Geomancy
Geomancy (Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy involves interpreting a series of 16 figures formed by a randomized process that involves recursion, followed by analyzing them, often augmented with astrological interpretations. Geomancy was practiced by people from all social classes. It was one of the most popular forms of divination throughout Africa and Europe, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In Renaissance magic, geomancy was classified as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with necromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy (palmistry), and spatulamancy (scapulimancy). History The word "geomancy", from Late Greek ''geōmanteía'', translates literally to "foresight by earth"; it is a calque translation of the Arabic term ''‛ilm al-raml'', ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geomantic Instrument Egypt Or Syria 1241 1242 CE Muhammad Ibn Khutlukh Al Mawsuli
Geomancy (Greek language, Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rock (geology), rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy involves interpreting a series of Geomantic figures, 16 figures formed by a randomized process that involves recursion, followed by analyzing them, often augmented with Astrology, astrological interpretations. Geomancy was practiced by people from all social classes. It was one of the most popular forms of divination throughout Africa and Europe, particularly during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In Renaissance magic, geomancy was classified as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with necromancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy (palmistry), and spatulamancy (scapulimancy). History The word "geomancy", from Late Greek ''geōmanteía'', translates literally to "foresight by earth"; it i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Geomantic Figures
The 16 geomantic figures are the primary symbols used in divinatory geomancy. Each geomantic figure represents a certain formed state of the world or the mind and can be interpreted in various ways based upon the query put forth and the method used to generate the figures. When geomancy was introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, the figures acquired astrological meanings and new forms of interpretation. The figures bear superficial resemblance to the ba gua, the eight trigrams used in the ''I Ching'', a Chinese classic text. Properties of the figures Each of the figures is composed of four lines, each line containing either one or two points. Each line represents one of the four classical elements: from top to bottom, the lines represent fire, air, water, and earth. When a line has a single point, the element is said to be active; otherwise, with two points, the element is passive. Because there are four lines, and since each line can be either active or passive, there are 24 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Divination
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact or interaction with a supernatural agency. Divination can be seen as a systematic method with which to organize what appears to be disjointed, random facets of existence such that they provide insight into a problem at hand. If a distinction is to be made between divination and fortune-telling, divination has a more formal or ritualistic element and often contains a more social character, usually in a religious context, as seen in traditional African medicine. Fortune-telling, on the other hand, is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Particular divination methods vary by culture and reli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Renaissance Magic
Renaissance magic was a resurgence in Hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of the Magic (supernatural), magical arts which arose along with Renaissance humanism in the 15th and 16th centuries CE. These magical arts (called ''#Artes magicae, artes magicae'') were divided into seven types. There was great uncertainty in distinguishing practices of superstition, occultism, and perfectly sound scholarly knowledge or pious ritual. The intellectual and spiritual tensions erupted in the Early Modern witch-hunt, witch craze, further reinforced by the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation, especially in Germany, England, and Scotland. Artes magicae The seven ''artes magicae'' or ''artes prohibitae'', arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 1456, their sevenfold partition reflecting that of the artes liberales and artes mechanicae, were: #nigromancy ('black magic', demonolatry) #geomancy #hydromancy #aeromancy #pyromancy #chiromancy #scapulimancy The divisio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aeromancy
Aeromancy (from Greek ἀήρ ''aḗr'', "air", and ''manteia'', "divination") is divination conducted by interpreting atmospheric conditions. Alternate spellings include arologie, aeriology and aërology. Practice Aeromancy uses cloud formations, wind currents and cosmological events such as comets to attempt to divine the past, present or future. There are sub-types of this practice which are as follows: austromancy (wind divination), ceraunoscopy (observing thunder and lightning), chaomancy (aerial vision), meteormancy (meteors and shooting stars), and nephomancy (cloud divination). History The first recorded instance of the word ''aeromancy'' being used was found in Chambers, Cycl. Supp, 1753. It was defined as "That department of science which treats of the atmosphere", rather than a form of divination. However, variations on the word have been used throughout history with the earliest instance being in the Bible, though the practice is thought to have been used by the anci ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scapulimancy
