#alectryomancy

[lunar-witches]

🌟 Types of Divination 🌟

🃏 Tarot Reading: Ah, the classic! Shuffle those cards, lay 'em out, and let the symbols tell your story. It's like a psychic storytime with beautifully illustrated cards.

🔮 Crystal Ball Gazing: Channel your inner fortune teller and gaze into the shimmering depths of a crystal ball. See visions, symbols, or just a really fancy paperweight – your call!

☕ Tea Leaf Reading: Sip your cuppa, but don't toss those leaves! The way they settle in your cup can unveil the mysteries of the universe. Get ready to decipher some leafy hieroglyphics.

🖐️ Palmistry (Chiromancy): Study the lines, mounts, and shapes on your palm. Each crease tells a story about your life path, personality, and potential. It's like reading a roadmap to your destiny right on your hand!

🕊️ Feather Divination: Feathers are more than just fashionable accessories for birds! They can carry messages from the spirit world. Find one, meditate on it, and decode its wisdom.

🌀 Runes Casting: Norse warriors used them, and now you can too! Grab some ancient runestones, cast them, and let the runic symbols weave tales of your destiny.

🕯️ Candle Scrying: Light a candle, focus on the flame, and let your visions come to life within the flickering glow.

🌿 Pendulum Magic: Swing that pendulum and ask it some yes-or-no questions. Allow the pendulum to swing freely and always keep your hand still to allow the energy to truly answer you questions.

🌗 Numerology: Numbers, man! They're everywhere, and they've got a lot to say. Discover your life path, destiny, and soul numbers.

🔍 Scrying Mirrors: Stare into the abyss... or, well, a special mirror! Gaze deep, and let the answers reveal themselves.

🌊 Water Scrying: Gaze into the reflective surface of water – be it a pond, a lake, or even a scrying bowl. Watch as ripples reveal the unseen.

🐚 Shell Divination: Channel your inner mermaid! Listen to the whispers of seashells and let them reveal their secrets. You can also collect a handful of different shells and cast them. Their placement, pattern, etc, can reveal important details!

🗝️ Key Casting (Cleidomancy): Gather a collection of old keys, close your eyes, and toss them onto a cloth. The position and arrangement of the keys will unveil symbolic messages or answers to your questions. It's like unlocking the secrets of the cosmos, one key at a time.

🎶 Music Divination (Alectryomancy): Play some tunes and let the lyrics, melodies, or even random song selections speak to you. The songs that resonate can offer messages or insights about your current situation. Let the music be your mystical DJ!

With this ever-growing list of divination methods, you'll have a magical tool for every occasion. Trust your intuition and let your inner seeker explore the mystical world of divination. Happy divining, cosmic explorers! 🔮🌠

[hagoftheholler]

Chickens are better at divination than a lot of people I've met, and serve to me as firm proof that magic is not exclusive to humans. We do Alectryomancy with our flock of birds and they are very precise, and handle complex questions very well.

Okay but that's so interesting! I'll have to do some research into that. We keep chickens, and I never thought of that before.

[tencrowns]

Varieties of Divination

So I was digging through my old high school/college era book of shadows and found this list that I apparently xeroxed from a book called Weird 100 (a quick google, and I'm pretty sure it's The Weird 100 by Stephen J. Spignesi). Some of the methods are very... specific? What is it with all the attention to fingernails? I can't vouch as to the authenticity of any of these or how the author characterizes them, but I thought folks might find it interesting. Under the cut, as it is quite a long list.

54 Divination

Aeromancy: observation of atmospheric phenomena such as thunder, lightning, clouds, comets, storms, etc.

Alectryomancy: a rooster pecks seeds of grain off letters drawn in a circle and spells out the name of a person.

Aleuromancy: messages written on paper are wrapped in balls of flour and then mixed up nine times and distributed. The person’s fate is revealed by the flour ball they receive. (This may have been the ancestral forefather of the Chinese fortune cookie.)

Alomancy: salt is “read” for a prediction.

Alphitomancy: barley is given to people suspected of crimes; whoever gets sick from eating it is guilty.

