DECODING ANNIE'S BONE CASTING IN SINNERS
Sinners (2025, directed by Ryan Coogler, streaming on HBO Max), a pivotal bone-casting scene at 45:56 features Annie, a conjurer, throwing bones on a gambling table. Based on the film's meticulous attention to detail, this spread (likely crafted by Coogler and/or Prop Master Douglas Ware, though unconfirmed), appears deliberate. As a bone-caster, I’ve attempted to analyze this scene from Annie’s perspective, offering my interpretation as a teaching tool for learners and a treat for Sinners fans. This spread showcases bone casting’s depth and versatility, making it a perfect example for learners.
Summary at the end of the reading.
Bone casting is highly personal, varying by reader and cultural context (e.g., Appalachian granny witches vs. Zulu sangoma healers). Annie’s spread, rooted in her African-American conjure heritage, forms a narrative of love, protection, transformation, and loss.
The spread’s designers chose items familiar to most bone readers, ensuring the casting is clear and relatable to a wide audience, which would align with any film-maker's storytelling goals.
Note: No official item list exists for this spread, so my interpretations are based on common bone-casting items and visual cues. Cultural nuances specific to the Mississippi Delta or African traditions may not be fully captured here. For more on bone-casting techniques, explore my Bone-Casting Guides listed in the menu section.
THE SPREAD
Diving right in. Annie holds the bones to her chest and asks her question (in silence, unfortunately). Although many have assumed that she wants to know if Smoke will survive, I believe she would have been asking her ancestors for guidance and wisdom. But, we can't read her mind.
Annie casts twice, with the second throw replicating the first, confirming its significance. The numbers on the table we'll ignore as being simply the handy surface she used to cast on.
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, representing Annie's profound bond and spiritual connection with Smoke. The horizontal placement, which is the feminine, indicates the reading centers on Annie and the importance of her fate.
To the left, we see a small alligator head. This represents powerful protection against danger (like the Mojo bag she gave Smoke), It also represents ancient wisdom, 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 are also about strategic timing and knowing when to strike - and this one is pointing straight at the baculum.
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.
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. The T-shape crossroads ties her past (alligator head) and future (rattlesnake tail) to her present love (baculum). 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 (The horizontal and the vertical) 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 again, we can't read her mind).
Going vertically downward, A solitary chicken vertebra indicates a minor fear or concern. Positioned centrally, it suggests that it's more of a focal point. “Be ye not afraid, ” perhaps?
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 representing the coveted value of Annie’s ancestral wisdom. Its mysterious, unmarked surface hints at a secret or hidden wealth someone desires.
Directly beneath that - a button made of horn - and here's where things take a turn. A potent symbol of connection or an endpoint. In Annie’s case, it likely signifies death—binding her wisdom to the vampire hive mind if bitten, the way a button binds two pieces of cloth, ending her lineage. The durable buffalo horn suggests an enduring, unbreakable bond.
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 British 3-pence coin featuring King George VI (anachronistic, as Sinners is set in 1932, pre-1937). That's very curious. However...remember how Sammie's music was so profound that it conjured spirits from the past and the future? Suppose their love and ancestral magic is so profound that it does the same thing! The coin does echo Smoke’s sense of duty, sacrifice, and reluctant leadership, paralleling King George VI. Or, it may be an off-script nod to Wunmi Mosaku, the British actress playing Annie.
The man on this coin has a weight on his back. Initially I mistook this for a corroded coin, but those strings caught my attention. This button, leaning on the man on the coin like a battle-weary soldier, likely military, carries strings suggesting burden. It represents Smoke’s warrior destiny, fulfilled through his wrath against the Klansmen. (Each of the characters represented one of the seven deadly sins - his was Wrath). 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? I'm assuming it represents her mortal shell, still bonded to her soulmate even after death.
For cinematic fantasy, I would like to imagine that this coin and the military button could have been Smoke’s keepsakes, possibly a British 3-pence, a keepsake or remembrance from a WWI ally perhaps. It's plausible for a Mississippi Delta soldier in the segregated 92nd or 93rd Infantry Divisions to have been stationed in France and to have exchanged small tokens or keepsakes with one of the "Tommies". Annie might have swiped these from his pocket after an intimate moment, infusing them with personal meaning for the collective.
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. The key’s diagonal placement indicates 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, severing her power from its source. She would have no personal power of her own going forward - the door would be open to the vampires, but separated from her forever.
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Three Small Buttons (Under a Rattlesnake Tail): Less prominent, seemingly insignificant, these could possibly represent three KKK vampires:
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Red Button: Desire for blood or life force.
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White Button: Racial obstacles.
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Horn Button: Hidden strength, as buttons can mask power.
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Although these confirm the vampires’ role in the curse, they offer little new insight for Annie.
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The blurry items below...Likely nuts, cowries, or coins, these could possibly suggest an impending chaotic battle. If cowries (possibly two closed, one open, with a fourth likely open), they indicate a definitive “yes,” affirming the reading’s truth. 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.
Contextual note:
Top vs bottom placement: 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 reveal the soulmate bond between Annie and Smoke, reflecting on her past protection of him and her imminent need for his intervention to prevent her magic from merging with the vampire hive mind. They signal an approaching battle, marking the end of her journey, with her ancestral wisdom at risk of being claimed by the vampires. The spread assures Annie that Smoke will stand by her at the end, guided by the rattlesnake tail’s promise of transformation—his chance to break the curse and preserve her power. Even after her death, her presence will watch over Smoke as he fulfills his warrior destiny, their profound connection enduring until they reunite.
And with that, I want to add what is, in my opinion, the most important and brilliant part of this entire scene.
As touched upon in this reading, the Hoodoo-Conjure divining traditions practiced by Annie and others of her time were cultivated and passed down by word of mouth, sometimes under great persecution serving as a vital lifeline for people of African descent. This spread warns her that her magic, her whole ancestral legacy, was in peril of being assimilated into the hive mind of the vampires and lost to her forever.
This message echoes the historical perils her community faced; the death of her people's connection to their own magic. It was as though Coogler was himself whispering to the descendants of our time, Remember! You knew this once. Your ancestors are still trying to speak to you.
All this, laid out there on the table, in this cryptic, seemingly primitive and superstitious tossing of buttons and bones and coins, that no one in the audience could even read, urging discretion in sharing such sacred knowledge, for beyond the bones lies a profound narrative of cultural endurance and spiritual power.
And so, that is my take on Annie's bones. Let me know your thoughts!
Comments:
Linda
OMG!!!! thank you thank you thank you! your reading is powerful and brought me to tears! i wanted to know more about the spread-if it was ‘real’ or just thrown together for the movie-but i believe you are spot on! im still learning how to to read-but i see this reading more clearly! it would have taken me about 3 days to put this together . thank you for your insight! me personally am trying to regain what i thought was lost!
Natalie
Nice job! You put a lot of effort into this and it's very clear and well written. Because I don't really read bones some of it was lost on me, but I really appreciated the summary at the end and I liked your conclusion about it being so brief and hidden because the director was trying to talk to a specific audience, not the whole audience. Very cool.
kiatamagic81
I love this reading! It makes so much sense now! I'm new to this and I was having trouble when I do readings, pulling it all together to make a message like you did, but I see how you did it, that helps. I'm still not sure on like how you know which things don't matter, or which things are part of a group of something sometimes but it's starting to make more sense anyway.
GrayOwl
Now that would be some good divination if you found out you were right about that coin!