Bone Reading Symbols: A Complete Guide to Casting Object Meanings

Symbols in Bone Reading Are Personal, Not Universal

Unlike tarot, where the Ten of Pentacles has a broadly agreed-upon meaning across traditions, or runes, where Fehu consistently relates to wealth and cattle, bone reading has no universal symbol dictionary. The meaning of each object in your set is determined by you — through tradition, intuition, personal association, and the feedback of experience.

This guide offers a starting framework: traditional and cross-cultural associations for the most common types of objects found in bone sets. Use these as a foundation, then refine them through your own practice. Your personal meanings, developed through hundreds of readings, will ultimately be more accurate for you than any published guide.

Reading Principles Before Symbols

Before diving into individual object meanings, three principles govern how symbols function in a bone cast:

• Position matters more than meaning. A bone that means “health” landing in the “past” zone of your casting cloth tells a different story than the same bone landing in the “future” zone. Always read position first, meaning second.
• Relationship matters more than position. Two objects that land close together are in direct conversation. Their combined meaning is more important than either object alone. A “money” object next to a “struggle” object means financial difficulty. The same “money” object next to a “journey” object means money coming from travel or a distant source.
• Face-up vs. face-down. For objects with a clear orientation, face-up = active/positive/yes; face-down = blocked/shadow/no. A cowrie shell face-down does not mean the opposite of its meaning — it means the energy is present but blocked, hidden, or not yet available.

Animal Bones: Meanings by Animal

The animal a bone comes from carries the spiritual energy and symbolic associations of that animal. These meanings draw from cross-cultural animal symbolism and shamanic traditions worldwide.

• Chicken/Bird bones — Messages, communication, news arriving, travel, freedom, the air element. The specific bird matters: crow = magic and transformation; dove = peace; hawk = vision and focus.
• Rabbit bones — Fertility, abundance, speed, quick movement, luck. Also: fear, the need for grounding, vulnerability.
• Fish bones — Abundance, flow, the unconscious, emotional depth, spiritual nourishment. Water element.
• Snake vertebrae — Transformation, shedding what no longer serves, healing, hidden wisdom, sexuality, the kundalini force. One of the most powerful bones to include in a set.
• Deer/Antelope bones — Gentleness, grace, intuition, sensitivity, the forest realm, the feminine.
• Cat bones — Independence, mystery, psychic ability, the night, feminine power, seeing in the dark.
• Dog bones — Loyalty, friendship, protection, the home, a trustworthy ally.
• Pig/Boar bones — Abundance, earthiness, the harvest, material prosperity, also stubbornness.
• Cow/Ox bones — Strength, patience, the earth, slow and steady progress, ancestral wealth.

Shells: Meanings by Type

• Cowrie shells — The most widely used shell in divination worldwide. Money, fertility, the goddess, ancestral communication, the ocean, the feminine principle. Face-up = yes, abundance, positive; face-down = no, blocked, hidden.
• Spiral/Cone shells — Evolution, the passage of time, the journey inward, the golden ratio, sacred geometry.
• Clam/Bivalve shells — Protection, the home, what is hidden inside, duality, the opening and closing of opportunity.
• Scallop shells — Pilgrimage, spiritual journey, the sacred feminine, Venus, beauty, the sea goddess.
• Abalone — Emotional healing, the ocean's depth, psychic protection, beauty, the rainbow.
• Snail shells — Slow progress, patience, the home carried within, introversion, protection through withdrawal.

