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ABACOMANCY: Divination via the observation of patterns of dust. Also used are the ashes of the recently deceased. See also Ceneromancy, Spodomancy, and Tephromancy.

ACUTOMANCY: Divination via the means of sharp or pointed objects such as needles. In this form diviners use a number of sharp objects (usually seven) to fall on to the table or the like and thus read the patterns. Acutomanzia is a similar method including thirteen pins, ten straight and three bent. They are shaken and casted onto a surface sprinkled with powder. The patterns in the powder and the positioning of the needles are then read.

ADRYOMANCY: A rare, and obscurely formed, variant of the word ydromancie, idromancie, which in Middle English was the usual spelling of hydromancy. The first peculiarity of this word is the initial a. This is not a regular variant of Middle English i/y. The second peculiarity is the addition of an extra syllable after the r. This additional syllable does not occur in any other Middle English -mancy words, nor in other Middle English compounds of ydro-. Nor are either of these peculiarities found in the Old French or Latin source words. It remains a mystery.

AEROMANCY: Divination via interpreting air and sky regulations by way of wind, cloud shapes and other aerial formations such as atmospheric conditions are studied as omens or signs of future events. This also includes wind currents, cloud formations, comets, falling stares, and spectral formations. There different forms include: Austromancy (wind); Ceraunoscopy (thunder & lightning); Chaomancy (aerial visions); Meteormancy (meteors, especially shooting stars). It is also known as Nephelomancy.

1. (generally) divination by the air or aerial phenomena. (specifically) This term has been applied to numerous divinatory practices, including
a. divination from the movement of air itself, observations of the wind.
b. presages gained by observation of other aerial phenomena, as comets, meteors, lightning, thunder, clouds, haloes, etc.
c. by images seen in the air, as either naturally occurring mirages or supernatural apparitions, such as spectres, etc.
d. by the shape assumed by physical things, such as dust or seeds, tossed into the air.
2. augury.
3. (obs.) weather forecasting.

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French *aeromancie, aeromaunce, (in modern French (Cotgrave) aëromanty), from Late Latin aeromantia, from Late Greek aeromanteia, from the Greek aero-, combining form of aer air. After the Middle English period is has generally been modified according to New Latin aeromantia and French aeromancie. Classical Greek did not have the word, or at least it has not survived extant, but they did have aeroskopia divination by observing the heavens. Variant Forms Middle English: aermacye, aeromance, aeromancye, aeromauncie, aerymancie. Early Modern English: aeromancie, æromancy, aëromancy, aeromanty, eromancy, heromanty. New Latin: aeromantia, aëromantia. The forms with ë represent a now obsolete typographical convention which proscribed a pronunciation based on the Greek root, in which the first two letters formed separate syllables, that is, ay-eromancy. By some lexicographers it was applied stringently to all words beginning aero-, but for the most part it was applied rather haphazardly. A look at the entries in OED for words beginning aero- is a good example of this haphazardness. Presumably some lexicographers and authors thought that the pronunciation was apparent enough (or "should" be apparent) without typographical assistance.
The modern pronunciation (as air-omancy) presumably arose from a lack of knowledge of the Greek language, and also under the influence of the word air. The existence of the form eromancy dates the pronunciation back to the 17th century. More Information

AGALMATOMANCY: Greek divination via statues. See also Idolomancy.

AICHMOMANCY: A method of divination utilising sharp points, as pins, etc. This word, derived from the ancient Greek aichme point of a spear, is one of the numerous terms appearing in Shipley only. To which specific method of divination it is meant to refer to is not clear.

AILUROMANCY: Divination by cats. Derived from Greek ailouros a cat.

ALEBROMANCY: A mistake arising from a typographical error (u = b) in Cotgrave's French-English dictionary (1611, 1632). This was faithfully reproduced by Blount, and later copied by Cocker. This mistake was recorded in the OED (1884), under its own headword, thus effectively putting a stop to any continued copying. Urquhart was meant to have relied largely on Cotgrave for his translation, but apparently not in this instance. Instead, for some unknown reason, Urqhuart created his own mistaken spelling (vide alentomancy). Both of these misspellings were silently corrected in the OED under headword aleuromancy. Apparently Murray did not feel that Urquhart's erroneous form was worth awarding it headword status. Probably since it never occurs in any dictionaries nor anywhere outside of Urquhart.

ALECTROMANCY, ALECTORMANCY, ALECTOROMANCY, : Greek divination via the use of a cock or hen in which are placed letters of the alphabet. The letters in which are the closest to the hens pecks are gathered and assembled to answer specific question. This practice was used when the sun or the moon was in Aries or Leo. Used in Rome to identify thieves. A less common form of the word alectryomancy. This word is of the same vintage as alectryomancy, and arises from a slightly different Greek word, namely: alektor a rooster (as opposed to alektryon). Alectromanchy (rare), alectromancy (showing elision), and electromancy. Also the New Latin form alectoromantia is to be met with.I have included the alectro- forms under this headword following the OED. However, I cannot see why this could not equally be a variant of alectryo-. Presumably there is a good reason.Often a black hen or a gamecock. The diviner will sprinkle grain and the ground and allow the birds to peck. When the birds have finished, the diviner will then interpret the patterns left by the birds on the ground.

ALECTRYOMANCY: Divination in which a bird is subjected to random picking of corn grains from a circle of letters. A variation is to recite letters of the alphabet noting those at which a cock crows. See Alectromancy.

1. (rare, obsolete) "divination by a cock-stone". A cock-stone or alectoria was "a christall coloured stone (as big as a beane) found in the gyzerne, or maw of some cockes" (Cotgrave). These stones, purportedly found in a roosters crop, were known to the Romans (in Latin they were called alectoria gemma, literally "cock's gem") and were imputed with magical powers. Apparently they were used for some sort of lithomantic divination, though the details of this use are not to be found.

2. (loosely) any divination involving a rooster. (specifically) a. a once common mode of divination in which, firstly, a circle of letters (originally twenty-four in number, since j, v are the same as i, u) is laid out with some sort of grain placed on each letter. Next a rooster is let pick at the grains, thus selecting letters to create a divinatory message or sign. The chosen letters could be either read in order of selection, or rearranged to make an anagram. b.the observing of chickens feeding in order to gain omens. c. divination by the crowing of a rooster.

From French alectryomantie (Cotgrave), or the New Latin alectryomantia, from the Greek word alectryon a cock, or rooster. This word is most commonly recorded under this form in modern dictionaries, usually with alectoromancy, as the variant. It occasionally occurs in English texts in the New Latin form alectryomantia.

ALENTOMANCY: A mistake occuring in Urquhart's translation of Rabelais, for aleuromancy. The OED records the citation under the headword aleuromancy, but silently corrects the error. This is in accordance with his statement in the General Explanations to the OED that "simple blunders, which would mislead the reader, are tacitly corrected." Clearly Murray did not deem the mistake liable to cause later confusion, nor has it seemed to, with the only occurences being those of later editions of Urquhart. Though it has to be admitted that a reader of Urquhart would turn to the OED to no avail.

ALEUROMANCY: Divination via "fortune cookies". Answers to questions are rolled into a sortilege of balls of dough and once baked are chosen at random. The fortunes were inserted into dough that was both baked, and mixed. This form of divination is the origin of Ash Wednesday pancakes and fortune cookies. Another version involves the interpretation of patterns left in a bowl of flour rinsed in water. Aleuromancy was the domain of Apollo in some traditions.

1. originally an ancient Greek method of divination using flour. The sources here given differ considerably on exactly which sort of cereal was used and in what form. Many refer to "barley meal", though some to wheat flour and oatmeal, some to a mixture of different flours. The precise method of divination originally indicated by this word does not seem to be recorded, at least, not alongside the appearance of the word in English sources. According to Potter the divination was a. by flour with which sacrificial victims were besprinkled. However, some have also interpreted the word to mean: b. divination by flour thrown into flames, a type of pyromancy; and c. throwing flour on the ground and interpreting the shape produced.
2. Others have made the assumption that the word could refer to divination by dough or by cakes, since these are at least made by flour - this is at best a tenuous link, but not inconceivable. The earliest suggestion along these lines is the curious gloss cake-divination in Coles' 1676 dictionary. Presumably Coles knew what specific practice he was referring to. Perhaps he was, as Elihu Rich suspects, referring to a trial by ordeal involving a piece of bread or barley cake, analogous to the Anglo-Saxon corsnaed and the Latin panis conjuratus, in which the accused is asked to swallow a piece of bread, with guilt being indicated by difficulty in swallowing.
3. ? the reading of fortune cookie messages for divination.

Lewis Spence, a learned and widely read, but not very careful scholar, wrote in 1920 that the word referred to a type of divination by cakes with messages inside, similar to our modern Chinese restaurant fortune cookies. This has led to many sources stating that fortune cookies are a modern-day survival of ancient aleuromancy. However I think this meaning is, in the end, a spurious one. Although commonly believed to be of Chinese origin and of some distant date, fortune cookies are a 20th century invention. The first recorded use of the term (Chinese) fortune cookies is in 1962, and they were originally a gimmick of North American Chinese restaurants. Notwithstanding Spence, there is no history of them in China as such. The notion that people really take to heart the droll messages available in these cookies, or that the reading of them constitutes a 'method' of divination, is highly unlikely. The assertion that the use of fortune cookies is a modern-day survival is a fine example of a widely held notion that is as prevalent as it is wrong. In much of the literature of folk-lore, superstition, witch-craft, the occult, etc., there is made a habit of finding some analogous practice from ancient times and thence stating that the modern-day practice is a survival. The term survival implies a continuation of the practice throughout the intervening years, presumedly unrecorded and underground. It is as though the idea that the two similar practices may have had separate geneses, one ancient, the other modern, is out of the question, though this is often more likely to be the case. In this instance the proposition that the ancient Greek aleuromancy continued beyond the end of the Grecian period, was somehow transported to China, then lost to the Chinese, except to those who emmigrated to North America and took up the restaurant trade, is ludicrous. Similarly impossible is the alternate proposition that the whole of humanity, (or at least the Greeks as well as the Chinese) in ancient times practised some common form of aleuromancy, of which the making of fortune cookies is the only vestige remaining. This practice of guilelessly identifying supposed survivals is quite old. That it is still common is no wonder since many influential books and authors have indulged in it quite freely. It can be seen throughout Brand's Popular Antiquities, a hugely popular book that went in to numerous editions, and it occurs in much of the literature on witchcraft due to the theories and works of Margaret Murray. Sir James Fraser's all-important Golden Bough constantly cites connections between ancient beliefs and more recent practices, but, at least in the examples I am familiar with, is cautious in doing so and always cites numerous instances to back up his assertions. Other examples of this "survival" notion in this document are to be seen at: alomancy, ceromancy, chartomancy, ovomancy and xylomancy.

