Taskorinisi

Taskorinisi is an ancient method of ritual fortune-telling, primarily practised by the Sayakatchilar. A person trained in the art of taskorinisi is called a taskorgish, and although this training is not prohibitively difficult, it is said that a person must have a natural prophetic gift in order to be a successful taskorgish. As such, the ritual is seen primarily as a tool that allows the taskorgish to focus their powers on a specific question or individual, rather than as a method of divination which is open to anyone.
The ritual consists of arranging markers, either animal teeth or small stones, in a pattern to reveal information about a querant's past, present and future, as interpreted by the taskorgish. To start with, the taskorgish roughly sketches on the ground to produce the side profile of a person in motion, facing to the right: the hand in front holds a bow, and the hand behind holds a blade. The figure is analysed in terms of a grid of nine spaces, with each space representing a different part of the body. The left-hand column indicates the past, the central column indicates the present, and the right-hand column indicates the future. In the left-hand column, the top space is the ears, the middle space is the sword-arm, and the bottom space is the rear foot; in the central column, the top space is the mind, the middle space is the heart, and the bottom space is the groin; in the right-hand column, the top space is the eyes, the middle space is the bow-arm, and the bottom space is the front foot. Once the figure is drawn out, the set of markers is divided into three groups. Markers are removed from the first group in sets of five, until there are five or fewer markers remaining, and these are then placed in the top left space. This is repeated with the second group, with remaining markers placed in the middle left space, and the third group, with remaining markers placed in the bottom left space; then the markers that have been removed in sets of five - which will be the bulk of the markers - are collected together and divided again, with the process repeated for the central column and right-hand column in turn. The number and pattern of markers placed into each space is then interpreted. In this practice, the numbers one to five are also associated with different elements (aligned to the Naran system): 1) earth, 2) water, 3) fire, 4) wind, 5) void.
The usual number of markers to engage in taskorinisi is 49, although not all of these will be placed on the grid over the course of this process. A novice taskorgish starts by using milk teeth which have fallen out naturally: 24 from a colt, 24 from a filly, and the final one from the taskorgish's own mouth. Traditionally, each set of horse teeth has to come from one individual, and it is usually the would-be taskorgish's job to raise these two horses from birth, so as to be able to collect all of their fallen milk teeth. If, due to defect or inattention, the taskorgish is unable to obtain the full 24 teeth from one of the animals, they must make up the numbers with more of their own milk teeth. Once the novice has obtained all the necessary teeth, they can begin to perform the ritual. However, querants must make an offering in order to obtain a reading: a small stone, found during the full moon and worn in a small pouch around the querant's neck for at least the duration of one lunar month. The more unique or individual this stone is, the more accurate the reading will be. As part of the process, this stone is given to the taskorgish to keep and use in their rituals. For each stone which the taskorgish is given, they must bury one of the initial teeth in a respectful ceremony, starting with all of the horse teeth before moving on to the taskorgish's own milk teeth. Over the course of 49 rituals, the taskorgish will replace all of the teeth with stones, and it is at this point that the taskorgish is considered a master in their own right. From this point, new stones may be used to replace old stones (which must also be respectfully buried when they are no longer in use), to keep the number of markers used at 49. However, stones which are particularly special - for reasons of aesthetics, distance from their place of origin, or gifted by a prominent and powerful figure - must be retained, even if this brings the number of markers over the limit. As such, the most established and respected taskorgishes will often have a far greater number of markers, and these serve as a sign of success and reliability.