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 ItalyThe MagicianLe Bateleur
A tarot trump symbolizing power and the link between spirit and matterText 路 Power and authority 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 3 moreDowsing
A divination method using rods or twigs to locate hidden objects and waterBelief Living
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceCartomancy
Divination using playing cards or tarot decks to foresee the futureOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚫馃嚜 Sweden and 3 moreRunic magic
The use of ancient Germanic letters for spells, divination, and protectionTradition 路 Protection 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreSpodomancy
Divination by reading omens in ashes, soot, and cindersOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreAstragalomancy
Divination by casting marked bones, carved rods, or numbered diceOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreTasseography
A divination method that reads fortunes in the sediment of tea or coffee cupsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomTarot (sample)
A deck of cards read for guidance.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚪馃嚭 RussiaCarromancy
A divination method that reads the future from molten wax or candle flamesOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 2 moreTarocco Bolognese
A 62-card Italian tarot deck from Bologna used for games and cartomancyText 路 Wonder and entertainment 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreOomancy
Divination by eggs, reading shapes and signs to foresee events or diagnose spiritual statesOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Living
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomTwo of Coins
A tarot card representing balance, juggling duties, and the struggle to maintain equilibrium.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Oomancy: Rollcloud, CC BY 3.0, source
- Carromancy: Peter Becker, CC BY 2.0, source
- Cartomancy: Alma Erdmann, Public domain, source
- Spodomancy: Tim1965, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tarocco Bolognese: Countakeshi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Astragalomancy: Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tasseography: User:MochaSwirl, Public domain, source
- The Magician: Pamela Colman Smith, Public domain, source
- Dowsing: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Two of Coins: Augusto Rius in 1889 [1] for Heraclio Fournier, CC BY-SA 4.0, source