Amniomancy: the flesh “caul” membrane found on the faces of some newborns is read for information.

Anthropomancy: male and female entrails are studied.

Apantomancy: chance meetings, especially with animals, are interpreted for meaning.

Arithmancy: numbers are interpreted.

Armomancy: a seer examines a persons’ shoulders for meaning.

Axinomancy: an axe or a hatchet is used as a tool for predicting the future by balancing an agate on the blade, or observing the direction of the handle when the axe is thrown.

Belomancy: arrows are shot into the air and the direction of their shafts when they plunge into the ground is observed.

Bibliomancy: a person suspected of being a wizard or sorcerer is weighed. If he weighs less than the local church’s bible, he is innocent.

Botanomancy: questions are carved onto brier branches and then the branches are burned. 

Capnomancy: smoke (sometimes from the burning of poppy seeds) is observed.

Catoptromancy: (also known as Enoptromancy): a mirror predicts a person’s fate by the condition of the reflection of their face.

Causimomancy: flammable items are thrown into a fire; if they do not burn, it is a sign of coming good fortune.

Ceraunoscopy: phenomena of the air (clouds? Wind?) are observed.

Ceroscopy: melted wax disks are read by a magician.

Cleromancy: black and white beans, bones, and stones are thrown and read; also known a the “Throwing of Lots.”

Clidomancy: the name of a person whose fate needs to be decided is written upon a key which is then hung on a Bible. The Bible is then hung on the fingernail of the ring finger of a virgin. The direction in which the swaying book turns determines the fate of the person in question.

Coscinomancy: a sieve, a pair of scissors, and the thumbnails of two people are used in concert to determine innocence or guilt. The sieve is hung by a thread from the shears which are supported on the thumbnails of the two people in question. The direction of the sieve’s spin determines the guilty party.

Critomancy: cakes and other food items (mostly baked goods) are read, usually by spreading out the flour of the cake and interpreting it.

Dactylomancy: a ring is suspended above a table on which are written the letters of the alphabet; the ring’s movement over the letters spells out messages; similar to pendulum dowsing.

Daphnomancy: a laurel branch is thrown into a fire and observed.

Demonomancy: demons are consulted for occult knowledge.

Eromanty: the use of air. The Persians devised this method of divination in which they would breathe over a vase filled with water. Bubbles in the water meant that the objects of their desire would come to them.

Gastromancy: seers answer questions by listening to voices emanating from a person’s stomach. This is usually a fraudulent form of ventriloquism.

Gyromancy: a small circle is drawn on the ground and the letters of the alphabet are written on its circumference. The person who wants an answer to a question stands inside the circle and is spun around repeatedly until he is too dizzy to stand up. The letters he stumbles over as he falls out of the circle spell out his answer.

Hippomancy: the movement of certain sacred white horses divines the future.

Hydromancy: this refers to various uses of water as a means of divination, including throwing things into water, and suspending things on a string over water.

Kephalonomancy: a piece of carbon is burned on the head of an ass (or sometimes a goat), tas the names of suspected criminals are recited. If a crackling sound is heard when a certain person’s name is mentioned, he is guilty as charged.

Lithomancy: refers to any number of forms of divination using stones.

Margaritomancy: a pearl is placed beneath an upside down vase and the names of suspected criminals are recited. When a guilty person’s name is mentioned, the pearl will fly upwards and shatter the bottom of the vase.

Muscle Reading: a seer reads the unconscious muscle movements of a person who is suspected of knowing some truth that needs to be revealed.

Myomancy: the behavior of mice or rats is observed.

Necromancy: the spirits of the dead are consulted and they reveal the future and answer questions.

Onimancy: divination by observation of a manifestation of the angel Uriel after oil of walnuts mingled with tallow is placed on the fingernails of an “unpolluted” boy or young virgin.

Onomancy: the spelling and distribution of vowels and consonants in a person’s name is studied for meaning.

Onychomancy: divination by observing the sun’s reflection in a person’s fingernails.

Oomantia: eggs are observed.

Ornithomancy: the flight and/or song of birds is observed and studied for meaning.

Phyliorhodomancy: rose leaves are read.

