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DISASTER RELIEF
Donate just a single dollar! And "Yes"your contributions are very welcomed!
The course of study should be wisdom,
but there are many who, unschooled,
unwittingly, unknowing, tread from
the path of wise objectivity into
the mire of folly.
Over the years, as interest in the
paranormal and the unexplained has
grown, there have been an extraordinary
number of reports of horrific events
and terrifying experiences.
Most who have been on the receiving
end of paranormal attack and survived
unscathed will remember the experience
forever, and it will inform every
aspect of their interest in the unknown
for the remainder of their lives.
Others, not so lucky, have been irretrievably
changed by an encounter with the darker
side of the paranormal.
Some others, pitiably, have looked
into the Abyss and not only did the
Abyss look back, it also reached out
and grabbed them.
OUIJA!
Why the “Yes! Yes!” Board
Is a Big “No! No!”
“The
borderland between the worlds of
the living and the dead appears
to be a kind of psychic jungle or
'outlaw territory,’ thronged
with vicious, psychopathic personalities.
If they can find and attune themselves
to a victim, their destructive natures
can operate with even less restraint
than they did while embodied.”
Currie 1978:192
The
Ouija board is one of the most popular
methods of spirit communication among
the curious and initiates in the world
of paranormal investigation. The name
– “Ouija” –
is derived from the French and German
words for “yes” –
oui and ja. Although distributed in
many different types, today the most
recognizable Ouija board consists
of a flat board with the letters of
the alphabet, a series of numbers,
some punctuation marks, and the words
“yes,” “no,”
and “goodbye” printed
on it. Users will place their fingers
lightly on a supplied planchette,
or pointer; a question is then asked
and all present concentrate their
conscious energy on the board and
pointer. If communication is successful,
the pointer will begin to move, spelling
out a series of messages in response
to queries from the person or group.
Called “The Mysterious Talking
Oracle,” sales of the Ouija
board soared during the early part
of the 20th century coinciding with
a growing public interest in spiritualism
and the unexplained. The 1960’s
and 70’s experienced a sort
of Ouija “craze” and the
board became an almost indispensable
part of mainstream home entertainment.
Distributed and marketed as a game,
the board became popular with adolescents
and students, as well as many adults.
The Ouija board is often the first
experience many people have with investigations
into the realm of the paranormal.
It is frequently used by amateurs
and the curious to try to contact
the deceased and other denizens of
the unseen world. It has been stated
that a peculiar science applies to
the Ouija board, making it ostensibly
scientific: if people follow the formula,
they will nearly all get a similar
result – in other words, they
will get cognizant, intelligible answers
to their inquiries. The quality and
duration of the responses, however,
depend entirely on who – or
what – is answering.
Psychics, mediums, and avid students
of the paranormal genuinely believe
in the reality of spirit contact.
Their collective view of use of the
Ouija board is primarily that responses
gained from the board are made by
discarnate human entities as well
as non-human entities, all of which
exist in different states of spiritual
awareness and development. The problem
with an instrument like the Ouija
board is that most often the lowest
entities most closely associated with
our own etheric level will be the
ones attracted to and allowed entry
via the board.
When contact is made with a more spiritually
refined entity, discarnate human or
non-human, the response will usually
be enlightening. If contact is made
with an entity existing on a lower
etheric plane, the response is usually
one of two kinds: the entity will
either appear reassuring and knowledgeable,
perhaps even identifying itself by
a recognizable name in order to more
readily gain trust; or, the response
will be overtly vulgar, tasteless,
even malicious, designed to shock
and disarm the querents. This is one
of the reasons why use of the Ouija
board is often compared to picking
up strangers in bars and inviting
them home (Roy 1996:176).
