Xylomancy is a type of divination which involves burning wood. There are two main methods of practicing Xylomancy; creating a fire or burning wood. Because of its accessibility, Xylomancy can be easily practiced in modern times. In biblical times, the observation of the flight of birds for the purpose of divination is shown in Ecclesiastes 10:20: "...for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." Among the Arabs the raven was a bird of omen. Divination is universally concerned with practical problems, private or public, and seeks information upon which practical decisions can be made; but the source of such information is not conceived as mundane, and the technique of getting it is necessarily fanciful. The mantic (divinatory) arts are many, and a broad understanding can emerge only from a survey of actual practices in various cultural settings. A short definition, however, may be offered as a preliminary guide: divination is the effort to gain information of a mundane sort by means conceived of as transcending the mundane. If the matter you’re divining on is not too important, then you can scorch a piece of wood with lighter while focusing on your question. A good example would be when you’re researching your ancestral history, you may find cultural roots of divination that can connect you to your ancestors through practices they used to engage in too, such as bone casting or rainmaking. Divination is an excellent tool for piecing together the past, present, and future of a situation or person. It can help you to make decisions, gain clarity and insight into a situation, and even help you to uncover alternative paths or solutions. It can also provide guidance on how to handle the situations that you are presented with.

Typically, you would use a religious or spiritual book such as The Bible or, even, The Egyptian Book of the Dead. However, don’t overcomplicate Bibliomancy: any book will do just fine. Bone Reading (Osteomancy) Yau, Julianna. (2002). Witchcraft and Magic. In Michael Shermer. The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABC-CLIO. pp. 278-282. ISBN 1-57607-654-7 If you want to master Astrology, the first thing to learn is the meanings of the planets. Once you have done this, you learn about the signs of the zodiac and then the houses. Finally, you can eat up more advanced stuff like aspects, squares, etc.Sandstrom, Alan R. "Divination." In David Carrasco (ed). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures.: Oxford University Press, 2001. Read on to learn about five specialized takes on witchcraft, where the variants came from, and which type of witchcraft resonates most with you. During battle, generals would frequently ask seers at both the campground (a process called the hiera) and at the battlefield (called the sphagia). The hiera entailed the seer slaughtering a sheep and examining its liver for answers regarding a more generic question; the sphagia involved killing a young female goat by slitting its throat and noting the animal's last movements and blood flow. The battlefield sacrifice only occurred when two armies prepared for battle against each other. Neither force would advance until the seer revealed appropriate omens. [ citation needed]

Using runes and pendulums to ask for guidance from our higher selves, with our most loving ancestors or from deities we may not be familiar with yet. MODERN DIVINATION is for the tea lovers, the Howl's Moving Castle girlies, the readers who annotate their books into oblivion, the romantics with trust issues, the underestimated academics, the purple-prose lovers, the gays, and anyone looking for a book to cuddle up with on a blustering winter night. Because dreaming is natural, dream interpretation is possibly one of the most ancient methods of divination. It is only human nature to have a dream and then wonder what the significance is behind it. And the romance was heart-wrenching, poetic, and timeless. Teddy and Aurelia mirror each other and play off their similarities, finding moments of contention and attraction in tandem. It was such a joy getting to watch them learn to take down their walls, bit by bit, and learn to look at each other a little deeper. I loved the way that they grow throughout the text, not just individually, but together. They bring about each other's growth through their poking and prodding and yet also through their love for each other. Their chemistry (and their banter!!!) are absolutely unparalleled. The Icarus metaphor absolutely gutted me like a fish. Conchomancy is fortune-telling using seashells. Placing a seashell on your ear and analyzing the sound counts as Conchomancy. You can also use seashells in Casting divination.If you want to use shells to cast with, obviously, you will need shells. You will then assign special meaning to each shell based on its type, color, etc. then cast and interpret them as you would Casting charms. Because shells are easy to obtain, Conchomancy is accessible if you want to give it a try. Crystal Ball Reading

Bailey, Michael David. (2007). Magic and Superstition in Europe. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. pp. 52-53. ISBN 0-7425-3386-7 In Russia, divination was once a popular pastime for the days just after the New Year, known as the strashyne ("fearful") days, when evil spirits were said to be particularly active. According to W. F. Ryan's The Bathhouse at Midnight : An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia, divination performed between midnight and 3 a.m. on these days was especially effective. One popular practice involved "under-the-bowl songs," in which rings and other personal objects were placed in a bowl and special divinatory songs sung, with each verse corresponding to a particular fortune (poverty, spinsterhood, etc.). Gulia, Kuldip Singh (2005). Human Ecology of Sikkim – A Case Study of Upper Rangit Basin. Delhi, India: Kalpaz Publications. pp.152–154, 168. ISBN 978-81-7835-325-8. Dactylomancy is a Greek term which translates as ‘finger divination.’ Traditionally, Dactylomancy is practiced using a ring. However, technically, any form of divination which uses the finger could count as Dactylomancy, but most people know Dactylomancy as the type of divination which uses rings. Similar to Osteomancy (Bone Reading), Casting involves throwing charms and interpreting how they land in relation to each other and/or reading how they fall on a divination board. Technically, Osteomancy can be called Casting, but Casting cannot be called Osteomancy unless bone is used.

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Fahd, Toufic. 1966. La divination arabe; études religieuses, sociologiques et folkloriques sur le milieu natif d’Islam. Technically, one could argue that any spirit communication is Necromancy. Necromancy, therefore, has its roots in Paleolithic times. However, Necromancy is often distinguished from natural mediumship due to its ritualistic nature, so they may or may not be as old as each other. Necromancy is a feature of shamanism. In one version of the practice from the Kaluga province, girls started by fetching water from a well, speaking the name of a man they wanted to marry as they did so. Once home, they poured the water into a bowl, sprinkled in some oats, added their rings, a cross, and charcoal, then covered the bowl and asked someone (usually a widow) to agitate the water with her pinkie finger. The group would then sing a song, and the widow would draw out a ring at the end of each verse. Ryan gives the example of a verse that foretells death: In modern times, Augury is not widely practiced by diviners, so it will be difficult to master if you’re feeling called to it. If you wish to be an Augurer today, you will either need to go over ancient texts or invent your own personal system. Automatic Writing