Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency.
Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation.
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Practitioners of cartomancy are generally known as cartomancers, card readers, or simply readers.
Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy involves interpreting a series of 16 figures formed by a randomized process that involves recursion, followed by analyzing them, often augmented with astrological interpretations.
Zener cards are cards used to conduct experiments for extrasensory perception (ESP). Perceptual psychologist Karl Zener (1903–1964) designed the cards in the early 1930s for experiments conducted with his colleague, parapsychologist J. B. Rhine (1895–1980). The original series of experiments have been discredited and replication has proven elusive.
Scrying, also known by various names such as "seeing" or "peeping", is the practice of looking into a suitable medium in the hope of detecting significant messages or visions. The objective might be personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or inspiration, but down the ages, scrying in various forms also has been a means of divination or fortune-telling. It remains popular in occult circles, discussed in many media, both modern and centuries old.
Alectryomancy is a form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird, several birds, or most preferably a white rooster or cockerel pecking at grain that the diviner has scattered on the ground. It was the responsibility of the pullularius to feed and keep the birds used. The observer may place grain in the shape of letters and thus discern a divinatory revelation by noting which letters the birds peck at, or the diviner may just interpret the pattern left by the birds' pecking in randomly scattered grain.
Tasseography is a divination or fortune-telling method that interprets patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments.
Lithomancy is a form of divination by which the future is told using stones or the reflected light from the stones. The practice is most popular in the British Isles.
Oomancy refers to divination by eggs. There are several methods to how this can be done, but an example would be the oracular reading of the shapes that a separated egg white forms when dropped into hot water. This method greatly resembles molten lead divination, which ascribe meaning to the shapes and forms into which hot lead solidifies.
Dactylomancy, from the Greek word for finger, is a term used by proponents to define a form of divination using rings.
The Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the state seal for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the state's website, the seal was authorized by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1791, and is "a symbol of authenticity which verifies that proclamations, commissions and other papers of state are legal and official."
Favomancy is a form of divination that involves throwing beans on the ground and interpreting the patterns into which the beans fall; it is therefore a type of cleromancy. Various forms of favomancy are present across the world's cultures. The term comes from the Vicia faba meaning Fava bean, and by way of cult etymology, from the Latin faba for "bean" and formed by analogy with the names of similar divination methods such as alectromancy.
Onychomancy or variously onuchomancy, onychomantia, onycomancy, onymancy is an ancient form of divination using fingernails. It consists of watching the reflection of sunlight on the oiled fingernails of an unpolluted boy, then interpreting the symbols that appear.
Ailuromancy or aeluromancy, also known as felidomancy, is a form of theriomancy. It is divination using cats' movements or jumps to predict future events, especially the weather.
Podomancy is a divination by examining the lines of soles. Similar to palmistry, where the divination is based on the person's palm shape and lines, podomancy is based on the belief that a person's feet represent the symbol of that person's soul. Diviners interpret sizes, shapes and lines of the feet to (supposedly) reveal the personality and the future of the person to be divined upon. Podomancy used to be a popular form of divination in China.
Abacomancy, also known as Amathomancy a form of divination based on the interpretation of the patterns in dust, dirt, silt, sand, or the ashes of the recently deceased. Reading the patterns is believed to give some insight into the future. Readers drop the dirt, sand, or ashes on a flat surface and start looking for a pattern that may represent symbols or pictures. They interpret these symbols and pictures to what is going to happen in the future. Some look for certain symbols that are seen over and over. Jackson Pollock, renowned painter, was famous for his series of paintings on abacomancy, which focused on the patterns in the paintings he made to foretell the future.
The Vergina Sun, also known as the Star of Vergina, Vergina Star or Argead Star, is a rayed solar symbol first appearing in ancient Greek art of the period between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. The Vergina Sun proper has sixteen triangular rays, while comparable symbols of the same period variously have sixteen, twelve, eight or (rarely) six rays.
Futomani is a traditional Shinto system of divination. Practitioners attempt to foresee future events by interpreting the pattern of cracks made by heating the shoulder-blade of a stag. The practice is thought to predate the introduction of divination by tortoiseshell, which was imported from China; archaeological evidence suggests it originated as early as the Jōmon period.
African divination is divination practiced by cultures of Africa.
