Divination is the attempt to foretell the future or discover occult knowledge by interpreting omens or by using paranormal or supernatural powers. Most of us are familiar with crystal balls, Ouija boards, astrology.  Even the old childhood game of “he/she loves me, he/she loves me not’ we played by pulling the petals off a daisy is a type of divination. What I didn’t know was the list of items that have been used in divination is extraordinary. Below are listed just a few. Many end in ‘mancy’, from the ancient Greek manteia (divination), or ‘scopy’, from the Greek skopein (to look into, to behold). Most forms of divination rely on magical thinking, apophenia (finding meaning in meaningless patterns), and pareidolia (seeing distinct forms in vague and random patterns).

• aleuromancy (divination by flour)
• aeromancy or acromancy (divination by examining what the air does to certain things)
• alectoromancy or alectryomancy (divination by a cock: grains of wheat are placed on letters and the cock “spells” the message by selecting grains)
• alphitomancy (dropping barleycakes in water and interpreting the result)
• anthropomancy (divination by interpreting the organs of newly sacrificed humans)
• arithmancy (divination by numbers)
• astragalomancy or astragyromancy (using knucklebones marked with letters of the alphabet)
• astrology
• astromancy (by stars)
• axinomancy (divination by the hatchet: interpreting the quiver when whacked into a table)
• belomancy (divination by arrows)
• botanomancy (divination by herbs)
• bronchiomancy (divination by studying the lungs of sacrificed white llamas)
• capnomancy (divination by the smoke of an altar or sacrificial incense)
• cartomancy
• catoptromancy or crystallomancy (using mirrors or lenses)
• cephalomancy or cepthaleonomancy (divination by a donkey’s head)
• ceromancy (by the melting of wax)
• chalcomancy (by vessels of brass or other metal)
• chiromancy (palmistry)
• cleidomancy (divination by interpreting the movements of a key suspended by a thread from the nail of the third finger on a young virgin’s hand while one of the Psalms was recited)
• coscinomancy (divination by a balanced sieve)
• cromniomancy (divination by onions)
• crystallomancy (by crystals)
• dactylomancy (divination by means of rings put on the fingernails or the number of whorls and loops on the fingers)
• daphnomancy (divination using the laurel branch: how did it crackle when burned?)
• dowsing
• extispicy (divination by examining entrails)
• fractomancy (interpreting the structures of fractal geometric patterns)
• gastromancy (by the sound of or marks on the belly)
• geomancy
• gyromancy (divination by walking around a circle of letters until dizzy and one falls down on the letters or in the direction to take)
• haruspicy (inspecting the entrails of slaughtered animals)
• hepatoscopy or hepatomancy (divination by examining the liver of sacrificed animals) 
• hydromancy (divination by examining what certain things do in water or when taken out of water, such as coffee grounds or tea leaves); hydatoscopy (if rainwater is used); pegomancy (if spring-water is used)
• kapnomancy (by smoke)
• katoptromancy (by looking0glasses)
• kephalonomancy (burning carbon on the head of an ass while reciting the names of suspected criminals; if you’re guilty, a crackling sound will be heard when your name is spoken)
• koskinomancy (by sieves)
• krithomancy (by corn or grain)
• lampadomancy (interpreting the movements of the flame of a lamp)
• libanomancy or knissomancy (interpreting the smoke of incense)
• lithomancy (divination using precious stones)
• lecanomancy (dropping precious stones into water and listening for whistles)
• logarithmancy
• macharomancy (by knives and swords)
• margaritomancy (divination by the pearl: if it jumps in the pot when a person is named, then he is the thief!)
• metoposcopy (interpreting frontal wrinkles)
• molybdomancy (divination by melted lead: interpreting its noises and hisses when dropped into water)
• myrmomancy (divination by watching ants eating)
• necromancy (communicating with spirits of the dead to predict the future)
• oinomancy (divination by wine)
• omphalomancy (interpretation of the belly button)
• oneiromancy (interpretation of dreams)
• onomancy (divination by names)
• onychomancy (interpreting the reflection of sun rays off fingernails)
• ornithomancy or orniscopy (interpreting the flights of birds)
• ovomancy or oomancy or ooscopy (breaking eggs into a container of water and interpreting the shape of the egg white)
• papyromancy (divination by folding paper)
• podomancy (by the feet)
• psychometry (divination by touching objects)
• pyromancy or pyroscopy (divination by fire)
• rhabdomancy (using the divining rod or magic wand)
• rhapsodmancy (divination by a line in a sacred book that strikes the eye when the book is opened after the diviner prays, meditates or invokes the help of spirits)
• rumpology (divination by the lines on the buttocks)
• scapulamancy
• sciomancy (by shadows)
• scrying
• sideromancy (interpreting straws thrown on a red-hot iron)
• skatharomancy (interpreting the tracks of a beetle crawling over the grave of a murder victim)
• stereomancy (diving by the elements)
• spatilomancy (by skin, bones, etc.)
• splanchnomancy (reading cut sections of a goat liver)
• stichomancy
• sternomancy (divination by the marks from the breast to the belly)
• sycomancy (by figs)
• tasseography (reading tea leaves)
• tephromancy (by ashes)
• theriomancy (divination by beasts)
• tiromancy (interpreting the holes or mold in cheese)
• tyromancy (by cheese)
• urim v’tumim (reading sacred stones attached to
  the breastplate of the high priest in ancient Judaism)
• uromancy (divination by reading bubbles made by urinating in a pot)

  http://www.skepdic.com/divinati.html

Thank you, Evan Swensen of Publication Consultants for contributing this article to the Ravens Cove Blog. To claim a free, personalized copy of Ravens Cove, An Alaska Iconoclast Mystery, go to www.ravenscove.maryannpoll.com , click “Share” and follow the instructions.

