Crystalomancy

Divination or fortune telling by gazing into a crystal rock or crystal ball.

(See also: Crystalomancy , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Palmistry:

The art of assessing a person's character and forecasting life events by examining features of the hand.

See also Divination.

(See also: Palmistry , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

CRYSTAL GAZING - the use of a candle flame, a crystal ball, a black mirror, a dark bowl of water or a bright sword for divination. (SD)

(See also: CRYSTAL GAZING , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

GEOMANCY

Divination by means of interpreting marks in sand or thrown pebbles. The most common system involves random taps of a pencil over a grid composed of 16 squares, each containing a certain number of dots. The dot patterns have various names (Via, Carcer, Puella, Acquisitio, Rubeus, etc.) and esoteric meanings. The entire system is fully described in The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic.

(See also: GEOMANCY , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Xenomancy

Divination by studying the first stranger to be found or who appears.

(See also: Xenomancy , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Astrology

An ancient system of divination that uses the position of the planets, moon and sun in the twelve Zodiac positions at the moment of oneÕs birth to gain knowledge of the future. (See Astrology)

(See also: Astrology , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Voodoo, Vodou (African, "divine spirits", also Vodou, Vodoun, Vodun)

African- Christian new religion born in Haiti, whose followers worship the "divine spirits" in life and rituals and accept possession by those spirits for healing and spiritual guidance. Originally a pejorative term -"Voodoo" is now acknowledged as the proper designation for the complex beliefs and practices among the majority of the populace of Haiti.

Voodoo began as the clandestine religion of enslaved African sugar-plantation workers in Haiti in the seventeenth century, but its early history is preserved only in scattered eighteenth-century colonial records and ordinance codes. The reports of covert meetings, dances, funeral practices, and even trance possession among enslaved and freed Africans indicate that they preserved ancient traditions in the face of enormous obstacles; the development of Voodoo is itself a tribute to the spirit and stamina of those early devotees. It is rooted in the West African Yoruba, Fon, and Angolan communities, as well as in French Roman Catholicism.

It has primarily continued African priestly roles, ritual themes, symbolism, and pantheons of named female spirits (especially Ezili) and male ones (Ogou, Damballah-Wedo, Legba). Voodoo theology parallels traditional medieval Christianity, for its followers acknowledge a high creator deity, Bondye (Bon dieu), but invoke the intermediary spirits for intercession in human affairs. It is only the intermediaries-identified individually with Christian saints or sacred places-who descend to "mount" their "horses," their followers, during possession rituals.

Roman Catholicism provides the ritual framework for the lives of Voodoo members as well, for they not only follow its traditional liturgical calendar for scheduling pilgrimages and lesser ceremonies but also participate in the common rituals of baptism, marriage, and the Mass. Roman Catholic prayers, some still in Latin, form a significant component of some Voodoo rituals, as do other lesser aspects and ritual objects from traditional Catholic festivals.

The divine spirits (loa or lwa) of Voodoo occupy separate pantheons or nations; two of these, the Rada, whose spirits are generous and benevolent, and the Petro, whose strong spirits evince terrible powers, dominate worship in urban centers. The higher powers (lemiste) are associated with natural dimensions or places, such as sacred springs or cemeteries, and are joined in the spirit world by souls of the dead and ancestral spirits (lemo) and sacred twins (lemarasa). Individual worshipers, drawn to individual spirits by necessity or similarities in personality or temperament, may choose among them for personal devotion but must not neglect those ancestors and spirits traditionally venerated in the family.

Voodoo rituals range from simple devotional acts, such as the lighting of candles with accompanying prayers, to family observances for the family dead to elaborate rituals enhanced by large meals, drumming and singing, and exuberant dance. The spiritual leaders in the Voodoo community are the male hungans and female mambos; in their religious roles, they perform divination and healing rituals for individual members, as well as oversee all training and calendrical ceremonies. As elders and teachers, they guide the possession trance dances, which allow the individual divine spirits to be present among their followers, to receive worship, and to offer healing and counsel.

