~THE MANY METHODS OF~
~DIVINATIONS~
Divination
The art or practice of foretelling the future, discovering hidden knowledge, finding the lost and identifying the guilty by using a wide range of techniques involving the conscious or unconscious use of spirit beings.
Divination has existed throughout history and in all cultures; it is usually the responsibility of a priest, prophet, oracle, witch, shaman, witch doctor, psychic or other person with claimed supernatural powers. Techniques fall into two main categories: the interpretation of signs, omens, portents and lots, and direct communication with the spiritual world through visions, trance, dreams and possession. See astrology, augur, dowsing, i ching, prophesy and tarot.
Omen
A supernatural sign or event presaging a future event. There are two basic kinds of omen: normal occurrences of nature (the hooting of owls, or howling of dogs, for example), which are interpreted in a specific context to augur good or bad fortune; and unusual occurrences, such as flights of sacred birds, or eclipses, or comets, that are believed to be direct manifestations of the gods.
Dreams have provided omens for thousands of years, some are obscure and have to be interpreted, other are precognitive, such as warning of impending disasters.
Augur
A soothsayer, prophet or diviner. Originally the term was applied to the priest or religious official who interpreted omens from the flight, song and feeding of birds (etymologically connected with the Latin avis, 'bird'). To conjecture from signs or omens; to divine or predict, as from omens; to prognosticate; presage.
Also one of a body of ancient Roman officials charged with observing and interpreting omens for guidance in public affairs. Augurs in early Rome adopted many of their practices from the older Etruscan culture, passing their intricate system orally from generation to generation. As time went by, augury became institutionalized in the Roman Republic, and augurs were gathered into a formal college, along with the pontiffs, who administered public ceremonies, and the keepers of the Sibylline books (a collection of ancient oracular prophecies). The augurs' readings were recorded and stored, with the subsequent outcomes, in secret archives.
Prophesy
A divinely-inspired vision or revelation of the future, usually of important events on a grand scale; a prediction or foretelling of what is to come.A prophet is a person who, by divine inspiration, declares to the world the divine will or judgments; a person who foretells the course or nature of future events.
Religious prophets are men or women divinely chosen to preach the divine message, such as Jesus and Mohammed. The ancient Hebrews had many prophets; 18 of the 39 books of the Old Testament are ascribed to prophets. In Islam, Mohammed is the Seal of the Prophets, the last of all prophets for the rest of history.
Ordinary people with psychic gifts have also been called prophets. In the sixteenth century Nostradamus believed his visions were inspired by God; the ancient Greeks and Romans revered oracles, whose pronouncements were treated as unchangeable. Even today we have scores of people who claim to posses prophetic skills and wisdom.
Every age has had its share of visionaries, seers who seem to posses a kind of second sight that enables them to peer through the walls of time. And it is not the past or the present, but the future that holds the greatest allure for would-be soothsayers; and not just any future, but the fascinating matter of human fate — be it the destiny of an individual, of a nation, of the world or of the universe.
Anthropomancy
Derived from the Greek anthropos ('man') and manteia ('divination'), this is a method of divination by the entrails of dead or dying men or women, through sacrifice. This horrible and barbaric practice of divination is very ancient, and was outlawed long time ago. Also, by some accounts, divination by raising the dead.
Heliogabalus the Roman emperor Varius Avitus Bassanius, 205-221 AD, also known as Elagabalus, killed with his mother by the Praetorian guard for deviant and perverse practices, was one of the known practitioners of this type of divination. Julian the Apostate (Flavius Claudius Julianus, 332-363 AD, another Roman emperor, nephew of Constantine the Great), in his pursuit of magical knowledge and operations, also caused a large number of children to be slowly sacrificed in moonlit rituals, so that he might consult and interpret the movements in their entrails.
Bibliomancy
A method of divination to discover if whether or not a person was innocent of sorcery. It consists of weighing the suspect against the great Bible in the local church. If the subject weighed less than the Bible, he or she were considered innocent. This term is also used for divination by books in general.
