Talks take place on Thursday afternoons, starting at 2pm, and usually take place in the Lecture Hall, Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA. These are free for Oxford u3a members but you are welcome to attend as a guest for a donation of £5 (£2 for members of all other U3As).
Most talks are recorded on Zoom for the benefit of those Oxford u3a members who are unable to attend Rewley House.
In the event of adverse weather conditions, please telephone Rewley House (01865 270360), to enquire whether the talk has been cancelled.
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Dr Michelle Pfeffer – Divination, Oracles and Omens
June 4 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Dr Michelle Pfeffer is a historian of science and religion at Magdalen College, Oxford. She is co-curator, with David Zeitlyn, of the Bodleian Library exhibition Oracles, Omens and Answers (Dec 24 – Apr 25), and co-editor, also with David Zeitlyn, of Divination, Oracles, and Omens (Bodleian Library Publishing, 2025). Her work explores the history of astrology in the early modern period, from astrologers attempts to forecast epidemic disease to the teaching of astrology in premodern universities, including at Oxford.
Some questions are hard to answer and always have been. Does my beloved love me back? Should my country go to war? Who stole my goats? Questions like these have been asked of diviners around the world throughout history – and still are today. From astrology and tarot to reading entrails, divination comes in a wide variety of forms. Yet they all address the same human needs. They promise to tame uncertainty, help us make decisions or simply satisfy our desire to understand. Drawing on an array of objects and texts displayed in the Bodleian exhibition Oracles, Omens and Answers, this talk will showcase divination techniques that different cultures have developed to cope with life’s uncertainties.