Category:Divination Fortune Telling Oracles

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Divination, fortune-telling, reading, divining, telling futures, seeing by Spirit, and oracular disclosure are varied names for the process by which the present or future circumstances of a person, place, relationship, or object may be glimpsed, understood, or predicted. Prophesying is a specialized form of future-seeing that is practiced with a religious tradition.

Some religions -- such as Judaism, Hinduism, and Taoism -- have created or endorsed institutionalized roles for diviners and prophets within their priesthood or allied to it. Other religions maintain a neutral or even a negative opinion of seership and may even go so far as to forbid its practice on scriptural grounds, relegating divination to the realm of the magical arts. Whether or not a divination is performed within the embrace of a religious tradition or as a magical art, the knowledge conveyed by its practice is generally brought forth to clients or sitters by gifted seers. Depending on the nature of their gifts, their training, or their personal inclination, their insights may gleaned by means of a tool geared for such a purpose, by direct spirit-vision, through intuition, or by skill in interpreting signs, portents, and omens from the immediate environment.

In addition to divining things to come or revealing hidden thoughts and workings, many fortune-tellers will also give character readings -- short analyses of someone's character without specific predictions of future events. The subject of a character reading may be the client, who seeks self-knowledge, but the fortune-teller may just as readily perform a character reading on the client's prospective mate. If the latter is being assessed for marital compatibility with the client, there is an element of prediction, as the reader explores the future potential of the relationship based on the two characters.

Among hoodoo root doctors many types of divination are employed, and these derive from the varied cultural traditions which have gone into the making of African-American conjure.

Palmistry examines the form and lines of the hand
Graphology reveals secrets of the subject's handwriting
Phrenology is character analysis by means of the head
Astrology studies the native's planetary and zodiacal map
Numerology brings forth hidden meanings in the alphabet
Bibliomancy is fortune telling from a book
Chinese Fortune telling methods include astrology, numerology, I Ching, and indigenous sortilege oracles such as the Chi-Chi sticks
I Ching is an ancient Chinese form of divination
Cartomancy is divination by means of cards
Oracle cards are decks devised for telling fortunes, without a cultural background in gaming or card-play

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Personal Features

Fortune telling or character analysis may be performed by evaluating the morphology of the body, or what it immediately produces, or what may be associated with it by circumstances of birth. Among the morphological branches of divination are included phrenology, palmistry, graphology, and other readings of the human form

Palmistry

For more information, see Palmistry, Cheiromancy, and Hand Reading

Reading the hand, also known as palmistry, palm reading, or cheiromancy, tells the story of the sitter's life in terms of finger and palm shapes, augmented by the details of the mounds, creases, crosses, stars, rings, and grilles comprising the Heart, Head, Life, Fate, Health, and other lines.

Palmistry provides a ready evaluation of individuals, their personalities, tendencies, interests, potentialities, and destiny. Information discerned by examination of the hand includes such things as the sitter's strength and length of life, acquisitiveness or generosity, predisposition toward fame, inclination toward secrecy or gossip, artistic talents, spiritual tendencies, number of relationships, psychic abilities, and potential to have or rear children.

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Graphology

For more information, see Graphology and Handwriting Analysis

Handwriting analysis or graphology is the examination and evaluation of a person's written expression so as to assess their character. Samples of the subject's writing and signature are measured against certain standards, noting details such as the slant and size of the letters, the formation of loops, the overall regularity of the strokes, and the overall form of the letters.

Graphologists use handwriting analysis to determine a subject's compatibility with other people, to ascertain the subject's suitability for certain tasks in an occupational setting, or to obtain insights into the subject's personality for purposes of assisting spiritual growth and development.

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Phrenology

For more information, see Body Reading and Phrenology

Bumps, lumps, crevasses, and creases found in delineated sectors of the head denote a person's qualities, strengths, weaknesses, personality, intellect, emotion, patience, skills, and aptitudes.

The morphology and features of the skull are interpreted within the discipline of phrenology so as to yield an evaluation of the personality, predilections, and potential.

