considered as indications of futurity.
_Natural Divination_,
Is that which presages things from a mere internal sense, and persuasion
of the mind, without any assistance of signs; and is of two kinds, the
one from nature, and the other by influx. The first is the supposition
that the soul, collected within itself, and not diffused, or divided
among the organs of the body, has, from its own nature and essence, some
foreknowledge of future things: witness what is seen in dreams,
ecstasies, the confines of death, &c. The second supposes that the soul,
after the manner of a minor, receives some secondary illumination from
the presence of God and other spirits.
Artificial divination is also of two kinds; the one argues from natural
causes; _e. g._ the predictions of physicians about the event of
diseases, from the pulse, tongue, urine, &c. Such also are those of the
politician, _O venalem urbem, et mox peuturam, si emptorem inveneris!_
The second proceeds from experiments and observations arbitrarily
instituted, and is mostly superstitious.
The systems of divination reducible under this head, are almost
incalculable, _e. g._ by birds, the entrails of birds, lines of the
hand, points marked at random, numbers, names, the motion of a sieve,
the air, fire, the Sortes Prænestinæ, Virgilianæ, and Homericæ; with
numerous others, the principal species and names of which are as
follows:—
AXINOMANCY,
Was an ancient species of divination or method of foretelling future
events by means of an axe or hatchet. The word is derived from the
Greek, αξινη, _securis_; μαντεια, _divinatio_. This art was in
considerable repute among the ancients; and was performed, according to
some, by laying an agate stone upon a red hot hatchet.
ALECTOROMANTIA,
Is an ancient kind of divination, performed by means of a cock, which
was used among the Greeks, in the following manner.—A circle was made on
the ground, and divided into 24 equal portions or spaces: in each space
was written one of the letters of the alphabet, and upon each of these
letters was laid a grain of wheat. This being done, a cock was placed
within the circle, and careful observation was made of the grains he
picked. The letters corresponding to these grains were afterwards formed
into a word, which word was the answer decreed. It was thus that
Libanius and Jamblicus sought who should succeed the Emperor Valens; and
the cock answering to the spaces ΘΕΟΔ, they concluded upon Theodore, but
by a mistake, instead of Theodosius.
ARITHMOMANCY,
Is a kind of divination or method of foretelling future events, by means
of numbers. The Gematria, which makes the first species of the Jewish
Cabala, is a kind of Arithmomancy.
BELOMANCY,
Is a method of divination by means of arrows, practised in the East, but
chiefly among the Arabians.
Belomancy has been performed in different manners: one was to mark a
parcel of arrows, and to put eleven or more of them into a bag; these
were afterwards drawn out, and according as they were marked, or
otherwise, they judged of future events. Another way was, to have three
arrows, upon one of which was written, _God forbids it me_; upon
another, _God orders it me_; and upon the third nothing at all. These
were put into a quiver, out of which one of the three was drawn at
random; if it happened to be that with the second inscription, the thing
they consulted about was to be done; if it chanced to be that with the
first inscription, the thing was let alone; and if it proved to be that
without any inscription, they drew over again. Belomancy is an ancient
practice, and is probably that which Ezekiel mentions, chap. xxi. v. 21.
At least St. Jerome understands it so, and observes that the practice
was frequent among the Assyrians and Babylonians. Something like it is
also mentioned in Hosea, chap. vi. only that staves are mentioned there
instead of arrows, which is rather Rhabdomancy than Belomancy. Grotius,
as well as Jerome, confounds the two together, and shews that they
prevailed much among the Magi, Chaldeans, and Scythians, from whom they
passed to the Sclavonians, and thence to the Germans, whom Tacitus
observes to make use of Belomancy.
CLEROMANCY,
Is a kind of divination performed by the throwing of dice or little
bones; and observing the points or marks turned up.
At Bura, a city of Achaia, was a temple, and a celebrated Temple of
Hercules; where such as consulted the oracle, after praying to the idol,
threw four dice, the points of which being well scanned by the priests,
he was supposed to draw an answer from them.
CLEDONISM.