Stones and Crystals: Meanings by Type

• Black tourmaline — Protection, grounding, what needs to be released, the shadow, psychic shielding.
• Obsidian — Truth, the shadow self, what is hidden, transformation through darkness, ancestral healing.
• Clear quartz — Clarity, amplification, the higher self, spiritual connection, what needs to be seen clearly.
• Rose quartz — Love, the heart, compassion, self-love, romantic relationships, emotional healing.
• Citrine — Abundance, solar energy, confidence, manifestation, joy, the will.
• Amethyst — Intuition, spiritual connection, psychic awareness, dreams, the third eye.
• Carnelian — Vitality, courage, creativity, sexuality, the sacral chakra, taking action.
• Lapis lazuli — Truth, wisdom, the throat chakra, speaking one's truth, royal authority.
• Malachite — Transformation, heart healing, growth, the forest, what is changing.
• Black river pebble — The past, what has been smoothed by time, patience, what is foundational.
• White river pebble — Clarity, purity, a fresh start, what is simple and true.

Coins and Metal Objects: Meanings

• Gold coin — Wealth, success, solar energy, the masculine, achievement.
• Silver coin — Intuition, the feminine, the moon, emotional matters, psychic ability.
• Copper coin — Venus energy, love, beauty, creativity, the arts.
• Old/antique coin — The past, ancestral wealth or debt, what has been inherited.
• Foreign coin — Travel, foreign influences, what comes from elsewhere, the exotic.
• Key — Access, solutions, what needs to be unlocked, a mystery revealed, opportunity.
• Small bell — Announcements, spiritual communication, clearing energy, a call to attention.
• Ring or ring-shaped object — Commitment, cycles, completion, marriage, what goes around comes around.
• Nail or pin — Fixing something in place, a sharp truth, precision, what needs to be secured.

Natural Objects: Meanings

• Acorn — Potential, small beginnings that grow into something great, the oak's promise, patience.
• Seed — New beginnings, what is planted, what needs time to germinate, potential not yet visible.
• Feather — Lightness, messages from spirit, freedom from burden, the air element, communication.
• Dried flower — Beauty that has passed, memory, what was once in bloom, the cycle of growth and decay.
• Piece of bark or wood — The tree it came from; roots, stability, the forest, ancestral connection.
• Dried berry or fruit — The harvest, what has ripened, abundance, the sweetness of life.
• Thorn — Protection, a sharp boundary, what guards something precious, pain that protects.

Dice and Chance Objects

• Single die — The number showing indicates timing or quantity. Also: chance, the unpredictability of fate, what cannot be controlled.
• Two dice together — The combined number carries meaning. Doubles = emphasis, repetition, what is doubled in the situation.
• Domino — The two numbers represent two forces or people in relationship. Which number is larger indicates which force dominates.

Building Your Personal Meanings: A Practice

For each object in your set, create a journal entry with three sections:

1. Traditional meaning — What does this object mean across cultures and traditions? (Use this guide as a starting point.)
2. Personal association — What does this object mean to you personally? What memory, feeling, or story does it carry?
3. Observed meaning — After 20+ readings, what has this object consistently indicated? How has its meaning evolved through use?

The third section — observed meaning — is the most important. It is built only through practice. No book can give it to you. The bones will teach you what they mean, if you read consistently and record honestly.

When an Object's Meaning Is Unclear

Sometimes an object lands in a position that doesn't immediately make sense. When this happens:

• Return to the object's most basic, literal meaning. A fish bone is a fish. What does a fish mean in the context of this question?
• Consider the object's physical qualities. Is it heavy or light? Sharp or smooth? Dark or pale? These qualities often carry meaning.
• Ask the object directly. Hold it in your hand after the reading and ask: “What were you trying to tell me?” Note whatever comes.
• Record the uncertainty and return to it after the predicted timeframe. The meaning will often become clear in retrospect.

Uncertainty is not failure. It is the edge of your current knowledge — and the beginning of deeper understanding. For those who find resonance in the archetypal language of bones and seek to deepen their practice, there is the Shadow Work Tarot guide for exploring the internal landscape, the Jung and the Archetype exploration of the unconscious, the Tarot Journaling Prompts for sustained reflection, the Sacred Space Cleanse ritual kit to prepare the ground for any divinatory work, and the Emotional Filter Ritual Kit to help clear the static before a reading.