Botanomancy
A method of divination by means of the burning of leaves and tree branches. Usually vervain (any of a group of herbs or low woody plants with often showy heads or spikes of five-parted regular flowers) and/or brier (a plant with a thorny or prickly woody stem) were used, and the questions for which answers were sought, had to be carved upon the branches prior to their burning.
Capnomancy
A form of divination by interpreting the movement of smoke rising from a fire, especially smoke from sacrificial offerings, which augured well if it rose lightly from the altar, and ascended straight to the clouds; but the opposite if it hung about.
Another method was to cast some jasmine or poppy seeds upon burning coals to observe the smoke behavior and sniff it, and then draw omens from the alleged findings. A third method yet was to breath the smoke from a sacrificial fire...
The same term was used of divination by means of a trance induced by ingesting smoke from a specially prepared drug.
Catoptromancy
Also Enoptromancy. A form of divination technique utilizing a mirror, which was turned to the moon to catch the lunar rays. The sought after answers usually appeared in characters of blood on the face of the moon, or rather, in its reflection on the mirror. This is a very ancient form of crystal gazing.
Another method, used for 'medical' prognostications, involved hanging the mirror by a thread over a fountain or pool of water. After the mirror was slowly lowered until its base barely touched the surface of the water, some incense was burnt and prayers were recited. The presage of death or recovery was arrived according as the to the face that appeared in the mirror. If it was a fresh and healthy image, recovery was imminent; but if instead a ghastly aspect was represented, death was sure to come swiftly.
Causimomancy
Also known as Causinomancy, it is form of divination technique involving objects placed in a fire. If they fail to ignite, or burn slowly, it is a good omen.
Cephalomancy
A form of divination technique using the skull or head (sometimes boiled) of a donkey or goat.
Ceraunoscopy
A form of divination practiced by the ancients consisting of making prognostications by the examination of certain phenomena of the air, such as thunder and lightning.
Chiromancy
A very ancient divinatory technique, formerly called cheiromancy or chiromancy, consisting of not only of divination but also character interpretation by studying the crease lines and bumps on the palms and fingers.
The technique was very popular in the Middle Ages, practitioners believing that the lines in the hand were stamped by occult forces and would reveal character and destiny. The lines, digits and bumps on the hands all have supposedly astrological correspondences, which indicate such factors as longevity, general health, intellect, love, money, and so on. In the fifteenth century the church banned the practice, and after the Enlightenment palmistry became little more than a parlor trick.
Cledonomancy
An informal divination technique in which the practitioner ascribes significance to (apparently) random events and/or chance remarks.
Cleidomancy
Also Clidomancy. Derived from the Greek kleis ('key') and manteia ('divination') this term is applied to a large number of different methods of foretelling the future through the use of a key.
One method involved writing a question on a key and placing the key in or with a Bible, which was then hung in such a way as will permit it to turn — the direction of movement dictating the response. Sometimes both should be hung upon the ring-finger of a virgin, which then had to softly recite some magical words thrice. Another method involved placing the key in a clenched fist and allowing a pregnant woman to touch one of the two proffered fists. If she touched the one in which the key was held, then it was claimed that the child would be a girl.
Cleromancy
A form of divination by means of dice. Sometimes the term was used to denote any method of divination involving the throwing of small objects similar to dice, like pebbles, beans, small sticks or bones; anything, in short, suitable for lots.
Critomancy
A form of divination by the study of barley cakes in hope of drawing omens from them. The paste of cakes which are offered in sacrifice, is closely examined, and the sought for answers are drawn from the flour which is spread upon them.
Cromniomancy
A form of divination by the significance of omens drawn from the color, smell, direction and form of onion sprouts.
