← Departments
Divination & Augury
Mantikē — the lot, the omen, and the oracle. The arts by which the premodern world imported counsel from outside the deliberating self — studied as intellectual history, not endorsed as prediction.
Who is Who in this Department ☞
Cleromancy — The Lot and the Cast
Converse with
The Tarot Simulacrum
78-Card Deck · Major & Minor Arcana · The Spread as Positional Field · Reflective Reading
Working tool · corpus
Converse with
The I Ching as Oracle Simulacrum
Yìjīng · Zhōuyì · The Cast Hexagram · Changing Lines · Judgement & Image
Working tool · corpus
Converse with
The Ifá Simulacrum
Yoruba Oracle · The 256 Odù Corpus · Palm-Nuts & Opele · Office of the Babaláwo
Office · corpus · living tradition
Converse with
The Geomancy Simulacrum
ʿilm al-raml · The Sixteen Figures · The Shield & House Charts · The Judge
Working tool · corpus
Converse with
The Sortes Simulacrum
Bibliomancy · Sortes Virgilianae, Homericae, Sanctorum · The Book Opened at Random
Working tool
Converse with
The Runes Simulacrum
Elder Futhark · The Cast Staves · The Norns' Three · Rune-Poems · Honest Source-Caveat
Working tool · corpus
Converse with
The Dilógún Simulacrum
Sixteen-Cowrie Divination · The Orisha Oracle · Lucumí / Santería Tradition
Office · living tradition
Converse with
The Urim and Thummim Simulacrum
אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים · The High-Priestly Oracle · The Casting of Lots · The Breastpiece
Interpretive office · historical
Augury & Extispicy — The Living Omen
Converse with
The Roman Augur Simulacrum
augur publicus · The Templum & the Auspices · Bird-Flight · The Gate of Public Acts
Interpretive office
Converse with
The Haruspex Simulacrum
Etruscan netšvis · Hepatoscopy · The Liver of Piacenza · The Etrusca Disciplina
Interpretive office
Converse with
The Bārû Simulacrum
Akkadian Extispicy · The bārûtu Series · The Babylonian Court · Queries to the Sun-God
Interpretive office
Converse with
The Shang Oracle-Bone Diviner Simulacrum
Pyro-Osteomancy · Scapula & Plastron · The Read Crack · The Birthplace of Chinese Writing
Interpretive office
Converse with
The Mantis Simulacrum
The Greek Seer · Calchas & Teiresias · Ornithomancy & Empyromancy · The Heroic & Classical World
Interpretive office · literary
Oracular & Inspired — The God Speaks Through
Converse with
The Artemidorus Simulacrum
Oneirocritica · Dream-Divination as Science · The Dream Classified & Read · Status-Sensitive Interpretation
Interpretive tool · corpus
Converse with
The Pythia Simulacrum
The Delphic Oracle · The Tripod & the enthousiasmos · The Hexameter Answer · Famed Ambiguity
Reconstruction · office
Converse with
The Sibyl Simulacrum
The Cumaean Sibyl · The Inspired Prophetess · The Sibylline Books · Fate of an Age
Reconstruction · office
Converse with
The Dream-Incubation Simulacrum
enkoimesis · Temple-Sleep · The Asklepian Rite · The God-Sent Healing Dream
Reconstruction · office
Converse with
The Zande Poison Oracle Simulacrum
benge · The Azande Oracle · Evans-Pritchard's Locus Classicus · Divination as Epistemology
Reconstruction · anthropological office
Converse with
The Necromancy Simulacrum
nekromanteía · Consulting the Dead · The Witch of Endor · The nekyia · Reconstructed in Context
Reconstruction · historical
Corporomantic & Physiognomic — The Sign on Body and Object
Converse with
The Palmistry Simulacrum
Chiromancy · The Lines, Mounts & Shape of the Hand · The Hand as Legible Text
Interpretive office
Converse with
The Scrying Simulacrum
Crystallomancy · Catoptromancy · Hydromancy · The Gazing-Surface & the Seen Vision
Interpretive office
Converse with
The Ancient Physiognomy Simulacrum
ps-Aristotle's Physiognomonica · Polemon · Character from Face & Form · Framed in Historical Context
Reconstruction · interpretive office
Converse with
The Tasseography Simulacrum
Tea-Leaf & Coffee-Ground Reading · The Drained Cup · Symbol, Position & Sequence
Working tool · interpretive office
The Theorists of Divination
Converse with
The De Divinatione Simulacrum
Cicero's Two-Book Dialogue (44 BCE) · The Stoic Case For & Its Demolition · The Even-Handed Keystone
Corpus · two-sided text
Converse with
The Plato, Phaedrus Simulacrum
theia mania · The Four Kinds of Divine Madness · Technical vs Inspired Divination · The Conceptual Root
Corpus · text