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.
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
🇮🇳 India and 2 morePalmistry
A divination method that interprets the lines and shapes of the hand to predict fate or reveal character.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Living
🇳🇬 NigeriaOrunmilaỌ̀rúnmìlà
Yoruba deity of wisdom and the creator of the Ifá divination systemBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 2 moreDukun
A traditional healer and spirit medium in Indonesian folk practiceTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 3 morePyromancy
Divination by reading flames, smoke, or fire-heated objectsOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreCowrie
A sea snail shell used as currency, divination tool, and charm across many culturesSubstance · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomTaghairm
A Scottish Gaelic divination rite using sensory deprivation and animal skins to summon spirits.Rite · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyFortunaFortūna
The Roman goddess of luck and fate, shown with a wheel and a horn of plentyBeing · Luck and prosperity · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇸🇸 South Sudan and 1 moreAzande witchcraft
A Zande belief that certain people harm others by an inherited power, judged by oraclesBelief · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇬🇹 Guatemala and 3 moreMaya religion
The living spiritual practices of the Maya peoples, shaped by centuries of contact with Catholicism.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇬🇹 Guatemala and 1 moreTzolkʼinAj Ilabal Qʼij
A 260-day cycle used by the Maya for divination and ritual timingTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇨🇱 Chile and 1 moreMachi
Mapuche spiritual authorities and healers who bridge herbal knowledge and spirit realmsTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreMagic in the Greco-Roman world
Private supernatural practices in ancient Greece and Rome, distinct from public state religion.Tradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 2 moreGermanic seeressvǫlva
Diviners and sorceresses of early Germanic and Norse societyTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Revived
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreAncestor veneration in China中國傳統宗法性宗教
Rites for dead kin who are thought to watch over the familyTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇹 ItalyThe MagicianLe Bateleur
A tarot trump symbolizing power and the link between spirit and matterText · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreRunic magic
The use of ancient Germanic letters for spells, divination, and protectionTradition · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇮🇹 Italy and 3 moreRenaissance magic
A 15th and 16th century revival of magical arts blending philosophy, astrology, and hidden knowledge.Tradition · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomMother Shipton
An English prophetess and herbalist from folklore, known for predictions printed long after her death.Figure · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreOmen
A sign believed to foretell the future and signal coming changeBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptScrying
A divination practice of gazing into a medium to receive visions or guidance.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇸🇾 SyriaAlectryomancy
Divination using a rooster to select letters from grainOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreDowsing
A divination method using rods or twigs to locate hidden objects and waterBelief Living
🇮🇳 IndiaNechung Oracleགནས་ཆུང་ཏ་བླ་མ
The official prophetic medium and spiritual advisor to Tibet's Dalai LamaOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living
🇨🇫 Central African Republic and 5 moreWitchcraft in Africa
Beliefs about supernatural harm and the social responses to accusations across the continentBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo and 4 moreNganga
A spiritual healer and ritual specialist in Kongo religion and its diaspora traditionsTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 3 moreOracle
A person or site believed to channel divine insight and predict the future.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇲🇬 Madagascar and 4 moreGeomancy
A cross-cultural system of divination using earth, sand, and landforms to read the future or align spaces.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Living
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreChinese fortune telling算命 (Suànmìng)
Reading faces, palms, birth hours and places to map a person's luck through lifeTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇨🇳 ChinaOracle bone甲骨
Divination using heated ox bones and turtle shells in ancient ChinaRite · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreTarottarocchi
A set of playing cards used for games and divinationTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇭🇹 Haiti and 2 moreHaitian VodouVodou
An Afro-Haitian religion blending West African traditions with Catholicism and FreemasonryTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇲🇬 MadagascarSikidy
An algebraic geomancy practiced by Malagasy peoples using seeds to read fate and prescribe remediesOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreBagua八卦
A set of eight trigram symbols from China used in divination, cosmology, and feng shui.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living
🇨🇺 Cuba and 2 moreSanteríaRegla de Ocha
An Afro-Cuban religion blending Yoruba beliefs with Catholicism and SpiritismTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMoon blocks筊杯
Two crescent blocks thrown to a deity for a yes or noOracle · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 5 moreIfá
A Yoruba divination system using palm nuts to access spiritual guidanceTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreCunning folk
European practitioners of folk medicine and helpful magic from the Middle Ages to the twentieth centuryTradition · Protection · Healing Historical
🇫🇷 FranceCartomancy
Divination using playing cards or tarot decks to foresee the futureOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreSpodomancy
Divination by reading omens in ashes, soot, and cindersOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Living
🇮🇷 Iran and 2 moreBibliomancy
Divination by opening a book at random and reading the first passage foundOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Living
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 1 moreDhikrذِكْر
Islamic remembrance of God through repeated recitation and prayerRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreFortune-telling
A practice of predicting future events or personal details through various methods and tools.Rite · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Living
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreZi Wei Dou Shu紫微斗數
A Chinese natal astrology system mapping stars across twelve life palacesTradition · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇨🇳 China and 4 moreQimen Dunjia奇門遁甲
An ancient Chinese divination system mapping time and space for strategic decision-makingOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Revived
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreAstragalomancy
Divination by casting marked bones, carved rods, or numbered diceOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇨🇳 China and 2 moreOnomancy
Divination based on the letters, numbers, or written strokes of a person's nameOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreScapulimancy
Divination using animal shoulder blades, practiced across Asia and the Americas.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Living
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 2 moreOpon IfáỌpọ́n Ifá
A carved wooden tray used by Yoruba diviners to read signs and consult spirits.Charm · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tarot: World Web Playing Card Museum, Public domain, source
- Orunmila: unknown Yoruba artist, CC0, source
- Dukun: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Cowrie: NOAA (Photo Collection of Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program), Public domain, source
- Fortuna: Charles Samuel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Palmistry: Pietro della Vecchia, Public domain, source
- Haitian Vodou: Sam Fentress, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nkisi: MiddleOfAfrica, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Witchcraft in Latin America: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Sikidy: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Bagua: TarcísioTS at Portuguese Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Santería: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Moon blocks: Hsiung/d6478coke, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ifá: Toluaye, Public domain, source
- Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cartomancy: Alma Erdmann, Public domain, source
- Spodomancy: Tim1965, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bibliomancy: Albert Robida, Public domain, source
- Dhikr: Eugène Baugnies, Public domain, source
- Fortune-telling: Taras Shevchenko, Public domain, source
- Astragalomancy: Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Onomancy: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Scapulimancy: Albert Peter Low, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Opon Ifá: Unknown author, CC BY 3.0, source
- Tzolkʼin: Lacambalam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Machi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Germanic seeress: Emil Doepler, Public domain, source
- Ancestor veneration in China: Three huntings, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- The Magician: Pamela Colman Smith, Public domain, 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
- Dowsing: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Nechung Oracle: Christopher Michel, CC BY 2.0, source
- Oracle: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Geomancy: Jacopo188, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chinese fortune telling: Lai Afong, Public domain, source
- Oracle bone: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Azande witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source