In the early days of Ouija exploration
the mainstream view was that the “messages”
were simply autopsychic responses
of the subconscious or unconscious
minds of the querents. Similarly,
some skeptics have suggested a purely
human syndrome for the apparent movement
of the board’s pointer ( www.skeptic.com
) Because the Ouija board was primarily
sold in toy stores and people used
it for fun, or alternately for personal
gain such as trying to get winning
lottery numbers, no one was sufficiently
able to explain the circumstances
when groups of people were receiving
cursing, foul language, and even overt
threats from their boards. Though
sometimes explained by skeptics as
the manifestation of alternate personality
patterns in outwardly decent or complacent
people, this simply was not a good
enough explanation as to why this
activity occurred most frequently
with Ouija board use, as opposed to
the results gained from other methods
of paraphysical exploration.
DISCARNATE
HUMAN ENTITIES
“People
who were violent, destructive, or
insane in life are rarely improved
by death, and if they become trapped
in the transition to the afterlife
they can become sources of much
evil. Partly this is an effect of
the emotional atmosphere they generate,
but they can also take a more active
role in causing harm.”
Greer 2004:69
Mediums, clairvoyants, and other “experts”
at contacting the spirit world have
consistently stated that there are
more than one kind of discarnate human
entities existing in the twilight
realms of the spirit world. Most of
the recently dead, who are, in fact,
ghosts, are never seen by the living
again once they have passed beyond
this twilight realm. Under some circumstances,
however, the dead can be trapped in
the lower etheric regions closest
to our physical reality and many times
they either do not know how or simply
refuse to move on. Oftentimes, this
reluctance is the result of sudden,
violent death combined with negative
emotions or circumstances which serve
as tangible links – to the dead
at least – to the physical world.
Circumstances of extreme fear and
pain that abruptly end the life of
a living person can often forge an
enduring connection between the etheric
personality – now a discarnate
human entity – and the world
that person knew while living.
Scholarship and evaluation into years
of Ouija board use has identified
the existence of lower etheric spirits,
dead human beings, who live in a state
of perpetual despair and envy of the
living, resentful of the fact that
those remaining on the physical plane
can still experience everything the
dead cannot. Feelings of hopelessness
often turn to hatred because the dead
keenly feel the loss of their physical
life and want desperately to experience
everything they once knew –
food, alcohol, sex, companionship,
feelings of excitement due to joy
or, more ominously, violence. Because
these entities were once human beings
who otherwise would have passed into
the higher spiritual realms opened
by the death passage, they are unable
to generate the energy necessary to
allow vicarious experience of these
physical attractions WITHOUT a more
developed connection on the physical
plane.
This level of desperation experienced
by the discarnate human will make
it seek out targets for expression
among the impressionable living. Often
the discontented spirit will find
a willing but unknowing victim in
a person who is trolling the depths
of the unknown via the portal of the
Ouija board. This type of communication
has a distinct pattern when users
of the board contact discarnate entities
from the lower etheric levels, as
many researchers into the phenomena
have stated:
“The
invader focuses on the victim's
character weaknesses...If one is
vain, appeals to vanity are made.
'I need your help, ' the seducer
will say, 'and only you can help
me' ...The entity is malicious and
does not hesitate to lie, misrepresent
itself (usually as a deceased loved
one) and flatter. It's better for
the invader, of course, if the victim
is alone, isolated, exhausted and
ill.
If needs be the invader will terrify
its victim, materializing in ghastly
form, inducing grotesque visions,
inciting poltergeist activity, causing
objects to appear out of the blue,
delivering false or tragic news,
levitating objects, perhaps levitating
the victim. All these things and
more might be done ¾ not
as ends in themselves but as a means
to an eventual complete possession.”
(Hunt 1985: 86-87)
As
such, the spirit(s) encourage the
victims to isolate him- or herself
from friends and activities and rely
only on the board for companionship
and communication. Often this results
in debilitation of mental and physical
health, via neglect and obsession;
there are also documented cases of
victims being encouraged to undertake
dangerous and wildly uncharacteristic
activities. The desire to use and
be guided by the board will be uncontrollable
and will persist in the victim day
and night.
