The idea that God would warn Israel about wizards and familiar spirits as a protection against being deceived into harmful, rash or self-destructive actions based on gullibility makes sense.
But the idea that God was saying that divination in its purest sense, something available as a spiritual tool for all human beings, is evil and of the Devil is for me a false notion.
Our contemporary world is full of the results of contemporary Christian divinators: the prime practicioners are Rapture proclaimers who have "divined" the meanings of the Book of Revelation and other Bible passages to construct a Rapture and End Times scenario that has impacted millions.
Divination itself is a function of communion between God and human beings. It is the essence of promptings by the Holy Spirit.
Many people keep journals and diaries. Journaling, when it avoids mere recitation of meetings, appointments and events, cannot help but be introspective and divinatory. The act of writing out one's thoughts on a daily basis is a powerful means of communion with one's inner spirit - the mind is the place where the majority of human activity takes place - the mortal home of the soul.
Taking journaling one step further by setting aside time to write thoughts as they spontaneously occur without time for editing for propriety's sake can be very revelatory. Such writings need not be shared with anyone else, but if kept and pondered with questions such as:
"Why did I write that?"
"How come I wrote it that way?"
"Why am I so angry ... so pleased ... so offended ... so happy?"
The effect is both healthy and instructive ... a movement further along one's own path.
Divination and Me
Easton's Bible Dictionary defines God-approved divination by lot as occurring in the choice of scapegoat by Aaron in Leviticus, in Numbers 26, in Joshua 7 and Samuel's selection of Saul as king, in the choice of Mathias as Judas' replacement in Acts.
Divination by lot seems to be that which most similarly resembles popular contemporary divination methods. It began for me one day years ago when out of boredom in a book store I began reading a book entitled "A Guide to the I Ching," by Carol Anthony. My eye was caught by the following under a paragraph entitled "On being led" as "necessary to establish the relationship between the student and the I Ching:
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