14 Jul 2011

BIBLIOMANCY.

I know many of you take part in Teaser Tuesdays hosted by MizB over at SHOULD BE READING, the aim of the meme being  you .....


  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Sounds like fun but did you know there is a form of divination involving the random opening of a book?

BIBLIOMANCY - the means of telling the future by opening a book at random.

Practiced by a person seeking spiritual insight, the individual selects a random page from a book which commonly holds sacred text.
The Ancient Greeks often used Homers ILIAD, the people of Medieval times Virgil's AENEID, believing that by balancing the book on its spine, allowing it to fall open and, with eyes closed, picking a passage gave them an insight into the future.

Sound strange?

Then how about these other methods .......

  • Cephalonomancy .. Divination by boiling an ass head.
  • Cromnyomancy .... Divination using onions.
  • Geloscopy ....... Fortune-telling by means of laughter.
  • Myomancy ........ Divination by the movement of mice.
  • Scapulomancy .... Divination by examining burnt shoulder blade.
  • Tiromancy ....... Divination using cheese.
  • Xenomancy ....... Divination using strangers.



Want to read more? Click HERE to go to The Phrontistery.

10 comments:

serendipity_viv said...

I like the sound of divinations using onions and cheese. When I am finished I only need a couple of slices of bread to make a sandwich.

Misha said...

LOL Divination by boiling an ass head? Divination by examining burnt shoulder blade?
I think I would prefer bibliomancy.

anilkurup59 said...

Divination - I liked the one with cheese.I any case divinity or not you end having loads of cheese ha !

Monalisa said...

Divination using onions! Oh yeah, end up crying :-P

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Wait... what kind of "ass"... lol

With some of the books I read I don't want to do bibliomancy. What if I'm reading a dystopian or zombie book? *shivers* lol

Kelly said...

This was a really interesting post...all around! Makes me want to participate in Teaser Tuesdays!

Still thinking about some of those forms of divination....

Betty Manousos said...

awesome list!

some greek words here!

big hugs!
betty cc

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...

You know I never knew these words existed or had a meaning. Thanks for sharing these. They sounds fun!

Suko said...

I'd never heard the term, BIBLIOMANCY, before. How interesting! You have listed some "wonderful" ways of divination here. Fun post!

Gina said...

Huh....how strange? Well, I guess not more strange than some of those others listed....or rather much LESS strange than some. Reminds me of the 8-ball as a child. You know, you swirl it aroudn while asking a question like "does Johnny like me" and POOF. It spits worth the "ask again later" or other answer. Good for a smile but for reals? Ehh...probably not.