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.
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreAstrology
A divinatory practice that reads human fate through the positions of celestial bodies.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚥馃嚞 Madagascar and 4 moreGeomancy
A cross-cultural system of divination using earth, sand, and landforms to read the future or align spaces.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreMagi
Priests of Zoroastrianism and the figures who inspired the word for magicTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreBook of Thoth
A collection of ancient Egyptian texts attributed to the god of writing and knowledge.Text 路 Power and authority 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 3 moreGematria讙讬诪讟专讬讛
A numeric writing system that assigns numerical values to words and phrases for interpretation.Text 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreHermetica
A collection of ancient texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, covering magic, alchemy and philosophy.Text 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Change and initiation Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 2 moreBibliomancy
Divination by opening a book at random and reading the first passage foundOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
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 moreCapnomancy
Divination by reading the shapes and movements of smoke from fires or incenseOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 3 moreCleromancy
A divination method that uses random chance to reveal divine willOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚠馃嚩 IraqBabylonian astrology
The first organized system of celestial divination in the ancient Near EastTradition 路 Protection 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreOmen
A sign believed to foretell the future and signal coming changeBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚫馃嚲 SyriaAlectryomancy
Divination using a rooster to select letters from grainOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚜馃嚫 Spain and 2 morePicatrix睾丕賷丞 丕賱丨賰賷賲
A medieval Arabic handbook of talismanic magic and astrologyText 路 Power and authority 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
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 2 moreSibylline Oracles
A mixed collection of ancient prophecies attributed to pagan prophetesses but shaped by Jewish and Christian writers.Text 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚲馃嚜 YemenDhu'l-Khalasa匕購賵 丕賱賿禺賻賱賻氐賻丞
A pre-Islamic shrine in Yemen destroyed by early Muslim forces.Text 路 Cursing and harm 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 4 moreAstrology in the medieval Islamic world毓賱賲 丕賱賳噩賵賲 (Ilm an-Nuj奴m)
The study of celestial influences on earthly affairs within the medieval Islamic traditionTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 1 moreMundane astrology
A branch of astrology that reads the horoscopes of nations and governments instead of individuals.Tradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelJewish astrology诪址讝指旨诇讜止转 (mazz膩l么t)
A belief system within Judaism that celestial bodies influence earthly affairs and human destiny.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran士Ilm al-岣r奴f毓賽賱賿賲 丕賱賿丨購乇購賵賮
A system of Arabic numerology that assigns numerical values to letters to reveal hidden meanings in the Quran.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 3 moreAstrology
A divinatory practice that links celestial positions to human affairs and earthly eventsTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreTeraphim转专驻讬诐
Ancient Hebrew household figures linked to ancestry, property rights and divinationBeing 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreKhidr丕賱禺囟乇
A Qur'anic guide and saint believed to hold hidden wisdom and aid those in need.Being 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceAstrology and astronomy
Two disciplines that shared a history before splitting into science and divinationTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority 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
馃嚫馃嚲 SyriaMoleosophy
Divination by reading the shape and place of moles on the bodyOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreWorship of heavenly bodies
Veneration of stars, planets, and the sky as divine forces or deitiesTradition 路 Protection 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 5 moreJewish views on astrology讞指讻职诪址转 讛址诪址旨讝指旨诇讜止转
A long-standing debate within Jewish thought about the influence of stars and planetsBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority 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
馃嚫馃嚲 Syria and 1 moreLots of the ApostlesSortes Apostolorum
A Christian divination text based on casting lots to seek guidance from the apostles.Text 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Rabisu: editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain, source
- Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: Jean-Louis Durant (1654-1718), Public domain, source
- Magi: Colijn de Coter, CC0, source
- Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- Bibliomancy: Albert Robida, Public domain, source
- Libanomancy: 4174332, CC0, source
- Metoposcopy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Capnomancy: Tigerzeng, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jewish astrology: Talmoryair, Public domain, source
- Omen: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Alectryomancy: Konstantin Makovsky, Public domain, source
- Picatrix: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Myomancy: Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sibylline Oracles: Domenichino, Public domain, source
- Cleromancy: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Public domain, source
- Mundane astrology: Andreas Cellarius, Public domain, source
- Worship of heavenly bodies: Jean-Pierre Dalb茅ra, CC BY 2.0, source
- Teraphim: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Gematria: Bethsheba Ashe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Geomancy: Jacopo188, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Khidr: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Astrology and astronomy: anonymous, Public domain, source
- Moleosophy: Unknown author, Public domain, source