Whatever your feelings about the board,
whether it is a valued tool for contacting
a consoling and intelligent spirit
world, or that it is simply a toy
that is easily manipulated by the
subconscious mind of the “players,”
there is ample evidence to suggest
that the board can be a tangible danger
to anyone who is mentally disturbed,
highly suggestible, or who has been
using mind-altering drugs. Experts
unanimously agree that the board should
absolutely be kept out of the reach
of children who are themselves an
open portal of mixed and evolving
energies that spirits often are attracted
to without benefit of an added “talking
oracle.”
Those with complete disregard for
any safeguards where use of the board
are concerned might consider the sobering
evidence presented generations ago
by American psychiatrist Dr. Carl
Wickland who warns:
“The
serious problem of alienation and
mental derangement attending ignorant
psychic experiments was first brought
to my attention by cases of several
persons whose seemingly harmless
experiences with automatic writing
and the Ouija board resulted in
such wild insanity that commitment
to asylums was necessitated...Many
other disastrous results which followed
the use of the supposedly innocent
Ouija board came to my notice and
my observations led me into research
in psychic phenomena for a possible
explanation of these strange occurrences.”
(Wickland 1924 :29)
The
fear among experts is that habitual
use of the board can produce prolonged
contact with the malevolent dead who
are then more readily able to subdue
the victim’s personality and
make contact with the victim at any
time by “talking” in a
voice only the victim can hear or
producing intruding thoughts in the
victim’s head. According to
psychic expert Paul Beard, this can
result in “practically continuous
evil suggestions [that] may involve
visual hallucinations.” In short,
mental illness.
NON-HUMAN
ENTITIES
“The moral here is simple:
the mere lack of a body is no guarantee
of superior knowledge – or
good intentions for that matter
. . .”
Greer 2004:68
Even
the most pedestrian student of the
supernatural and the unexplained knows
that there are many different types
of spirits co-existing with those
of us in the physical world –
albeit most “live” dispersed
throughout other levels of spiritual
development. Still, it is important
to remember that only a certain percentage
of these entities were once living
human beings.
Just as there are benign and helpful
intelligences and spirits who respond
to the seeking human consciousness,
so also there are those non-physical
beings inhabiting a level of existence
that “underlies” or lies
“beneath” matter as we
perceive it. These entities have been
called by a number of names, from
malevolent spirit beings to demons.
However, if we strip the word “demon”
of its latent Christian overtones,
it is a useful and applicable term
by which to define the more dangerous
non-human spirits who lurk in the
border realms between the living and
the dead.
“Our physical bodies are said
to be like phantoms to demonic perception,
while their bodies are on a level
we can’t perceive at all (Greer).”
Connections to demons are made on
the astral level, thus it is through
our imaginations, our thoughts and
feelings, that we initially become
aware of them; conversely, these are
the principal channels they use to
gain access for assault and to cause
us harm.
It is a commonplace theory, especially
among magickal adepts and those researchers
with a strong sense of their own identity,
that demonic obsession and possession
are, in a sense, voluntary states.
That is, as Greer states, “in
order to become subject to one or
the other, a link has to be formed
between human awareness and the demonic
plane, and that link must be formed
from the human side.” As such,
demons enter only with permission,
and activating the channel that is
the common Ouija board is effectively
granting blanket permission to nothing
less than an occupying force.
Once these spirits sense the energy
of an open portal, they immediately
go to work to “realize”
themselves on the physical plane.
To the inept or the emotionally unprepared,
this moment – the instant when
the evil spirit beings or demons first
“see” the flux in the
astral plane – is the one when
we as humans are most vulnerable.
This is the time when the necessary
“potent link” is evoked.
The non-human entities encountered
through the Ouija board, in addition
to being called demons, are also commonly
identified as “blind forces”
– or patterns of energy with
little connection to the spiritual
level of being. Because of this disconnect,
these forces tend to act in unbalanced
ways especially when encouraged or
challenged by human beings. These
latent malevolent forces have no sense
of balance; demons do not even try
to achieve discernable patterns.
Existing as they do in the lowest
etheric level it is not surprising
that when these demonic spirits successfully
make connection on the physical plain,
they are not inclined to relinquish
it easily. By the very baseness of
their origin, these malevolent ones
will begin to manifest the many powerful
weapons in their arsenal: assaults
on the living; haunting and other
manifestations; obsession, often mistaken
for common mental illness; and, of
course, possession of the human victim.