Crystalomancy
Also known as Crystal Gazing; it can also be spelled Crystallomancy. A very ancient form of divination by means of transparent bodies such as a crystal globe (either spherical or oval, most used among modern crystal gazers), polished quartz and precious stones (especially a beryl), or indeed any transparent object. In some cases, a pool of water was used, although this method is also known as Hydromancy.It was held that those who had the gift, by gazing fixedly and deeply into a polished crystal ball, could see what would happen in the future or what was actually happening elsewhere. To gaze into the crystal ball is to see into the future, to seek inspiration to answer questions.
Cyclomancy
A form of divination by the significance of omens drawn from the turning or spinning of a wheel or wheels.
Dactyliomancy
Also called Dactylomancy, it is derived from the Greek dakterlios ('finger ring') and manteia ('divination'), and it is applied to a number of methods of divining the future with the aid of rings.Sometimes a ring is used as a pendulum, at other times it is dropped into a bowl of water, its position at the bottom determining the prediction or the response to a formulated question. Another method, for which no detailed account is available, was practiced using gold, silver, copper, iron or lead rings. They were to be placed on the finger-nails in certain planetary conjunctions; it was said that wedding rings were ideal for this purpose.
Daphnomancy
This method of divination required listening to the noise made by laurel branches crackling in an open fire. The louder the crackles, the better the omens. If crackles were absent, the prognostic was bleak.
Demonomancy
A method of divination with the aid of demons. It may be argued that all divinatory techniques are done with the aid of spirits, and that virtually all popular methods of foretelling the future work through the agency of certain demons.
Dendromancy
This forgotten method of divination is associated with the oak and mistletoe. No details of it are currently known.
Eromanty
A form of divination by means of the examination of the water inside a vase, practiced by the Persians. After enveloping his/her head in a napkin and exposing the vase filled with water to the open air, the diviner would mutter over it the objects of their desires. If the surface of the water showed bubbles, this was regarded as a fortunate prognostication.
Gastromancy
Also 'Divination from the Belly'. An ancient form of ventriloquism, with the voice sounding low and hollow, in a sepulchral tone, as if issuing from the ground. Prognostications were given in a trance-like state.
Geomancy
From the Greek ge ('earth') and manteia ('divination'). Divination by the Element of Earth, meaning by the observation of points on the earth or by the patterns made by throwing some earth into the air and allowing it to fall on a flat surface.
Gyromancy
From the Greek guros ('circle'), and manteia ('divination'). Said to be a method of divination in which the diviner walks around a circle of letters until he or she is too dizzy to continue; the letters against which he stumbles or the direction of the fall are supposed to spell out a prophetic message.
Halomancy
Also Halomancy. Derived from the Greek halo ('salt') and manteia ('divination'), this is a method of divination by interpreting random patterns using salt, of which process little is known, but probably follows similar methods to aleuromancy.
It is this ancient divination science that accounts for some of our modern salt related superstitions, including the one about people saying that misfortune is about to fall on the household when the salt cellar is overturned, and the one about throwing a pinch of salt over someone's shoulder for good luck.
Tasseography
Most commonly known as teacup reading, it is divination by using tea leaves, or the interpretation of the shapes and forms that are made by tea leaves that remain in the cup after the tea has been drunk. Another name for it is Tasseomancy.
Hieromancy
Also Hieroscopy. A method of divination which involved the foretelling of future events from an examination of objects of ancient sacrifice, such as burnt offerings and slaughtered animals.Also known as Ydromancy, it is a name given to various different methods of predicting the future by means of water. One technique supposedly involved a basin full of water which, at the command of the diviner, is activated by spirits in order to vibrate to a point where it appears to boil and give off meaningful sounds.
Hydromancy
Methods of disturbing water (by means of suspended rings or by means of pebbles being dropped into the bowl) are also described as legitimate hydromantic techniques, and some diviners are supposed to read from the reflections on the surface or from the color of water, as well as from the movement of water in fountains or the pattern of ripples formed after an object is cast into the pool.
Libranomancy
Divination through examination of smoke from incense. The air in the area must be still while the casting takes place.
Lithomancy
Divination by studying light reflected by precious or colored stones. The gemstones are usually cast on black cloth for the reading.