This word is derived from the Greek κληδων, which signifies two things;
viz. _rumour_, a report, and _avis_, a bird; in the first sense,
_Cledonism_ should denote a kind of divination drawn from words
occasionally uttered. Cicero observes, that the Pythagoreans made
observations not only of the words of the gods, but of those of men; and
accordingly believed the pronouncing of certain words, _e. g._
_incendium_, at a meal, very unlucky. Thus, instead of prison, they used
the words _domicilium_; and to avoid erinnyes, said _Eumenides_. In the
second sense, Cledonism should seem a divination drawn from birds; the
same with ornithomantia.
COSCINOMANCY.
As the word implies, is the art of divination by means of a sieve.
The sieve being suspended, after repeating a certain form of words, it
is taken between two fingers only; and the names of the parties
suspected, repeated: he at whose name the sieve turns, trembles or
shakes, is reputed guilty of the evil in question. This doubtless must
be a very ancient practice. Theocritus, in his third Idyllion, mentions
a woman who was very skilful in it. It was sometimes also practised by
suspending the sieve by a thread, or fixing it to the points of a pair
of scissars, giving it room to turn, and naming as before the parties
suspected: in this manner Coscinomancy is still practised in some parts
of England. From Theocritus it appears, that it was not only used to
find out persons unknown, but also to discover the secrets of those who
were.
CAPNOMANCY,
Is a kind of divination by means of smoke, used by the ancients in their
sacrifices. The general rule was—when the smoke was thin and light, and
ascended straight up, it was a good omen; if on the contrary, it was an
ill one.
There was another species of Capnomancy which consisted in observing the
smoke arising from poppy and jessamin seed, cast upon burning coals.
CATOPTROMANCY,
Is another species of divination used by the ancients, performed by
means of a mirror.
Pausanias says, that this method of divination was in use among the
Achaians; where those who were sick, and in danger of death, let down a
mirror, or looking-glass, fastened by a thread, into a fountain before
the temple of Ceres; then looking in the glass, if they saw a ghastly
disfigured face, they took it as a sure sign of death; but, on the
contrary, if the face appeared fresh and healthy, it was a token of
recovery. Sometimes glasses were used without water, and the images of
future things, it is said, were represented in them.
CHIROMANCY,
Is the art of divining the fate, temperament, and disposition of a
person by the lines and lineaments of the hands.
There are a great many authors on this vain and trifling art, viz.
Artemidorus, Fludd, Johannes De Indagine, Taconerus, and M. De le
Chambre, who are among the best.
M. De le Chambre insists upon it that the inclinations of people may be
known from consulting the lines on the hands; there being a very near
correspondence between the parts of the hand and the internal parts of
the body, the heart, liver, &c. “whereon the passions and inclinations
much depend.” He adds, however, that the rules and precepts of
Chiromancy are not sufficiently warranted; the experiments on which they
stand not being well verified. He concludes by observing, that there
should be a new set of observations, made with justness and exactitude,
in order to give to Chiromancy that form and solidity which an art of
science demands.
DACTYLIOMANCY.
This is a sort of divination performed by means of a ring. It was done
as follows, viz. by holding a ring, suspended by a fine thread, over a
round table, on the edge of which were made a number of marks with the
24 letters of the alphabet. The ring in shaking or vibrating over the
table, stopped over certain of the letters, which, being joined
together, composed the required answer. But this operation was preceded
and accompanied by several superstitious ceremonies; for, in the first
place, the ring was to be consecrated with a great deal of mystery; the
person holding it was to be clad in linen garments, to the very shoes;
his head was to be shaven all round, and he was to hold vervein in his
hand. And before he proceeded on any thing the gods were first to be
appeased by a formulary of prayers, &c.
The whole process of this mysterious rite is given in the 29th book of
Ammianus Marcellinus.
EXTISPICIUM,
(From _exta_ and _spicere_, to view, consider.)
The name of the officer who shewed and examined the entrails of the
victims was Extispex.
This method of divination, or of drawing presages relative to futurity,
was much practised throughout Greece, where there were two families, the
_Jamidæ_ and _Clytidæ_, consecrated or set apart particularly for the
exercise of it.
The Hetrurians, in Italy, were the first _Extispices_, among whom
likewise the art was in great repute. Lucan gives us a fine description
of one of these operations in his first book.
GASTROMANCY.
This species of divination, practised among the ancients, was performed
by means of words coming or appearing to come out of the belly.
