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LAMPADOMANCY: Divination by interpreting a candle or lamp, usually the flame. A form of pyromancy.
LECANOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the sound or image of an object or substance falling into a body of water.
LESSER ARCANA: The 56 suit cards in a Tarot deck that assist in fleshing out the situations indicated by the Trump Cards (Major Arcana), or indicate smaller occurrences in our lives. Also known as the Minor Arcana.
LIBRANOMANCY: Divination by interpreting smoke from incense. A form of capnomancy. Also known as Livanomancy.
LITHOMANCY: Divination using precious or semiprecious stones either by interpreting light reflected from stones (crystallomancy, scrying) or casting them and interpreting the way they fall (sortilege).
LIVANOMANCY: See Libranomancy.
LOGARITHMANCY: Divination by interpreting logarithms.
LUNOMANCY: Divination by interpreting moonlight on a person's face dusted with silver. A form of Selenomancy.
LYCHNOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the flames of three candles. Similar to Lampodomancy.
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MACHAROMANCY: Divination by interpreting knives or swords.
MAJOR ARCANA: The 22 Trump Cards depicting dominant occurrences in a Tarot deck.
MARGARITOMANCY: Divination using pearls and interpreting the light reflected or the way they fall. Similar to Lithomancy.
METAGNOMY: Divination by interpreting visions received in a trance state.
METEOROMANCY: Divination by interpreting falling stars (meteors). A form of aeromancy.
METOPOSCOPY: Divination and character analysis through interpreting facial lines and wrinkles, especially of the forehead.
MINOR ARCANA: See Lesser Arcana.
MOLEOSCOPY, MOLEOSOPHY: Divination and character assessment by interpreting moles on the body.
MOLYBDOMANCY: Divination by interpreting molten tin or lead.
MYOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the appearance and behavior of mice. A form of Augury.
MYRMOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the appearance and behavior of ants. A form of augury.
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NECROMANCY: Divination through communication with ghosts or corpses. The spirits of the dead are sought for information because they are supposedly able to access information beyond that available to the living. Necromantic rites are not practiced in Witchcraft or Wicca. Necromancy differs from other forms of divination involving contact with spirits because it is specifically geared to summoning those spirits that are not existing in a "natural" state and therefore they are assumed to be unhappy and/or malicious.
NOTARIKON: A form of gematria in which the first and last letters of a word or phrase are put together to create a new word, or to turn a word into a phrase. Gematria is a system of discovering truths and hidden meanings behind words, using numerical values for letters of the alphabet. Each letter corresponds to a number. The numerical values of words are totaled and interpreted in terms of other words with the same numerical value. Gematria dates back to the 8th century B.C. Babylon, and has been used by most mystics since that time including the Magi, Gnostics, and Quabbalists. Temurah is a form of gematria that creates anagrams through systematic letter substitutions. See also: Numerology.
NUMEROLOGY, NUMEROMANCY: The system of magick and divination developed by Pythagoras. In numerology, all words, names and numbers may be reduced to single digits which correspond to certain occult characteristics that influence one’s life. Numerology is used to analyze a person’s character; assess weaknesses, strengths and natural gifts; predict one’s future and fate; determine the best place to live; and discover the best times to make decisions and take action. See also: Gematria.
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OCULOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the eye.
OENOMANCY, OINOMANCY: Divination by interpreting wine.
OMEN: A sign, preferably found in nature, that foretells either good or bad events.
OMPHALOMANCY, OMPHILOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the navel (bellybutton). Originally omphalomancy involved counting the number of knots in the umbilical cord to predict how many more children a mother would have.
ONEIROMANCY, ONIROMANCY: Divination by interpreting dreams.
ONOMANCY, ONOMOMANCY, ONOMATOMANCY: Divination by interpreting names.
ONYCHOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the fingernails. The original form was to study the reflection of the sun in the nails of a young boy.
OOMANTIA: Divination by interpreting the shape, color, and patterns (when dyed) of an egg.
OOSCOPY: Divination by nurturing an egg and observing the hatching of a chick. Often used to determine the sex of an expected child.