Lunomancy
Divination by the shadows created by the moonlight on the individual's face. Before the divining, silver dust is to be spread on the caster's hands, and then on the subject's face.
Necromancy
A form of divination by communication with the dead, one of the claimed black arts practiced by witches and magicians. The classic case of necromancy is the witch of Endor, described in the Bible (1 Samuel 28), who summoned the spirit of Samuel in the presence of Saul. This biblical episode was widely accepted as irrefutable evidence for the existence of witchcraft.
Necromancy (from Greek words meaning ‘dead' and 'divination'), a word corrupted by medieval Latin writers into nigromantia, can be divided into two main branches: divination by means of ghosts, and divination from corpses, both of which represent related forms of forbidden knowledge. The second method led to the disinterment of corpses and rifling of graves for the grisly charms which magicians and witches considered necessary for the effective performance of the magical arts.
To evoke the dead the magician needed to obtain the help of powerful spirits, both for his own protection and to compel the corpse or ghost to submit to his will. A spell from ancient Greece calls upon the powers of the mighty Kore, Persephone, Ereshkigal, Adonis, Hermes and Thoth, to bind the dead. According to a ritual described by Seneca, the Roman dramatist, the summoning of the dead involved not only a burnt sacrifice but a blood-drenched altar.
Pedomancy
Divination by examining the footprint of the person to be divined upon. The footprint should be in clay; either special magical clays, or special materials mixed with the clay should be used.
Psephomancy
Also known as Pessomancy, it is a type of sortilege, consisting of divination by the drawing or casting of pebbles or beans marked with special symbols or colors relating to health, success, travel, communications.
Pyromancy
Divining by fire. The presage was good when the flame was vigorous and quickly consumed the sacrifice, but, if in the other hand, if it was slow to consume the victim, the presage was evil.This type of divination was widely practiced by the vestals in the temple of Minerva at Athens. They were in charge of making prognostications by the observation of the perpetually burning fire there.The ancients divined not only by observing sacrificial fires, but also the flames of torches. If the flame formed a single point it was a good omen; bad if it split in two. Curiously, three was a better omen then one. Bending of the flame was taken as sickness for the healthy, and death for the sick. Its sudden extinction was presaged as the coming of a frightful disaster or catastrophe.
Rhapsodomancy
A form of Bibliomancy in which the divination is performed by using a book of poetry
Roadomancy
Divination by stars
Scapulomancy
Also known as Spatulamancy, it is a form of augury or divination by examining the patterns or cracks and fissures on the burned shoulder-blade bones of an animal. It was widely practiced in ancient Babylon.
Scatomancy
A form of divination by the examination of egested food (feces, excrement).
Sciomancy
Also called Sciamancy, it is a form of divination by shadows or by communicating with the ghosts of the dead.
Selenomancy
Divination by observation of the moon.
Sideromancy
A form of Pyromancy which consists of dropping an odd number of dry straws onto a hot iron skillet, and then reading the patterns formed by the straws and their movement on the sizzling surface, or the shape of the flame and the smoke resulting from it.
Spatalamancy
Divination using skin, bone or excrement.
Spodanomancy
A type of divination consisting of writing in ashes.
Spodomancy
Also known as Tephramancy or Tuphramancy, it is a method of divination by means of the cinders, ashes or soot from sacrificial fires. The specific type of spodomancy that used patterns formed in the ashes of burn offerings made to the gods was often called Tephromancy.
Stareomancy
Divination using the elements.
Sternomancy
Divination by the marks from the breast to the belly, or also by speaking through the chest (believed to be an early form of Ventriloquism).
Stichomancy
A method of divination using books. This is also called Bibliomancy, and consists of throwing open a book and selecting a random passage for the purpose of divination.
Stoicheomancy
A type of Bibliomancy, but using solely the books of Homer and/or Virgil.
Sycomancy
A method of divination by figs or fig tree leaves. The diviner's question or proposition is written in a fig leaf; the slower it dries, the more favorable the omen.