Psychomancy: the spirits of the dead are invoked for information and guidance (this is similar to necromancy).

Psychometry: telling the future by holding something possessed by a person

Pyromancy: telling the future by reading fire.

Rhabdomancy: using a rod or staff for divination.

Rhapsodomancy: this method of divination involves opening a book of randomly selected poetry and reading the first verse the eye falls upon. There will be occult meaning in the passage.

Spodomancy: divination by reading the ashes and cinders of any number of different sacrificial rites.

Stolcheomancy: a form of Rhapsodomancy in which the works of Homer or Virgil are used.

Stolisomancy: the way a person dresses foretells the future (you can write your own joke for this one).

Sycomancy: the leaves of the fig tree are read for meaning.

Xylomancy: the Slavonic method of telling the future using the position of randomly found small pieces of wood that a person happens to come across during a journey.

[suryasanja]

Divination method: Theriomancy

image source

From greek thḗr (beast, animal) + manteia (prophecy).

Theiromancy (also known as zoomancy) is a divination method that foretells the future by interpreting animal’s behavior. 

The animal's behavior is divined in combination with its surrounding. Anything from a wounded limp to vigorous pursuit and attack, including its emotional states like fear, grief, anger, excitement or peace are divined in combination with the sounds it’s producing such as grunting, puffing, hissing, screeching, etc.

The animal can represent a certain energy, idea, person or event. In that case, the diviner draws a parallel between the two and interprets the outcome.

A few examples of theriomancy:

Ailuromancy (cats) Alectryomancy (rooster) Augury (birds)   &   Auspicy (bird migration) Entomancy (insects) Canomancy (dogs)   &   Ololygmancy (the howling of dogs) Ophidiomancy (snake) Nggam (spider or crab)

[aliteralchicken]

super intelligent wheelchair user ginger coloured chicken, was she not made for babs? She’s oracle and you’re not even going to throw in a reference to alectryomancy? The chicken was even shot? And could use a computer that was *green*??? What are you doing dc, give her that chicken-

Chess rivals in my mind

[0starkafterdark]

Top Tens - Mythology: Top 10 Mancy (9) Theriomancy

  (9) THERIOMANCY – ORNITHOMANCY / ALECTRYOMANCY (AUGURY) The way of animal powers Similarly to my previous entry for somatomancy, theriomancy, or divination by animals, is likely one of the first methods of divination in human history – or prehistory. After all, prehistoric humans depended on closely observing animal behavior, including in effect to divine patterns from that behavior, so it was…

[theladymorganlefay]

Alectryomancy 

(also called alectoromancy or alectromancy) is a form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird, several birds, or most preferably a white rooster or cockerel pecking at grain that the diviner has scattered on the ground. The observer may place grain in the shape of letters and thus discern a divinatory revelation by noting which letters the birds peck at, or the diviner may just interpret the pattern left by the birds' pecking in randomly scattered grain.

In another version, the observer tethers the bird in the center of a circle, around the perimeter of which is marked the alphabet, with a piece of grain at each letter. For each grain the bird pecks, the observer writes down the letter which that grain represents. The observer also replaces each grain as the bird eats it, so that letters may be repeated. The sequence of letters recorded will presumably contain a message.

[peregrineggsandham]

But that’s wrong? Someone can say “Its raining”, but that doesn’t mean the other person hears or even understands them, even if they speak the same language. It means nothing.

I mean, we can just talk about the sequence of sounds that we can write out phonetically as /ɪts ˈreɪnɪŋ/. And yes, those are inherently meaningless. It's just a bunch of noises! As I said, nothing iconic, or even remotely evocative of rain.

But meaning is formed around that sequence of sounds by those who create and hear it - speaker and listener alike. And that meaning is predicated on a wonderful mix of speaker intention, listener bias, historical context, shared cultural knowledge, and a host of unspoken conversational maxims and patterns.

I was definitely focusing on the meaning as interpreted by the listener in that last post, so I'm sorry if that confused things. And I was sort of assuming that the listener and speaker were in an ongoing conversation and understanding each other. But even if they weren't, even if the listener couldn't understand the speaker, that doesn't mean the utterance itself "means nothing". If said with the intent to communicate, then it definitely means something at the very least to the speaker! Like you said - someone can say it! And there lies a full half of the meaning.