Scapulimancy (also spelled ''scapulomancy'' and ''scapulamancy'', also termed ''omoplatoscopy'' or ''speal bone reading'') is the practice of divination by use of scapulae or speal bones (shoulder blades). It is most widely practiced in China and the Sinosphere, but has also been independently developed in the West. Historically, scapulimancy has taken two major forms. In the first, "apyromantic", the scapula of an animal was simply examined after its slaughter. This form was widespread in Europe, Northern Africa and the Near East. However, the second form, " pyromantic" scapulimancy, involving the heating or burning of the bone and interpretation of the results, was practiced in East Asia and North America. Americas The belief amongst the Mistassini Cree and Naskapi Innu peoples was that all animal remains were to be treated in accordance with taboos. This can blur the distinction between ritually or religiously significant remains and secular uses of the remains, which is a po ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pyromancy
Pyromancy (from Greek ''pyr,'' “fire,” and ''manteia,'' “divination”) is the art of divination by means of fire. History of pyromancy Due to the importance of fire in society in prehistory and its continued importance within civilizations, it is quite likely that pyromancy was one of the earlier forms of divination, arising independently in many civilizations around the world. In much of Western Culture, fire was often associated with a god, or was revered as a god itself. Fire was associated with a living being--it ate, breathed, grew, decayed, and died--in both Western and non-Western religions. Fire was so basic to the human experience that it persisted in the minds of humanity as an element close to nature. Fire rituals in Mesopotamia and Eurasia were ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hydromancy
Hydromancy (Ancient Greek ὑδρομαντεία, ''water-divination'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. from ὕδωρ, ''water'', and μαντεία, ''divination'') is a method of divination by means of water, including the color, ebb and flow, or ripples produced by pebbles dropped in a pool. The Jesuit M. A. Del Rio (1551–1608) described several methods of hydromancy. The first method described depicts a ring hanging by a string that is dipped into a vessel of water which was shaken. A judgment or prediction is made by the number of times which the ring strikes the sides of the vessel. A second method is when three pebbles are thrown into standing water and observations are made from the circles formed when the objects strike the water. The third method described depended upon the agitation of the water, this cust ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Palmistry
Palmistry is the Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the Hand#Areas, palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who practice palmistry are generally called ''palmists'', ''hand readers'', ''hand analysts'', or ''chirologists''. There are many—and often conflicting—interpretations of various lines and palmar features across various teachings of palmistry. Palmistry is practiced by the Hindus, Hindu Brahmins, and is also indirectly referenced in the Book of Job. The contradictions between different interpretations, as well as the lack of evidence for palmistry's predictions, have caused palmistry to be viewed as a pseudoscience by academics. History Ancient palmistry Palmistry is a practice common to many different places on the Eurasian landmass; it has been practiced in the cultures of Sumeria, Babylonia, Arabia, Canaan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hugo Of Santalla
Hugo of Santalla (also Hugh of Santalla, of Sanctalla, Hugo Sanctelliensis) was a significant translator of the first part of the twelfth century. From Arabic originals, he produced Latin translations of texts on alchemy, astronomy, astrology and geomancy. He is thought to have been a Spanish priest, working in Tarazona. Michael, bishop of Tarazona was a patron. Works attributed to him are translations of Alfraganus, Haly, the ''Liber de secretis naturae'' of Apollonius of Tyana, ''De Spatula'' on divination, and the '' Tabula Smaragdina''. His ''Liber Aristotilis'' was an anthology of material with Greek and Persian origins, none of it now attributed to [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Isidore Of Seville
Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of the ancient world". At a time of disintegration of classical culture, aristocratic violence and widespread illiteracy, Isidore was involved in the conversion of the Arian Visigothic kings to Catholicism, both assisting his brother Leander of Seville and continuing after his brother's death. He was influential in the inner circle of Sisebut, Visigothic king of Hispania. Like Leander, he played a prominent role in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. His fame after his death was based on his ''Etymologiae'', an etymological encyclopedia that assembled extracts of many books from classical antiquity that would have otherwise been lost. This work also helped standardize the use of the period ( full stop), comma, and colon. Since the early ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. It covers an area of , making it the 17th-largest country. Iran has a population of 86 million, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East. Its largest cities, in descending order, are the capital Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz. The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |