Seeing and foretelling
Divination, omens and oracles: asking what is hidden or still to come.
Divination is the attempt to learn what is hidden or still to come. It is found in nearly every culture, from the Chinese I Ching and Ifa in West Africa to the tarot, astrology, palm reading, the Roman augurs and the Greek oracle at Delphi. People consult diviners about marriage, trade, health, journeys and loss. This page covers who reads, what is read, and how the practice is regarded. It is among the oldest and most widely repeated forms of ritual.
What is read
Diviners read many things. Some read natural signs, such as birds, the entrails of animals, cracks in a heated shell or bone, and the stars. Some read objects thrown or drawn at random, such as bones, cowries, cards, runes, tea leaves or lots. Others receive answers in trance, dreams or possession. In China, oracle bones used in the Shang period are among the earliest written records. Many diviners say the reading is shaped by the question asked.
Who reads
The role can be a profession, a family inheritance, or a sign of calling. Ifa babalawo are men, while the Greek Pythia was a woman. Astrologers served courts in India, Persia and Europe, and card readers in cities serve poorer clients. Class and gender shape trust: a palace astrologer and a roadside parrot-reader may use the same texts and be judged very differently. Readers of the same system may disagree, and the best known diviners are expected to admit that signs can be read more than one way.
Law and religion
Responses vary. The Hebrew Bible forbids certain divination, medieval Christian authorities condemned it, and Islamic scholars largely reject claims to know the unseen, while still permitting dream interpretation and astrology in some schools. Modern states regulate fortune-telling under fraud laws, and some Indian states have passed laws against exploitative practices. Divination also persists inside religion, as in Ifa and Buddhist temple lots. Other traditions, such as Buddhism and Sikhism, reject much divination as a distraction from the path, while their followers may still visit astrologers for family matters.
Why it endures
Psychologists explain its appeal through the Barnum effect and confirmation bias, and a good reader also reads the client. Anthropologists add that divination can give a community a way to settle disputes and accept a choice. Practitioners often say their work is guidance, not prediction. A reading is not a substitute for medical, legal or financial advice. A reading is a performance of listening, and what a client takes from it often depends on what they already feel and on what they decide to do afterwards.
Seeing and foretelling on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
馃嚫馃嚲 SyriaAlectryomancy
Divination using a rooster to select letters from grainOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceCoscinomancy
A divination method using a sieve and shears to reveal guilt or answer questions.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 3 moreOracle
A person or site believed to channel divine insight and predict the future.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreCapnomancy
Divination by reading the shapes and movements of smoke from fires or incenseOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptScrying
A divination practice of gazing into a medium to receive visions or guidance.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 3 morePyromancy
Divination by reading flames, smoke, or fire-heated objectsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreMyomancy
A divination practice that reads omens in the actions of rats and miceOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceDodona螖蠅未蠋谓畏
The oldest Greek oracle, where wind in oak leaves revealed the will of Zeus and DioneOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚠馃嚩 Iraq and 1 moreLibanomancy
Divination by reading the smoke and ash of burning frankincenseOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚫馃嚲 SyriaMetoposcopy
A divination method that reads personality and fate from forehead linesOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreHydromancy
Divination using water to reveal the future or judge legitimacy.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceAeromancy
Divination by reading the sky, wind, and cloudsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalySanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia
A vast Roman sanctuary complex in Palestrina that housed an oracle and a temple to the goddess of fate.Tradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Historical
馃嚚馃嚦 ChinaI Ching divination
A Chinese oracle using hexagrams derived from yarrow stalks or coinsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceGreek divination
Ancient methods of consulting deities for prophecy and omens in Greek cultureOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚚馃嚦 ChinaPodomancy
A divination method that reads the lines and shapes of the soles to reveal character and fateOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 2 moreLecanomancy
Divination using a dish or bowl of water to read the futureOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreHippomancy
Divination through the movements, sounds, and tracks of horsesOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreDream questionShe'elat Halom
A Jewish divination practice seeking prophetic answers through dreamsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
馃嚢馃嚳 Kazakhstan and 2 moreKumalak覜冶屑邪谢邪覜
A Central Asian shamanic divination using stones or dung sorted on a gridOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptScatomancy
A divination method that reads fortunes by examining bodily excrement or animal waste.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
馃嚤馃嚬 LithuaniaLazdeika the CrabKrabas Lazdeika
A rainbow crab used as an oracle to predict basketball match outcomes in Lithuania.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceTrophonius韦蟻慰蠁蠋谓喂慰蟼
A Greek hero turned subterranean oracle god at LebadeaFigure 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 IndiaNaeviology
A divination method that reads the future from moles and scarsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreScyphomancy
Divination by reading signs in a cup of water or listening for voices within the glass.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 2 moreFavomancy
Divination by throwing beans and reading the patterns they form on the groundOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚫馃嚲 SyriaMoleosophy
Divination by reading the shape and place of moles on the bodyOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreCromniomancy
Divination by onions to reveal health, love, weather and distant newsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Love and attraction Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Greek divination: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia: MM, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- I Ching divination: A.Davey, CC BY 2.0, source
- Lecanomancy: Author Robert Burns Translator Alexander Smith Illustrator C. A. Vande, Public domain, source
- Libanomancy: 4174332, CC0, source
- Metoposcopy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Hydromancy: Roger McLassus, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Aeromancy: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Capnomancy: Tigerzeng, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Podomancy: Eyefive45, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Scrying: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Alectryomancy: Konstantin Makovsky, Public domain, source
- Dodona: Marcus Cyron, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hippomancy: Wer?Du?!, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Myomancy: Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Oracle: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Coscinomancy: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Public domain, source
- Moleosophy: Unknown author, Public domain, source