Conversation is inherently a collaborative act, but it starts with the speaker's intent behind an utterance. They're taking a complex idea - the concrete "rain", the more abstract "-ing" and "'s", the somewhat idiomatic "it" - and turning that combination of ideas into the movement of a stream of air, following a strict set of patterns and rules that developed organically over thousands of years. That's neat!

If the listener doesn't speak the language, or mishears, then they may not pick up on that meaning. It could just be sounds, to them. Or they may even misunderstand, and pick up an unintended meaning. If they lack some of the required context (e.g. by not knowing a word), or if the speaker is flouting one of those unspoken maxims (e.g. by being sarcastic) and the listener doesn't realize it, the meaning may be warped.

The utterance of the sounds /ɪts ˈreɪnɪŋ/, the writing of the phrase "It's raining", you're right that these aren't inherently meaningful. If the sequence "itsraining" happened to appear in a randomly-generated string of letters, I wouldn't personally assume any meaning to it. And since this train of thought did start on the topic of magic, I'll say I find nothing particularly magical about a string of random sounds or letters either.

(Now, if you did see meaning in that random string, I think you'd effectively be practicing some kind of divination, by believing that there was intent behind the randomness. That the universe or whoever or whatever produced the string was actively trying to communicate with you. That's a pretty common idea when we talk about certain kinds of "magic". I think it's interesting that words, symbols, and communication from some unseen "speaker" are so integral to our understanding of it, and I think there's something to be said there for seeing language itself as an inherently "magical" thing regardless of whether your interlocutor is just your next-door neighbor or... whatever you personally believe is at the other end of an alectryomancy session. But dammit Jim I'm a phonetician, not an occultist.)

Point is, in conversation, in the context of a person speaking to another (regardless of whether it's understood), an utterance (or any sequence of symbols) is meaningful because of the intent behind it. Not the sounds themselves, but the very act of turning ideas into symbols - and back again.

...

I apologize if I'm repeating myself a bit - it's quite late and the question of "what does it mean for a utterance to have meaning" is actually a really interesting and complicated one, anon!

I'm admittedly being more flowery and less technical about it here because in the end my other main point is just "Isn't language really astoundingly neat?", but this is the stuff from which journal articles are written. (Usually involving a surprising amount of predicate logic.) It's an important line of inquiry because it can help explain a lot of where communication goes right and wrong, how misunderstandings happen, and how to effectively convey ideas to others.

That said, to be fair this isn't my specific area of expertise - I'm in the phon/phon corner where we ask people to make noises and stare at spectrograms all day, this is more the sem/prag corner where they put lambda calculus and philosophy in a blender.

@cryptotheism Ach, look what you made me do, I'm rambling about sounds.

[abyss-idiot]

These all are actual things, or close to the real thing that is in Pythagoreanism. The two that I have the hardest tell if they are actually real is 6 and 9. Its hard to find references at the moment, the one I do know the most about is the first rule. "Abstain from beans." Its hard to find exactly what's going on with this rule but it was a thing in Pythagoreanism. Pythagoras specifically prohibited the consumption of Fava Beans, alongside the meat of a non-sacrificial animal. (There are also sources that say otherwise, but with the game going with not eating beans I'ma continue like its true.) The reasons I have found on why this was a thing was either they contain the spirits of the dead, another probable cause is Favism, a result with someone who has G6PD or "Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency" consumes Fava Beans. He may have made a connection with eating beans and getting sick so as a way round solution he banned beans.

Also Swallows were associated with Aphrodite, and White Roosters may have to do with Alectryomancy (A form of divination). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alectryomancy

Apeiron's Ancient Rules/Taboos

Oh, don't mind me! I'm just gonna list down all of the ancient rules the Apeirons should follow. This was recorded by Ms. Radio, so if you're having trouble remembering, I can give you a help!

Abstain from beans.

Do not pick up what has fallen.

Touch not a white rooster.

Do not poke the fire with swords.

Do not jump over a crossbar.