In Haiti, rural communities continue Voodoo as a family-centered religion firmly tied to traditional agricultural life, while urban centers have interwoven a wider variety of practices, some structured and formal-including rituals of initiation, funeral rites, pilgrimage to Catholic shrines, and festivals-some less so, including not only divination, but also the making of amulets for luck and protection.

(See also: Voodoo, Vodou , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Geomancy:

A system of divination involving the interpretation of lines or figures.

(See also: Geomancy , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Augury:

Divination by means of whatever is most handy at the time.

(See also: Augury , Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

BACULUM: Witches rod, staff, wand or "broomstick" used in divination and certain fertility spells.

(See also: BACULUM , Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

GEOMANCY -

1. divination by tracing figures on the ground.

2. feng-shui: Oriental science of sitting placement and home and environmental arrangement. (NAD)

(See also: GEOMANCY , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Numerology

The divination art of numbers based upon qualitative values given to letters of the alphabet which are interpreted in shaping one's destiny as well as offering guidance in daily living. Often associated with the Kabbalah,

(See also: Numerology , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Palmistry

The divination practice of psychically reading an individual's past, present and future, as well as health and character, by studying the lines, shape and texture of the individual's hands, fingers and wrists.

The technique was very popular in the Middle Ages, practitioners believing that the lines in the hand were stamped by occult forces and would reveal character and destiny. The lines, digits and bumps on the hands all have supposedly astrological correspondences, which indicate such factors as longevity, general health, intellect, love, money, and so on. In the fifteenth century the church banned the practice, and after the Enlightenment palmistry became little more than a parlor trick.

Modern palmistry differs from ancient methods in concentrating on Chirognomy at the expense of Chiromancy. The later was much interested in prediction, attempting to determine future events in the life of the individual concerned, and the former is generally interested in determining the general character, the psychological type and the inclinations of the person.

(See also Chiromancy, Palmomancy, Chirognomy, Chirology, Hand Reading, and Hand Analysis)

(See also: Palmistry , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

A dictionary of parapsychology. Please note that words in grey are hyperlinked to a corresponding archive with articles related to that particular topic.

Hydromancy. See DIVINATION

(See also: Hydrogen , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Tarot

Deck of seventy-eight cards used in divination. Divided into the Major Arcana (twenty-two cards with archetypal significance) and the Minor Arcana (fifty-six cards of four suits: wands, swords, cups, and pentacles).

(See also: Tarot , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

gyromancy

Divination by walking round a chalked circle and noting the position of the body in relation to the circle.

(See also: Gyromancy , Body Mind and Soul)

Cheiromancy

Divination based on the examination of the hand, a form of palmistry.

(See also: Cheiromancy , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

A dictionary of Parapsychology. Please note that words in grey are hyperlinked to a corresponding archive with articles related to that particular topic.

A divination method using specific tools such as a bowl of
inked water, a mirror, crystal ball, etc., where the diviner "sees"
either normal visual pictures, mental visual pictures, or
information without any pictures at all.

(See also: scrying , Magic, Shamanism, Pagan Dictionary)

Scrying

A method of divination using a crystal ball, shiny stone, dark mirror,, bowl of water or other reflective object or surface until psychic visions appear. The art dates back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and practitioners aim to answer questions, solve problems, find lost objects or people, and help solve crimes.

The tool of scryers is called a speculum, which can be any object, but is usually one with reflective surface. The French physician and astrologer Nostrodamus used a brass bowl of water on a tripod. Dr. John Dee, astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, used a crystal egg and black obsidian mirror. The stereotypical speculum is the crystal ball as popularized by gypsy fortune-tellers.

(See also: Scrying , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

bibliomancy

Divination by reading the first words when a page of a book falls open at random containing the reply to a question

(See also: Bibliomancy , Body Mind and Soul)