There is another kind of divination called by the same name, which is
performed by means of glasses, or other round transparent vessels,
within which certain figures appear by magic art. Hence its name, in
consequence of the figures appearing as if in the belly of the vessels.
GEOMANCY,
Was performed by means of a number of little points or dots, made at
random on paper; and afterwards considering the various lines and
figures, which those points present; thereby forming a pretended
judgment of futurity, and deciding a proposed question.
Polydore Virgil defines Geomancy a kind of divination performed by means
of clefts or chinks made in the ground; and he takes the Persian magi to
have been the inventors of it. _De invent. rer._ lib. 1, c. 23.
⁂ Geomancy is formed of the Greek γη _terra_, earth; and μαντεια,
divination; it being the ancien custom to cast little pebbles on the
ground, and thence to form their conjecture, instead of the points
above-mentioned.
HYDROMANCY, ὙΔΡΟΜΑΤΕΙΑ,
The art of divining or foretelling future events by means of water; and
is one of the four general kinds of divination: the other three, as
regarding the other elements, _viz._ fire and earth, are denominated
Pyromancy, Aeromancy, and Geomancy already mentioned.
The Persians are said by Varro to have been the first inventors of
Hydromancy; observing also that Numa Pompilius, and Pythagoras, made use
of it.
There are various Hydromantic machines and vessels, which are of a
singularly curious nature.
NECROMANCY,
Is the art of communicating with devils, and doing surprising things by
means of their aid; particularly that of calling up the dead and
extorting answers from them. (See MAGIC.)
ONEIROCRITICA,
Is the art of interpreting dreams; or a method of foretelling future
events by means of dreams.
From several passages of Scripture, it appears that, under the Jewish
dispensation, there was such a thing as foretelling future events by
dreams; but there was a particular gift or revelation required for that
purpose. Hence it would appear that dreams are actually significative of
something to come; and all that is wanting among us is, the
_Oneirocritica_, or the art of knowing what: still it is the general
opinion of the present day that dreams are mere chimera, induced by
various causes, have no affinity with the realization of future events;
but having, at the same time, indeed, some relation to what has already
transpired.
With respect to Joseph’s dream, “it was possible,” says an old author,
“for God, who knew all things, to discover to him what was in the womb
of fate; and to introduce that, he might avail himself of a dream; not
but that he might as well have foretold it from any other accident or
circumstance whatever; unless God, to give the business more importance,
should purposely communicate such a dream to Pharoah, in order to fall
in with the popular notion of dreams and divination, which at that time
was so prevalent among the Egyptians.”
The name given to the interpreters of dreams, or those who judge of
events from the circumstances of dreams, was _Oneirocritics_. There is
not much confidence to be placed in those Greek books called
Oneirocritics; they are replete with superstition of the times. Rigault
has given us a collection of the Greek and Latin works of this kind; one
of which is attributed to _Astrampsichus_; another to Nicephorus, the
patriarch of Constantinople; to which are added the treatises of
Artimedorus and Achmet. But the books themselves are little else than
reveries or waking dreams, to explain and account for sleeping ones.
The secret of _Oneirocritism_, according to all these authors, consists
in the relations supposed to exist between the dream and the thing
signified; but they are far from keeping to the relations of agreement
and similitudes; and frequently they have recourse to others of
dissimilitude and contrariety.
ONOMANCY, or ONOMAMANCY[35],
Is the art of divining the good or bad fortune which will befall a man
from the letters of his name. This mode of divination was a very popular
and reputable practice among the ancients.
The Pythagoreans taught that the minds, actions, and successes of
mankind, were according to their fate, genius, and name; and Plato
himself inclines somewhat to the same opinion.—Ausonius to Probus
expresses it in the following manner:—
Qualem creavit moribus,
Jussit vocari NOMINE
Mundi supremus arbiter.
In this manner he sports with tippling Meroe, as if her name told she
would drink pure wine without water; or as he calls it, _merum mereim_.
Thus Hippolytus was observed to be torn to pieces by his own coach
horses, as his name imported; and thus Agamemnon signified that he
should linger long before Troy; Priam, that he should be redeemed out of
bondage in his childhood. To this also may be referred that of Claudius
Rutilius:—
Nominibus certis credam decurrere mores?
Moribus aut Potius nomina certa dari?