From French aleuromancie, from New Latin aleuromantia. Cælius Calcagninus, Compendium amatoriæ magiæ (ed. Froben Bale, 1544) "Aleuromantia, per tritici ac farinæ excussiones." From the Greek aleuromanteion divination by flour, from aleuron (usually appearing in the plural form aleura) wheat flour. The difference between this word and alphitomancy remains obscure, if indeed there ever was any. In Greek aleuron is 'flour from wheat', and is opposed to alphiton 'flour from barley'. However, Liddle and Scott define aleuromanteion simply as "divination from flour", with no reference to which particular grain was used. In ancient Greek the word *alphitomanteia is not recorded, but the derivative alphitomantis (i.e. one who divines using flour) does occur. Liddle and Scott merely cross-reference this term to aleuromantis and thus dictate that there was no difference between the two. Certainly in English no clear difference between the two words is apparent. Greek also had kritomanteia, see crithomancy. Also found in the erroneous forms: alebromancy, alentomancy, alevromancy, alveromancy.

AILUROMANCY: Divination through the interpretation of the appearance and behavior of cats such as movement or jump. A form of Augury. Also known as Felidomancy. http://www.gardenofbadthings.com/superstitions.htm

ALOMANCY: Divination via the interpretation of table salt. This is the believed origin of misfortune or superstition 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. Also known as Halomancy. A variant of the word halomancy - divination by salt - which arises from an erroneous reading of the ancient Greek root. In Greek there is no letter aitch (h) as such, instead aspiration was represented by the opening apsotrophe symbol (`) placed above the next letter. Someone unaware of this would read the Greek `als as simply als rather than the correct English rendering hals. To one ignorant of modern typography of the Greek language the arcane system of diacritics marking aspiration, lack of aspiration and stress, are confusing and probably regarded, if anything, as obfuscating. I assume that one of the early users of this term, or even the coiner of this word, made the mistake of disregarding the aspiration, and hence concocted the form alomancy. No other word using this Greek root has a variant form without the h. The word itself, appears to be only recorded only in dictionaries and books on the occult. The OED records it as a variant of halomancy, but when that word is consulted only one citation appears, Websters (1864), where the form is indeed alomancy. Since it is not labelled rare-0 then one must assume that the OED had citations of the h form, though ones later than 1864. OED misses the fact that in 1852 the h form appears in Roget's Thesaurus, even though this source is cited in other OED -mancy entries. What is remarkable is the fact that, in a time of prescriptive dictionaries, the lexicogrpahers of the day did not mark the form alomancy as incorrect or erroneous. Presumably Roget and Webster had original sources for the word, or perhaps they both had the same source and Roget etymologically normalised the form. As yet I have not been able to discover a 19th century (or earlier) primary source.

ALPHITOMANCY: Divination via the use of special cakes that are digestible by persons with a clear conscience but are unpleasant to others. It is a practice to assist identifying guilty parties by feeding an individual or group a loaf of barley. The innocent would feel no ill effect, but the guilty parties would experience indigestion. Alphitomancy was often used to identify criminals or adulterers. Also known as Cursed Bread.

1. An ancient Greek method of divination employing barley meal in some way. Most probably the same or, at least, similar to the ancient Greek practice of aleuromancy.
2. By later writers thought to be a type of trial by ordeal using cakes or bread of barley flour. The same notion was also attached to the word aleuromancy.

Derived from the French alphitomantie, from the New Latin alphitomantia. Cælius Calcagninus, Compendium amatoriæ magiæ (ed. Froben Bale, 1544) "Alphitomantia, quam ceu digito Theocritus signavit in Pharmaceutria." A derivative from the ancient Greek alphitomantis a diviner who used barley meal, from Gk alphiton (usually only in the plural form alphita) barley meal, flour made from barley; also, pearl-barley. See etymology at aleuromancy.

AMATHOMANCY: According to Shipley: divination by dust. Not recorded elsewhere. Derived from ancient Greek amathos sand.

AMBULOMANCY: Divination via movement and action of walking. Possibly referring to gyromancy. Derived from the Latin ambulare to walk.

AMNIOMANCY: Divination via the inspection and interpretation the caul, the inner embryonic membrane of higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth), of a baby at birth. The caul is any part of the amnionic sac that happens to be attached to a new-born's head. Usually there is no caul and hence it was perceived as signifying something special when one did appear. Thus a great host of beliefs grew up surrounding the caul over the centuries in many disparate cultures, and since cauls occur on the head of babies, the association with them has always been favourable. If it just so happened that it was common for amniotic membrane to be attached to the feet then a very different mythology would have arisen around the topic. At any rate, the caul has always been associated with good luck and beneficial powers. It was believed in Europe that children born with cauls were lucky, and that they had second sight or could see into the spirit world. This belief was also found alive in the 19th century in the East Indies. Also, possessing a caul meant sure victory in any contests entered into, thus cauls were previously in great demand by attorneys, a practice that was ridiculed by Sir Thomas Browne in his Pseudoxia Epidemica (Vulgar Errors) in 1646. In Scotland the caul was known as the happy hoo, sely hoo, syly hoffe or the sillyhoo, which all literally mean the "lucky hood". This is identical to the German name glückshaube. In Palsgrave's 1540 translation of the Latin play Acolastus, dating from 1525, we find the passage: May not men...thinke, that I was borne in a good howre, or that I was borne with a syly hoffe on
myn heed. Lastly, cauls, which are easily dried and kept, were believed to be a specific against drowning and shipwreck. Thus cauls were often sold amongst sailors for a high price. One was sold in London's shipping district as recently as 1915. Apart from the definition provided by Lewis Spence, and later writers following him, I cannot find any other evidence that the colour of the caul itself was used to predict the future. All the sources I can uncover unequivocably state that a caul signifies good luck. Derived from New Latin amniomantia, from ancient Greek (Galen) amnion the amnionic sac, the caul. The ultimate etymology of this Greek word is unknown. An amnion was a cup used to catch the blood of sacrifices, and presumably this original sense was extended in medical terminology since the amniotic membrane performed a similar function of holding blood/fluid. However, amnion also meant a small lamb, though how this could be related is unknown to me.

ANEMOSCOPY: Divination via the interpretation of the wind direction and strength, including the shape of dust clouds lifted by it. Another method is posing a question and then tossing a handful of dirt, sand or light seeds into the air; the answer comes in the form of the small dust cloud made by the flying particles. This also includes process uses a pendulum, allowed to move only by the wind, positioned over a circle graph or a set of letters, glyphs or runes. Yet another technique consists of listening to the sound of the wind and interpreting its message. See Aeromancy.

ANAGRAMALECTRYOMANCY: A nonce word concocted by the Gibsons for alectryomancy in which the letters chosen by the rooster are rearranged to form a word. A clumsy word, considered so even by the coiner.

ANSTROMANCY: is divination by the study of the winds. Divination by interpreting wind. A form of Aeromancy.

ANTHOMANCY: Divination via flowers. The same as floromancy. A modern word referring to the practice of plucking petals of a flower uttering alternately "She/he loves me" for one petal, and "She/he loves me not" for the next. Whichever statement the last petal coincides with gives the answer. This practice is still prevalent amongst school children, but not taken seriously as far as I know.
For other forms of flower divination see botanomancy and phyllorhodomancy. Derived from ancient Greek anthos a flower.

ANTHRACOMANCY: Divination via burning coals. Only recorded in dictionaries. Presumably there is a primary source, though most probably it is only a word coined ad rem. I have not been able to find any explicit methods of divination employing coals or embers. The word is coined from anthraco-, the modern scientific word element signifying "coal", which comes from the ancient Greek anthrak-, the stem of anthrax coal.

ANTHROMANCY: Presumably an error for anthropomancy occurring in Cotgrave, and thence copied into Blount and Coles. The error of dropping the third syllable from anthropomancy seems quite reasonable, as far as errors go. Though no similar errors are recorded for the numerous words beginning with this word element. The major problem is that the definition offered by Cotgrave accords more with necromancy and not anthropomancy.A word similar in form, anthroscopy, is sometimes seen, but only in very recent texts, where it is defined as "divination by the features" (Q&A). Is this a recent mistake for the (admittedly uncommon) anthroposcopy? All up, an ugly kettle of fish.

ANTHROPOMANCY, ANTINOPOMANCY: Divination via the interpretation of the entrails of a human sacrifice. This practice is outlawed and unethical obviously Herodotus wrote that Menelaus practiced it when detained in Egypt because of contrary winds. Because of his barbarous curiosity he sacrificed two country children in order to discover his destiny. Also known as Splanchomancy. Derived from New Latin anthropomantia, from ancient Greek anthropos human being; cf. F anthropomancie. Early) anthropomancia, anthropomancie, (erroneous) antinopomancy.

