Divination arts

Aeromancy

Aeromancy is the divination art that studies cloud formation, atmospheric phenomena and wind currents. Closely related to Austromancy.

Alectromancy

The divination art which places a cock or hen in a circle of grain and letters of the alphabet. Letters near to where the bird pecks are assembled to form answers to specific questions. If only a yes/no answer is required then only two piles of grain can be used.

Aleuromancy

Aleuromancy is a divination art which uses flour. Sentences are written on slips of paper which are then rolled into balls of flour. The collection of flour balls is mixed nine times and then handed out to the aleuromancy participants to learn their fate.

Alomancy

Alomancy is a method of divination which studies patterns in trails and spills of salt.

Alphitomancy

A divination art used to determine whether someone is guilty or not. A barley loaf is specially prepared and fed to the subject. If the subject suffers indigestion then this is a sign of guilt.

Anthropomancy

Anthropomancy is the divination art where the entrails of the dead (or dying) is studied. Anthropomancy is also said to be used by necromancers raising the dead.

Arithmomancy

Divination by numbers. Practitioners use techniques closely related to numerology. The term comes from the Greek ‘arithmos’ (number) and ‘manteia’ (divination).

Astragalomancy

Astrogalomancy uses die or throwing bones for divination. Related to Cleromancy.

Austromancy

The divination art which studies the wind and cloud shapes. It is related to Aeromancy.

Axinomancy

Axinomancy is a divination art which uses a heated axehead in the embers of a fire. Axinomancers are able to use the axe in other ways in order to make predictions or answer questions.

Belomancy

The divination art which uses feathered arrows. Arrows are shot with messages attached to them and the arrow which travels the farthest is said to have carried the most significant message.

Cartomancy

Cartomancy is a divination art that uses cards or playing cards. Tarot is, in fact, a form of cartomancy.

Ceroscopy

Melted wax poured into cold water and allowed to congeal. The divination is determined from the shape of the hardened wax.

Chiromancy

Chiromancy is an alternative name for Palmistry.

Cleidomancy

A set of divination arts which make use of a key. One method of cleidomancy involves placing a key in an important book, hanging the book so that it may turn and twist and then studying the movement of the book.

Cleromancy

Cleromancy is the divination art is throwing small items – often dice. Related closely to Astragalomancy.

Crystalomancy

Related to Scrying.

Dactyliomancy

A divination art which uses rings to answer questions or make predictions. Rings may be used as a pendulum or dropped into a bowl of water.

Extispicy

The divition art that which studies entrails. This art was probbaly used heavily in and before the Roman period. Roman extispices were augurs.

Frith

A Scottish divination art in which a seer would fast before the first Monday of the quarter and then stand blind-folded on the doorstep at sunrise. After an invocation the seer would remove the blindfold and make a prediction based on the first thing he or she saw.

Galgal

A divination art which uses methods from the Kabbalah and the Hebrew alphabet.

Gryomancy

Gryomancy is a divination art in which the diviner walks or spins in a circle of letters until they are unale to continue. The letters which the gryromancer stumbles towards are collected and used to spell out answers.

Hydromancy

A collection of divination arts which use water to answer questions or make predictions. Boiling water is sometimes watched for patterns or sounds. Dish water can be studied for swirls and patterns. Sometimes pebbles or rings are dropped into a bowl and the ripples studied.

Necromancy

Necromancy is the black art of raising spirits and the reanimation of bodies. One aspsect of necromancy is divination; either through studying bones or entrails, listening to the whisper of spirits or raising the dead and communicating directly with them.

Oneiromancy

The divination art of dream interpretation. Oneiromancy sometimes uses ‘incubatory sleep’ where after a purification ritual the questioner would sleep in a special room or cave. Narcotic substances were also sometimes used. The diviner or mystic would then help the questioner understand the dream.

Ouija

A board and pointer used in divination with the spirit world. The name comes from the French ‘oui’ (yes) and German ‘ja’ (Yes).

Similiar board instruments have been used in ancient Greece and China. The Planchette, a similar device, reached Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Palmistry

A divination art which involves the study of lines and bumps on fingers and palms. Palmistry is also sometimes known as cheiromancy.

Scrying

Scrying is a divination art that typically uses a crystal ball, mirror, shiny stone or surface. The tool used is referred to a speculum. Doctor John Dee’s speculum was a crystal egg and black obsidian mirror.

In Pure Spirit

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