Tarot
Known traditionally as 'The Book of Thoth'. A deck of playing cards used for fortunetelling. The tarot was brought from the East to Italy in the fourteenth century by gypsies or returning Crusaders. The origin of the cards is obscure, and theories that the tarot is based on the Hebrew alphabet or on Egyptian or Hindu mythology have not been conclusively proved.
The tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which are divided into two groups. The Minor, or Lesser, Arcana, the precursor of the modern deck, is made up of 56 cards divided into four suits. The wands suit corresponds with the modern clubs suit; cups with hearts; swords with spades; and pentacles with diamonds. Each suit has 14 cards, with numbered cards from ace to ten and four unnumbered face cards: king, queen, knight, and knave. (The four knight cards have been eliminated in the modern deck.) The Major, or Greater, Arcana consists of 22 cards, each bearing a title and a picture, such as the Hanged Man, the Wheel of Fortune, Judgment, and the Moon, rich in occult and astrological symbolism. Twenty-one of the cards are numbered. The twenty-second card, the Fool, numbered 0, is analogous to the modern joker. In fortunetelling, either the full pack or the Major Arcana alone is used. The relationship of one card to another, as laid out in a number of different configurations, is as important as the significance of each individual card. The Italian card game tarrocchi ('trumps'), from which the word 'tarot' is probably derived, is still played in southern and central Europe.
Theomancy
Most commonly known as divination by divinely inspired oracles, such as at Delphi in ancient Greece. Divination by the evocation of sacred names, by the revelation of the words of God or drawn from the responses of oracles among heathen nations were also known as Theomancy
Urimancy
Divination by observation of urine, either by its color, by its taste, by its flow patterns, or by the patterns formed when it hits the ground or in a swirling bowl.
Xenomancy
Divination by studying the first stranger that can be found.
Xylomancy
Divination by means of wood, practiced particularly in Slavonia. It is the art of reading omens from the position of small pieces of dry wood found in one's path. No less certain presages of future events may be drawn from the arrangement of logs in the fire-place, from the manner in which they burn, etc. It is perhaps the survival of this mode of divination which makes the good people say, when a brand is disturbed, that "they are going to have a visitor."
Zygomancy
Divination by using weights.
Zoomancy
Divination by the appearance and/or behavior of any type of animal. Another type of Zoomancy, often called Theriomancy, consists of divination by the movement of beasts.
Omen
A supernatural sign or event presaging a future event. There are two basic kinds of omen: normal occurrences of nature (the hooting of owls, or howling of dogs, for example), which are interpreted in a specific context to augur good or bad fortune; and unusual occurrences, such as flights of sacred birds, or eclipses, or comets, that are believed to be direct manifestations of the gods.
Augur
A soothsayer, prophet or diviner. Originally the term was applied to the priest or religious official who interpreted omens from the flight, song and feeding of birds (etymologically connected with the Latin avis, 'bird'). To conjecture from signs or omens; to divine or predict, as from omens; to prognosticate; presage.
Prophesy
A divinely-inspired vision or revelation of the future, usually of important events on a grand scale; a prediction or foretelling of what is to come.A prophet is a person who, by divine inspiration, declares to the world the divine will or judgments; a person who foretells the course or nature of future events.
Anthropomancy
Derived from the Greek anthropos ('man') and manteia ('divination'), this is a method of divination by the entrails of dead or dying men or women, through sacrifice. This horrible and barbaric practice of divination is very ancient, and was outlawed long time ago. Also, by some accounts, divination by raising the dead.
Bibliomancy
A method of divination to discover if whether or not a person was innocent of sorcery. It consists of weighing the suspect against the great Bible in the local church. If the subject weighed less than the Bible, he or she were considered innocent. This term is also used for divination by books in general.
A method of divination by means of the burning of leaves and tree branches. Usually vervain (any of a group of herbs or low woody plants with often showy heads or spikes of five-parted regular flowers) and/or brier (a plant with a thorny or prickly woody stem) were used, and the questions for which answers were sought, had to be carved upon the branches prior to their burning.