ANTINOPOMANCY: A ghost word, beginning as a mistake in Gaule for anthropomancy. Evidently Gaule's typesetter misread the manuscript, reading 'hr' as 'in' (which in ink-written 17th century hand is not improbable) thus creating the curious form antinopomancy. This mistake was then copied ad literatum by Brand, Hone, Robbins, etc., as though the word was a separate divinatory method. There are not many copies of Gaule's Magastromancer extant, and it has not, to my knowledge, ever been reprinted. Thus, in all likelihood, most of the later recorders of Gaule's words have taken them from Brand's Popular Antiquities where Gaule's list is reproduced verbatim (with only a small addition).
Evidently Brand did not understand that there was a typographical error in Gaule and separately notes the word anthropomancie as "not in the above ample list". Hone faithfully reproduced this in his famous Year Book, and the error was not rectified until Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions. The Gibson's, who almost certainly did not get their evidence from an original copy of Gaule, continue the error to the point of defining it separately.

APANTOMANCY: Divination via chance meetings with animals (e.g., a black cat), birds, and other creatures. Also divination via interpreting any objects (or beings) that happen to present themselves. A form of Augury. The superstition associated with a black cat crossing one's path is apantomancy. Derived from the ancient Greek apantomai to meet.

ARACHNOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the appearance and behavior of spiders. A form of Augury. http://www.gardenofbadthings.com/superstitions.htm. For instance, according to Mary Proctor's Legends of the Stars (1922): In China it was customary at one time for the ladies of the Court, on the seventh day of the seventh month, to catch spiders and put them in incense-boxes for purposes of divination. On the morning of the eighth day the box was opened, and if the spiders had spun a thick web during the night the omen was good, but if the had remained idle th omen was bad. Also, it may be noted that the minute red spiders which are commonly called money spiders are meant to foretell of some financial gain in the near future.

ARIOLATER: Someone who practices divination. Also known as Aruspex, Clairvoyant, Diviner, Haruspex, Seer, Soothsayer. See Also: Oracle, Prophet, and Theomancer. The Modern Oracle respects the traditional enigmatical prophetic verses alongside the more coherent prophetic verses as well. Enigmatical verses for instance needed to be translated for seekers of prophecy for the Oracle of Delphi. Oracles that divine information coherently have no need for interpreters for they are coherent enough during the divining to interpret their own findings. Many see Oracles to souly have the ability of precognition, but this is only the mainstream version of divining. Oracles at Delphi were chosen based on their potentials to interact with the gods in an entranced state. At Delphi, Oracles would directly inhale ethylene gases and sway in a euphoric trance to enhance intuition. She would continue by answering question in an ecstatic and wild manner in a complete incoherency. They were not necessarily precognitive or clairvoyant before they became oracles, but had the potential to be communicated through. Other Oracles are born with the ability to prophesize and have an unbreakable heritage. These Oracles are raised from early childhood by their spirit guides due to their extensive abilities such as Precognition (future sight), Postcognition (past sight), Clairvoyance (to see the unseen), Clairsentience (to sense the insensible), Clairaudience (to hear the inaudible) and Psipathy (based on still images and detailed emotions). It is their past, their present and future life. At any time they can choose to wander from their growth, their path, but these abilities can be to overwhelming to live a normal life for the gifts can out grow the Oracle. Oracles never receive all the information asked, rather all the information necessary. They divine what is needed to be known at the time, not necessarily what actually is the truth. Oracles are raised in a community of people and have set belief systems that are ever growing. Oracles offer their prophecies to their community and never ask for anything in return. Oracles, such as the one at Delphi, are allowed to accept donations. The calling and faith of an Oracle is precious to them and their laws are never underminded with out consequence. An Oracle does not know all such as in myth, they only learn from what they ask and they only answer in detail if the question was in detail as well. (vagueness results in vagueness). Basically, they only know what they need to now. For questions of great standing value one "must" choose their question wisely and the format in which it is given. The modern Oracle is an individual who speaks to divine beings such as archangels or gods, but rarely the dead. The Oracle bases their reception of information in the "heavens" not in the "underworld". The modern Oracle is an individual of heritage, a strong belief structure, a community, of charity and of many gifts.Too many individuals believe Oracles to be fictitious and their prophecies if correct are merely seen as an auspicious coincidence. Those who lack in intuitive awareness tend to be a constituent of this belief. Whether or not an oracle is believedby anyone external to their community is irrelevant. It is supremely their only need to be accepted unconditionally by their community. The Oracle in history has been a right-hand to many kings and queens. They are of great importance to political, financial and generalized community matters. Thus is the same today in the modern world. Many communities all over the world including the USA and Britain have Oracles either as royal advisors equal to that of Shamans. They are also help highly as leaders of smaller communities. In these communities they better their people’s futures by foretelling the major movements in their system. They are still seen as priest and priestesses and aide consistently in the ever advancing belief system for the area. Oracles also involve themselves in the societies moral or laws of the community. The Oracle adjoins their localized accepted belief system and formulates just laws accordingly. Since the diviner preforms his or her services with out a salery the community takes care of him or her and suplies the oracle with everything she or her requires to continue preforming this great service. Keep in mind a diviner in a community setting is not of control and seizure rather of innovation, growth and revision. Oracles are not only utilized to look into the future, but to also be utilized in protection and healing. Protection is done spiritually and the healing is both mental, by entering the deep recesses of the mind through their guides aide, and of a physical nature. However, their primary function is to protect those of their community unconditionally. The term Oracle in Tibet is used to describe the spirit who enters the "medium" rather then the medium. The Oracle in this case would be a medium between the physical and metaphysical spirit world. In Tibet’s case they are known as Kutens or "the physical basis's". Also in Tibet there was once thought to be thousands of Oracles, but today only a few remain, including those consulted by the Tibetan government. The Modern Oracle

ARIOLATIOMANCY: Divining via the interpretation of altars.

ARITHMANCY, ARITHMOMANCY, ARITHOMANCY: This is an earlier form of Numerology where divination is made through numbers and the number value of letters. Divination by interpreting numbers. Greeks used the number and value of the letters in the names of two combatants to predict the victor. This form of divination has been adopted and modified by many cultures over the millennia. One of its evolved forms is the current magickal system of Numerology. Esoterically it is concerned with the science of correspondences between gods, men and numbers, as taught by Pythagoras. The Caldeans also practiced this type of divination, as well as the Platonists and Pythagoreans. Arithmancy is also a part of the Jewish Qabbalah. See Numerology. The 16th and 17th century version of what is now generally known as numerology. The forms of number divination that arithmancy referred to were different to those currently in use. The exploration of the mystical aspects of numbers dates back to at least Babylonian times. However, the greatest influence was by the Greek mathematician Pythagoras (c.582--c.500 BC) and his philosophical followers known as the Pythagoreans. All great magicians and occult theoreticians have had something to say about numbers and their meanings, including Cornelius Agrippa, John Dee, Edward Kelly, and Robert Fludd. Derived from New Latin arithmantia (Agrippa), ultimately from the ancient Greek arithmos a number.
According to the OED this is "contracted for arithmomancy, but earlier". However this earlier form is most probably directly from the New Latin, itself a blend of arithmetica and -mantia. Notice that the form also occurs both Spanish aritmancia, and Portuguese arithmancia. This pattern of formation (i.e. without the normal connective -o- before -mancy) is followed by the two other words referring to divination by number, namely, logarithmancy and mathemancy. The variant form arithomancy is a later formation (1983) with the connective -o- added in to conform the usual pattern of other -mancys. Arithmomantia, Arithmomanty. Entering into English later than arithmancy it is derived from New Latin arithmomantia, from the ancient Greek arithmos a number. Often said to be a more "correct" form of arithmancy since is includes more letters of the Greek base word. The Chaldeans divided their alphabet into three sections of seven letters and linked these to the seven planets. The Greeks would analyze the names of opponents and predict the outcome of a contest.

ARITHMOSOPHY: Divination by Bertiaux’s method of converting words to numbers. A form of Arithmancy and Numerology.

ARMOMANCY: Divining by inspecting the structure of the shoulder blades of a person. Used originally to determine the suitability of a person for sacrifice to the gods. See Scapulimancy, Scapulomancy, Armomancy, and Spatulomancy. A method of divination employing the shoulder blades of animals. The shoulder blade was taken from the dead beast and thrown into a fire, the cracks appearing in the bone were interpreted as indicative of future events, a course of action, or whether or not something was true. This method of divination was formerly very common and occurs in many disparate cultures. Its popularity is in some way indicated by the amount of terms designating the practice, such as omoplatoscopy, scapulimancy, and spatulamancy. In Scotland it was known as `reading the speal-bone', hence the term spealomancy. This word is derived from the Latin word armus a shoulder blade.

ARUSPEX: See Ariolater.

ARUSPICY: Divination by interpreting animal entrails. Aruspicy is sometimes considered to be a form of augury (interpreting form and behavior of animals). Similar to Anthropomancy (interpretation of human entrails) and Heiromancy (interpretation of sacrificed animals) Also known as Haruspicy, Extispicy, and Extispicium. Then afterwards the entrails were burnt in a sacrificial fire. Sometimes the observation of how the flame burnt the sacrifice was also necessary for the prognostication. This form of divination is sometimes considered to be part of augury. Its underlying theory was that when an animal — usually a sheep or an ox — was sacrificed, it was absorbed by the god to which it had been offered, creating a direct channel to the deity. By opening the carcass, the Haruspex presumed to peek inside the god's mind and watch the future being created.

ASPIDOMANCY, ASH-ONOMANCY: Divining by entering casting a circle and summoning an entity. A method of divination in which the diviner sits on a shield and goes into a state of altered consciousness to gain prophetic knowledge. The word first appears in the New Latin form aspidomantia, and is derived from the Greek aspid-, the combining form of aspis a shield. See Necromancy. Ash-onomancy is a poorly concocted translation of the French word tephramantie.

