Osteomancy Bone Meanings
Osteomancy through a sortilege lens:
Bones and their meanings vary from body part to body part. Their meanings not only change based on body part and hemisphere, but within the contexts of what animal that the body part came from. These are all facets to understanding bones and their potentials as a divination set. Much of these meanings connect deeply to the behaviour of the animal in question. If you ever are at a loss for what a bone means, take the time to familiarise yourself with the animal and how that animal uses that part of its body.
Below is a list of general meanings and structures.
Skulls: Vision, identities, thoughts, intuition, focus, clarity, communication, retention, memory.
Note: Different skulls or parts of the skull may have more acute meanings. Skulls are not casually used in most traditions as they are sacredly restricted. They are often oracular vessels correlating strongly to ancestry work.
Teeth / Tusks: Mastication, speech, language, hunger, struggle, conflict, instincts, tension
Note: Wolves teeth may vary in meaning from bear teeth. Teeth often break into halves over time. This is a natural process of teeth in all manners. In some cultures, teeth also represent oaths or words that are binding. Sheep’s teeth may refer to conflict in the flock.
Vertebrae: Structure, lineage, community, stages of life, flexibility and durability.
Note: Vertebrae have two unique sides to them. Knowing which side is which will help you learn if there is an acute meaning that they wish to correlate. There is a side that holds and the side that receives. Concave. Convexes. In the case of mustelids, you may find that they represent escape and fluidity in a situation. In a case of fish, you may find that they speak more about your awareness of your environment. Imagine this is “The backbone” of issues.
Ribs: Home, love, breath, lungs, intimacy and vulnerability, passions and fears, protection.
Note: Are the ribs in your possession that of a family animal? Pay mind to that. For they will speak about what needs to be nurtured when they correlate to animals that often stand their ground. If it is of an animal that is prey and skittish, what is it looking to flee from? If it is an animal that represents passions: what does it look at with longing?
Scapulae: Burdens and weights, responsibility and leadership, hard labour, agriculture and hearth.
Note: The oldest bone used in divination. Sheep may refer to the flock. Deer may refer to wounds of the past. This is often a bone damaged by hunting. Pay mind to where the animal’s body is and how it carries its weight.
Sternum / breast bones (including wishbones): Courage and heart, passions, hopes, inspiration, focus, integrity, stability and flexibility, vitality, the core of the self.
Note: Sternum bones and/or wishbones will hold particular connotations depending on what lays around it. The sternum is like a coin. Know what faces outwards and what lays beneath close to the organs. In wishbones, they represent flight, spiritual ascension, spiritual growth.
Humerus: Goals, agency, combat and battles, strength, convictions, action, protection.
Note: left and right will speak about balances or imbalances at play. Disharmony often arises in these bones. What kind of animal did they come from? Raccoons are clever. They are more like arms. So do opossums. Muskrats rely on them for aid under water. Is it a mustelid? Does it dig using the strength of that bone?
Ulna and Radius: Dexterity, craftsmanship, fluidity, creative projects or manual talents, musical inspiration and reflexes.
Note: These bones are absolutely critical to daily tasks and craftsmanship. If the animal is clever and a taskmaster or if they are a focused hunter may help glean more insight.
Pelvis: Fertility, sexuality, intimacy, connection, grounding, transitions, movement, balance, creativity and creation.
Note: Pay mind to the reproductive natures of the creatures that they came from. Do they have large litters? Or one? Are they a creature of the water? Or of land? How is their pelvis shaped and where does it hold weight? Does the creature often stand upright on its hind legs? Does it need it for balance?
Femur: Power, strength, stability, forwards movement, the “Chariot” of the body. Combat and conflict. Journeys, obstacles.
Note: Pay mind to if the animal that has these bones is stout and powerful or if they are lean and a runner.
Patella: Flexibility, fluidity, supplication, earthen labour (gardening), age / wisdom, ends of paths and journeys, connections.
Note: Some cultures associate the patella with loyalty and fealty. You can also consider the principle of how fluid moves around the patella as well and what connects to it for additional meaning. Expect bones that lay around the patellas to be forces or messages that are fluidly shifting around your throw. They create structure between different bones but they do not touch other bones. If there is a touching patella, expect that to be a painful interaction.
Tibia / Fibula: endurance, long roads and paths or the beginnings of a new path (Not confused with metatarsals being “stepping onto a new path”. This is the first steps properly taken into a new path). Flight/Fleeing a situation or walking into a new one.
Note: Damaged or cracked, these bones represent faults or broken paths and fallacies in the path that may be observed. Usually when the tibia / fibula lands, it does speak of paths and the direction that the path is taking.
Astragalus / Talus: Tricks, chance, gambles and gambits, the “Wheel of fortune” sort of bone. Crossroads, risks both serious and playful, games and humor, joy, paths and movement forwards, vices
Note: The original “dice”. Used to be used for gambling and divination, astragalus are old school. Paying mind to the environment that the animal came from will help glean more insight. Is it the soft pastures of a sheep? Or are they the deep woods of the forest? This will help you understand what environment is being navigated.
Metatarsals / Phalanges: Dexterity, movement, pathworking, new beginnings (a new path is beneath your feet), conflict, intimacy, foundations and tangible work or movement.
Note: Pay attention to what direction the bones and the flow of the bones are pointing. If they are hand bones from creatures that often use their “hands”, pay mind to what is attempting to be “grasped”.
Tail Bones (Coccyx / Caudal vertebrae): History, balance, deflection, avoidance, patterns and habits, things that have been “left behind”.
Note: How an animal uses its tail will glean more acute information. Does the animal use their tail defensively? For balance? Is it a prehensile tail and thus conveys “hanging onto” something? Is it a rudder in the water? Or do they use it for balance when they jump from tree to tree? Is the tail raised as a warning sign when there is danger?