It is a frequent and no less just observation in history, that the
greatest Empires and States have been founded and destroyed by men of
the same name. Thus, for instance, Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, began the
Persian monarchy; and Cyrus, the son of Darius, ruined it; Darius, son
of Hystaspes, restored it; and, again, Darius, son of Asamis, utterly
overthrew it. Phillip, son of Amyntas, exceedingly enlarged the kingdom
of Macedonia; and Phillip, son of Antigonus, wholly lost it. Augustus
was the first Emperor of Rome; Augustulus the last. Constantine first
settled the empire of Constantinople, and Constantine lost it wholly to
the Turks.
There is a similar observation that some names are constantly
unfortunate to princes: _e. g._ Caius, among the Romans; John, in
France, England and Scotland; and Henry, in France.
One of the principal rules of Onomancy, among the Pythagoreans, was,
that an even number of vowels in a name signified an imperfection in the
left side of a man; and an odd number in the right.—Another rule, about
as good as this, was, that those persons were the most happy, in whose
names the numeral letters, added together, made the greatest sum; for
which reason, say they, it was, that Achilles vanquished Hector; the
numeral letters, in the former name, amounting to a greater number than
the latter. And doubtless it was from a like principle that the young
Romans toasted their mistresses at their meetings as often as their
names contained letters.
“Nævia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur!”
Rhodingius describes a singular kind of Onomantia.—Theodotus, King of
the Goths, being curious to learn the success of his wars against the
Romans, an Onomantical Jew ordered him to shut up a number of swine in
little stys, and to give some of them Roman, and others Gothic names,
with different marks to distinguish them, and there to keep them till a
certain day; which day having come, upon inspecting the stys they found
those dead to whom the Gothic names had been given, and those alive to
whom the Roman names were assigned.—Upon which the Jew foretold the
defeat of the Goths.
ONYCOMANCY, or ONYMANCY.
This kind of divination is performed by means of the finger nails. The
ancient practice was, to rub the nails of a youth with oil and soot, or
wax, and to hold up the nails, thus prepared, against the sun; upon
which there were supposed to appear figures or characters, which shewed
the thing required. Hence also modern Chiromancers call that branch of
their art which relates to the inspection of nails, ONYCOMANCY.
ORNITHOMANCY,
Is a kind of divination, or method of arriving at the knowledge of
futurity, by means of birds; it was among the Greeks what Augury was
among the Romans.
PYROMANCY,
A species of divination performed by means of fire.
The ancients imagined they could foretel futurity by inspecting fire and
flame; for this purpose they considered its direction, or which way it
turned. Sometimes they added other matters to the fire, _e. g._ a vessel
full of urine, with its neck bound round with wool; and narrowly watched
the side in which it would burst, and thence took their prognostic.
Sometimes they threw pitch in it, and if it took fire instantly, they
considered it a favourable omen.
PYSCOMANCY, or SCIOMANCY,
An art among the ancients of raising or calling up the manes or souls of
deceased persons, to give intelligence of things to come. The witch who
conjured up the soul of Samuel, to foretel Saul the event of the battle
he was about to give, did so by Sciomancy.
RHABDOMANCY,
Was an ancient method of divination, performed by means of rods or
staves. St. Jerome mentions this kind of divination in his Commentary on
Hosea, chap. vi. 12.; where the prophet says, in the name of God: _My
people ask counsel at their stocks; and their staff declareth unto
them_: which passage that father understands of the Grecian
_Rhabdomancy_.
The same is met with again in Ezekiel, xxi. 21, 22. where the prophet
says: _For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way_, at the
head of the two ways, to use divination; he made his arrows bright; or,
as St. Jerome renders it, _he mixed his arrows; he consulted with
images; he looked in the liver_.
If it be the same kind of divination that is alluded to in these two
passages, _Rhabdomancy_ must be the same kind of superstition with
Belomancy. These two, in fact, are generally confounded. The Septuagint
themselves translate חצים of Ezekiel, by ῥαβδος, a rod; though in
strictness it signifies an arrow. So much however is certain, that the
instruments of divination mentioned by Hosea are different from those of
Ezekiel. In the former it is עצו _etso_, מקלו _maklo_, his wood, his
staff: in the latter חצים _hhitism_, arrows. Though it is possible
they might use rods or arrows indifferently; or the military men might
use arrows and the rest rods.