ASTRAGLOMANCY, ASTRAGYROMANCY: Divination via dice where the faces of the dice bear numbers and letters. Divination also using dice, bones, stones, or small pieces of wood bearing letters or symbols. The diviner asks a question and interprets the answer based on how the objects lie on the ground or what letters or symbols are facing upwards. Divination through the sortilege of sheep bones (originally). Now commonly done with dice bearing numbers and letters.

1. a. (literally) divination by huckle-bones. The Greek word astragaloi (plural) referred to a type of dice, which were originally made from the knuckle-bones or huckle-bones of sheep. These astragaloi actually only had four flat sides which were marked (the other two being rounded), as distinguised from the six-sided kuboi (see cubomancy.
b. a specific type of divination in which astragaloi were tossed onto the pages of a picture book. This is the method that is being referred to by Rabelais, who got his information from
Cælius Calcagninus, Compendium amatoriæ
magiæ (ed. Froben Bale, 1544) "Astragalomantia,
ex astragalorum jactu in picturarum libellum, qua imprimis
nostrates f?minæ uti solent."
2. (hence) divination by dice.

From New Latin astragalomantia, (in French astragalomantie), from anceint Greek astragalos one of the vertebrae, or (usually in the plural astragaloi) a type of dice, made from knuckle-bones of sheep. Greek had the term astragalomantis a diviner using astragaloi. The only variant form to come to light is astragyromancy (first recorded 1931) which is either due to a typographical error, or a blending of astragalomancy and gyromancy (possibly because the dice are spun?).

ASTROMANCY, ASTROLOGY, ASTROSOPHY: is divination using celestial bodies: the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Divination by interpreting the movements of heavenly bodies, particularly the major planets. Divination by the stars; the 17th century term for what is now generally called astrology. This method of divination, involves taking note of the heavens both when a person is born, and at the present, and forming judgements about that person's character, luck, future, etc., based on the influence exerted by the Sun, the Moon, and the eight planets as they travel through the twelve zodiacal constellations. Originally, the planets Neptune, Uranus and Pluto formed no part of astrology, since they are not visible to the naked eye and were not discovered until after the 17th century. In the pre-Copernican, geocentric view of the cosmos there were only seven planets or wandering stars, namely: the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Their ancient importance is demonstrated by the fact the the seven days of the week are named after these seven planets. Astrology is recorded throughout the world and clearly dates back to pre-historical times. European astrology is partly derived from Arabic and Egyptian astrology and also owes much to the astrological traditions of the ancient Babylonians, Akkadians and Sumerians. See the timeline of major astrological and astronomical developments, discoveries and famous persons. In the 17th century this method of divination was accepted by many as basic fact, but at the same time a fierce debate raged about its verity, with many authors denouncing it as irreligious, especially as it seemed to negate the doctrine of free will. The term astrology dates back to the 16th century. In earlir times a distinction was made between natural astrology - the prediction of the weather and other natural phenomena, and judicial astrology - prediction of the future of individuals. The term horary astrology refers specifically to divination based on the stars at birth, the major method still in practice. This was previously known as astronomy (now obsolete in this sense), and is also sometimes referred to by casting horoscopes, casting nativities, genethliacs and horoscopy. See also sideromancy and roadomancy. More Information

The word astromancy enters 17th century English from the medieval Latin astromantia, which comes from the Greek (Siculus Diodorus) astromanteia, derived from astron a star. In earilest example of its use in English it occurs in the New Latin form astromantia. Another, more recent, form is the rare astronomancy, which shows influence from the word astronomy. The term essentially died out after the 17th century. However, it reappears in the 19th century in a few sources. It occurs in Mackay where it is used as a substitute for Gaule's etymologically obscure roadomancy. Its appearance in Sir Richard Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments is not surprising as the use of archaic terms in this translation is a stylistic feature (for a further apposite example see egromancy). It is also to be met with in James Murray's definition of the term astrology in the OED. The assertion in Gaynor and Gibson that the term astromancy refers to an ancient form of astrology, and not the modern day practice is based on conjecture rather thanevidence. Certainly there were many astrological methods and practices that are now abandoned or lost, but it is clear from the 17th century citations that the term astromancy is basically equivalent to the modern astrology.

AUGURY: is the general term for the art of divination and is chiefly applied to interpretations of signs and omens. Often used synonymously with divination to mean the interpretation of signs and omens. More accurately, it is divination based on the appearance or behavior of animals. Includes:
Alectryomancy (chickens); Arachnomancy (spiders); Entomomancy (insects);Hippomancy (horses) Ichthyomancy (fish); Myomancy (mice); Ophiomancy (snakes); Zoomancy (any animal); Haruspicy (interpreting animal entrails) is sometimes consider augury.

AUSTROMANCY: Divination by a study of the winds; presages taken from the wind. Cf. aeromancy, chaomancy. Derived from austro-, combining form of Latin auster the south wind. New Latin form austromantia. Basically a dictionary word, occuring mainly, and originally in dictionaries and thence other language reference books, laterly being found also in lists in books on the occult and magic. No record exists of it ever being in use. It is interesting to note that in the earliest occurences of this term the practice is ridiculed. This is common to many other terms ending in -mancy.

AUTOGRAPHY, AUTOMATIC WRITING, AUTOMATIC SPEAKING": Spirit communication done unconsciously by an individual often in trance, obsession or possession states. Automatic communication has occurred with people in a fully conscious state without their awareness of the action and distinct personality and knowledge variants (e.g.: fluency in an ancient language) have been documented. Autography and Automatic Writing apply to written communication and are also known as Psychography. They are distinct from Direct Writing where a spirit writes directly without human or mechanical assistance. All forms are distinct from Psychomancy where the diviner summons the spirit consciously for communication.

AXIOMANCY, AXIONMANCY: is divination through the observation of how an ax or hatchet quivers or points when driven into post. Divination using an axe or hatchet. Both the handle and the blade are used in various forms.

1. any divination employing an axe or hatchet, various methods including
a. (a1660) placing an agate stone, piece of jet, or some other precious or semi-precious stone upon the axe-head and heating the metal, the signs being read from the movement of the agate.
b. (1727) by their movement when balanced on a post.
See Gibson 1973 for more methods.
2. (Gaule, and copyists, only) divination by saws. I am wholly unable to account for this bizarre gloss. Liddle & Scott mention no such sense in ancient Greek. I presume that it is merely an error, such as one makes when tired or not fully paying attention to the task at hand. What is further unusual is that later writers did not fix the mistake, for even if one was unfamiliar with Greek the word axinomancy virtually screams axe at you!

From New Latin axinomantia, axiomantia: Cælius Calcagninus, Compendium amatoriæ magiæ (ed. Froben Bale, 1544) "Axinomantia belle ab Homero indicata, dum per secures experitur procos." From Latin axinomantia, from ancient Greek axine an axe, also an axehead. Showing elision: axiomancy -recorded first in Blount, but also occurring in New Latin (Agrippa) axiomantia). ? Under influence of other words ending in -onomancy: axionomancy - recorded only in Urquhart, who followed Cotgrave's spelling. Badly formed: ax-onomancy (Raffel). New Latin form: axinomantia.

B

BELOMANCY: is an ancient form of divination performed by tossing or balancing arrows. Divination through interpreting arrows. This type of divination is expressly forbidden in the Koran. Also known as Bolomancy. A word primarily used to refer to the divination mentioned in the Bible at Ezekiel 21:21. Called in Latin sortes sagittariæ. Often considered to be a subtype of rhabdomancy. Derived from Late Greek belomantia, from belos an arrow, a dart. bellomancy, (?) bolomancy. New Latin belomantia. One method involved throwing the arrows in the air, the point in which the arrows inclined pointed out the direction to be taken.

BIBLIOMANCY: involves divination by books. Bibliomancy is divination by means of a book. A book (the Bible and Koran are often used) is opened at random and the perspn points to a line while keeping his eyes closed. The randomly chosen line is believed to convey a message of significance. Originally, the divination used to assess the guilt or innocence of a person accused of sorcery. The person was weighed against the great Bible in the Church and if the person weighed less than the bible they were deemed innocent. Today, bibliomancy refers to divination interpreting randomly chosen passages in books and is also called stichomancy. The most common form is opening a book to a random page to answer a question. The Bible is still the most frequently used book, although any book may be used. Using books by Virgil and Homer specifically is called stoichemancy. The variant of using a book of poetry is called rhapsodomancy.

1. a. (originally) divination by means of a book in which a passage chosen at random carries the omen; sortes. The ancients used the works of Homer (sortes Homericæ) and Virgil (sortes Virgilianæ) for this purpose. Moslems have similarly used the Koran.
b. In Christian times the Bible was used for this purpose (sortes Biblicæ).
2. a form of divination in which a person was weighed against the great Bible of the church, those weighing less being innocent as charged.

A relatively modern word, dating only back to the 18th century. From Greek biblion a book. Definition 1.b. arising from an association with the word Bible. More Information

BOLOMANCY: See Belomancy.BOOK OF CHANGES, The: An ancient Chinese system of oracular divination that reveals patterns of subtle forces. The questioner is required to interpret the information provided through deep introspection and intuitive thought. The Book of Changes dates back to about 2852 B.C. Also known as I Ching.

BOTANOMANCY: is divination from burning tree branches and leaves. A form of pyromancy, interpreting burned or burning tree branches and leaves. Originally the branches of brier and vervain were used and the question was carved into the branch. Often used today to refer to divination by the interpretation of plants. Hence, used to refer to tea-leaf reading, or tasseomancy. Also used as an umbrella term for other types of divination involving plants, see anthomancy, daphnomancy, dendromancy, floromancy, foliomancy, and sycomancy. Batanomancy, Botinomancy, Botomancy, Botonomancy, Botono-nomancy.

