Today is the wrap-up of this series. I've had a lot of fun researching the various methods of fortune telling, and I've saved the best - maybe I should make this the strangest - ones for last.
Aleuromancy is the use of flour for divination. The word comes from the Greek aleuron, meaning flour, and manteia, meaning divination. Divination with flour is attested in cuneiform sources from the 2nd millennium B.C.E. The Greeks would bake slips of paper with sentences on them inside of balls of flour, mix the balls nine times, and distribute them to those wishing their fortunes to be told. Modern fortune cookies are a variant on this form of divination. Another method used was sloshing out a mixture of flour and water from a bowl and interpreting the patterns of floury residue left on the bottom and sides. As well, sometimes flour was poured out in small heaps and the interpretation was based on the observation of their shapes and orientation.
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Axinomancy is a term derived from the Greek axine ('axe') and manteia ('divination') and applied to an obscure form of divination from the heating of an axehead in the embers of a fire. Another method of Axinomancy recorded among the ancient Greeks is that of placing an agate stone on a red-hot axe; its motion is taken to indicate the identity of someone guilty of a crime. Yet another method is through the observation of how an ax or hatchet quivers or points when driven into a tree or post.
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Cephalomancy was a form of divination using the skull or head (sometimes boiled) of a donkey or goat. Cephalomancy technically means "head divination" and therefore applies to any sort of divination using a skull or head. It covers two different methods: one was concerned with the shape of the skull, somewhat like extispicy or phrenology. The other, cephaleonomancy, involved heating a skull while reciting various phrases, often the names of criminal suspects. If the skull crackled or the jaw moved while a name was spoken, this was taken to identify the guilty party. (Cephaleonomancy literally means divination by a donkey's head, but it also applies to the same technique using a goat's skull.).
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Cleidomancy is derived from the Greek kleis ('key') and manteia ('divination'), this term is applied to a large number of different methods of foretelling the future through the use of a key. One method involved writing a question on a key and placing the key in or with a Bible, which was then hung in such a way as will permit it to turn — the direction of movement dictating the response. Sometimes both would be hung upon the ring-finger of a virgin, who then had to softly recite from the bible. Another method involved placing the key in a clenched fist and allowing a pregnant woman to touch one of the two proffered fists. If she touched the one in which the key was held, then it was claimed that the child would be a girl.
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Gyromancy is from the Greek guros ('circle'), and manteia ('divination') and is said to be a method of divination in which the diviner walks around a circle of letters until he or she is too dizzy to continue; the letters against which they stumble or the direction of the fall is supposed to spell out a prophetic message. Another method is to have a person spin around inside a circle drawn on the ground, the perimeter of which is marked with the letters of an alphabet. The divination is inferred from the letter at the position where the person either stumbles or falls across the circle’s edge. The person would repeat the practice until he produced an intelligible sentence. The dizziness brought on by spinning or circling is intended to introduce randomness or to facilitate an altered state of consciousness.
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Leconomancy, is a form developed by the ancient Assyrians consisting of divination by interpreting the patterns and ripples left on the surface of water from a basin when precious stones are dropped in. A special bowl was used, where the water was covered by a thin layer of animal oil or fat. After a question was asked, the diviner dropped a consecrated stone, usually marked with mystical symbols. Whether or not the oil separated determined the final prognostication. For meditation, the water was gazed upon, invoking a self-hypnotic state for divination.
Another form of divination where a stone is thrown into a basin of water. The scryer will divinate by the sound the stone makes in the water and the images of the rippling water. Sometimes oil is used instead of a rock. In this case the scryer interpretes the shapes of the oil floating on the water.
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Omphilomancy is divination by the navel. This method of divination has two forms. One consists on the interpretation of the belly button - by its size and shape an individual's personality and/or fate is revealed. The second form is based on interpretation of the umbilical cord; the number of knots in the umbilical cord of a newborn baby shows how many more brothers or sisters are to come.
Closely related to this is Omphalomancy, or navel gazing, which developed to include aspects of an individual's character, for example anyone with a navel that inclined inward was considered to be introverted while a child's navel that protruded out indicated an extrovert. The protruding navel is also meant to indicate someone who is usually optimistic in nature and quite light-hearted.
An interesting aspect of navel gazing is when it is applied to suggesting life expectancy the longest lived possessing a circular navel that also indicates a shy retiring individual who lives a quiet life. The navel is employed as a link to the spiritual dimension because when conceived a child derives through the physical umbilical chord provided the spiritual communications necessary before birth. When the physical chord is severed the spiritual chord remains invisibly connected. Through this connection we communicate with our spirit in the spirit dimension and do so when we dream.
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Oomancy employs eggs for the purpose of divination. Fragile, yet full of promise, eggs can symbolize life, fertility, prosperity, new beginnings and protection. The most common method uses separated egg whites which are dropped into hot water. Divination is performed based on the shapes assumed by the rapidly-cooked egg whites. A second method is to read the external shell of the egg. Method three is an ancient way to determine the gender of an expectant mother's child. She incubates a chicken egg in her bosom and when the chick is hatched its gender will determine the gender of her child.
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Rumpology or "bottom reading" is a pseudoscience performed by reading the lines, crevices, dimples, warts, moles and folds of a person's buttocks in much the same way a chirologist would read the palm of the hand.
According to Jacqueline Stallone, a foremost American rumpologist, rump reading is an art that was practiced in ancient Babylon, India, Greece, and Rome. She claims that the ancient Greeks thought the butt was the key to health and fidelity. She says the Romans used butt prints the way some people use graphology today: to determine potential talents and future success.
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Urimancy is divination by the observation of urine, either by its color, by its taste, by its flow patterns, or by the patterns formed when it hits the ground or in a swirling bowl. A divination can also be made by reading the bubbles in urine that form when urinating into a pot. Its origin can be found in medicine, where examination of urine is used as a diagnostic tool. As with many forms of divination, the original basis is extrapolated and exaggerated to the extent that it is said that the urine does not only give indications of a person's health, but also foretells the future.
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