Psychological assessment and divination: Some parallels of process.


Psychological assessment is a complex process aimed at contributing to helping the client. The information gained about the person in his or her situational context should facilitate guiding intervention. The basic data are derived from the clinical interview, testing, and collateral information from third parties. Contemporary Paganism makes use of the ancient practice of divination for a similar process of assessment in the context of personal guidance. This article examines the parallels between the process of divination and psychological assessment. Both activities serve a similar purpose to facilitate better client decision-making of life choices. Script theory informs the process parallels between those 2 forms of assessment. The generic helping script finds grounding in principles of humanistic psychology. Divination can be seen as a psycho-spiritual technique for personal growth through gnosis. Assessment can take similar forms in both a secular and spiritual context. Thus, practitioners in both domains share the common ground of the assumptions of human science. Finally, in both domains, elements of the assessment are encoded in signs (implying semiotic theory) that need to be interpreted (implying a hermeneutic process) and then findings are communicated back to the client (implying a rhetoric of healing and growth). Those disciplines help guide the communication process between participants across any differences in world view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)