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Astrology

For more information, see Astrology

Astrology, the study of the stars, is found in most cultures of the world, keyed to constellations, the planets' courses through a portion of the sky, and the equinoctial precession. Astrology marks regular and swift-moving influences, from lunar changes of sign in a few days to yearly equinoctial and solsticial points; it includes the hidden rhythms of eclipses and large-scale zodiacal ages lasting thousands of years.

Zodiac signs, planetary positions, rulerships, aspects, houses, the ascendant, and the midheaven are points of reference and insight found on natal, electional, horary, locational, medical, and other horoscope charts. One's birth or the timing of subsequent events can be correlated with the configuration of astronomical events so as to influence one's character, potential, and most advantageous relationship and career options in life.

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Numerology

For more information, see Numerology

Numbers are conceived as permeating the whole of the cosmos, some believing that everything is in fact a number. Alternatively, some conceive of everything as composed of letters which may double as numerical values or be evaluated by a specialized system so as to reveal such a value.

Using ordinal, gematric, or other systems of enumeration and /or reduction applied to birth dates and names, the numerologist arrives at identifying, resonating, lucky, or essential numbers for the individual. For example, one's birth date may reveal a key number that can be compared to any other date's number and evaluated for harmonic or clashing influences. Likewise, the conversion of names, words, dream images, or phrases into numbers may reveal other names, words, or phrases with the same numbers, and these are thought to be attuned or "harmonic" to the original set of words.

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Mixing and Shuffling

Mixing, shuffling, cutting, sortilege, throwing lots, or randomly selecting objects are methods of divination that involve some means of combining and concealing, or an abstracted selection or division, later deriving or disclosing an unknown result.

Oraculums

Oraculums are specifically-designed books used for divination in combination with some process of sortilege or randomization. The question under consideration is selected by the querent. Then the Oraculum is consulted, perhaps with a prayer, or by using information about the querent, or by a randomized graphic or numerical selection, which may include the casting of lots.. This produces a specific response that is particularly suited to the type of inquiry presented. When lots are used, these may include curios, coins, sticks, shells, stones, dice, tiles and runes.

Examples of Oraculums include the Oracles of Astrampsychus, which dates to the 3rd century CE), the 17th century Sefer ha-Goralot (Book of Lots), the 19th century Napoleon's Book of Fate, and the 20th century "White Magic Book" by Mrs. John C. LeBreton and "Mystic Fortune Teller" by Walter B. Gibson.

Bibliomancy

For more information, see Bibliomancy

Bibliomancy literally means "divination by means of a book." The practice may consist of shuffling pages, closing our eyes when selecting a passage, opening haphazardly to a spot and commencing to read, inserting a specific instrument into a spot within the book or employing it to point out a specific paragraph once the book is open, somehow generating numbers and referring to a particular page and paragraph of the volume so indicated, etc.

The use of a book to generate a divinatory result is age-old. From wood and bamboo to hides, parchment, or other materials; from scrolls to printed books; no format of the book prevents one from using it in this way. Quite often key texts are selected due to the august nature which they are imbued. Scripture and prognosticatory or poetic volumes seem to be those most naturally associated with, or conducive to, the oracular result.

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I Ching

For more information, see I Ching

"Yijing," "I Ching," or "Classic of Changes" is an ancient Chinese oracle book attributed to King Wen and the Duke of Jhou. The book is consulted after using 50 yarrow stalks (or in the abbreviated version, 3 cash coins) to derive the first of six sequential lines of 4 varying qualities. This is repeated 5 more times so as to compose a 6-line figure called a hexagram.

Given its age, it is not surprising that multiple standards of use for the Yijing exist, including astrological, numerological, and magical interpretations. As with any book-oriented tradition, translations, revisions, and appended commentaries have greatly affected the character of its employment.

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Cartomancy

For more information, see Card Reading

Card decks of variable face values are shuffled, placed in a layout, then interpreted based on layout position, relation to other cards, and orientation. Suit designations often have a common aspect or element assigned to them, as do numerical rankings. Some oracle decks have no ranking features, others have numbers or quasi-suits.

Decks may be named through association with the game the cards were originally used to play (e.g. Tarocchi / Tarot), for the authors and artists of the deck (e.g. the Smith-Waite Tarot, Lenormand cards), or they may be provided with a titles similar to those given to books (e.g. the Grand Orient Egyptian Gypsies Tarot, the Thoth Tarot Deck, I Ching Cards, or the Secret Dakini Oracle).

