One of the old, odd and curious devices children had in the 1970's (not just then, but that's when I had one) is the kaleidoscope. I have no idea where mine ended up. It was a cardboard tube with plastic beads inside the end. As you turned the tube the beads rolled around and created different patterns when you looked through the lens at the top. I think it would be related to those keyhole/ pinhole cameras. Do I have that name right? I read about them years ago.

I've seen some variations in kaleidoscope styles. Some have little gems inside, instead of beads, or something else entirely. The one I would have like to buy (and try) was a natural DIY kaleidoscope which you could put anything flat enough to fit in and view it. The ad showed flowers, bits of leaves and other things found outside. Not rocks mostly likely, they would scratch it and be too large to fit. I found several of this kind on Amazon and elsewhere but none were shipped from Canada, or at least from Amazon itself. Also, I thought they should have a nicer wood and finish. They look a bit too cheap, as they are.

Amazon kaleidoscope link.

Vintage kaleidoscopes had interchangeable gears/wheels/discs to switch out. Others I found had a glass marble at the end of the tube, some were able to change those too. Yet more are artsy and individual looking, and even more expensive. What really matters is what you see when you look through.

I want lots of colours and different shapes. A few only had black and white, which was interesting but not as pretty. More colours and, of course, more shapes, will give the kaleidoscope more patterns. If you have one, try to turn the scope just a tiny bit and what the colours and shapes twitch just the least little bit. I would try to keep an eye on one particular bead and follow it.

Life is like a kaleidoscope, a slight change and all patterns alter.

The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society

Kaleidoscope from Wikipedia:

A kaleidoscope (/kəˈlaɪdəskoʊp/) is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed from the other end, due to repeated reflection. These reflectors are often enclosed in a tube, usually containing on one end a cell with loose, colored pieces of glass or other transparent (and/or opaque) materials to be reflected into the viewed pattern. Rotation of the cell causes motion of the materials, resulting in an ever-changing view being presented.

History

Multiple reflection by two or more reflecting surfaces has been known since antiquity and was described as such by Giambattista della Porta in his Magia Naturalis (1558–1589). In 1646, Athanasius Kircher described an experiment with a construction of two mirrors, which could be opened and closed like a book and positioned in various angles, showing regular polygon figures consisting of reflected aliquot sectors of 360°. Richard Bradley's New Improvements in Planting and Gardening (1717) described a similar construction to be placed on geometrical drawings to show an image with multiplied reflection. However, an optimal configuration that produces the full effects of the kaleidoscope was not recorded before 1815.

In 1814, Sir David Brewster conducted experiments on light polarization by successive reflections between plates of glass and first noted "the circular arrangement of the images of a candle round a center, and the multiplication of the sectors formed by the extremities of the plates of glass". He forgot about it, but noticed a more impressive version of the effect during further experiments in February 1815. A while later, he was impressed by the multiplied reflection of a bit of cement that was pressed through at the end of a triangular glass trough, which appeared more regular and almost perfectly symmetrical in comparison to the reflected objects that had been situated further away from the reflecting plates in earlier experiments. This triggered more experiments to find the conditions for the most beautiful and symmetrically perfect conditions. An early version had pieces of colored glass and other irregular objects fixed permanently and was admired by some Members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, including Sir George Mackenzie who predicted its popularity. A version followed in which some of the objects and pieces of glass could move when the tube was rotated. The last step, regarded as most important by Brewster, was to place the reflecting panes in a draw tube with a concave lens to distinctly introduce surrounding objects into the reflected pattern.

Brewster thought his instrument to be of great value in "all the ornamental arts" as a device that creates an "infinity of patterns". Artists could accurately delineate the produced figures of the kaleidoscope by means of the solar microscope (a type of camera obscura device), magic lantern or camera lucida. Brewster believed it would at the same time become a popular instrument "for the purposes of rational amusement". He decided to apply for a patent. British patent no. 4136 "for a new Optical Instrument called "The Kaleidoscope" for exhibiting and creating beautiful Forms and Patterns of great use in all the ornamental Arts" was granted in July 1817. Unfortunately, the manufacturer originally engaged to produce the product had shown one of the patent instruments to London opticians to see if he could get orders from them. Soon the instrument was copied and marketed before the manufacturer had prepared any number of kaleidoscopes for sale. An estimated two hundred thousand kaleidoscopes sold in London and Paris in just three months. Brewster figured at most a thousand of these were authorized copies that were constructed correctly, while the majority of the others did not give a correct impression of his invention. Because so relatively few people had experienced a proper kaleidoscope or knew how to apply it to ornamental arts, he decided to publicize a treatise on the principles and the correct construction of the kaleidoscope.