Until next time,

As a writer of supernatural thrillers, I am always curious about the paranormal. I watch Ghost Hunters, The Dead Files and read a variety of paranormal news almost on a daily basis. As readers of paranormal fiction, I’d imagine your curiosity is as unquenchable as mine. I ran across this article on The Huffington Post. It’s interesting to read an article based on one person’s experience living in a purportedly haunted house.  I believe enough to know I would not buy this house or any other that is said to have ghosts or spirits. I enjoy my peace, and my sleep, way too much. How about you?

 Considering A Haunted House Buy? ‘Don’t,’ Says Carmen Reed

By David Lohr, Huffington Post.

Posted: 10/24/2013 4:44 pm EDT Updated: 10/25/2013 5:54 am EDT

Gone are the days where ghostly manifestations will stigmatize the sale of a haunted home.

According to realtor.com’s3 “Haunted Housing Report,” more than half of American home buyers are open to buying a spooky abode.

Sixty-two percent, to be exact, of nearly 1,400 respondents indicated they would consider buying a haunted home in a realtor.com survey that ran on their website from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1. That’s up 30 percent from last year’s figures!

While the news might prompt some sellers to flaunt their haunt, living in a haunted house is not all it’s cracked up to be, according to Carmen Reed (formerly Carmen Snedeker).

“At first I thought it would be a neat Halloween conversation piece, but it didn’t turn out that way,” Reed said in a telephone interview with HuffPost.

Reed and her family were the basis for the 2009 horror film, “The Haunting In Connecticut.”

In 1986, Reed and her family moved from Monticello, N.Y, to Southington, Conn., where they rented an old home. The move was prompted by the need to get their son, who was battling Hodgkin’s disease, closer to the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, where he was receiving treatment.

It was not until after the move, Reed said, that her family discovered the home had once been a funeral parlor.

“We found a lot of stuff that had been left behind,” she said. “There were coffin pillows, a [coffin trolley], pictures of the deceased, toe tags, a blood tank and a body lift that went up into our bedroom.”

According to Reed, her son and other family members were the first to experience strange occurrences. It was not until sometime after the move that she realized there was a supernatural force inside the home.

“I saw a hand go up my niece’s shirt,” Reed recounted. “There was a perfect imprint of the wrist bone, knuckles, joints and fingernails. It laughed a hideous laugh when it went above her shirt and out the window. I scooped her up and ran into the dining room and called the Catholic Church.”

Reed said that while a number of other horrific events occurred — some of which are detailed in the movie — it was the subtle hauntings that caused her the most fear.

• “I’d hear popcorn popping and I would smell it, but I’d go into the kitchen and I couldn’t find it.”
• “I’d be downstairs doing laundry and I’d hear footsteps on the stairs or someone calling ‘Mom,’ but when I looked, no one was there.”
• “A phone would be heard ringing in the basement where the mortuary used to be, but we couldn’t find it.”
• “I would put the dishes on the table and then they would appear back in the cabinet. I did not see them move or float back to the cabinet but they would be there.”
• “I got goose bumps — I called them the heebie-jeebies — in the house all the time.”
• “I’d see something out [of] the corner of my eye — something scurrying across the floor — and there would be nothing there.””In lots of ways, the subtle reality of spirits in a house [is] much more frightening than the things that slap you in the face,” Reed said. “They get your adrenaline going and the fear builds to a crescendo. Those things can also cause you to think you are losing your mind.”Reed said she also suffered a number of nightmares while she was living in the home, but is not certain if they were caused by the haunting or things she was experiencing at the time.”I was going through a dark time,” she said. “My father had just been murdered, my son had cancer and my sister had just found out she was HIV positive. I can’t say for sure if my dreams were related to the house. Sometimes I wonder if they happened because of the house, but I hate to give it that kind of power. It’s one of those things I don’t have the answers to, so for me to say anything is absolute is impossible.”

  Reed and her family eventually left the home, but not before they asked the Catholic Church to cleanse the place. The exact details of the alleged cleansing are unknown.

  “It took four hours and there were several priests involved, but I am not permitted to discuss it because I signed an agreement that I would never divulge the ritual,” she said. “When they were done, the difference in the house was amazing and it was completely clean.”

  Now it should be noted that in 2009, investigator Joe Nickell reported in the May/June issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine that the Snedekers’ landlady said she found the family’s story ridiculous. She also said no one before or since the Reeds had experienced anything unusual in the house.

  Nevertheless, Reed stands behind her accounts.

  Truth or fiction? That’s for you to decide. However, if a haunted house is on your shopping list, you may just want to give it a little more thought. If not for the sake of our words, perhaps because of Carmen Reed’s.

  “It was a horrible thing to go through,” she said before hanging up the phone.