These last two are the most recognizable,
however, often a frequent user of
the Ouija board will begin to experience
a localized and seemingly innocuous
haunting that is usually dismissed
as a ghostly manifestation unconnected
with use of the board. When the nature
of the haunting advances, often worsening
proportionate to the victim’s
continued consultation of the Ouija
board, the manifestation usually takes
on the aspects of assault or attack.
Anyone who has ever awakened to a
smothering sensation, as if someone
is sitting on their chest crushing
the air from them (a manifestation
widely called the “Old Hag”
syndrome) has probably been the victim
of a demonic assault. Frequent users
of the Ouija board often report many
such attacks; in nearly every case,
the horrible sensation is accompanied
by a sense of the presence of overwhelming
evil, characteristic of demonic activity.
Investigative treatises are full of
information on how an episode of demonic
obsession or possession first reveals
itself and knowledge of what to look
for in the way of “signs”
can help to stop a demonic event before
it happens. In the case of the Ouija
board, generally speaking the subject
will spend or seek to access the board
almost constantly; it is the primary
focus of recreation and entertainment
in the victim’s life and he
or she is known to be using it during
most waking hours. Additionally, the
subject will spend an inordinate amount
of time brooding, expressing (either
verbally, physically or in writing)
feelings of a negative nature such
as anger, jealousy, greed, or something
similar. Others who are present when
the victim is consumed in this morose
state will begin to sense a feeling
of chill – this marks the entrance
or presence of the demonic entity.
Often the victim will succumb to feelings
of drowsiness or the overwhelming
need to sleep; the victim will often
also complain of headaches, usually
localized at the base of the skull.
These are all hallmarks that a demonic
presence is gaining access to the
victim.
Querents who use the board in the
company of someone thus afflicted
will also begin to feel the palpable
presence of an otherworldly entity.
Often the sense of fear or dread will
become so overwhelming that friends
are discouraged from keeping the company
of the victim, ultimately isolating
him or her and leaving the way open
for full possession.
“The
victim of possession seems to take
on a completely different personality
. . . Cruelty and malice are the
dominant factors in the demonic
‘personality,’ with
an odd sort of self-pity breaking
through now and again . . . One
thing that nearly all have in common
is the tendency to assault the mind
and emotions, rather than the body.”
It
should be pointed out here that an
environment where experimentation
with the Ouija board is accompanied
by any kind of ritual magick could
produce additional, unexpected consequences.
Many people who are merely dabblers
in the mystery arts often think of
themselves as much more potent than
they actually are: when even the most
adept magicians take every conceivable
precaution to guard against intrusion
by malevolent and demonic entities,
why would anyone proceed into the
realm of ritual magick wearing only
an ego for a shield? Nevertheless,
it is generally proven true that novices
who have an interest in magickal practices
usually are found in possession of
a Ouija board among other divination
tools. If the “magician”
in question is overweening or does
not have the appropriate training,
usually the magick performed will
go nowhere. However, there is always
the possibility that a link with the
etheric plane will be made, especially
if the Ouija has already been used,
and this can spell trouble. Greer
describes this type of uninformed
use of magick as similar to “mixing
together chemicals from a chemistry
set at random; most … will do
nothing, but there’s always
that one chance that one will blow
[his] hand off.”
This question might be more accurately
phrased as: How does the Ouija open?
Seemingly there are as many theories
as there are users and detractors,
but what all the theories seem to
have in common, underlying speculation
and experience, is that the Ouija
board tends, after time, to take on
a mind of its own.
“When we moved from our house
in Mid-City, in New Orleans, we
went over 14 miles away to the new
subdivisions in East New Orleans.
My dad built that new house from
the ground up; no one had lived
in it before us. Before we locked
the old house up for the last time,
we all saw my mom throw that old
Ouija board on the trash; she was
happy to do it, too, because she
hated the thing. But when we got
to the new house, about an hour
later, and I began exploring, I
found the Ouija board, in its box,
alone, in an empty back hall closet.
