page_title: Methods of divination
section_title: T
hierarchical_section_title: Methods of divination / T
caption_attribution_description: English: Peasant girls using chicken for divination. Russian lubok, XIXth century.Русский: Крестьянки гадают на курах. Лубок XIX века.
context_page_description: Methods of divination can be found around the world, and many cultures practice the same methods under different names. During the Middle Ages, scholars coined terms for many of these methods—some of which had hitherto been unnamed—in Medieval Latin, very often utilizing the suffix -mantia when the art seemed more mystical and the suffix -scopia when the art seemed more scientific. Names like drimimantia, nigromantia, and horoscopia arose, along with other pseudosciences such as phrenology and physiognomy.
  Some forms of divination are much older than the Middle Ages, like haruspication, while others originated in the 20th and 21st centuries.
  The chapter "How Panurge consulteth with Herr Trippa" of Gargantua and Pantagruel, a parody on occult treatises of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, contains a list of over two dozen "mancies", described as "common knowledge".
context_section_description: taromancy → see chartomancy
  tasseography/tasseomancy → see phyllomancy
  technomancy: by technology (English techno(logy) + Greek manteía, prophecy)
  temurah: → see kabbalah
  tephramancy/tephromancy: → see spodomancy (Greek tephrā, ash + manteía, prophecy)
  theomancy: foretelling events, prophecy (Greek theos, god + manteía, prophecy)
  theriomancy /ˈθɪərioʊmænsi/: (also zoomancy): by animal behavior (Greek thēr, wild animal + manteía, prophecy)
  ailuromancy/aeluromancy /aɪˈlʊəroʊmænsi/ (also felidomancy): by cats (Greek ailouros, cat + manteía, prophecy)
  alectryomancy/alectoromancy /əˈlɛktərioʊmænsi/: by rooster behavior (Greek alektruōn, cockerel + manteía, prophecy)
  augury: by bird formations (Latin augur, diviner)
  hippomancy /ˈhɪpoʊmænsi/: by horse behavior (Greek hippos, horse + manteía, prophecy)
  ichthyomancy /ˈɪkθioʊmænsi/: by fish behavior (Greek ikhthūs, fish + manteía, prophecy)
  myomancy /ˈmaɪoʊmænsi/: by rodent behavior (Greek mūs, mouse + manteía, prophecy)
  myrmomancy /ˈmɜːrmoʊmænsi/: by ant behavior (Greek murmēx, ant + manteía, prophecy)
  nggàm: by spider or crab behavior (Mambila nggàm, divination)
  ophidiomancy/ophiomancy: by snakes behavior (Greek ophis [ophid-], snake + manteía, prophecy)
  orniscopy/ornithomancy (also auspicy/auspication, avimancy): by bird migration (Greek ornīs [ornīth-], bird + -skopiā, observation)
  thumomancy /ˈθjuːmoʊmænsi/: by one's own soul, presage (Greek thūmos, soul + manteía, prophecy)
  topomancy /ˈtɒpoʊmænsi/: by geography and geological formations (Greek topos, place + manteía, prophecy)
  transataumancy: by things accidentally seen or heard
  trochomancy /ˈtrɒkoʊmænsi/: by wheel ruts (Greek trokhos, wheel + manteía, prophecy)
  turifumy: by shapes in smoke (Latin tūs [tūr-], incense + fūmus, vapor)
  tyromancy/tiromancy /ˈtaɪəroʊmænsi/: by cheese (Greek tūros, cheese + manteía, prophecy)
caption: Russian peasant girls using chicken for divination. A 19th·century lubok.
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