Pondering "The Princes of the Oil": New Light on an Old Phenomenon

Although altered states of consciousness, particularly in form of or dissociation, were recognized long ago as a psychic matrix conducive to divinatory activities, association between these two sets of phenomena has been stated only on a very general level. In this paper an attempt is made to define this association more specifically by using a Jewish divinatory system as a focal illustration. It is suggested that trance aspects of the princes and other, non-Jewish equivalents might have contributed to their prevalence and tenacious persistence over centuries. Finally, an attempt is made to account for this association and to suggest a dichotomous classification of divinatory techniques based on differential use of altered states of consciousness.