We had all arrived together, no
one had gotten to the house before
us. But that board got there all
on its own, with no help from anyone
alive, at least. My mom was so disturbed,
she took it outside and made my
dad stand on it until it broke in
half, then she stuck it in the construction
debris that the workers were hauling
away to the dump! I’ll never
forget that, and I’ll never
go near a Ouija board again.!”
– Real life experience of
a New Orleans local.
One
theory that has been propounded recently
points to the strange system of numeric
values assigned to letters of the
Hebrew alphabet. According to investigative
parapsychologist Dr. Julius Eckmann,
similar numeric values apply to the
letters and other markings on the
Ouija board; added to the numbers
present, letter values produce new
sums. Although these values are obscure
and completely unknown to those of
us on the physical plane, to those
discarnate entities on the astral
level (non-human entities in particular),
combinations of these values become
the key to unlocking the board, opening
the portal between the worlds.
Anyone who has used the Ouija board
and experienced the pointer moving
of its own volition, even those with
only minimal success contacting spirits,
has experienced the prelude to the
opening of the board. As described
by Eckmann, the seemingly meaningless
circles and combinations of stops
and starts are actually evidence of
the board decoding itself right before
our eyes. Once the appropriate keys
have been turned, the portal is ready,
and with a willing human subject for
grounding, there is nothing that cannot
come through the opening in the planes.
Though many people dismiss Eckmann’s
theory, it must be acknowledged that
it is possibly one of the best explanation
for why the Ouija board acts the way
it does before it begins to actively
respond. Just like a key to a front
door or a dungeon, perhaps the astral
levels have keys of which we cannot
be aware, and which we unknowingly
turn when we approach and use the
board?
Once open, however, most experts are
in agreement that the board can be
difficult (in some cases impossible)
to “close,” and entities
move freely through it until the board
is broken or burned, or destroyed
in some other manner.
WHAT TO DO
This is where the words, “An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure,” seem to be appropriate.
The best way to protect oneself from
the dangers of the Ouija board is,
of course, not to experiment with
one. But knowing the tenacity of human
curiosity, it is safe to say that
this warning will continue to go unheeded.
That said, if you find yourself involved
in a Ouija board experiment, or if
someone you care about is frequently
exposed to the practice, there are
a number of protective measures that
are suggested by practitioners of
natural and ritual magick that can
be used to forestall the negative
effects of encounters with lower etheric
beings. The operative word here, of
course, is “forestall.”
Magick is “indirect and usually
subtle.” Unfortunately, many
encounters with spirit beings initiated
through use of the Ouija board consist
of physical phenomena as well as mental
and emotional attack. As Greer succinctly
states, “Physical phenomena
need to be handled with physical tools;
if you need to walk through a solid
wall, in other words, you need a bulldozer,
not an incantation.”
Still, magic and its methods are “the
first and foremost line of defense”
against the types of aggressive and
dangerous spirit manifestations that
often accompany Ouija board use. It
has been stated that magickal intervention
works best of these etheric creatures
because they are part of the twilight
world that lies between physical reality
and the spiritual realm. Because magick
operates within the gloaming of this
extra-natural realm, it can therefore
be a very effective tool against the
worst that world has to offer. Protective
amulets, talismans, crystals, and
other such products from the natural
magick apothecary are often very helpful
in preventing negative entities from
zeroing in on a target. Simply put,
if you’re going out in a rainstorm
you want an umbrella: if you insist
on participating in Ouija explorations,
the same line of thinking applies.
Whether by means of a physical item
carried on the body, or by intense
realization of the kind of “white
light” protection forwarded
by metaphysical devotees for years,
the caution here is that one should
never experiment with the Ouija board
(or other methods of spirit contact,
for that matter) without thinking
“protection” first.
