What is the context?
The passage forbids sacrificing children, divination, omen-reading, sorcery, spells, consulting spirits, and inquiring of the dead. These are named among the practices for which the nations are being driven from the land.
Israel must instead be wholly devoted to the Lord. The next section describes the prophet He will raise up, so the rejection of forbidden guidance is joined to listening to the words He actually gives. It does not authorize every practice simply because someone claims a religious purpose for it.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley reads the list as rejecting methods that claim to disclose hidden matters apart from the Lord’s permitted instruction. The USCCB notes distinguish prediction, harmful magical practices, and consultation of the dead within the list. Neither explanation requires treating an ordinary dream, a surprising event, or a grieving person as proof that an occult act has occurred.
What is our position?
Our Should We Seek Signs From God? study directly uses Deuteronomy 18:9–12 to reject seeking hidden revelation by interpreting omens and ordinary events as personal divine messages. It calls for testing claims against Scripture instead of treating the feeling of significance as proof. We apply that developed conclusion here without claiming that every unusual experience is an act of divination.