The Homeromanteion: A Literary and Philosophical Oracle for Stoics Hardcover – August 28, 2024

Today we are experiencing a resurgence and revival in the philosophy of the Stoics. Contemporary schools of Stoicism are emerging as like-minded thinkers coalesce their arguments and promotion of traditional, modern, prosperity (or minimalist), and esoteric branches of the Stoic tree. This book is representative of the latter school of Esoteric Stoicism which seeks to reinstate the deeply religious and metaphysical doctrines and assumptions of the Stoics back to its overall program of a holistic, and philosophical way of life. This book addresses one of the more fundamental assumptions of Stoicism (found in the Early, Middle, and Late developments of the philosophy): the efficacy, reality, and function of divination.As the Stoics promoted the practice of divination, and universally attested to its purpose in a providentially ordered and sympathetically related cosmos, this book suggests the relevance of the Homeromanteion (2nd century CE) as a late antique literary and philosophical oracle specifically of use to the contemporary Stoic who may find other forms of divination distasteful, or inconsistent with their intellectual and academic endeavors and worldview. The Homeromanteion combines chance numerical combinations (via astragali or bone dice) with the literary and authoritative excellence of Homer’s epic poetry, resulting in an incredibly elastic, intellectual, and refined form of divination wondrously conducive to interpretation through the philosophical lens of Stoicism.This text explores the Stoics’ writings and opinion on divination, the Stoic hermeneutical methods of allegoresis and metonymy, the function and use of the Homeromanteion and much more. Providing the reader with a thorough grounding in the technique and practice of the Homeromanteion, as well as nineteen fully fleshed out Stoic interpretations of readings—complete with literal, ethical, and metaphysical analyses—the reader will have everything necessary to perform this philosophical oracle for him or herself. Rather than giving readymade answers to unknown questions, this method (developed by the Society of Spiritual Stoics) trains the philosopher in Stoic methods to divine both simple questions related to preferred indifferents, as well as to attune oneself to the promptings and instruction of the daimôn, one’s highest, most rational and normative Self. Read more