More than you wanted to know, but its still interesting to read. The Wikipedia link has more.

Instructables has a fancy kaleidoscope to make. Not one of the simpler cardboard types.

I wonder if there is some kind of digital kaleidoscope? A software program. I didn't look for one, but I'd be surprised not to find something like that.

Part of getting old seems to be seeing the things you love become extinct. Tea cups and saucers, clocks, books, hand sewing and embroidery, hand written letters, postcards, birthday cards, silver sets, so many things disappearing or becoming unwanted by the younger generations as they come along with new technology.

But, I notice the old things I love still last longer than the new things coming along. Maybe not in purpose but in strength and durability. New technology is made to break and be replaced. Can it be loved like the old things when it isn't made to last? I don't think there is enough time before a new one is needed and the old hits the landfill.

Geomancy interests me because I especially like rocks, stones, and even pebbles (rocks you can hold in your hand or put in your pocket). Stone is like a hard, cold fact with a very long history, by our human standards. You can find rocks, or stones, in a lot of good places: the beach, the forest, the side of the road. You know, you've seen them. I don't pick up rocks/stones which belong somewhere, like someone's yard. Is it silly to feel they have a home there and shouldn't be taken? Maybe, but that's how I feel.

I haven't tried geomancy in an official way, not to read the future. I just enjoy stones. I keep them around, in my bedroom (give them a little clean up if you bring them indoors), outside in the yard and the garden we have a lot of rocks. They make great pets, if you feel the need for dependable companionship with few needs, like grooming or feeding. You can make a little house for them, if you like. I like just having a few good rocks around.

At most, I use a stone to point me in a new direction. Just warm it up in your hand for a bit and see where it falls as you turn around (slowly, give the stone a little time and don't make yourself dizzy).

You could find other ways to use stones as a do-it-yourself divination. I think you need to have some connection to the stones, at least liking them for their history, their shape, colour, usefulness, connection to the Earth... something. Otherwise you may as well be completely random. I think divination works due to at least some belief in fate. Some idea that outside things can influence you, the world in general.

Geomancy is divination using stones. I find most divination has a lot of rules but essentially the whole thing is about how you feel looking at the cards, entrails (not for me) rocks, etc. At least that's what it used to be. People do have a way of taking something simple and making it a huge complicated knot they can make some money out of.

A system of divination that employs the scattering of pebbles, grains of sand, or seeds on the earth and then the interpretation of their shape and position.

I especially like this description, from The Mystica site. The site has been taken over and just posts click bait now. No sign of the original post I read this from.

Geomancers are spiritual ecologists. (Found on a group no longer online).

It's not feng shui, and it doesn't have anything to do with ley lines or dowsing. It's been called earth astrology, a Western equivalent of the I Ching, and the forgotten oracle of the Western world. It was one of the most popular systems of divination in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and stands at the center of traditions of magic, philosophy, and initiation deeply relevant to today. What is it? Geomancy.

Geomancy is a traditional art of divination that uses the sixteen geomantic figures – patterns of single and double dots – to explore the mysteries of past, present and future. As a branch of the Hermetic tradition, an ancient Western system of spiritual transformation and magical philosophy and practice, it relies on the fundamental Hermetic law, the unity of the macrocosm (the universe around us) and the microcosm (the universe within us) to open up hidden potentials for knowledge, wisdom, and power and, in the words of the legendary Hermes Trismegistus, “perform the miracles of the One Thing.”

Quote Source - Collegium Geomanticum

• The Geomancy Group - An association of practicing geomancers and other like-minded folk over the UK.
• Land and Spirit - History of Geomancy – A Long Time Ago

Geomancy, a compound of Greek roots denoting "earth divination", was originally used to mean methods of divination that interpret geographic features, markings on the ground, or the patterns formed by soil, rocks, or sand. Its definition has expanded over time (along with the recognized definition of the suffix -mancy), to include any spiritual, metaphysical, or pseudoscientific practice that is related to the Earth. In recent times the term has been applied to a wide range of other occult and fringe activities, including Earth mysteries and the introduction of ley lines and Bau-Biologie [de].

Geomancy was a common, and cross cultural, forms of divination in premodern times. In regards to Africa and Europe, it was considered a forbidden practice by various Christians and Muslims across the medieval era. In other regions and cultures, geomancy practices include Sikidy and Ifá (found in Africa), I Ching and Feng shui (found in China), Kumalak (found in parts of Central Asia), Vastu shastra (in India), Kahuna kuhikuhipu'uone (in Ancient Hawai'i).

Quoted from Wikipedia.

All of that should give you a starting point, if you want to learn more about the 'rules' for geomancy as a method of divination. Or, you can just enjoy having more rocks around.