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Obi and Diloggun

For more information, see Obi and Diloggun Divination

Obi Divination is a West African system of foretelling the future that originated within the traditional Yoruba religion and its various New World lineages, such as Santeria. The African form of this work employs kola nuts, but in the Americas, Obi readers use either four pieces of coconut or four cut cowrie shells to answer "yes" or "no" questions for clients.

Diloggun Divination is also African in origin, and it too is found among Afro-Caribbean practitioners, but diviners who use this method are initiated priests, and they employ specific religious techniques while performing a fairly complex ritual before and during the casting of the cowrie shells.

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Rune Reading

For more information, see Runic Divination

Although like any alphabet, the Norse futhark can be used for writing ordinary texts, as well as for creating talismanic bind-runes, when considered solely for divination purposes, individual runes are futhark letters that have been engraved or incised on small tumble-polished semi-precious stones, disks of bone, wood, or metal, or ceramic tiles.

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Arabic Geomancy

For more information, see Geomancy or Earth Reading

Geomancy is a term that has come to be associated with several different forms of divination. The reason for this is that the word geomancy literally means "earth divination," and so it can refer to any method of divining, fortune telling, or reading for clients by means of observing the earth or marks in the earth.

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Symbolic Recognition

Symbolic reading or recognition consists of observing, discerning, perceiving, and thence interpreting or deciphering images symbols observed in some event or phenomenon.

Scrying and Visionary Reading

For more information, see Scrying

Scrying, also known as Crystal Gazing, Crystallomancy, Reading a Crystal Ball, and Visionary Reading is a divination technique used by psychic readers who are highly mediumistic and gifted in a way that enables them to perceive spiritual visions in their minds, rather like dreams or tiny movies. Crystallomancy is generally considered a form of spiritual rootwork, or prophesy, and scrying tools such as crystal balls and crystal points are often kept on the reader's altar, where they are treated with respect and reverence.

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Cup Reading

For more information, see Cup Reading, Tea Leaf, and Coffee Ground Reading

Cup Reading is a term for divination systems in which readings of the future are made by a seer or fortune teller who interprets visual symbols that are found within the client's cup of tea leaves or coffee grounds. Specific forms of Cup Reading include Tea Leaf Reading, also known as Tasseomancy or Tasseography, and Coffee Ground Reading.

Tasseomancy is probably as old as the invention of drinking cups. Some claim it originated in China, the region where tea was first commercially grown, but it seems to have been an ongoing form of divination in Scotland, Ireland, and England before trade with China developed, and was probably developed for use with herbal teas.

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Throwing the Bones

For more information, see Throwing the Bones

Thrown, cast, and marked readings are inspired divinations performed by gifted psychic readers to answer life's questions for their clients.

In the traditions of some cultures, the bones, shells, and/or nuts that are to be thrown are left in their natural state; in other cultures they may be shaped and marked, much like dice, dominoes, or the cut cowrie shells used in Obi and Diloggun divination.

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Candle and Wax Reading

For more information, see Candle and Wax Reading

Candle Wax Reading, also known as Ceromancy or Wax Reading, is a type of prediction in which candles burned on an altar during worship, spell-casting wih candles, or divination are interpreted for clients by the way that they burn, the shapes that wax makes as it pools and runs, and how the spent vigil glass appears during and after the candle burning.

Capnomancy or Smoke Reading refers to divination by smoke. Static capnomancy is performed by burning something -- generally candles, matches, oil lamps, wood, or incense -- and passing an article such as a white plate or an inverted drinking glass or cup through the smoke or letting the smoke accumulate.

Candle-Glass Reading is a specific type of candle reading in which a glass-encased candle -- sometimes called a jar candle, novena candle, or vigil light -- is burned for the client's desired outcome and the root doctor reads the traces of smoke, soot, and wax left in the glass jar after the candle goes out.

Pyromancy, also called Fire Gazing or Fire Divination, is a method of foretelling the future in which the diviner stares intently into flames or burning coals in order to catch a glimpse of things to come.

