Diviners and readers
Babalawos, astrologers, card readers and others who read signs.
Diviners and readers are the people who interpret signs: the Ifa babalawo, the sangoma with her bones, the astrologer, the tarot reader, the palm reader, the Chinese fortune-teller and the oracle priestess. They answer questions about marriage, business, illness and loss. This page looks at how they are trained, who they serve, how they are paid, and the line between guidance and fraud. Their trade is as old as writing.
Training and tools
Training varies. A babalawo studies for years and memorises thousands of verses. An astrologer in India may study classical texts or inherit a practice. A tarot reader may learn from books and a community. Tools include cowries, bones, cards, charts, shells, tea leaves and the lines of the hand. Most readers say their tools open a conversation, and some say a spirit speaks through them. Many keep a strict code of confidentiality, as a priest or counsellor would.
Clients and trust
Clients tend to come at moments of uncertainty. In India, astrologers are consulted for weddings and for names, and in West Africa Ifa is consulted for naming a child. Diviners often act as counsellors, hearing family stories and framing a decision. Some are trusted for decades, while others are strangers in a street, and the difference matters for how fraud is spotted. Fees range from a coin or a chicken to several hundred pounds, and a reading may be offered in a shop, a temple, a market stall or an app.
Regulation and religion
Rules vary widely. Some religious authorities forbid divination, and some states license or tax readers. Fortune-tellers have been prosecuted for fraud in the United States, the United Kingdom, India and elsewhere, particularly in cases that involve large payments to lift a curse. Others practise within religion and are protected, such as Ifa within Yoruba religion. Diviners often keep close to the dominant religion, and many Ifa and Vodou diviners are also baptised Christians.
How scholars read it
Psychologists describe cold reading, in which a reader draws on small cues. Anthropologists describe divination as a social process that can break deadlocks and share responsibility. Many diviners deny they predict the future and speak instead of showing possibilities. Advice on health, law or money from a reader is no replacement for qualified advice. Many say they are paid for their time and skill, as a counsellor might be, and not for any guarantee.
Diviners and readers on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyFortunaFort奴na
The Roman goddess of luck and fate, shown with a wheel and a horn of plentyBeing 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 3 morePyromancy
Divination by reading flames, smoke, or fire-heated objectsOracle 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
馃嚚馃嚦 ChinaOracle bone鐢查
Divination using heated ox bones and turtle shells in ancient ChinaRite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 3 moreRenaissance magic
A 15th and 16th century revival of magical arts blending philosophy, astrology, and hidden knowledge.Tradition 路 Power and authority 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomMother Shipton
An English prophetess and herbalist from folklore, known for predictions printed long after her death.Figure 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing 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
馃嚫馃嚲 SyriaAlectryomancy
Divination using a rooster to select letters from grainOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 4 moreCunning folk
European practitioners of folk medicine and helpful magic from the Middle Ages to the twentieth centuryTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing 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
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion
Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreMagic in the Greco-Roman world
Private supernatural practices in ancient Greece and Rome, distinct from public state religion.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm 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
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 2 moreHaruspicy
Reading animal entrails to discern divine will and omensRite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceWitchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome
Ancient beliefs and practices of magic, curses, and love charms in the Mediterranean worldTradition 路 Cursing and harm 路 Love and attraction 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
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy艢uri饜寫饜寲饜寷饜墿 (Etruscan)
An ancient Etruscan deity of volcanic fire, the underworld, and healingBeing 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
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
馃嚚馃嚦 ChinaMien shiang闈㈢浉
A Chinese practice of reading character and fate through facial featuresBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
馃嚫馃嚲 SyriaMoleosophy
Divination by reading the shape and place of moles on the bodyOracle 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.
- Fortuna: Charles Samuel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Greek divination: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- 艢uri: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public domain, source
- Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia: MM, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, 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
- Haruspicy: Lokilech, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Oracle bone: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Renaissance magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Mother Shipton: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Omen: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Scrying: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Alectryomancy: Konstantin Makovsky, Public domain, source
- Hippomancy: Wer?Du?!, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Witchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome: Wilhelm Tischbein, Public domain, source
- Oracle: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Astrology and astronomy: anonymous, Public domain, source
- Moleosophy: Unknown author, Public domain, source