Do not cut wood on a main road.

Do not enter the hall in new garments. Enter the hall from the right and leave from the left.

Do not keep swallows around your house.

Do not sleep on a grave.

Make the bed as soon as you wake up, leaving no imprint of your body.

I never been taught or researched much about Pythagoreanism, so if anyone knows history, leave a comment on what these rules are referenced!

[theblackbookofarkera]

Alectryomancy

A common form of divination in some parts of the world alectryomancy uses chickens to foretell the future...yes,chickens. The particulars may vary but it commonly involves a white chicken, an alphabet or series of sigils drawn upon the ground and grains of wheat placed upon the letters of symbols. The diviner will ask a question and based on the pattern the chicken consumes the grains. In the dubious art of divination alectryomancy may not be one of the most effective but certainly one of the more creative.

[absinthe-and-alabaster]

types of divination from roget’s thesaurus~ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  tag urself im oneiromancy

by stars: astrology, horoscopy, astromancy, judicial astrology

by oracles: theomancy

by the bible: bibliomancy

by ghosts: psychomancy

by spirits seen in a magic lens: cristallomantia

by shadows or manes: sciomancy

by appearances in the air: aeromancy, chaomancy

by the stars at birth: genethliacs

by meteors: meteormancy

by winds: austromancy

by sacrificial appearances: aruspicy (or haruspicy)

by the entrails of animals sacrificed: heiromancy, heiroscopy

by the entrails of humans sacrifices: anthropomancy

by the entrails of fishes: ichthyomancy

by sacrificial fire: pyromancy

by red-hot iron: sideromancy

by smoke from the altar: capnomancy

by mice: myomancy

by birds: orniscopy, orinthomancy

by a cock picking up grains: alectryomancy (or alectoromancy)

by snakes: ophiomancy

by herbs: botanomancy

by water: hydromancy

by fountains: pegomancy

by a wand: rhabdomancy

by dough of cakes: crithomancy

by meal: aleuromancy, alphitomancy

by salt: halomancy

by dice: cleromancy

by arrows: belomancy

by a balanced hatchet: axinomancy

by a balanced sieve: coscinomancy

by a suspended ring: dactyliomancy

by dots made at random on paper: geomancy

by precious stones: lithomancy

by pebbles: pessomancy

by pebbles drawn from a heap: psephomancy

by mirrors: catoptromancy

by writings in ashes: tephramancy

by dreams: oneiromancy

by the hand: palmistry, chiromancy

by nails reflecting the sun’s rays: onychomancy

by finger rings: dactylomancy

by numbers: arithmancy

by drawing dots: sortilege

by passages in books: stichomancy

by the letters forming the name of the person: onomancy, nomancy

by the features: anthroposcopy 

by the mode of laughing: geloscopy

by ventriloquism: gastromancy

by walking in a circle: gyromancy

by dropping melted wax into water: ceromancy

by currents: bletonism

[aquapede]

i was tagged by @chewwytwee to do this thing so here it goes

name: i’m not putting my actual name so let’s say Mago

nickname: Ghost, Mirror

gender: demigender

star sign: leo

current time: 2:30AM baybeee

song stuck in my head: maple treeway from mkwii

last movie I watched: uhhh i cant remember?? something abt candy and yarn

last thing I googled: alectryomancy. aka magic related to chickens

do I get asks: yeah! a lot of them are just anons sending me nonsense though

reason for your url: i love ghosts and pixelated graphics. boom. pixelated ghosts. also the other 5 usernames i tried were taken

following: 186 blogs

other blogs: @super-paper-roleswap is the only blog of mine currently active tbh. i also have a rp blog ( @multimuseblues ) but i haven’t finished it so theres nothing on it yet

lucky number: 4

dream job: translator or artist!! languages and art are both big passions of mine and i really want to make them something useful

dream trip: i dont like travelling but i really want to visit japan...immersion learning for my japanese studies

favorite food: mmm raspberries?

instruments: i can decently play the guitar and piano but ive never gotten lessons for either so my playing is subpar at best

favorite song: atm it’s Eighth Wonder by Lemon Demon

tagging: UHHH @lost-kinnie @waddledab and whoever else wants to do this?? im bad at tagging people

