Human attempts to read, interpret and over-interpret the world are fascinatingly diverse.
This is a list of some divination methods, culled from here and there. Wikipedia has a much more comprehensive list, but these are my favourites. If you happen to have a donkey’s head lying around, or live in a region where wild boar are common, you can try some of these yourself at home…
- abacomancy: divination by dust
- ailuromancy: divination by cats
- alectryomancy: divination by rooster
- bibliomancy: divination by books opened at random
- catoptromancy: divination using mirrors
- cephaleonomancy: divination using the head, often by boiling the head of a donkey
- chiromancy: divination by lines on the hand
- chresmomancy : divination by means of the ravings of lunatics
- cledonomancy: divination by overheard words
- cleromancy: divination by sorting lots
- coscinomancy: divination by the hanging-up of sieves
- cromnyomancy:divination by onions
- cybermancy: divination by computer
- geomancy: divination by markings on the ground
- hepatomancy: divination by liver
- hydromancy: divination by dishes of water
- hyomancy: divination by wild boar
- iconomancy: divination by icon painting
- lecanomancy: divination by oil floating in a dish of water
- libanomancy: divination by smoke of incense
- molybdomancy: divination by molten metal
- myromancy: divination by ant
- natimancy: divination by the buttocks
- necromancy: divination by consulting with the dead
- oinomancy: divination by wine
- oneiromancy: divination by dreams
- onychomancy: divination by the reflections seen in oiled fingernails
- ornithomancy: divination by birds
- plastromancy: divination by the cracks in the plastron of a tortoise
- pyromancy: divination by fire
- rahbdomancy: divination by rods, sticks or wands
- scapulimancy : divination by bones
- scatomancy: divination by excrement
- tasseomancy: divination by tea-leaves and coffee grounds
- tyromancy : divination by cheese
- xenomancy: divination by means of strangers
Image: Takehisa Yumeji, Fortune-telling(from Fujin Graph January 1927), public domain via Wikimedia Commons