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Egg Divination

For more information, see Egg Divination

Egg Divination, also known as Oomancy, may be performed on its own or as an adjunct to a spiritual cleansing, to determine the efficacy and the outcome of the work. If the cleansing was an in-person cleansing with an egg, the divination is performed with the same egg that was used for the cleansing. There are many methods of egg divination, each one traditional to a certain culture, passed down in a family lineage, or deemed appropriate to looking into certain conditions.

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Automatism

Automatism on-deliberate movement of objects such as planchettes, pendulums, or dowsing rods which are interpreted on boards or within the context of their consultation. Since the bodily influence on them is described as associated with the autonomic nervous system, their broad category is automatism.

Spirit Boards

For more information, see Spirit Board Divination

Spirit Board reading, also known as Ouija Board reading or Talking Board reading, is a widely practiced form of divination in which predictions for the future, revelations about hidden matters, and seances with spirits of the dead are disclosed by means of the words written, spelled out, or otherwise indicated to the reader through the movement of a planchette across a prepared alphabetic or alphanumeric board.

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Pendulums

For more information, see Pendulum Divination

A Pendulum is a weighted, well balanced, often pointed object, which is suspended from a cord, chain, or string. Pendulums are commonly made of metal, semi-precious stone, or whole roots.

Some diviners may use their own wedding rings or a favourite necklace pendant as a pendulum. The ring may be hung from a string or thread; the necklace itself is used to suspend the pendant.

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Dowsing

For more information, see Dowsing, Doodlebugging, and Water Witching

Dowsing, Water Witching, and Doodlebugging are forms of divination in which a dowser or water witch uses a simple tool or device such as a dowsing rod, dowsing sticks, doodlebug, pendulum, plumb bob, or divining rod to attempt to locate hidden water wells, underground streams, oil reserves, lost septic tanks and leach fields, caves, utility lines, water and gas pipes, buried metals, ores, minerals, gemstones, people, pets, or missing objects for their clients.

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Psychism

Physchim includes extra-sensory or developed skills of perception beyond the ordinary biolophysical and organic, these include the ability to sense impressions left on objects or through reflected light, to perceive at a distance, or the ability to make contact with discarnate spirits.

Psychometry

For more information, see Psychometry

Photographs, jewelry, articles of clothing, and many other objects can be read in this way. Information received via psychometry may include experiences that the individual in the photograph has had, or may give clues to the individual's whereabouts. Psychometrized jewelry and other objects may reveal information about the people who owned, wore or used them.

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Clairvoyance

For more information, see Intuitive Reading and Clairvoyance

Psychic Reading, also known as Clairvoyant Reading or Second Sight, is the most common form of fortune telling or divination encountered on the Internet, although it is less often seen in person than such hands-on methods as Card Reading and Palmistry.

Gifts used by psychic readers and seers may include clairvoyance (clear seeing), clairaudience (clear hearing), clairsentience (clear knowing), and empathic perceptions. Some psychic readers or fortune tellers also contact spirits and the dead through various techniques of Mediumship.

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Mediumship

For more information, see Mediumship and Contact with the Dead

Mediumship is a form of divination or spiritual consultation in which the medium or psychic reader transmits messages from spirits, most often the spirits of the dead.

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Synchronicity

When two events occur at the same time or within an unambiguous shrt pan of time, they are said to be synchronous -- and synchronicity is the art and practice of interpreting meaning or significance based on simultaneous timing in such a way that one infers a relationship between what is observed and events in one's own life or the lives of others.

Dreams, Signs, and Omens

For more information see Interpretations of Dreams, Signs, and Omens

Dreams, signs and omens are all around us, but not all of us are gifted to read them accurately. If you have been troubled by unusual dreams or have experienced a run of seemingly strange coincidences that you do not understand, you may find it helpful to consult with a psychic reader who will listen to your description of events and then interpret them for you.

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Religious Divination

Prophecy

For more information, see Prophecy

Prophecy is a form of divination generally practiced and endorsed by one or more religious traditions. A prophet is an emissary of the divine sent to a community, church, or nation. His message is addressed to a group or its leaders — whether a community or a nation. Prophets often call for purity, repentance, cultural renewal, religious reform, or a return to ancient wisdom and morality; they may also criticize the institutions of their culture and time (Read More...)

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