Diviners and readers: who they are and what they do

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.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Cowrie: NOAA (Photo Collection of Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program), Public domain, source

Greek divination: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Palmistry: Pietro della Vecchia, Public domain, source

Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source

Chinese shamanism: No machine-readable author provided. +上帝+ assumed (based on copyright, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Ifá: Toluaye, Public domain, source

Bibliomancy: Albert Robida, Public domain, source

Dhikr: Eugène Baugnies, Public domain, source

Fortune-telling: Taras Shevchenko, Public domain, source

Oracle bone: Unknown author, CC0, 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

Germanic seeress: Emil Doepler, Public domain, source

The Magician: Pamela Colman Smith, Public domain, source

Renaissance magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source

Oracle: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source

Geomancy: Jacopo188, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Diviners and readers