Capnomancy
A form of divination by interpreting the movement of smoke rising from a fire, especially smoke from sacrificial offerings, which augured well if it rose lightly from the altar, and ascended straight to the clouds; but the opposite if it hung about.
Catoptromancy
Also Enoptromancy. A form of divination technique utilizing a mirror, which was turned to the moon to catch the lunar rays. The sought after answers usually appeared in characters of blood on the face of the moon, or rather, in its reflection on the mirror. This is a very ancient form of crystal gazing.
Causimomancy
Also known as Causinomancy, it is form of divination technique involving objects placed in a fire. If they fail to ignite, or burn slowly, it is a good omen.
Cephalomancy
A form of divination technique using the skull or head (sometimes boiled) of a donkey or goat.
Ceraunoscopy
A form of divination practiced by the ancients consisting of making prognostications by the examination of certain phenomena of the air, such as thunder and lightning.
Chiromancy
A very ancient divinatory technique, formerly called cheiromancy or chiromancy, consisting of not only of divination but also character interpretation by studying the crease lines and bumps on the palms and fingers.
Cledonomancy
An informal divination technique in which the practitioner ascribes significance to (apparently) random events and/or chance remarks.
Cleidomancy
Also Clidomancy. Derived from the Greek kleis ('key') and manteia ('divination') this term is applied to a large number of different methods of foretelling the future through the use of a key. One method involved writing a question on a key and placing the key in or with a Bible, which was then hung in such a way as will permit it to turn — the direction of movement dictating the response. Sometimes both should be hung upon the ring-finger of a virgin, which then had to softly recite some magical words thrice. Another method involved placing the key in a clenched fist and allowing a pregnant woman to touch one of the two proffered fists. If she touched the one in which the key was held, then it was claimed that the child would be a girl.
Cleromancy
A form of divination by means of dice. Sometimes the term was used to denote any method of divination involving the throwing of small objects similar to dice, like pebbles, beans, small sticks or bones; anything, in short, suitable for lots.
Critomancy
A form of divination by the study of barley cakes in hope of drawing omens from them. The paste of cakes which are offered in sacrifice, is closely examined, and the sought for answers are drawn from the flour which is spread upon them.
Cromniomancy
A form of divination by the significance of omens drawn from the color, smell, direction and form of onion sprouts.
Crystalomancy
Also known as Crystal Gazing; it can also be spelled Crystallomancy. A very ancient form of divination by means of transparent bodies such as a crystal globe (either spherical or oval, most used among modern crystal gazers), polished quartz and precious stones (especially a beryl), or indeed any transparent object. In some cases, a pool of water was used, although this method is also known as Hydromancy.It was held that those who had the gift, by gazing fixedly and deeply into a polished crystal ball, could see what would happen in the future or what was actually happening elsewhere. To gaze into the crystal ball is to see into the future, to seek inspiration to answer questions.
Cyclomancy
A form of divination by the significance of omens drawn from the turning or spinning of a wheel or wheels.
Dactyliomancy
Also called Dactylomancy, it is derived from the Greek dakterlios ('finger ring') and manteia ('divination'), and it is applied to a number of methods of divining the future with the aid of rings.Sometimes a ring is used as a pendulum, at other times it is dropped into a bowl of water, its position at the bottom determining the prediction or the response to a formulated question. Another method, for which no detailed account is available, was practiced using gold, silver, copper, iron or lead rings. They were to be placed on the finger-nails in certain planetary conjunctions; it was said that wedding rings were ideal for this purpose.
Daphnomancy
This method of divination required listening to the noise made by laurel branches crackling in an open fire. The louder the crackles, the better the omens. If crackles were absent, the prognostic was bleak.
Demonomancy
A method of divination with the aid of demons. It may be argued that all divinatory techniques are done with the aid of spirits, and that virtually all popular methods of foretelling the future work through the agency of certain demons.
Dendromancy
This forgotten method of divination is associated with the oak and mistletoe. No details of it are currently known.
