I have a few thoughts on this matter that might serve to kick off discussion
[1] The given scientific explanation for divination is that we are experiencing is primarily a form of projection. When presented with symbols, such as the quote from an I Ching hexagram, one of the archetype-laden cards of the Tarot, or even the statements about our Horoscope, we juxtapose our self-image and our present experiences against the symbol and reflect on the meaning we receive. Nobody claims there is any ideomotor effect in play btw. In essence, this is the same as how we project meaning when reading a stream of consciousness work like those of James Joyce, and yet we leave satisfied that we have received an answer, and will often react in ways subsequently that help it play out in a predictive fashion based on the advice we followed. Or perhaps this is all a huge rationalization. I can argue the case for this strenuously in either direction, which I find pretty unsatisfactory.
[2] Here is a curly one. Consider that what we seek thru divination is a certain predictive power. We want certainty about the future, and the effects of our actions. Interestingly, it can be argued that a large part of the appeal of science is in the very predictive power it brings to situations. It could be said therefore that the Periodic Table of Elements is actually a form of divination. Yes, that is an equivocal statement, but the reason I make it is because if we look back on the ancient world, sometimes there is truth to patterns they saw. Consider the case that actually happened that in Ethiopia's lowlands, there is good grazing for cattle, and apparently excellent pasture that arrives early with god rains. Traditional wisdom (which is normally shorthand for superstition) says that during such conditions you should graze for only 1 month then make a dash for the highlands. There is normally a huge argument about this between the old and the young. The older people make a dash for the highlands with their animals, and arrive just in time for what becomes a rapid onsetting and profound drought that occurs about once every 40 years. The point I am making is there are times when traditional wisdom has a point that is so unlikely that it seems like superstition, but it is actually an important prediction. Could we then argue that a person like Apollonius of Tyana who is said to have known multiple systems of divination from the Greco-Roman era, as well as being a Pythagorean Schooled mathematician, was not exactly a sorcerer, but may well have been practicing a good deal of scientific observation in among the apparent superstition of the divinatory arts? After all, we should be pragmatic about systems that work, and the terms magic and magician derives from the Persian word magus that simply means a wise person.
[3] It is distinctly possible that a good deal of ritual magic actually derives from divination practices. Consider if you will that divination is a ritual magical working, with an aim of predicting the future. Now consider, you become a very accurate practitioner, reading your symbol set with a great deal of skill, and then an idea hits you... The system of divination connects you with the future, but can it actually be used to alter the future? Then it occurs to you that perhaps if you can charge up the symbols you need with ritual energy, you might be able to alter outcomes. It makes good sense from a scientific perspective. If you are part of a system (and the observer always is part of the experiment), then you are able to affect the outcome if you are able to understand the system with enough precision. This is a fundamental principle of Chaos theory in fact. Chaos theory is NOT the idea that some things are intrinsically chaotic and unknowable, but holds the truth that if human observation is sufficiently precise, that seemingly unlikely outcomes can be replicated with near perfect probability. A classic example of this is the "scalpel machine". The scalpel machine is a metal rig that drops a coke bottle and smashes it, but there is a circle painted on the ground, and as the machine replicates the same drop, when you go and look in the circle, there is always a shard of glass that has a 1 micron edge scalpel blade in it, that can then be used in surgery. It works every time. So it might be said that while the tides of life seem chaotic, perhaps it is possible to do the impossible and surf them via retro-engineered divination? Is this the origin of ritual magic?
[4] This final point is less of a matter for debate, and more of an interesting occult historical aside. The ancients placed huge importance on Oracles, and everybody visited the
Three Sybils of the ancient world. Such was their respectability that they Three Sybils actually predicted the rise of Christianity, and hence retained some respectability in the Christian era as a result. This begs the question of what is the link between the word Divination and the words Divinity and Divine. The answer is located in Iamblichus' "On the Mysteries", which relates to us that in the spirit world there are a great many powerful entities, but most of these are known as Daimons, and in fact every human has a Daimon, such that if they are especially talented they might be called a Genius, which is also the origin of the term Genius Locii, from which we get the later Arabic word "Djinn". So what then separated a God from a mere Daimon (regardless of how powerful it might be)? Well, a God was a source of utterly reliable prophecy, while a Daimon might be capable of of remarkably "poultergeisty" and apparent spiritual power but they could never challenge a God, because a God would simply see what the Daimon would do next, and use the foreknowledge to defeat them when necessary. This is what makes a God/Deity a Divinity.