BRIZOMANCY: A form of ancient Greek divination by interpreting dreams with the help of the goddess Brizo, the goddess of dreams worshipped at Delos. The original source of this rare word is a famous glossary by an ancient Greek lexicographer of the early third century AD. By modern Greek scholars Hesychius' lexicon is regarded as relatively unreliable and many of the terms he records are not to be found elsewhere in the extant corpus of ancient Greek. Liddle & Scott did not record terms if they only could be found in Hesychius and nowhere else. However, formerly his lexicon was not so deprecated. From ancient Greek Brizomantis diviner of dreams, an apellation the goddess Brizo of Delos, from brizo to be sleepy, to slumber or sleep. Possibly related to britho to be heavy, to be weighed down.

BRONTOMANCY: Divination via thunder. Derived from ancient Greek bronte thunder.

BUMPOLOGY: strictly a modern term, a popular nickname for PHRENOLOGY.

C

CAPNOMANCY: is the study of smoke rising from a fire. Divination by interpreting smoke rising from a fire, especially sacred fires. A form of pyromancy. Derived from New Latin capnomantia, from Gk kapnos smoke; cf. F capnomantie (Cotgrave), Sp, Pg capnomancia. Capnomancie, Kapnomancy.

CARROMANCY: Divination by interpreting melting wax (usually poured into cold water). Also called Ceromancy, Ceroscopy. A variant spelling of ceromancy occurring in Gaule.

CARTOMANCY: is fortune telling using cards such as the Tarot. divination by cards. Tarot cards are the most common used. Divination using modern playing cards. Some sources include Tarot and other Divination cards in this category.

CASTRONOMANCY: Divination via looking into images on the surface of water in a glass or magical receptacle. If spring water is used in this method of divination, or if the diviner uses a sacred pool or spring, then it is termed Pegomancy.

CATOPTROMANCY , CATOXTROMANCY, CATTOBOMANCY, ENOPTROMANCY, CALOTROMANCY, CATOPTOMANCY: is an early form of crystal gazing that utilizes a mirror turned to the moon to catch moonbeams. Divination by interpreting images in a reflective or transparent object such as a mirror, crystal globe or pool of water. The earliest recorded form of catoptromancy turned a mirror toward the moon to catch moonbeams. Also known as Crystallomancy, Crystalomancy, Dubjed, Enoptromancy, Scrying. Divination based on how a face appears when viewed in a mirror underwater. Derived from New Latin catoptromantia (Agrippa), or directly from French catoptromancie, from ancient Greek katoptron mirror (katop- stem of the future of kathoran look down, look upon, from kata down + oran to see). (cataptromancy, catopromancy, catoptromancie, catoxtromancy, catoptiomancy). Performance of the Dorje Yudronma mirror divination should be done in a quite and peaceful place. The mirror is placed in a container filled with grain, itself standing on top on a clean felt cushion. The diviner then sprinkles vermilion powder (Sindura) and recites the mantras of the ritual. In front of the mirror is placed a small crystal stupa or a piece of crystal, and at the back, a five coloured flag (representing the Buddhas of the five families) is attached to an arrow. On the right, is a ritual cake offering decorated with butter ornaments and on the left a red coloured cake offering. Around these are arranged offerings of drink, roasted barley flour (tsampa) mixed with butter, incense and various kinds of wood. In front of himself or herself, the diviner places a vajra, a bell and a damaru (drum), some barley and vermIlion powder to sprinkle in the drink, as well as an arrow to which is tied a white scarf. He or she then generates himself or herself as a deity and performs the preliminary ritual for removing obstacles according to the ritual of Tam. Following this, invocations are made to Dorje Yudronma, one of Tibet's chief protectors, who holds an arrow with the five colours in her right hand and a white silver mirror in her left. The diviner then requests the goddess to give a correct answer to the questions asked. The minor is not read by the diviner but by a virgin boy or girl no more than 15 years old. The child, who must be clean and well dressed, sits on a cushion under which has been drawn a swastika, symbol of stability. He or she is asked to pick up a stone, wrap it in a pieces of red cloth and place it under his or her knee and is made to drink the orange tinted libation. Blessed ears of barley are placed on the child's head, which is the wrapped with a turban. The diviner cleans the mirror and lights the butter lamp. The child looks into the mirror and, depending on the type of divination which has been requested, sees either pictures, like sequences in a film or letters. Letters require written questions, which have been given to the diviner. The child describes the visions to the diviner who interprets and explains them in terms of the questions which have been asked. The reader of the mirror has no knowledge of the questions asked and the diviner does not see m the mirror; however, they are complementary and mutually dependent for this type of divination. The child's ability to read the mirror disappears at puberty, and thus the diviner may use different children at different times. More Information

CATTABOMANCY: A term used by Gaule for the ancient Greek divinatory game of 'kottabos'. The game originated in Sicily, but became popular among young men in Athens. The "simplest mode was when each threw the wine left in his cup, so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, at the same time invoking his mistress' name; if all fell in the basin, and the sound was clear, it was a sign he stood well with her. ..The game soon became more complicated, and was played in various ways." (Liddle and Scott). See also, chalcomancy. The word was coined by Gaule from the Greek kottabos the game of kottabos, also the metal basin used in the game. It has not been recorded in the OED or any other dictionary, and appears in Gaule and his copyists. The only modern book on divination to record it is Gibson who gives a catch-all definition and seems unaware of the ancient Greek game. As far as I know none of the popular books on divination or the occult mention the Greek game of kottabos.

CAUSIMOMANCY CAUSINOMANCY: is divination from behavior of objects placed in a fire. Divination from observing the behavior or reactionof objects placed in a fire. It is a particularly good sign if combustible materials do not catch fire. See empyromancy, pyromancy. Derived from thr Greek kausimos fit for burning, from kausis a burning, burning heat. Not recorded in OED or other dictionaries except the Macquarie, where it appears in the erroneous form causinomancy.

CENEROMANCY: A rare term for divination by ashes, the more common term being tephramancy. The fine distinction drawn between this and tephramancy in the citation is probably illusory. Derived from cenero-, a rare, early modern English combining form of Latin cinerem ashes. This word, along with a number of words listed by Shipley, is not recorded elsewhere. The form of the word is consistent with 17th century spelling. The OED records cenereous and ceneritious as "erroneous" forms of cinereous and cineritious. Perhaps Shipley knew of some source that I have not yet discovered.

CEPHALEONOMANCY: Divination by roasting an ass's head on hot coals. Derived from ancient Greek kephalos a head + onos an ass. Also Cephalonomancy.

CEPHALOMANCY: refers to divination with the skull or head of a donkey or goat. Divination interpreting the skull or head of a donkey or goat. Also known as Kephalonomancy.

1. cephaleonomancy.

2. divination by study of the shape of the skull or head, esp. of a donkey or goat.

In all likelihood the word 'boiling' in Urquhart is a typographical error for 'broiling', since the method required viewing the falling or movement of the donkey's jaw-bone and the precise time this happened, a thing not easily determined whilst boiling. Further the boiling of something 'upon hot coals' is nonsense, one boils something 'in some liquid'. This error has been copied in later editions of Urquhart, and also found its way into later -mancy lists. This form of the word literally means 'divination by a head' and would thus apply to any sort of head divination, whereas 'cephaleonomancy' literally means 'divination be an ass's head'.

Derived from ancient Greek kephalos a head. Kephalomancy; NL Cephalomantia.

CERAUNOSCOPY, CERAUNOMANCY: seeks to draw omens from the study of thunder and lightning. Divination by interpreting thunder and lightning. A form of Aeromancy. Derived from ancient Greek keraunos thunder, a thunderbolt. This is not the usual term, ie ceraunoscopy, from Greek keraunoskopia.

CEROSCOPY, CEROMANCY: Divination in which melted wax is poured into cold water, forming bubbles which are then interpreted. See Carromancy.

CHALCOMANCY: Divination by striking brass or copper vessels. Mackay's word for Gaule's 'cattabomancy', which see. From ancient Greek chalkos copper.

CHAOMANCY: Divination by interpreting aerial visions. A form of Aeromancy. A Paracelsian term for divination by the air. See aeromancy. From New Latin chaomantia, from Greek (Paracelsian) chaos the atmosphere. Chaomantia, (? erroneous) Chaomandy.

CHARTOMANCY: Divination using writing paper. Divination by interpreting inscriptions written on paper or cards. A Gaulean word. The "choosing Valentines" mentioned by Brand refers to a custom of choosing valentines by writing names of a group of males and females on pieces of paper and selecting them at random. This parenthetic information added by Brand is found in Hone, proving his reliance upon Brand. Robbins, on the other hand, actually quotes from Gaule's original text. Derived from ancient Greek chartes a leaf of paper.

CHEIROMANCY, CHIROGNOMY, CHIROLOGY, CHIROMANCY: Divination through analysis of hand shape, fingers, fingernails and the palms. According to legend, it is one of the oldest Witch skills, taught to mortals by Aradia, daughter of Lucifer and Diana. Also known as Palmistry. is divination from the lines on people's hands.

CHEROMOMANCY, CHEROMANCY: learly a mistake in Urquhart for cleromancy, however it is unclear how such a gross error could have eventuated. It could cetainly not have arisen from a misreading of a handwritten manuscript by the typesetter nor from a simple typographical mistake. This curious word was sometimes (faithfully) copied into later editions of Urquhart. Most editions of Urquhart silently correct the mistake, and later translations of Rabelais follow the French and give cleromancy - see citations 1951, 1955. However, some alter it to cheromancy, an equally spurious form. Neither form is recorded in OED, though this would have made a nice story, and explained the word to some undoubetdly mystified English readers of Rabelais.