Eromanty
A form of divination by means of the examination of the water inside a vase, practiced by the Persians. After enveloping his/her head in a napkin and exposing the vase filled with water to the open air, the diviner would mutter over it the objects of their desires. If the surface of the water showed bubbles, this was regarded as a fortunate prognostication.
Gastromancy
Also 'Divination from the Belly'. An ancient form of ventriloquism, with the voice sounding low and hollow, in a sepulchral tone, as if issuing from the ground. Prognostications were given in a trance-like state.
Geomancy
From the Greek ge ('earth') and manteia ('divination'). Divination by the Element of Earth, meaning by the observation of points on the earth or by the patterns made by throwing some earth into the air and allowing it to fall on a flat surface.
Gyromancy
From the Greek guros ('circle'), and manteia ('divination'). Said to be a method of divination in which the diviner walks around a circle of letters until he or she is too dizzy to continue; the letters against which he stumbles or the direction of the fall are supposed to spell out a prophetic message.
Halomancy
Also Halomancy. Derived from the Greek halo ('salt') and manteia ('divination'), this is a method of divination by interpreting random patterns using salt, of which process little is known, but probably follows similar methods to aleuromancy.
Tasseography
Most commonly known as teacup reading, it is divination by using tea leaves, or the interpretation of the shapes and forms that are made by tea leaves that remain in the cup after the tea has been drunk. Another name for it is Tasseomancy.
Hieromancy
Also Hieroscopy. A method of divination which involved the foretelling of future events from an examination of objects of ancient sacrifice, such as burnt offerings and slaughtered animals.Also known as Ydromancy, it is a name given to various different methods of predicting the future by means of water. One technique supposedly involved a basin full of water which, at the command of the diviner, is activated by spirits in order to vibrate to a point where it appears to boil and give off meaningful sounds.
Hydromancy
Methods of disturbing water (by means of suspended rings or by means of pebbles being dropped into the bowl) are also described as legitimate hydromantic techniques, and some diviners are supposed to read from the reflections on the surface or from the color of water, as well as from the movement of water in fountains or the pattern of ripples formed after an object is cast into the pool.
Libranomancy
Divination through examination of smoke from incense. The air in the area must be still while the casting takes place.
Lithomancy
Divination by studying light reflected by precious or colored stones. The gemstones are usually cast on black cloth for the reading.
Lunomancy
Divination by the shadows created by the moonlight on the individual's face. Before the divining, silver dust is to be spread on the caster's hands, and then on the subject's face.
Necromancy
A form of divination by communication with the dead, one of the claimed black arts practiced by witches and magicians. The classic case of necromancy is the witch of Endor, described in the Bible (1 Samuel 28), who summoned the spirit of Samuel in the presence of Saul. This biblical episode was widely accepted as irrefutable evidence for the existence of witchcraft.
Pedomancy
Divination by examining the footprint of the person to be divined upon. The footprint should be in clay; either special magical clays, or special materials mixed with the clay should be used.
Psephomancy
Also known as Pessomancy, it is a type of sortilege, consisting of divination by the drawing or casting of pebbles or beans marked with special symbols or colors relating to health, success, travel, communications.
Pyromancy
Divining by fire. The presage was good when the flame was vigorous and quickly consumed the sacrifice, but, if in the other hand, if it was slow to consume the victim, the presage was evil.This type of divination was widely practiced by the vestals in the temple of Minerva at Athens. They were in charge of making prognostications by the observation of the perpetually burning fire there.The ancients divined not only by observing sacrificial fires, but also the flames of torches. If the flame formed a single point it was a good omen; bad if it split in two. Curiously, three was a better omen then one. Bending of the flame was taken as sickness for the healthy, and death for the sick. Its sudden extinction was presaged as the coming of a frightful disaster or catastrophe.
Rhapsodomancy
A form of Bibliomancy in which the divination is performed by using a book of poetry
Roadomancy
Divination by stars
Scapulomancy
Also known as Spatulamancy, it is a form of augury or divination by examining the patterns or cracks and fissures on the burned shoulder-blade bones of an animal. It was widely practiced in ancient Babylon.
