Abacomancy

From MysteryWiki

Abacomancy (sometimes referred to as amathomancy) is a form of divination which seeks to divine insight into the future by interpreting patterns in dust, dirt, silt, sand, or the ashes of the recently deceased. It has been noted, by , that the interpretation of these patterns is at least similar to the interpretation of patterns found in tasseography.

History

The first known use of the word "abacomancy" is unclear. It was mentioned by Raymond Buckman in his work The Fortune-telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying, which was published in 2004. Before that it appeared in the glossary of Karen Hurrell and Brenda Ralph Lewis' book The Unexplained: A Source Book (published 2003). Amathomancy seems to have a more definitive history, with it being mentioned in Joseph T. Shipley's Dictionary of Early English (published 1955). Within Shipley's dictionary, "amathomancy" redirects to "aeromancy", the full definition of which is as follows:

Divination—foretelling events, predicting the future—by appearances in the air. The depths of the desire to know what is coming, or what is the best course to pursue to bring about a wished-for end, are indicated by the great number of types of divination practiced in times not long gone by. These include: ... amathomancy, dust ...

Amathomancy seem to be formed from the Greek root amatho- and (NOT FINISHED)

External Links

References

No adequate sources have been found so far.