Strange Methods That Put Tarot Cards To Shame

Acultomancy attempted to read and see someone's future. Practitioners dropped seven to twenty metal or bone needles into water or onto powder. They read and interpret the needle arrangement or the tracks they made in the powder.

Nomadic Romani people often use this divination, called sortilege. Sortilege predicts the future by casting or throwing token items. The term comes from the Latin wordacus, meaning pin or needle, oraculeus, which means pointed barb.

Cats have long beenlinked to Pagan magic and folkloric tradition, so practitioners of ailuromancy use cats to predict future events. They read special meaning in the cats' movements, especially how and when they jump, and how they land.

Ailuromancy usually predicted weather. If a cat turned from a burning log, it could signal rain or frost. Known as felidomancy, ailuromancy comes from the Greek termailouros, meaning "small cat."

This divination tells the future using birds. Practitioners scatter grain or seed on the ground. They watch the movements of one or many birds, and how they eat the grain. A white rooster is the best animal for alectryomancy.

One popular alectryomancy form comes from the Greek wordalectryon, meaning rooster - the diviner performs this by writing letters on the ground and scattering feed on the letters. Then, the diviner watches which letters the rooster pecks. This technique connects to divination methods that formed the basis for the Ouija board.It links to the same divination techniques that started the Ouija board.

Alphitomancy did not tell the future. It used it mainlyto decide guilt or innocence among suspects. They fed the accused special barley bread; those who choked or had indigestion were guilty. Later, this expanded from crime to checking loyalty and cheating.Among suspects, the accused ate specially prepared barley bread. Those who choked or had indigestion were guilty. Later, this method shifted from judging crime to checking loyalty and infidelity.

During the Middle Ages, alphitomancy used special bread to gain truth. They kneaded the bread with salt and milk, then baked it on burnt cinders. Practitioners rubbed the loaf with certain leaves. Barley bread was preferred because it was hard to eat without coughing, suggesting it pointed toward the guilty person.

Anthropomancy useshuman sacrifice to determine someone's fateAnthropomancy involves cutting open a sacrificial victim, often a child or a female virgin, while alive. The practitioner then divines the future from the shape and color of the victim's intestines and internal organs. Sometimes, the screams and violent movements of those sacrificed also provide clues for the fortune-telling.

Ancient cultures practiced anthropomancy starting in the Neolithic era. The ancient Egyptians used it most often. Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate practiced anthropomancy and had many young children sacrificed. The Spartan king Menelaus reportedly killed two children to examine their entrails while stuck in Egypt due to bad winds.

Some ancient cultures used archery and arrows to find out the future. This method led to belomancy, where different answers to a question were written down and attached to feathered arrows.These answers were written down and tied to feathered arrows.The arrows were then shot far away. Chamber's Encyclopedia explains this.Chamber's Encyclopedia.People sought signs of the future from the mark on the first arrow found. Another belomancy method involves looking for the answer on the arrow that flew the farthest.

Ancient cultures, from the Chaldeans through the Greeks, Babylonians, and ancient Arab societies, used belomancy. A lost traveler seeking direction could throw an arrow up. They then walked in the direction the arrow's tip pointed when it hit the ground.

Ancient Romans used daphnomancy to check if their future looked bright or dark. They tossed laurel leaves onto a fire. They interpreted the sound of the burning leaves and the fire's brightness. Loud crackling meant a good sign. Silence meant a bleak outlook. A hotter, brighter flame signaled a better future.

The practice is named after...The practice is named after the mythological Greek nymph Daphne.Daphne ran from the flirtatious Apollo. Apollo turned her into the world's first bay laurel tree. Before daphnomancy became common, people took laurel leaves from the sacred Grove of Apollo. Soon, any laurel leaves could be thrown onto a fire pit.

Gyromancy is a form of divination similar to the modern Ouija board.Gyromancy involved drawing a circle on the ground.People wrote all the letters of the alphabet or other symbols in a circle. Then, a person or group would walk or spin inside the circle until they got dizzy and fell, or stumbled out. The letters they touched or accidentally stepped on were recorded and read to predict the future.

Two other gyromancy methods used similar actions. One involved having people spin in wild circles or dance until they were tired, then interpreting their confused words. The second method involved drawing a small circle of letters and spinning a coin in the center, recording which letters the coin touched during the spin.

Margaritomancy used pearls in various ways. Practitioners either cast pearls or looked at pearls inside oysters, according toThis book shows Dunwich's guide to gemstone sorcery.The most common margaritomancy version used determined someone's guilt or innocence.

A pearl went into a cast iron pot, which the person suspended over a fire.Dunwich's GuideThe guide explains: If the pearl bounced or jumped out of the pot when the local magistrate read the accused person's name, this signaled guilt.

This divination method uses molten lead and steel to predict the future. One wouldpour the liquid metal into baths of ice water.Then, one magically interpreted the hissing sound the molten material made hitting the water, plus the shapes the solidified metal drops formed.