Scatomancy
A form of divination by the examination of egested food (feces, excrement).
Sciomancy
Also called Sciamancy, it is a form of divination by shadows or by communicating with the ghosts of the dead.
Selenomancy
Divination by observation of the moon.
Sideromancy
A form of Pyromancy which consists of dropping an odd number of dry straws onto a hot iron skillet, and then reading the patterns formed by the straws and their movement on the sizzling surface, or the shape of the flame and the smoke resulting from it.
Spatalamancy
Divination using skin, bone or excrement.
Spodanomancy
A type of divination consisting of writing in ashes.
Spodomancy
Also known as Tephramancy or Tuphramancy, it is a method of divination by means of the cinders, ashes or soot from sacrificial fires. The specific type of spodomancy that used patterns formed in the ashes of burn offerings made to the gods was often called Tephromancy.
Stareomancy
Divination using the elements.
Sternomancy
Divination by the marks from the breast to the belly, or also by speaking through the chest (believed to be an early form of Ventriloquism).
Stichomancy
A method of divination using books. This is also called Bibliomancy, and consists of throwing open a book and selecting a random passage for the purpose of divination.
Stoicheomancy
A type of Bibliomancy, but using solely the books of Homer and/or Virgil.
Sycomancy
A method of divination by figs or fig tree leaves. The diviner's question or proposition is written in a fig leaf; the slower it dries, the more favorable the omen.
Tarot
Known traditionally as 'The Book of Thoth'. A deck of playing cards used for fortunetelling. The tarot was brought from the East to Italy in the fourteenth century by gypsies or returning Crusaders. The origin of the cards is obscure, and theories that the tarot is based on the Hebrew alphabet or on Egyptian or Hindu mythology have not been conclusively proved. The tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which are divided into two groups. The Minor, or Lesser, Arcana, the precursor of the modern deck, is made up of 56 cards divided into four suits. The wands suit corresponds with the modern clubs suit; cups with hearts; swords with spades; and pentacles with diamonds. Each suit has 14 cards, with numbered cards from ace to ten and four unnumbered face cards: king, queen, knight, and knave. (The four knight cards have been eliminated in the modern deck.) The Major, or Greater, Arcana consists of 22 cards, each bearing a title and a picture, such as the Hanged Man, the Wheel of Fortune, Judgment, and the Moon, rich in occult and astrological symbolism. Twenty-one of the cards are numbered. The twenty-second card, the Fool, numbered 0, is analogous to the modern joker. In fortunetelling, either the full pack or the Major Arcana alone is used. The relationship of one card to another, as laid out in a number of different configurations, is as important as the significance of each individual card. The Italian card game tarrocchi ('trumps'), from which the word 'tarot' is probably derived, is still played in southern and central Europe.
Theomancy
Most commonly known as divination by divinely inspired oracles, such as at Delphi in ancient Greece. Divination by the evocation of sacred names, by the revelation of the words of God or drawn from the responses of oracles among heathen nations were also known as Theomancy
Urimancy
Divination by observation of urine, either by its color, by its taste, by its flow patterns, or by the patterns formed when it hits the ground or in a swirling bowl.
Xenomancy
Divination by studying the first stranger that can be found.
Xylomancy
Divination by means of wood, practiced particularly in Slavonia. It is the art of reading omens from the position of small pieces of dry wood found in one's path. No less certain presages of future events may be drawn from the arrangement of logs in the fire-place, from the manner in which they burn, etc. It is perhaps the survival of this mode of divination which makes the good people say, when a brand is disturbed, that "they are going to have a visitor."
Zygomancy
Divination by using weights.
Zoomancy
Divination by the appearance and/or behavior of any type of animal. Another type of Zoomancy, often called Theriomancy, consists of divination by the movement of beasts.
THIS IS A DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE MANY METHODS OF DIVINATION.
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