In cases where the malevolent affliction
is primarily present in the atmosphere
where a Ouija board has been frequently
used, there are numerous cures in
natural magick beliefs, as well as
potent house cleansing rituals in
the vodoun and pagan beliefs that
are very effective against spirit
infestation. Research and/or referral
through your local magical community
can be all that is needed to produce
the “cure” for the types
of entity-based attacks and hauntings
that so often accompany Ouija experimentation.
In instances where these cautions
either did not occur to the participants
or were wholly disregarded, a situation
may present itself where one or more
persons is being victimized by spirits
who gained access to this physical
level via the Ouija board. In cases
such as this, for those so inclined,
the use of ritual magick by a competent
and well-trained ritual magician is
something to be considered. However,
in most places, the magical community
is a “mixed bag” of sorts
where extremely competent practitioners
can be found, if one looks hard enough,
but usually it is easier to find posers
and egoists of limited knowledge and
little power. These types of individuals
can only make the situation worse.
Additionally, there are plenty of
well-meaning and honest people whose
interest in magick outweighs their
experience and ability; these people
do not have the training to deal with
the darker manifestations of Ouija
board entities and should not be asked
to try. Seeking out a ritual magician,
priest or priestess with a solid reputation
can be accomplished through contact
with your local magickal community.
Another possibility is to seek out
a working circle or coven that performs
collective prayer or blessing rituals.
In this case, “the focused will
of a trained group can often break
even a strongly established link between
a human soul and a demonic power”
(Greer).
Of course, there are instances, especially
in cases of suspected demonic obsession
and/or possession, where the first
step for help should be to seek out
the assistance of trained medical
professionals. The possibility of
the presence of a previously undiagnosed
mental illness should be considered
and, if possible, eliminated before
other esoteric methods are pursued.
If, after full evaluation by medical
professionals, evidence of the obsession
or possession that began with the
use of the Ouija board still exists,
the next logical step is to seek out
the help a trained exorcist, usually
a priest, who will advise and assist,
and, where necessary, conduct an exorcism
to break the hold of the malevolent
spirit. Exorcism is difficult and
dangerous; it should not be sought
out lightly, nor should it be practiced
by anyone but a trained priest, magician
or priestess.
Finally, experts agree that the level
of success achieved in freeing people
from instance of demonic obsession
or possession depends upon the attitude
of the person affected. If he or she
is willing to fight against the plaguing
entity, the outlook is good. If, however,
the afflicted person refuses to participate
in his own cure, there is little anyone
can do.
“Just
because they’re dead doesn’t
mean they’re smart.”
Swami Beyondananda
Despite the negative aspects of this
subject, there is some hope in the
fact that most spirit entities, however
evolved they may be, act within a
balance of set proportions (even when
those proportions are stretched and
disregarded, as in the instance of
malevolent non-human entities). Here,
again, we encounter the concept of
“blind forces.” Strictly
speaking, we, as humans functioning
on an entirely separate plane, may
be at a disadvantage in attempting
to manipulate these forces. In the
event of malevolent activities originating
because of a link between our plane
and other levels of spiritual existence,
we do have a slight advantage. Just
as the blind forces of the twilight
world can be encouraged by our ill-advised
and ignorant experimentation to act
in a certain way, so also, it is often
possible to harness and “redirect”
the forces to act in a more positive
fashion. Thus the illness becomes
the cure and the forces, faced with
having to balance the energy being
channeled toward them, ultimately
negate themselves and return to a
level of existence that is appropriate
for them and, thankfully, away from
our own.
Again, it is important to be guided
in such activity by the steady hand
of a competent magickal practitioner
who is able to approach and manage
a source of such power and malevolence.
However, even such base and troubling
spirits, can be negated when treated
with intelligence and strength. In
the case of Ouija board explorations,
then, intelligence and strength should
pass as bywords: One should possess
the intelligence to recognize the
board for the danger it is and the
strength to leave it alone.
