Divination in Nature

Aeromany which is divination by signs in the sky has various subsets.  One is chaomancy, the divination of aerial visions such as what clouds form or apparitions such as signs of the Wild Hunt.  Cometomancy (Nephomancy) is the divination by the appearances of comets such as Halley’s Comet.

Cromniancy is the divination by onions.  The onions are usually inscribed with an answer.  Before they are planted, a question is asked.  The first onion to sprout provides the answer.

Metoposcopy is the interpretation of facial wrinkles to determine a person’s character.  The noted mathematician Girolamo Cardano (1501 – 1576) invented this form of divination and combined it with astrology.  The facial features added with various Star Signs would predict the character and fate of a person.

Molybdomancy is divination by melted lead.  After dropping the hot lead into cold water, the diviner would predict the future by the noises that the lead made.  Another form of this particular divination was to look at the shapes that the cooled lead made.

Papyromancy is divination by folding paper.  The diviner reads the creased paper the way that a palm reader would read a person’s palm.  Another form of papyromancy is done by folding an illustrated piece of paper and interpreting the resulting image.

Another form of papyromancy is folding the paper into an origami device that can be manipulated with the fingers.  The questioner gives a color or number.  Then the diviner recites a rhyme with the color or counts the number as they are manipulating the origami device.  Then the diviner lifts the flap of one of the folded pieces of paper, and the person’s fortune is revealed.

Sciomancy is divination by shadows.  A person’s shadow is examined by its size, shape, and appearance.  A shadow with no head or no shadow at all was considered to be a bad omen.

Works Used:

---, “Adula, The Worldwide Encyclopedia of Divination”, 2010, http://www.adula.com/index.php?title=Main_Page,

Carroll, Robert, “The Skeptic’s Dictionary”, 2012, http://www.skepdic.com/

---, “Divination”, “Paranormal Encyclopedia”, Paranormal-Encyclopedia.com, 2008, http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/d/divination/types.html