Poe divination (from the 'poe' (桮) in the

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...

Min Dong Eastern Min or Min Dong (, Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄), is a branch of the Min group of Sinitic languages of China. The prestige form and most-cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian. G ...

BUC: buăk-bŭi, "cast moon blocks", also called as "bwa bwei",

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

) is a traditional Chinese divination method, in which the divination seeker throws or drops two little wooden pieces on the floor and gets the divine answer by the positions of the pieces whether the future course being contemplated is recommended or not. The pieces, called "Poe" (Bwei) in Taiwanese or

Jiaobei Moon blocks or ''jiaobei'' (also written as ''jiao bei'' etc. variants; ), also ''poe'' (from ; as used in the term " ''poe'' divination"), are wooden divination tools originating from China, which are used in pairs and thrown to seek divine ...

, look somewhat like two shells of a

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two sh ...

or bivalve mollusk.Poe (Kotobank)
(in Japanese) Poe Divination using two little wooden pieces upon throwing, can result in often three answers. The first is , is when one the of blocks has its flat side facing up and the other with its curved side facing down, this serves as the Deity's agreement with the devotee's question or plea. The second is , is when both blocks have their curved sides facing up , this serves as the Deity's disagreement with the devotee's question or plea. The last would be , when both blocks have their flat sides facing up, this serves as the Deity's amusement at the devotee's question or plea. A special type of divination rarely seen, would be the , it is when one of the blocks, stands with both the flat and curve sides facing in a horizontal position. This type of divination rarely seen, often means that the deity is sending a strong message and sometimes devotees would invite temple staff or mediums to determine what it means. Poe divination can be observed at

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

and

Chinese temples Chinese temple architecture refer to a type of structures used as place of worship of Chinese Buddhism, Taoism or Chinese folk religion, where people revere ethnic Chinese gods and ancestors. They can be classified as: * '' miào'' () or ''di� ...

, such as Guangdi temples and

Mazu temples This is a list of Mazu temples, dedicated to Mazu (媽祖) also known as Tian Shang Sheng Mu (天上聖母) or Tian Hou (天后) Chinese Goddess of Sea and Patron Deity of fishermen, sailors and any occupations related to sea/ocean, also regarded as ...

, not only in China and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, but also in the rest of the world.

References

External links

Taiwanese Poe Divination
Divination Practices in Chinese folk religion Taoist divination {{tao-stub

See also

References

External links