The original passage in Rabelais read:

"Par cleromantie, comme l'on trouve la febve on guasteau
la vigile de l'Epiphanie."

The practice referred to is one found various European countries where a nomial King or Queen is chosen on the night of the Feast of the Epiphany (ie Twelth Night) by dividing up a cake that has had a bean baked in it. The person to get the bean is accordingly the King or Queen, and has to shout the rest of the company for the evening. The fact that this custom relies on a 'random' selection makes it a form of cleromancy.

Urquhart had made mention of this custom in an earlier work. According to Brand Popular Antiquities i. 23:

Sir Thomas Urquhart, of Cromarty, in his curious work,
entitled The Discovery of a most exquiste jewel, found
in the kennel of Worcester streets, the day after the
fight, 1651, says, p. 237, "Verily, I think they make use
of Kings - as the French on the Epiphany-day use their Roy
de la fehve, or King of the Bean; whom after they have
honoured with drinking of his health, and shouting aloud,
'Le Roy boit, Le Roy boit,' they make pay for all the
reckoning; not leaving him sometimes one peny, rather than
exorbitancie of their debosh should not be satisfied to
the full."

CHILOMANCY: An error for clidomancy, apparently arising from an error in transcribing handwritten text. The element 'chilo-' is normally used in scientific compounds to signfy 'lip', from New Latin chilo-, from Greek cheilos lip.

CHIROGNOMY: is the study of the general hand formation.

CHOIRAMANCY: A method of divination using a pig's bladder. To what particular practice this word refers is unknown. Potter in his Archaeologia

Graeca mentions:

Sometimes, when the entrails foretold nothing certain by
dissection, the priest made observations from them in a
fire: in order hereto he took the bladder, and binding the
neck of it with wool (for which reason Sophocles calls the
bladders mallodetous kysteis), put it into the fire,
to observe in what place it would break, and which way it
would dart the urine.

Though this doesn't specifically refer to pigs. This word comes into English through Thomas Urquhart's translation of Rabelais. In the French text it appears as choeromantie, and is derived from the Greek choiros a small pig, a pig. The variant form, namely: choeromancy, choeromancy, and choiromancy, all show editorial substitution of the normal connective -o-, where Urquhart has -a-.

CHRESMOMANCY: Defined by Gibson as "divination from the utterances of a person in a frenzy". This rare word, not recorded elsewhere, is derived from the Greek chresmos an oracular pronouncement, a prophecy. Itself a derivative of the Greek chrao to pronounce, to proclaim, to give a needful answer, stemming from a basic meaning "to furnish what is needful". The given definition is referring to the fact that ancient Greek oracles used to go into a state of divine frenzy in order to gain information from the gods so that they might make an oracular statement. A better definition would seem to be "oracular divination".

CHRONOMANCY: Divination to find the best time to plane future events. Divination to determine the precise time for action. Derived from the Greek word chronos time. An uncommon term.

CHRYSTALLOMANCY: See Crystallomancy.

CIROMANCY:

1. A Middle English variant of chiromancy.
2. A variant spelling of ceromancy.

CLAIRAUDIENCE: is "clear hearing" of divinatory information. Parapsychologist generally regard as a form of extrasensory perception. Divination through hearing the future. Clairaudience is often categorized under the broader heading of Clairvoyance. Hearing the metaphysical and in most cases a subcategory under telepathy in the respect you can hear what goes on in the Meta, including spirit guides and angels speaking to you.

CLAIGUSTANT: Divination via taste. The gift ability to sense a being or the metaphysical by taste.

CLAIRSENTENT: divination via touch, feeling, sensation. Feeling the metaphysical and the vibrations of it. This ability shares like components with Psychometry in that is can see the history of an object by touch. This happens as a feeling received off of and object perhaps an emotion.

CLAIRVOYANCE: is "clear seeing" of divinatory information. Parapsychologist generally regard as a form of extrasensory perception. Divination through seeing the future. Clairvoyance specifically refers to the visual image of future events, but other forms of "seeing" the future are commonly called clairvoyance including: Clairaudience (hearing); Metagnomy (induced through hypnotic trance); Precognition (inner knowing); and Psychometry (induced through contact with a physical object). Seeing the future and looking beyond the present by following the stretch or path of time. This ability allows one to see that which is beyond the normal range of seeing. With this ability a psychic is able to see the metaphysical with the "third eye", this is closely related to astral projection, but of course all gifts are closely related to one and other. Clairvoyance is the minute aspect of the third eye capabilities. This ability shares like components with Psychometry in that it can see what is to come.

CLAIRVOYANT: See Ariolater or Oracle. Seeing the future and looking beyond the present by following the stretch or path of time. This ability allows one to see that which is beyond the normal range of seeing. With this ability a psychic is able to see the metaphysical with the "third eye", this is closely related to astral projection, but of course all gifts are closely related to one and other. Clairvoyance is the minute aspect of the third eye capabilities. This ability shares like components with Psychometry in that it can see what is to come.

CLEDOMANCY, CLEDONOMANCY: Divination by interpreting random events or statements.

CLEDONISMANCY: Divination by first words uttered upon meeting friends, after salutations.,p> Derived from ancient Greek kledonisma a sign or omen. (cledonismantia).

CLEDONOMANCY: Divination by chance remarks overheard. Derived from ancient Greek kledon an omen, a presage contained in a word, sound or chance utterance. (cledomancy).

CLEIDOMANCY: A form of radiesthesia (divination using a pendulum) using a suspended key as the pendulum. Also known as Clidomancy. Divination by means of a dangling key. From New Latin clidomantia, from ancient Greek kleid-, combining form of kleis a key. Clidomancy, Chilomancy (err.), Kleidomancy.

CLEROMANCY: is divination by "casting lots", similar to dice but with objects such as pebbles or sea shells. Divination by sortilege with dice. It is sometimes used synonymously with Sortilege (divination by casting or drawing lots).

1. (generally) divination by casting lots.
2. (specifically) a. divination by throwing of dice, or other marked objects, such as beans, bones or pebbles.
b. used to denote a specific divination involving a bean baked in a cake; see A HREF="#chero">cheromancy.

From New Latin cleromantia, Middle French cleromancie, medieval Latin cleromantia, from ancient Greek kleros a lot. cf. French cl?romancie, Sp cleromancia.

CLIDOMANCY or CLEIDOMANCY: is divination using a dangling key. see RADIESTHESIA. See Cleidomancy.

COCK-OMANCY: A new form, invented by Raffel to translate Rabelais' alectryomantie.

COLLIMANCY: A jocular nonce-word for a supposed method of divination using the lines on the neck.

CONCHOMANCY: Divination via sea shells. Derived from Latin concha, from ancient Greek konche muscle, cockle, shell. More Information

COMETOMANCY: Divination via omens taken from comets.

COSCINOMANCY COSKIOMANCY: is divination using a hanging sieve. see RADIESTHESIA.. A form of radiesthesia (divination using a pendulum) using a sieve which was sometimes suspended from tongs or shears. This type of divination was usually used to discover thieves and criminals in general. A method of divination employing a sieve and a pair of shears. Divinations were taken from the movement of the sieve upon the saying of a person's name, a word, etc. This word and method of divination come to us from ancient Greece, and a cetain passage from Theocritus (floruit 272 B.C.) is often quoted as a reference to this type of divination though a number of other Greek authors have spoken of it (Philippides, Pollux, Lucianus). The term comes into English via both New and medieval Latin coscinomantia, and is derived from the Greek koskinomantis a diviner using a sieve, from koskinon a sieve.

The variant forms may be categorised as follows:
1. those arising from different transliterations of the Greek letter kappa (K): Choschinomancy, Choschinomancie (prob. from misreading Greek kappa (K) as chi (ch) Coskinomancy, Koskinomancy.
2. Erroneous forms showing elision: Cosinomancy, Coskiomancy (Brand, OED - see Note), Cosnomancy.
3. Erroneous form showing transposition of letters: Coskniomancy (Athenian Oracle).
4 Transcription error in typesetting: Coseinomancy.

Coscinomancy, as practised in medieval times, is clearly outlined in Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia, 1533, chapter xxi. This text provides the basis of Holyday's satire, which I have reproduced in extensio. There has been much speculation about the manner in which the sieve was to be held by the shears, with some writers throwing up their hands at the problem (see cit. 1868), and other suggesting that a piece of thread was used. Fortunately in the 1567 edition of Agrippa's works there is a beautiful picture showing exactly this. It is clear that sieve was suspended from the shears in such a way that the cutting edges of the shear-blades made tangents to the outer rim of the sieve. Thus suspended the sieve is capable of some sideways movement, or even of dropping. The holding of the shears by only the two middle fingers would make it almost impossible to keep the sieve still for any length of time, thus ensuring a prognostication. The complicating factor is that in the Latin text accompanying the picture the sieve is said to "turn around" (circum agatur), which clearly it cannot do unless held at two diametrically opposite points on the outer rim. Agrippa believed that the movement of the sieve was performed by a demon, and that the conjuration dies, mies, jeschet, benedoefet, dowima, enitemaus actually compelled the demon to perform the task. He further notes that the words of this conjuration were understood neither by the speaker nor anyone else (nec sibi ipsis, nec aliis intellectua). Here Agrippa is asserting one of the most venerable notions of magic, i.e. that there is a language in the spirit world and that this language is powerfully efficacious. The co-called "Enochian language" of the 16th century magician Edward Kelly, later revived by Alister Crowley, is such a language. Kelly would communicate Enochian messages to his cohort, Dr. John Dee, backwards, for to say them directly would unleash powers beyond control. This concept can futher be seen in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments where a sorceress takes some lake water in hand and over it speaks "words not to be understood" (tr. Burton I. xi. 80).