This practice, still used today mainly in Finland and Scandinavia, typically uses metal figures the size of a bouillon cube. People melt these pieces in a metal ladle over a flame and pour them into a water basin. The metal shape before melting usuallyshows what you are trying to divine.For example, one might melt a metal pig to see the future of their farm, or a metal heart to figure out the health fate ahead.

Starting in the Middle Ages, people strongly believed letters in a name could show a person's fate. Sometimes, they found the number of each letter, added them up, and used that in a numerology system. Other times, people thought a person's fate or even their sanity could be decidedby counting the vowels in their name.

Onomancy mostly determined romantic fate and non-magical people often practiced it. A common onomancy method involved writing potential suitors' names on slips of paper. People then performed tests to find the name of a future spouse. For instance, rolling the paper into bread chunks and dropping them in water meant the bread bit that floated up held the slip naming the person you would fall in love with.

This specific divination usedrose petals or leavesPhyllorhodomancy used a rose bush to answer yes or no questions, acting like a Magic 8-Ball. Practitioners took a petal or leaf between their fingers and asked a question out loud. Then, they slapped the petal or leaf onto the palm of their other hand.Practitioners slapped the petal or leaf onto the palm of their other hand.A clear, crisp sound from the slap meant "yes." A muffled or quiet slap meant "no."

The name derives from the Greek wordPhyllorhodomancy is a strange method that puts tarot cards to shame.meaning leaf, andRhodon is a strange method that puts tarot cards to shame.Another phyllorhodomancy method involved cutting three roses at the stem, like for a bouquet. They placed them in a water vase, assigning one rose to "yes," one to "no," and one to "maybe." The rose that lasted longest gave the answer.

Rhapsodomancy is a form of bibliomancy, which uses books to divine the future.Rhapsodomancy specifically uses books of poetry to presage events or answer questions. The common method involved picking a book, opening it to a random page, selecting a random presage, and reading it aloud for interpretation.This method presaged events or answers questions. Practitioners took a chosen poetry book, opened it to a random page, selected a random presage, and read it aloud to interpret.

While that simple version was popular, other techniques needed more prep. One rhapsodomancy form resembled casting runes. This required lines from a specific poem to be written on small pieces of wood, then tossed into a bucket and drawn randomly.Lines of a specific poemRhodon were written onto small pieces of wood.Rhapsodomancy involves writing onto small pieces of wood.These pieces were tossed into a bucket and drawn randomly. Two common books for rhapsodomancy were the ancient Chinese text theI, Ching, created Rhapsodomancy.Rhapsodomancy uses the ancient Greek sibylline books of prophetic prose.

Sternomancy, like anthropomancy which reads entrails from human sacrifice, needs a victim's life to work. It comes from the Greek wordSternomancy involves sternon.meaning breastbone; omens were interpreted based on the corpse's breastbone size, shape, and color. Fortunes also came from the bone's color and sound in a fire. Today, cracking a wishbone for luck is a modern version of this.Omens were interpreted based on the size, shape, and coloration of a corpse's breastbone.Fortunes also came from the color and sound the bone made in a fire. Cracking a wishbone for luck today is a modern remnant of this divination.

Another sternomancy form avoided the breastbone, using women's breasts instead. This practice believed sternomancy determined a woman's personality and character through her breast size, shape, nipple color, and shape.

This ancient divination art looks atTiromancy uses the mold that grows on cheese.The mold's shape, color, and number of holes determined the future and revealed past and present secrets. These factors helped determine a person's fate regarding love, money, and life's end.

Tiromancy reached peak popularity in the Middle Ages. Everyone, from expert fortune-tellers to regular people, used it. A common tiromancy, also called tyromancy, involved writing different possible answers.They wrote different possible answers.People wrote answers on cheese. The cheese piece that grows mold fastest shows your answer.

For this divination, a person only needs to look at the path they walk.They look at the path they are walking to predict the future.Xylomancy comes from the Greek word.xylo.xylo means wood. Xylomancy predicts the future by reading wood pieces, twigs, and fallen branches you find while walking. Practitioners read the wood's shape, the patterns on the ground, its color, and its size.

Xylomancy methods changed over time. Early on, only naturally fallen twigs and branches served divination. Later, the practice expanded, adding a sortilege element. Diviners would take a branch, strip off the bark, and toss the strips on the ground.They toss the bark on the ground to tell the future through the shape of the strips as they land.The shape of the strips as they land tells the future.

Have you wondered about the origin of "Their lives hang in the balance"? Look at zygomancy.Look no further than zygomancy.Zygomancy uses metal weights and scales to predict the future and determine guilt or innocence.Zygomancy uses metal weights and scales to predict the future and determine guilt or innocence.Ancient zygomancy involved weighing a person suspected of a crime against a large Bible. This was also an early form of bibliomancy.

Many cultures worldwide used different forms of zygomancy, though the Greeks and Romans used it widely.Various cultures use different forms of zygomancy.The Scandinavian Lapps culture has a sacred rock representing their god. If they lift the rock and it feels heavy, their god is angry. If it feels light, their god is happy.

A West African tradition involved a pregnant woman lifting an iron hammer. If she lifted it easily, it was a good sign for her pregnancy. If she could not, she would not have a child yet.