OPHIOMANCY: Divination by observing the appearance and behavior of serpents. A form of augury.
ORACLE: A person who speaks directly to a Deity to divine or prophesize. Also known as Prophet, Theomancer. See Also: Ariolater, Aruspex, Clairvoyant, Diviner, Haruspex, Seer, Soothsayer.
ORNISCOPY, ORINITHOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the appearance and behavior of birds, especially their flight or song. A form of augury.
OUIJA, OUIJA BOARD (French, oui: "yes"; German, ja: "yes"): A divination tool with the alphabet and numbers laid out on a board. Also called a Spirit Board.
OVOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the yolk of an egg.
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PALLOMANCY: Divination interpreting the movements of pendulum, often used in dowsing. Different forms of pallomancy include:
Cleidomancy (using a key);
Coscinomancy (using a sieve);
Dactylomancy (using a ring);
Also known as Radiesthesia.
PALMISTRY: See Cheiromancy.
PAPYROMANCY: Divination by interpreting folding paper.
PEDOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the footprint of a person, usually encased in clay. A form of podomancy (interpreting the feet).
PEGOMANCY: Divination by interpreting sacred pools, springs, wells or fountains. A form of Hydromancy and often used in conjunction with scrying.
PESSOMANCY: Divination by casting or drawing marked pebbles or beans. A form of Sortilege. Also known as Psephomancy.
PHRENOLOGY: See Cranioscopy.
PHYLLORHODOMANCY: Divination by interpreting rose petals. The original form involved slapping a rose petal against the palm of the hand and interpreting the sound made.
PHYSIOGNOMY: Divination and character analysis by interpreting the face. Similar to Metoposcopy (interpretation of facial lines).
PODOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the feet.
PRECOGNITION: An an inner knowledge or vision of future events, especially those that appear to be inevitable. Similar to Premonition (a vague image or sense of the event).
PREMONITION: A warning of an impending event, experienced as foreboding, anxiety and intuitive sense of dread. Premonitions tend to occur before disasters, accidents and deaths. Similar to Precognition (a clear image of the event).
PROPHECY: A prediction of future events, usually divinely inspired.
PROPHET: See Oracle.
PSEPHOMANCY: See Pessomancy.
PSYCHOGRAPHY: Spirit communication done unconsciously by an individual often in trance, obsession or possession states. Automatic communication has occurred with people in a fully conscious state without their awareness of the action and distinct personality and knowledge variants (e.g.: fluency in an ancient language) have been documented. Psychography is the term applied to written communication and is also known as Autography and Automatic Writing. Psychography is distinct from Direct Writing where a spirit writes directly without human or mechanical assistance. All forms are distinct from Psychomancy where the diviner consciously summons the spirit for communication.
PSYCHOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the soul of a person, their values, beliefs and morals. Also known as Soul Reading.
PSYCHOMETRY: Divination by interpreting an object to obtain information about its history and/or owner. Considered to be a form of clairvoyance and often used to locate missing persons or to assist in solving crime. The term was coined in the mid-nineteenth century by Joseph R. Buchanan, an American physiologist.
PYROMANCY: Divination by interpreting fires, flames or burning objects. There are many different forms of pyromancy including:
Botanomancy (burning branches and leaves);
Capnomancy (smoke);
Causinomancy (burning flammable objects);
Daphnomancy (burning a laurel branch);
Lampadomancy (lamps or candles);
Pyroscopy (burning paper);
Sideromancy (burning straw).
PYROSCOPY: Divination by interpreting burning paper. Originally, pyroscopy was the interpretation of the stains left on a light surface after burning paper, current practice includes observation of the paper as it burns. A form of pyromancy.
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RADIESTHESIA: See Pallomancy.
RHABDOMANCY: Divination using a stick, wand or divining rod. Rhabdomancy is often used in dowsing.
RHAPSODOMANCY: Divination by interpreting randomly chosen passages in a book of Poetry. The most common form is opening a book to a random page to answer a question. The variant of using any book is called bibliomancy or stichomancy and using books by Virgil and Homer is called stoichemancy.
ROADOMANCY: Divination by interpreting the stars.
