Knowing Hands Workshop 12–14 September 2025: Exploring Chinese Hand-Memory Techniques and Their Global Connections
An academic workshop titled Knowing Hands: Chinese Hand-Memory Techniques in Situ, Comparison, & Contact will take place from September 12–14, 2025, at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (CAS-E) in Erlangen. Organized by ISCSD Vice President Marta Hanson and ISCSD Secretary Stéphanie Homola, this event will bring together leading scholars to investigate the […]
“Writing with the Phoenix Brush” in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region – Recap
In July 2025, CAS-E hosted a delegation from a Taiwanese spirit-writing (fuji 扶乩 or 扶箕) community, organized by ISCSD president and CAS-E director Michael Lackner. The visit represented the first public demonstration of “writing with the Phoenix brush” in Germany, providing scholars and the public with an opportunity to observe this traditional religious practice. Following […]
Upcoming ISCSD Book Talk: The Legacy of Chinese Shamanism: The Wu and Their Successors
Date: July 28, 2025Time: 16:00 CETZoom Link: https://fau.zoom-x.de/j/65361545007 The International Society for the Critical Study of Divination (ISCSD) is pleased to invite you to our next Book Talk, which will spotlight the landmark volumeThe Legacy of Chinese Shamanism: The Wu and Their Successors, edited by Johan Hausen. This pioneering collection—the first of its kind to […]
New IJDP Issue Available
This year’s first issue of the International Journal of Divination and Prognostication has been published on July 18, 2025 and can be accessed online at https://brill.com/view/journals/ijdp/6/1/ijdp.6.issue-1.xml. This special issue, edited by our guest editor Stéphanie Homola, is dedicated to the subject of Online Divination Ethnographies: The Transformative Impact of Digital Technology and Social Media on […]
Postponed-ISCSD Book Talk: Onomantic Divination in Late Medieval Britain
Dear friends and colleagues, Due to unforeseen organizational circumstances, we regret to inform you that the following event must be postponed to a later date. We will announce the new date as soon as it is confirmed. Thank you for your understanding and continued support. Best regards, The ISCSD Team. Date: June 25, 2025 Time: 13:00 CET […]
“Writing with the Phoenix Brush” in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region
We are very pleased to announce the visit of a spirit-writing (fuji 扶乩 or 扶箕) community from Taiwan, hosted by CAS-E at the invitation of ISCSD president and CAS-E director Michael Lackner. The practice of “writing with the phoenix brush” remains widespread in Taiwan and parts of China to this day. A religious temple community […]
Online Lecture by Erwan Dianteill on Ifa and Geomancy
On May 7, 2025, ISCSD member Erwan Dianteill (Université Paris Cité – UFR SHS Sorbonne; Hutchins Center Fellow, Harvard University) held an online presentation on the YouTube channel of The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. The lecture entitled “Ifa and Geomancy: A Comparative Hermeneutics of Divinatory Systems in Africa, […]
ISCSD Book Talk: Gendered Fortunes in Postsecular Turkey
The International Society for the Critical Study of Divination (ISCSD) is pleased to invite you to our next Book Talk, featuring Gendered Fortunes: Divination, Precarity, and Affect in Postsecular Turkey by Zeynep K. Korkman (University of California, Los Angeles). The event will take place on Friday, May 16, 2025, at 18:00 CET. In this pathbreaking […]
Urgent: New Link for Today’s Book Talk
Due to some unexpected technical issues, the previous Zoom link is not working. Please kindly use the following one: https://fau.zoom-x.de/j/65778448047?pwd=swnDagxmF7JOiIA4vNYdGOVGibEZys.1
February 6, 2025 ISCSD Book Talk: Exploring The Art of Fate Calculation
Date: February 6, 2025 Time: 14:00 (CEST) Location: Online (Zoom link below) The International Society for the Critical Study of Divination (ISCSD) invites you to an engaging Book Talk featuring Stéphanie Homola’s groundbreaking work, The Art of Fate Calculation: Practicing Divination in Taipei, Beijing, and Kaifeng. This ethnographic study delves into the intricate world of […]