COSNOMANCY: A mistake in Cockeram for coscinomancy.

CRANIOSCOPY: Divination and character analysis by studying the shape and structure of the human skull. Also known as Phrenology.

CRITOMANCY CRITHOMANCY: is the study of barley cakes. Divination byinterpreting food, usually cakes and breads, that are offered in sacrifice. Divination by meal or grain, often by strewing it over sacrificed animals. From ancient Greek krithomanteia divination by barley, from kritho-, combining form of krithe) barley.

CROMNIOMANCY: is divination using onion sprouts. Divination by interpreting onions or onion sprouts. To find out the name of a future husband the names of possible candidates were written on onions which were left on the altar on Christmas eve, then planted, the first onion to sprout indicated who it was to be. This custom is quite old and Brand quotes from a 16th century poem on the subject. Presumedly the rationale inherent in this practice is that the virility of the male, transmitted magically via the written name, will cause the onion to grow quicker. Hence it is a process of selecting the best male. Also, there is the possiblity of the sprouting onion representing the phallus - witness the Old English riddle the answer to which is 'onion', albeit the ostensible answer is 'penis'. Another method, mentioned in Frazer's Golden Bough, comes from Germany, where on one of the twelve days of Christmas, twelve layers of peel, each representing one month, were taken off an onion, and a pinch of salt was sprinkled into each. The next morning the amount of moisture collected in each foretold the amount of rain expected in the coming year.

To this may be added a gardener's rhyme recorded in 1893:

Onion's skin very thin,
Mild winter coming in;
Onion's skin thick and tough,
Coming winter cold and rough.

The word first appears in a New Latin form cromnysmantia, and I assume that Burton is quoting some Latin text which I have not seen. Also, I have not been able to track down a 1660 edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy in Australia and thus have to rely on Brand's secondary evidence, which is not altogether reliable (see Note). Clearly the term is derived from the ancient Greek kromyon or krommyon an onion. This has not been a productive word element in English, and apart from the Sydenham Society's Lexicon which records crommyon as an "Old name for an onion" (citing a 18th century text), I have not found any other examples.
Note that the form cromnio- involves a mispelling retained since the earliest citation!

CRYPTOMANCY: Divination by unrevealed means. From ancient Greek kryptos secret, hidden.

CRYSTAL BALL: A crystal sphere used for divination, especially for scrying. Also called a Showstone.

CRYSTALLOMANCY CRYSTALOMANCY: is divination through crystal gazing. See Catoptromancy. Scrying. Cristallomantia.

1. Divination by means of a crystal ball.

2. Divination by a transparent body such as a precious stone, or mirror; crystal-gazing; crystal-seeing; scrying.

From ancient Greek krystallos crystal. Cf. French cristallomancie, New Latin crystallomantia. Chrystallomancy, Cristallomancy, Cristallomantia, Crystallomancie, Crystalomancy.

CUBOMANCY: Divination by dice. From French cubomancie, from cubo- cube, from ancient Greek kubos a die, kuboi dice.

CURSED BREAD: See Alphitomancy.

CYATHOMANCY: Cup divination, as described at Cattabomancy. Derived from Latin cyathus, ancient Greek kyathos a cup.

CYCLOMANCY: is the practice of divination from a turning wheel. Divination by interpreting revolving wheels. Divination by revolving objects. From New Latin cyclomantia, from ancient Greek kyklos a circle.

CYROMANCY: Middle English variant of chiromancy.

D

 

DACTYLOMANCY DACTYLIOMANCY: is an early form of Radiesthesia using a dangling ring. Divination using rings. Most frequently dactylomancy is done in the form of radiesthesia (divination using a pendulum) and the ring is suspended over various objects. One form uses rings of various metals placed on the fingernails in patterns in conjunction with the planets. Sources indicate it is often used for dowsing. Derived from French dactyliomancie, from the ancient Greek daktylios a finger-ring. According to some sources (eg Shipley, Roget's Thesaurus) there is a distinction between the two forms with 'dactyliomancy' = a suspended ring, and 'dactylomancy' = a finger-ring. However considering that in ancient Greek daktylios means 'finger-ring' and daktylos simply means 'finger', this distinction cannot really hold true as it is etymologically arse-about. The OED did not note any such distinction and noted the dactylo- form as being erroneous. Dactalomancy, Dactylomancy; New Latin Dactylomantia. One method involved placing gold or silver rings on the fingernails in certain conjunctions of the planets. In another way a round table is inscribed with the letters of the alphabet and a ring suspended above. The ring will then spell out the message. Another method involves suspending a ring within a glass. If the glass is struck once it will indicate yes, and twice will be no.

DAPHNOMANCY: requires one to listen to laurel branches crackling in an open fire. Divination by interpreting a burning laurel branch. If the fire crackles it is a positive sign. A form of pyromancy. Bailey 1727 gives the def. DAPHNOPHAGI..certain Prophets or Diviners in antient Times, that pretended to be inspired after the eating of Bay-leaves. Recorded earliest in dictionaries. From French daphnomantie, probably from New Latin daphnomantia, from ancient Greek daphne the laurel tree.

DEMONOMANCY: is divination with the aid of demons. Divination by evoking demons to reveal information. A Gaulean word. Derived from ?French demonomancie, from New Testament Greek (daimon) demon. Dæmonomancy.

DENDROMANCY: is divination with either oak or mistletoe. Divination interpreting trees, especially oak or mistletoe. From ancient Greek dendron a tree. Divination by leaves and branches of plants.

DERVISHING: The practice of whirling into a state of ecstasy. Sometimes cited as a form of Gyromancy (divination by interpreting the fall of a person who whirls until they are dizzy and fall down).

DICE DIVINATION: Palden Lhamo dice divination is conducted with three dice with a number from one to six indicated by dots on each face. Divination associated with other deities can be conducted with dice marked with letters. The dice are made of bone, wood or conchshell. Khamtrul Rinpoche described his own procedure for doing dice divination as follows: For a divination to be successful, it is essential that the diviner should have a pure motivation and the person who came for advice believe in the diviner. It is important that they both pray to the Three Jewels, their root and lineage lamas and their deities, chiefly Palden Lhamo and other Dharma protectors, for a clear answer. If I didn't hear the request clearly, I ask again. Then, I visualise myself as my personal deity Dorje Shonu or Vajra Kilaya and call on Palden Lhamo. Through my long familiarity with her, I can clearly visualise her before me and I request her to give a perfect answer to the person who came for advice. Then 1 throw the dice and according to the numbers indicated on the dice, I refer to a divination book. There are many such hooks written by great lamas and they provide all the possible answers, though once you are familiar with divination techniques reference to texts is no longer necessary".

DIRECT WRITING: Term for a spirit writing without human or mechanical assistance. Distinct from Autography, Automatic Writing and Psychography which are done through human beings.

DIVINATION: The art of using magickal tools and symbols to gather information from the Collective unconscious on the nature of people. places, things, and events in the past, present and future. Also known as Dukkerin, Dukkering.

DIVINATION ON A ROSARY: The person doing the divination prays to the deity he is invoking for the correct answer and recites that deity's mantras. He then holds up the rosary horizontally in front of him, with the fingers of each hand grasping a randomly chosen bead, leaving half the beads of fewer between them. Then the fingers of each hand move towards each other counting three beads at a time. The outcome of the divination depends on the number of beads left. The procedure is repeated three times. When only one bead remains, the result is called `falcon'. When two beads remain, it is called 'raven'. When three beads remain the result is called 'snow lion'. The outcome on the first attempt indicated the extent of the deities' support and the quality of the divination in general. A falcon at the first attempt would indicate support from protectors, luck in a new enterprise, success in a lawsuit. A raven on the first try means the protectors are not on your side. There will be no accomplishment, lawsuit will be unsuccessful and there are enemies present. Such a divination would caution against starting on any new enterprise. A snow lion on the first round would indicate support from the deities, slow but stable accomplishments and weakness on the part of enemies. If the question concerned successful business, this would be regarded as a neutral result. At the second attempt, the outcome indicates conditions to take place in one's immediate environment. The falcon indicates good luck in general, but not much success for those wishing to have children. The risk of thefts and illnesses in general would remain small. The raven indicates serious illness, obstacles to health and a decline in the life force. There will be a tendency for things to get lost or stolen. However, in the case of an ordained person, these negative aspects would be reduced. On the third occasion, the number of remaining beads gives clues about an expected person arriving from elsewhere. This was a very important aspect of life in Tibet, for people travelled constantly and there was no communication system. A falcon with regard to an expected visitor indicates imminent news or arrival. With regard to illness, it would indicate finding the best way to cure it. A raven represents a bad indication concerning expected travellers. They are likely to encounter obstacles on the way will not arrive at all or will be robbed. The sick will not be cured and possessions will be lost or stolen. The snow lion indicates that travellers will arrive late, but come to no harm. Problems with health will be few, although there will be difficulties in finding the right treatment. The best divination would be three consecutive falcons. This would indicate that travellers will arrive quickly, patients will recover and accomplishments will be swift. iv) Bootstrap Divination: This form of divination is popular among nomads. The flat, one inch thick bootstraps are folded over each other into squares and suddenly pulled apart. if the bootlace unfolds freely and clearly it indicates positive signs, while a tangle would be negative.

DIVINER: See Ariolater or Oracle.

DIVINING ROD: A forked rod or branched which is used to for dowsing (locating things underground). Also known as Dowsing Rod.