Divination is the attempt
to foretell the future or
discover occult knowledge
by interpreting omens or by
using paranormal or supernatural
powers. The list of items
that have been used in divination
is extraordinary. Below are
listed just a few. Many end
in 'mancy', from the ancient
Greek manteia (divination),
or 'scopy', from the Greek
skopein (to look into, to
behold).
aeluromancy
(dropping wheatcakes in water
and interpreting the result)
aeromancy (divination by examining
what the air does to certain
things)
alectoromancy or alectryomancy
(divination by a cock: grains
of wheat are placed on letters
and the cock "spells"
the message by selecting grains)
alphitomancy (dropping barleycakes
in water and interpreting
the result)
anthropomancy (divination
by interpreting the organs
of newly sacrificed humans)
astragalomancy or astragyromancy
(using knucklebones marked
with letters of the alphabet)
astrology
axinomancy (divination by
the hatchet: interpreting
the quiver when whacked into
a table)
belomancy (divination by arrows)
bronchiomancy (divination
by studying the lungs of sacrificed
white llamas)
capnomancy (divination by
the smoke of an altar or sacrificial
incense)
cartomancy
catoptromancy or crystallomancy
(using mirrors or lenses)
cephalomancy (divination by
a donkey's head)
chiromancy (palmistry)
cleidomancy (divination by
interpreting the movements
of a key suspended by a thread
from the nail of the third
finger on a young virgin's
hand while one of the Psalms
was recited)
coscinomancy (divination by
a balanced sieve)
cromniomancy (divination by
onions)
dactylomancy (divination by
means of rings put on the
fingernails or the number
of whorls and loops on the
fingers)
daphnomancy (divination using
the laurel branch: how did
it crackle when burned?)
dowsing
extispicy (divination by examining
entrails)
fractomancy (interpreting
the structures of fractal
geometric patterns)
geomancy
gyromancy (divination by walking
around a circle of letters
until dizzy and one falls
down on the letters or in
the direction to take)
haruspicy (inspecting the
entrails of slaughtered animals)
hydromancy (divination by
examining what certain things
do in water or when taken
out of water, such as coffee
grounds or tea leaves); hydatoscopy
(if rainwater is used); pegomancy
(if spring-water is used)
hepatoscopy or hepatomancy
(divination by examining the
liver of sacrificed animals)
kephalonomancy (burning carbon
on the head of an ass while
reciting the names of suspected
criminals; if you're guilty,
a crackling sound will be
heard when your name is spoken)
lampadomancy (interpreting
the movements of the flame
of a lamp)
libanomancy (interpreting
the smoke of incense)
lithomancy (divination using
precious stones)
lecanomancy (dropping precious
stones into water and listening
for whistles)
margaritomancy (divination
by the pearl: if it jumps
in the pot when a person is
named, then he is the thief!)
metoposcopy (interpreting
frontal wrinkles)
molybdomancy (divination by
melted lead: interpreting
its noises and hisses when
dropped into water)
myrmomancy (divination by
watching ants eating)
necromancy (communicating
with spirits of the dead to
predict the future)
oinomancy (divination by wine)
omphalomancy (interpretation
of the belly button)
oneiromancy (interpretation
of dreams)
onychomancy (interpreting
the reflection of sun rays
off fingernails)
ornithomancy or orniscopy
(interpreting the flights
of birds)
ovomancy or oomancy or ooscopy
(breaking eggs into a container
of water and interpreting
the shape of the egg white)
papyromancy (divination by
folding paper)
pyromancy or pyroscopy (divination
by fire)
rhabdomancy (using the divining
rod or magic wand)
rhapsodmancy (divination by
a line in a sacred book that
strikes the eye when the book
is opened after the diviner
prays, meditates or invokes
the help of spirits)
scapulamancy
scrying
sideromancy (interpreting
straws thrown on a red-hot
iron)
skatharomancy (interpreting
the tracks of a beetle crawling
over the grave of a murder
victim)
splanchnomancy (reading cut
sections of a goat liver)
stichomancy
tasseography (reading tea
leaves)
tiromancy (interpreting the
holes or mold in cheese)
urim v'tumim (reading sacred
stones attached tothe breastplate
of the high priest in ancient
Judaism)
uromancy (divination by reading
bubbles made by urinating
in a pot)
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