By the laws of the Frisones, it appears that the ancient inhabitants of
Germany practised Rhabdomancy. The Scythians were likewise acquainted
with the use of it: and Herodotus observes, _lib._ vi. that the women
among the Alani sought and gathered together fine straight wands or
rods, and used them for the same superstitious purposes.
Among the various other kinds of divination, not here mentioned, may be
enumerated: _Chiromancy_, performed with keys; _Alphitomancy_ or
_Aleuromancy_, by flour; _Keraunoscopia_, by the consideration of
thunder; _Alectromancy_, by cocks; _Lithomancy_, by stones;
_Eychnomancy_, by lamps; _Ooscopy_, by eggs; _Lecanomancy_, by a basin
of water; _Palpitatim_, _Salisatio_, παλμος, by the pulsation or motion
of some member, &c. &c. &c.
All these kinds of divination have been condemned by the fathers of the
Church, and Councils, as supposing some compact with the devil. Fludd
has written several treatises on divination, and its different species;
and Cicero has two books of the divination of the ancients, in which he
confutes the whole system. Cardan also, in his 4th Book de Sapientia,
describes every species of them.
ORACLE.
The word oracle admits, under this head, of two significations: first,
it is intended to express an answer, usually couched in very dark and
ambiguous terms, supposed to be given by demons of old, either by the
mouths of their idols, or by those of their priests, to those who
consulted them on things to come. The PYTHIAN[36] was always in a rage
when she gave oracles.
Ablancourt observes that the study or research of the meaning of
_Oracles_ was but a fruitless thing; and they were never understood
until they were accomplished. It is related by Historians, that Crœsus
was tricked by the ambiguity and equivocation of the oracle.
Κροισος Άλυν διαβας μεγαλην αρχην καταλνσει. rendered thus in Latin:—
_Crœsus Halym superans magnam pervertet opum vim._
Oracle is also used for the Demon who gave the answer, and the place
where it was given. (Vide DEMON.)
The principal oracles of antiquity are that of Abæ, mentioned by
Herodotus; that of Amphiarus; that of the Branchidæ, at Didymus; that of
the Camps, at Lacedemon; that of Dodona; that of Jupiter Ammon; that of
Nabarca, in the Country of the Anariaci, near the Caspian sea; that of
Trophonius, mentioned by Herodotus; that of Chrysopolis; that of Claros,
in Ionia; that of Mallos; that of Patarea; that of Pella, in Macedonia;
that of Phaselides, in Cilicia; that of Sinope, in Paphlagonia; that of
Orpheus’s head, mentioned by Philostratus in his life of Appolonius, &c.
But, of all others, the oracle of _Apollo Pythius_, at Delphi, was the
most celebrated; it was, in short, consulted always as a _dernier
ressort_, in cases of emergency, by most of the princes of those ages.—
Mr. Bayle observes, that at first, it gave its answers in verse; and
that at length it fell to prose, in consequence of the people beginning
to laugh at the poorness of its versification.
Among the more learned, it is a pretty general opinion that all the
oracles were mere cheats and impostures; calculated either to serve the
avaricious ends of the heathen priests, or the political views of the
princes. Bayle positively asserts, they were mere human artifices, in
which the devil had no hand. In this opinion he is strongly supported by
Van Dale, a Dutch physician, and M. Fontenelle, who have expressly
written on the subject.
There are two points at issue on the subject of _oracles_; viz. whether
they were human or diabolical machines; and whether or not they ceased
upon the publication and preaching of the Gospel?
Plutarch wrote a treatise on the ceasing of some _oracles_: and Van Dale
has a volume to prove that they did not cease at the coming of Christ;
but that many of them had ceased long before the coming of that time,
and that others held out till the fall of Paganism, under the Empire of
Theodosius the Great, and when it was dissipated, these institutions
could no longer resist.
Van Dale was answered by a German, one Mœbius, professor of Theology, at
Leipsic, in 1685. Fontenelle espoused Van Dale’s system, and improved
upon it in his history of oracles; wherein he exposed the weakness of
the argument used by many writers in behalf of Christianity, drawn from
the ceasing of _oracles_.