SEVEN STARS'
INTERPRETATION OF SINNERS MOVIE
BONE CAST
In the movie Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, out now on HBO Max, at 45:56 there is a bone casting, which I believe was created by Coogler and/or the Prop Master, Douglas Ware (not confirmed), and I do not know his/their interpretation of the spread when they created it (although I wish I did!!) And, getting in touch with them to ask is apparently not possible. (I tried!)
Being cinema, it was highly plausible that they could have simply randomly scattered objects on the table, however, so much attention was paid to detail in the film that I had a feeling they put some thought into this, and so, I looked into it. And yes, it does appear this is actually a really good spread - from my interpretation, and so I thought I would share it here as a teaching tool for those of you interested in learning bone casting, or for fans of the movie who are interested in just a little bit more.
In the movie, the character Annie is a conjurer, and in an important scene, she casts bones. Well. Everyone who's into bone casting is, of course, curious as to the interpretation of the bones, since it wasn't actually explained how she interpreted each of the items in the spread.
We all know readings are highly personal, and how one person reads is going to be completely different than how another person reads, and this is true culturally as well. The granny witches of Appalachian conjure may have African influence, but they're going to be a lot different from sangoma healers of the Zulu tribes of South Africa.
While Annie's character is American, she draws from ancestral conjure knowledge passed down to her from Africa, and so while we do need to take that into account, it appears to me that the writers were kind enough to provide us with (what I found to be) a pretty straight forward bone cast that we Americans can maybe at least partially understand. And in cinema, I mean, that's what a director is trying to do - get a message across to his audience. If the message is so content-accurate that no one viewing can ever figure it out, then what's the point, right? It might as well be a random scattering of things.
I have lots of information here on my website regarding bone casting patterns and objects and angles and placement, so I'll just lightly cover that while reading this. I'm trying to look at the spread from Annie's perspective, with a general recognition of commonly used items & placement as I've known them America, modern day (which references the past), but if there are inferences specific to the Mississippi Delta or certain areas of Africa, I'm not going to be familiar with those.
Also, unfortunately, to my knowledge no itemized list of items exists for Annie's movie bone casting, so I am going by what things look like to me, knowing what items are commonly used. For example, a raccoon baculum is more commonly used than a badger, an alligator head is more common than a lizard, etc. But even so, some of these items are just hard to make out.
THE SPREAD
So, diving right in. I'm ignoring the numbers on the table. She cast the bones on one of the gambling tables because it was convenient, and while yes, the numbers may possibly have some meaning, chances are, that's just the surface she was throwing on. She throws twice to confirm the first throw (common thing to do) and the second throw lands nearly exactly the same.
The first thing you'll notice in this spread is the baculum. It's a raccoon penis bone, which is a powerful love bone right down to the spiritual level, this would represent the connection Annie has with her husband, Smoke. The bone is horizontal, which is the feminine, which indicates the reading is about her, and her connection with him.
To the left, we see a small alligator head, and to the right, a rattlesnake tail. The head, and the tail on both sides - beginning and end, life and death, her and their love and connection in-between.
Alligator heads represent powerful protection, like the protection she gave Smoke with his mojo bag. It also represents ancient wisdom from the past. It protects against negativity and danger, suggesting that her ancestral knowledge, or spirits from the past, were there to protect her and give her strength and the ability to assert herself. Alligators also know when the time is right to strike. It's pointing right at the baculum, giving us clues as to what's to come.
To the right of the baculum is a rattlesnake tail. Among other things, they're used for reversing bad luck - like the shedding of the tail, transforming into something new, and are used to break harmful spells. The curse of the vampire bite can be thought of as a harmful spell, and the only way to break it is to be killed before you "turn". To shed one's mortal shell, transforming into something new, as Annie did, reunited with her baby.
These three bones together form the top of the letter "T" in this spread. A "T" can indicate blockages, with the top blocking the lower, but it can also represent the crossroads. As the three pieces that form the top of the "T" could be seen in part as representing the beginning and the end, life and death, so the crossroads can depict the crossroads between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Keep in mind, it's all about the combinations here, and the context of what's going on (and of course, it would have to do with Annie's connection to each piece, but we can't read her mind).
Going vertically downward, straight toward Annie as she stands there, is a chicken vertebrae. It's interesting that there is only one. It's right in the center, so it's definitely of interest - and it would stand for a concern or a fear, but when there's only one, it's not a huge worry. No big threat. Be ye not afraid, maybe? I don't know. In any case, there is one solitary vertebrae of fear.
That fear leads to what appears to be a tooth. It's possibly something else, but a tooth would make sense - and I'm going to go out on a creative limb here and suggest that it could be the tooth of one of her wise & beloved ancestors who taught her things. That tooth would be very special to her, likely representing all that she came from, all that she knows, passed down by word of mouth. The tooth looks clean and healthy and strong.
Below that is a coin - I'm interpreting this as meaning that that tooth has great value that is coveted. You can't see any writings or images on that coin - it's mysterious - a secret. But someone wants that wealth of knowledge.
Directly beneath that - a button made of horn - and here's where things take a turn. Although buttons can be obstacles or things that are hidden, in Annie's case I believe it to be much more than that. She has a lot of buttons. I think buttons meant the end to her. The end of the line. Death. I say this because I see it again later. Buttons in general are often about connections and binding things together - and indeed this would be the case if she were bitten and turned vampire - binding her ancient wisdom and magic with the hive mind of the vampires. The button itself appears to be buffalo. Bone buttons form a very strong connection, not easily broken - something that endures through time. So, if all things are leading toward that direction, that's pretty much it for her and all of her history. She's bound to it the way a button binds two pieces of cloth. From there, her lineage stops.
