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Spodomancy
Alternatively Spodanomancy,
Tephramancy, Tephromancy and Tuphramancy.
Derived
from the
Greek
spodňs ('ashes') and manteia ('divination'),
it is the art and practice of divining the past, the present and the future
by means of the cinders, ashes or soot from sacrificial fires.
In the traditional method, a question would be written, or
symbolically sketched, on ash
obtained from a ritual sacrifice, and left in place overnight. The next
morning, a response would be obtained depending on which letters or symbols were still
readable and which had faded.
Spodomancy
is extremely ancient, and very likely originated while prehistoric men
were attaining their knowledge and control over fire, as well as
superstitions and lore.
According to
Grand Orient de France
(the oldest
Masonic organization in Continental
Europe, founded in 1733), Spodomancy was practiced by "scattering ashes
thickly in some place exposed to the air, and writing therein with the end
of the finger any question about which information is needed. The inscribed
ashes are then left for the night, and on the following morning the letters
that remain legible are made use of as oracles,
for which purpose they may be placed in their natural order, when if they
form an intelligible word, it may be considered to contain the mystic sense
of the oracle and an answer to the question proposed. Otherwise the insight
of the contriver must be used to extract an appropriate answer from the
assemblage of letters arranged after any fashion."
Another method of Spodomancy, popular in the
Middle Ages, obtained omens
from cinders, usually the ones that jumped from the hearth. Hollow, oblong cinders, known as coffins, indicated a
coming death in the family; oval cinders, called cradles, were indicative of
the advent of a child. Round cinders, called purses, indicated prosperity,
and heart-shaped ones were the sign of a lover.
Closely related to
Pyromancy (divination
by fire), Spodomancy is actually associated to the element Earth, making it
a branch of Geomancy.
In Scotland it was said that if a clot of soot fell down the chimney during
a wedding breakfast, it was a portent of ill luck for the newlywed couple.
See
Spodanomancy, Radiesthesia, Sortilege,
Divination,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
The Chakra Store,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1)
Spence, Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism,
Carol Publishing Group; (2)
Dictionary of the
Occult, Caxton
Publishing;
(3) Pickover, Clifford A.,
Dreaming the Future: The
Fantastic Story of Prediction, Prometheus Books; (4)
Dunwich, Gerina,
A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy
and Divination, Carol Publishing Group; (5)
Walker, Charles,
The Encyclopedia of the Occult,
Random House Value; (6) Waite,
Arthur Edward,
Occult Sciences: A Compendium of
Transcendental Doctrine and Experiment,
Kessinger Publishing.
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