[wiccan-succulento]

Some Lesser Known Divination Forms

Aeromancy- using the sky and air

Alectryomancy- having corn set upon letters and using whichever letters a crow/bird picks off of

Alphitomancy- the use of making cakes that are pleasant to certain people but unpleasant to others

Apantomancy- interpreting chance meetings of animals and yourself/others

Bibliomancy- using a book/books

Capnomancy- using the direction/color of smoke

Causimomancy- using the movements/behaviors of items placed in a fire

Cromniomancy- using the growth of onion sprouts

Geloscopy- interpreting one’s laughter

Oculomancy- divination using one’s eyes (looking at someone elses)

Ophalomancy/Ophilomancy- interpreting the shape/size/type of belly buttons and/or umbilical cords in order to tell one’s fate

Onomancy- the interpretation of one’s name

Onychomancy- using the reflection of off one’s nail to see the future

Plastromancy- using turtle shells or bones

Stolisomancy- interpreting the way one dresses

[zhiantara]

"Alectryomancy is a form of divination in which the diviner observes a white rooster or cockerel"

"the Etruscans established an elaborate ritual of alectryomancy using a hen to find answers for life's most pressing problems."

"Alectryomancy was part of a deeply entrenched tradition among the Romans, where the chicken is used for all sorts of divination with the belief that the animal is a soothsayer"

I've just begun to learn that my little lads and ladies may know more than they let on... I should try asking them.

[aliteralchicken]

she’s oracle, do it for alectryomancy

still mad DC made a super intelligent orange colored bird that had a wheelchair, had a computer with a green screen and was friends with a member of the batfamily (ace) yet we never got an interaction with Oracle, despite DC leaning into the pet that helps fight crime thing recently

[metaphysikal]

On the Origins of the Wishbone Tradition

The superstitious ritual of breaking a wishbone has been around for centuries with an interesting history rooted in Medieval Europe. As far as historians and archaeologists can tell, in 15th Century Europe the Etruscans, an ancient civilization, believed geese had supernatural visionary powers as oracle birds with these prophetic powers residing within its bones. They observed the migratory behavior of geese and believed their reappearance each year signaled the return of the sun, the arrival of spring, and with it, fertility and prosperity.

The day to celebrate the magical and prophetic powers of the goose was November 11, Saint Martin’s day. After feasting on a fattened goose, its bones would be dried in the sun, and the next day the breastbone in particular would be examined to predict the severity of the approaching winter. A dark wishbone predicted a severe winter, whereas a lighter color forecast a mild winter.

In 1455, the German physician Dr. Hartleib witnessed and described this practice, and also noted that the Teutonic knights of the time would use a goose’s wishbone to determine the most advantageous time to wage war. Some sources allege the Etruscans wishing to benefit from the powers of the oracle would pick up the breastbone also known as the furcula and stroke it whilst making a wish; hence the modernization of its name. It has also been suggested the highly superstitious Etruscans would practice a ritual known as ‘alectryomancy’ or ‘rooster divination’ using roosters as walking Ouija boards. They would draw a circle on the ground and divide it into wedges representing the letters of the Etruscan alphabet. Small bits of food would be scattered on each wedge, and a chicken or rooster would be placed in the center of the circle. As the bird snacked, scribes would note the sequence of letters that it pecked at, and local priests would use the resulting messages to divine the future and answer the city’s most pressing questions.

As the Romans crossed paths with the Etruscans, they adopted some of their customs, including ‘rooster divination’ and making wishes on the furcula. According to legend, the Romans went from petting the bones to breaking them due to a supply and demand situation. Two people would wish on the same bone, then break it to see who got the bigger piece and their wish. As the Romans left their cultural mark throughout Europe, they brought the wishbone superstition to England. Breaking the wishbone was well established as a British tradition by the time the Pilgrims reached the New World of the Americas. Thus, the ancient Etruscan superstition became part of celebration by way of Rome and England. Etymologists claim the English expression ‘get a lucky break’ initially applied to the person winning the larger half in a wishbone tug-of-war.