Tarot cards, a crystal ball, a pendulum, and… cheese?
There are many, many means of divination, some wackier than others.
Tyromancy is the art of predicting the future using cheese. In the Middle Ages, those who wanted to divine messages would inspect the patterns of mold or the holes or other cheesy characteristics to find out about love, justice, rain, health, or death. Another way of using it to get answers was to set out two pieces of cheese, each representing a different path the querent might take. Then, whichever piece was nibbled first by a mouse or worm was the best path to take or decision to make. If a girl was wondering which suitor to marry, she’d set out two small morsels of cheese, one for each man, and the first to grow mold was the best match for her.
But, wait! That’s not all!
Abacomancy was the use of dust, dirt, or sand to get insight about the future. You could even use the ashes of someone recently deceased. Similar to reading tea leaves, the dust, dirt, or whatever, would be laid on a flat surface and then examined for patterns or symbols. Jackson Pollack, the famous painter, was known for his series of paintings based on abacomancy.
Bibliomancy is something I’ve written about before. Quick—grab the book that’s closest to you. Hold it while you think of something you’d like Divine guidance on. Hold your question in your mind as you open to a random page and, with your eyes closed, point at a passage. Open your eyes and read it. If the insight isn’t immediately obvious, give it a day or so to percolate.
Scrying is also relatively easy to do. You can use water, a mirror, a crystal ball, fire, or smoke. Look into your chosen medium and soften your gaze. What do you see? What impressions do you get? It’s almost like dreaming while you’re awake and then interpreting the vision you get.
Ouija board, palmistry, coffee grounds, runes, fung shui, nine star ki, and astrology are just a few that you may have heard of. If one of them sounds interesting to you, why not look into it and give it a try?