Saturday, February 1, 2020

Methods of Divination















Divinatory methods are divination systems, known as oracles or mancies (examples palmistry, aeromancy, arithmancy).
The most well-known are probably the tarot, the pendulum, the shell oracle, the crystal ball, the runes.
Divination seeks to determine the meaning or occult causes of events, predicting other people's thoughts or feelings, future changes in their lives, through varied practices of consulting oracles.
Not wanting to generalize or abbreviate, some of these oracles are more than mere oracles, Runes for example also serve as a protective amulet and can be used in magic, the crystal ball or dark mirrors are also used for "scrying" to obtain visions, inspirations in an altered state of consciousness.
The pendulum belongs to the activity of dowsing (radiesthesia), besides being able to be used to obtain answers, it serves for many more things; how to measure energy of places and people, detect presence of entities, locate lost objects, etc.

I will list here some divinatory methods out of curiosity, it does not mean that I believe in the effectiveness of all, some are ancestral methods from ancient times when the superstitions and superstitions were different.
Some methods I won't even mention, because they are absent and others involved necromancy and dark stuff.

Cartomancy:
Most people are familiar with this name, it consists of divination by dek of cards. It is believed that nomadic gypsies brought this divination to Europe.

Actinomancy:
Divination by the radiations of the stars.

Acutomancy:
Divination by the shapes or drawings of needles or pins thrown in water. In this method, 25 needles are placed in a dish and then a little water is poured over them. The needles that cross will indicate the number of people that will disturb the querent during a certain period.

Aeromancy:
Consult the signs or shapes of the clouds, or by the winds. Variant: Nephelomancy.

Ailuromancy:
It was a method of divination that was based on observing the behavior of cats, also known as felidomancy.

Aelectromancy:
Art of guessing by means of a Rooster. The operation was carried out in this way: A circle is drawn with charcoal, dividing it into four portions, with the alphabet around it, in each letter a grain of wheat or corn is placed. Only the rooster in the center is released and the letter that he eats the corn is forming words.

Anthracomancy:
Divination using burning coal.

Apantomancy:
Through chance encounters with animals. This ranges from normal superstitions about black cats, finding an eagle or butterfly is a sign of luck, entering a white dove at home was a sign that someone would die, etc.

Arachnomancy:
Divination through the silk web that the spider weaves.

Arithmancy:
Consult the numbers corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. An old form of Numerology. Invented by the Chaldeans who passed it on to the Greeks.

Astragalomancy:
Oracle through matches or dice thrown into the air and the way they fall.

Astromancy:
Ancient name that means the same as Astrology.

Augury:
Interpret the flight of birds. Another name: Heteromancy. I confess that the term Augury is misapplied, in Wikipedia they associate with divination related to birds, however the Auguries would be signs related to more things (be it signs in the sky, lightning, a cat that crosses our path etc).

Bibliomancy:
Biblio does not always mean Bible, the term means set of books. Divination by interpreting words or phrases in a book open at random.

Brontomancy:
Brontomancy is the art of divination by interpreting thunder or thunderstorms. It is considered a branch of aeromancy.

Captromancy:
Using mirrors, and through a ritual and invocation to a god or goddess, visions were obtained in the mirror.

Cafeomancy:
By interpreting the coffee grounds in a coffee cup or dish.

Ceromancy:
Interpreting figures that the drops of wax from a candle formed when dripping into the water. Or even interpret a flame of the candle.

Crystallomancy:
Through crystal gazing, e.g. the crystal ball.

Cleromancy:
Divination by throwing dice and interpreting the results. Variant: Lacomancy.

Dactyliomancy:
Oracle through a gold ring suspended on a wire (mimics the operation of a pendulum), ancient Roman divination method.

Dominomancy:
Consultation with pieces of a domino, with objective answers as yes or no. 

Scapulomancy:
Oracle for the interpretation of animal bones (bone reading). Another name: Osteomancy. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks threw the fingers and vertebrae of sheep carefully marked.

Eromancy:
Very common method among the Persians, which should be done in the following way: the asker holds a bowl of water in his hand as slap his face with a cloth. Then ask a question and watch the water. If it have bubbles, the answer will be positive.

Halomancy:
Oracle observing the design of spilled salt on a smooth surface.

Iridomancy:
Consultation by observing the iris of the eyes. There is also iridology.

Lecanomancy:
Lecanomancy, it is a form of hydromancy developed by the ancient Assyrians consisting of divination by interpreting the patterns and ripples left on the surface of water from a basin when precious stones are dropped in. The sound of the dropping stones along with the ripples formed are interpreted. 

Libanomancy:
Interpret the smoke patterns produced by incense, or magical herbs to burn.

Nominomancy:
Query by the first letter of someone's name, cabbalistic gematria..

Numerology:
Query by numbers (another older name or method would be arithmancy.)

Onichomancy:
Divinatory art in which the consultant's fingernails are observed.

Ophiomancy:
System in which the movements of snakes are interpreted.

Oniromancy:
Interpretation of dreams. The old name for this method was Brizomancy. 

Ouija
Famous spirit board consisting of a clipboard with the alphabet and other symbols. Used to keep in touch with spirits.
There is a board game registered with the Department of Commerce of the United States of America with the name of Ouija, in French Oui is yes, in German Ja is yes.
The principle on which the Ouija board is based became known after 1848, the year in which two American sisters, Kate and Margaret Fox.
A "cup game" method is also used with pieces of paper with letters written around a glass, this method can be called psychomancy.

Pyromancy:
Interpret the flames of a fire. You can also interpret the shape of a candle flame.

Psychomancy:
Consulting the discarnate spirits (eg with Ouija board or cup game).

Palmistry /Chiromancy:
Interpret the lines of the hand to predict the future. Another variant is Chirology but this focuses on talking about the person's personality and life.

Rabdomancy /Dowsing:
Consultation using a pendulum or metallic rod. This term Rabdomancy was the old name for Radiesthesia/ dowsing.

Runemal:
Consult of the runes. Runemal was the art of using the runic alphabet to get answers.

Selenomancy:
Consult the movements and the state of the moon.

Tarology:
Divination using tarot cards.

Theimancy /or Tasseomancy:
Interpreting tea leaves originated in ancient China and the emperors used this method to make predictions of future events. Similar to cafeomancy, the remains of tea leaves in the cup are interpreted. The spread of this practice went through Turkey, Russia and, later, Europe.


Asamod



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