly interest in end times at the turn of the first millennium is here intertwined with a more recent transdisciplinary perspective that focuses on the notion of contingency. Ottonian sources provide evidence of how a real concern about historical contingencies, which affect this-worldly future events, could coexist with an eschatological awareness that induced patterns of thought and behavior in view of eternal salvation, in connection with the belief that the last age of the world had already begun long ago. This belief, not to be confused with speculations about the imminence of the end, should be properly understood and contextualized, and a clear distinction among eschatology, apocalypticism, and millenarianism is therefore required. Although each Ottonian author had a particular approach toward the future, influenced by various circumstances and different authorial intentions (doctrinal reflection, pastoral responsibilities, devotion, political reasons, rhetorical purposes, and propaganda), the analysis of these sources reveals an appropriation of Augustinian themes and teachings that seems to have been widespread, deep, and genuine. What emerges is a complex picture of how prominent Ottonian authors conceived and coped with the future, passing from the cosmic to existential dimension, from spiritual commitment to ordinary business, and from the uncertainty of terrestrial future to the transcendent certainty of the Last Things.