Right where that button lands, though, to the right, a coin with a man's face is looking down at her. The coin isn't touching the button, possibly meaning, it's not connected to the same fate, and face up generally suggests a positive outcome in some way. I'm taking this coin to represent Smoke and him being there with her at the end.
Interesting about this coin. I'm pretty sure it's a 3 pence, but King George VI wasn't on there til 1937 and Sinners was set in 1932. That's very curious. Although mostly irrelevant for this reading, (other than perhaps subliminal at best), there are still a few parallels between King George VI on the coin & Smoke. Both embody a theme of duty, sacrifice, and leadership under pressure and a symbol of hope and resistance.
The man on this coin has a weight on his back. At first, I thought it was another coin, all corroded, but, that little string...it was visible in both throws. Two thick strings seeming to come from under that corroded round disc. I finally figured it had to be a button. Possibly a military button? Just lying there on the edge of the coin, like a battle-weary soldier. All this time it had been suggested that Smoke needed to be a soldier, and in the end when he killed all of the Klansmen, he got to fulfill that part of his destiny, but not without Annie still watching over him, represented by the nutshell (the empty shell) (or what I am guessing is a nutshell), which is still touching the button connecting her to him. The button, symbolizing the war that came between them and kept them apart. The button, once again symbolizing his death. The nutshell touching the button...she will reunite with him after she leaves her mortal shell... Had it been a dirty, blackened coin, or maybe even a blackened button that wasn't military, I might lean toward predicting that he, too, would be bitten, but no, I'm pretty confident it's a military button. The nutshell...meh?
For cinematic fantasy, I would like to propose that this coin and the military button had been in Smoke's pocket, and when Smoke was at her house, after they made love, she swiped them specifically to use in her castings to represent Smoke. I thought about this for a while and did some digging, just to give my theory some plausibility (plot-wise). As it turns out, soldiers were segregated in WWI, and being from the Mississippi Delta, it's likely Smoke would have been placed in the 92nd or 93rd Infantry division in France. But France doesn't use this currency - it's British. However, he might still possess one - British and American soldiers often worked closely together and exchanged small items such as coins as keepsakes or souvenirs or good luck charms. He could have kept this coin in his pocket as a remembrance. In fact, given his roots, it would probably be likely! The reason this is relevant to the reading is because this would put meaning behind these specific items in Annie's head. All readings are personal like that. A coin doesn't always represent money.
Looking above the coin and button, next to what we believe to be a tooth that represented the wisdom passed down from her elders, there is a prominently placed key. It's laying at an angle, not touching, which represents separation. While buttons can mask and hide things, keys open portals. All that was hidden, all her magic, will be exposed to the hive mind of the vampires. The fact that it has landed on a diagonal indicates that the ancient wisdom and knowledge, once gained by the vampires, will be cut off or separated from the source, suggesting she would have no personal power of her own going forward - the door would be open to the vampires, but separated from her forever.
The three slightly blurred, seemingly insignificant little buttons off to the right, under the rattlesnake tail are less prominent, and they could be irrelevant, however they could also represent the 3 KKK vampires. The red, representing the desire for blood and the life force of the living, the white, possibly just the fact that they're white and race has posed major obstacles for the trio, and the horn button, suggesting that they are much stronger than they appear, for buttons can be masks. No real helpful information there for Annie, other than that they are the ones causing the curse, but she already knows that.
The blurred, scattered items closest to the bottom, also much less prevalent, make me think of the upcoming chaotic battle. They may indicate the fates of various others, but we can't see what the items are clearly enough to be able to determine who lives and who dies. They could be nuts, or cowries and coins. If they're cowries, it looks like possibly two closed and one open. They're usually tossed in sets of four. I'd bet the fourth one was also open, meaning an absolute "YES, no need to throw again" (although she did throw again anyway and it came up the same thing). Maybe "yes" as in, yes this is true, yes this is absolutely what's up.
Other context to keep in mind: Items at the top of a spread usually represent that which is moving away, and those closest to the person casting represent things that are moving toward the person casting.
SUMMARY (the short story of the reading):
The bones don't directly tell Annie that she will be bitten, and Smoke will live, and that if he doesn't kill her before she turns, all her magic will transfer to the hive mind of the vampires, but they're pretty close, and enough for her to get the message. And in case anyone was wondering, yes, the casting appears to be all about her and Smoke, not about the rest of the cast.
They speak of her intense love and bond with Smoke, how she protected him in the past, and how she will be needing him to protect very soon (by keeping her portal from being opened to the vampire hive mind - reversing bad luck). They tell her that there's a big battle coming up, and this is the end for her, her fate is sealed, and her great wealth of magical knowledge passed down from her ancestors is in danger of being transferred to these vampires. It tells her that Smoke will be with her at the end, and that her only hope is to refer back to that rattlesnake tail - in hopes that Smoke can reverse the spell and keep her powers from the vampires, and that after her death, her empty shell will still be there watching over him as he fulfills his soldier's destiny, until he can join her, because their connection was that strong.
And so, that is my take on Annie's bones. Let me know your thoughts!