DOUGHBALL DIVINATION: This method is practised mainly in the monasteries or by individual lamas when an important decisions needs to be made, such as in the search for the reincarnation of very high lamas. A number of possible answers to the enquiry, such as the names of likely candidates for a reincarnation, are written on slips of paper. These are then encased in equal sized balls of dough. Great care is taken to weigh the dough balls to ensure that they are exactly the same size. The doughballs are then placed in a bowl, which is carefully sealed and placed in front of a sacred object, such as the Jowo statue in the main temple in Lhasa, images of Dharma protectors or the funerary monuments of great lamas, requesting their inspiration in deciding the outcome. For a period of three days monks remain in the temple reciting prayers day and night. During that time no one is allowed to touch the bowl. On the fourth day, before all those present the cover of the bowl is removed. A prominent lama rolls the doughballs round in the bowl before the sacred object until one of them falls out. That is the ball containing the answer.

DOWSING: Divination to find a person, place, thing or element in buried in the earth. Dowsing will often involve using a pendulum (radiesthesia) or divining rod (rhabdomancy). More Information

DOWSING ROD: A forked rod or branched which is used to for dowsing (locating things underground). Also known as Divining Rod.

DRIRIMANCY: Divination via dripping blood. I have a feeling that this is probably a ghost word originally arising from a misconstruing of drymimancie. The juxtaposition in Reade of this word with the rare word scatomancy (for which the sole source is Agrippa, and where it appears alongside drymimancie) is very suspicious. If this is indeed a ghost word, then this form and definition would be based on the etymological conjecture: - from driry, a 16th & 17th century form of dreary, representing Old English dreorig, a derivative of dreor gore, falling blood! This etymology involves a number of problems: the word driry never had the meaning "(pertaining to) dripping blood"; the Old English word dreor did not continue into the Middle English period, let alone modern English; a hybrid compound of an obsolete native English word with a Greek ending is unlikely (though see spealomancy); and generally -mancy compounds take a noun as their first element, not an adjective. If this is wrong, then I am unable to suggest any other etymon, as driri- corresponds to no Greek or Latin word recorded in the major dictionaries of those languages. That it may represent a word of some other langauge is highly unlikely.

DRYMIMANCIE: The meaning of this word is a mystery. Perhaps the best definition to give it would be: Medical diagnosis through examination of bodily fluids. Possibly it refered to a medical diagnosis through examination of the bile or vomit, or, perhaps, sweat, or even suppurating pus. The term comes into English in Sanford's 16th century translation of Agrippa, where it appears in New Latin as drimimantia. The exact meaning of the first element of the compound, i.e. drimi-, as used here, is not known. It represents the ancient Greek adjective drimys sharp, acrid, pungent. Used in Hippocratic texts to describe various bodily fluids and fluxes, but not used specifically for any one thing. In ancient Greek the word drimyphageo to live on acrid food, though what exact diet this referred to I do not know.

DUBJED: Tibetan term for Catoptromancy.

DUKKERIN, DUKKERING: Romany term for Divination.

E

 

EGROMANCY: modern form used by Sir Richard Burton, based on a Middle English form of nigromancy meaning "magic"; not actually referring to a species of divination. Etymology Citations: Middle English Citations: modern In Dictionaries It is essentially a variant of negromancy with loss of initial n. A similar process happen in Old French where the word igromancie appears. The loss of the initial n may be the result of metanalysis, i.e. the mis-analysing of a negromancy as an egromancy, however the use of word as a count noun is less common.

ELEAOMANCY: Accord to Wedeck: divination "by observation of liquid surfaces". A rare word, the more common term being lecanomancy. It is presumedly derived from the Greek elaion) olive-oil, though the usual, "regular", combining forms from this Greek root are elaio-, elæo- and eleo-. Often oil was dropped into water when used for divining, and a mixture of water and oil (called in ancient Greek chytla) for rubbing into the skin after bathing, was possibly used in divination. More Information

ELECTROMANCY: A variant form, presumably erroneous, of alectoromancy.

ELEMENTAL DIVINATION: Divination viia the four elementas as follows Aeromancy (wind), Pyromancy (fire), Hydromancy (water), and Geomancy (earth).

EMPYROMANCY: Ancient Greek divination by observing the fire and smoke of burnt sacrifices. Other terms for this are libanomancy and knissomancy. Also, cf. pyromancy and hieromancy. From ancient Greek empyron manteia divination from ta empyra burnt sacrifices. From empyros burning, fiery, on fire.

ENOPTROMANCY, ENPTOMANCY: Divination via mirrors. See Catoptromancy. There is some conjecture about the form of this word. Clearly this form would be derived from the ancient Greek enoptos visible in (a thing), seen in (something). The OED states that this is merely an error for enoptromancy occurring in some dictionaries.
I would tend to agree that it is probably an error, and there are basically three reasons for this:

1. most similar compounds have an ancient Greek noun as their first element, not an adjective;
2. the earliest form includes the r - see Smedley, and,
3. the word occurs in French as eaccute;noptromancie.

Recorded firstly in Smedley, from whence it made its way into 19th century dictionaries. The (most probably erroneous) variant form enoptomancy found favour early on, but no longer appears in dictionaries. Webster's 2nd edition records it, but it has been dropped by the 3rd edition. From French eaccute;noptromancie, from Greek enoptron a mirror.

ENTOMANCY, ENTOMOMANCY: Divination interpreting the appearance and behavior of insects. A form of augury. To this may be referred the various omens of popular folklore, such as crickets bringing good luck, and ladybirds indicating visitors.
Also, here we may note the old superstition of the death-watch. Recorded since at least the 17th century, this was a clicking or ticking noise like that of a watch, which was believed to portend the death of someone in the house within the next twelve hours. It was for many years unknown exactly what it was that produced the noise, however, it was eventually discovered to be a certain beetle that made the sound, apparently its mating call, by striking its head against a hard surface. The ancient Greeks had numerous beliefs about portentious insects. Ants were meant to have presaged the death of Cimon, and, also, the great wealth of Midas was foretold by ants coming to him as a boy while asleep and dropping grains of wheat into his mouth.
According to Potter, bees "were esteemed an omen of future eloquence", and he cites the well-known story of Plato, who, as a baby in the cradle was visited by a swarm of bees which alighted on his lips, thereby predicting his gift of oratory. Obviously this is playing on the idea of words as sweet as honey, mellifluous speech. In fact Plato was known later as the Athenian Bee. An identical tale is told of St. Ambrose. The most obvious insect related to fortune telling would, however, have to be the mantis. This is the ancient Greek name for the insect, and, is identically the same as the word mantis meaning, a diviner. According to Suidas this insect was a type of slow, green, locust. It had long, thin fore-feet, and was possibly, though not necessarily, the same as our praying mantis, though exactly what insect it was is unknown. Apparently it was observed for divinatory purposes. Unfortunately not a lot more is known about it and why it deserved its name. Our modern praying mantis is so-called from the prayer-like attitude of the front-legs, but this is only a modern appellation, dating back to the 17th century. This word is quite uncommon, and is not recorded in OED or other dictionaries. It quite probably was invented quite recently, as the sole citation suggests. From Greek entomos an insect.

EROMANCY: a "bad form of aeromancy", and gives the first two citations as here. Etymologically I guess this is correct, however it does represent the pronunciation better. The latter two citations are even worse forms since they don't even fit their definitions well. What is being described is rather a specific form of hydromancy known as lecanomancy.

EXTISPICIUM: See Aruspicy. A tool used in the practice of exitispicium, exitispicy, aruspicy, haruspicy.

EXTISPICY: See Aruspicy.

EYCHNOMANCY: A misspelling of lychnomancy.

F

FELIDOMANCY: Divination by cats. Not recorded in OED or other dictionaries. Derived from New Latin felidæ the cat genus, from Latin felid-, stem of felis a cat.

FENG SHUI: (Chinese, feng shui: "wind and water"): The ancient Chinese practice of studying and following the natural currents of the Earth to ensure the proper alignment with them so that Qi is not disrupted. Feng Shui is used to determine the suitability and layout of homes, businesses, burial grounds and temples.

FIZNOMANCY: A variant spelling of physiognomancy.

FLOROMANCY: Divination via omens taken from flowers. It is based on the belief in which states flowes radiate vibrations, react to a sypethetic of hostile environment and are affected by electric shocks. See anthomancy and botanomancy. Derived from Latin flor-, combining form of flos flower.

FOLIOMANCY: Either a. divination by leaves of a book, a form of bibliomancy, or b. divination by tea leaves, otherwise called tasseomancy.
Not in OED or other dictionaries. Derived from Latin folio, ablative of folium a leaf.

FRACTOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the structure of fractal geometric patterns.

FRONTIMANCY: A jocular nonce-word for a supposed method of divination using the lines on the face.

G

GASTROMANCY: is an ancient form of ventriloquism whereby the voice is lowered to a sepulchral tone and prophetic utterances are delivered in a trance state. Divination by interpreting the sounds or signs on the belly. Gastromancy is most frequently reported as a voice emanating from the belly and it has been dismissed by most occult investigators as a form of ventriloquism and trickery. An ancient description of another gastromancy technique described placing a child in front of a glass filled with water and illuminating the glass. Divination was done by interpreting the images in the glass.

1. Divination by looking into large-bellied, bulbous glasses and noting magical visions appearing in them. Similar to crystallomancy.
2. Divination by words spoken in the belly, (and according to Gaule) by signs on the belly.

From New Latin gastromantia (Agrippa), French gastromancie, from the ancient Greek gastro-, combining form of gaster the belly, also the wide part of a bottle. Cf. the ancient Greek gastromanteuomai to divine by the belly. New Latin: gastromantia. Rare: (unexplained) gastronomancy

GELOSCOPY, GELOMANCY: is the divination from the tone of someone's laughter. Divination by interpreting laughter. From the ancient Greek gelos laughter.

GEMATRIA: A system of discovering truths and hidden meanings behind words, using numerical values for letters of the alphabet. Each letter corresponds to a number. The numerical values of words are totaled and inter