Mankind has continually searched for a method of hepatoscopy (foretelling his future), and failed, unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps). My following list shows some of the innovated methods, which have shown some intriguing imagination, however. Take a look.
Astrology: This "science" or "art" was practiced by the ancient Chaldeans and found in the theories of ancient religions. It is based on the signs or omens "seen" in the stars and the constellations they form, which make up the Zodiac. These groups or constellations in the Zodiac were given names taken from mythological lore and their changing patterns were noted to mark the changing seasons. Each pattern was given a "significance". If "properly read" these patterns foretell an individual's or the world's futures.
Bibliomancy: Reading into the future by consulting some book, secular or sacred.
A common practice for the credulous in divination is to open the Bible and place the index finger at random on the text. The message therein, in case of distress, will suggest a solution. But, if the words have no bearing on the particular distress, the message is unfavorable.
To ask a question on a doubtful matter open the Bible and note the first word on the left-hand page. If the word has an even number of letters, the answer is "No"., and uneven number of letters, the answer is "Yes".
An Old English custom is to lay the Bible on the table on New Year's Day and have each member of the family open it at random and read the prediction of things to come for the new year from suggested contents of the two open pages.
Capnomancy: Divination by means of smoke. Smoke ascending dark and dense foretells evil to come; ascending straight and light, the opposite.
Catoptromancy: Divination with the aid of a mirror
If a child is taken to a mirror before he/she is a year old, the child will have an early death.
Looking into a mirror by candlelight will bring on bad luck.
Mirrors and pictures of deceased persons are covered while the corpse lies in state at home to prevent the spirit from seeing itself.
Cledonism: Divination from words "used occasionally", or, sometimes, associated with the movements of birds.
Cleromancy: Learning the unknown by "casting lots", such as throwing dice, flipping a coin, consulting cards, shaking pebbles or nuts, or saying "magical" words like "Eeny, meeny, miney, moe".
Coscinomancy: Divination through consulting the manner of oscillation or shaking of a suspended "sieve".
Dactiliomancy: Divination using a ring suspended by a string and noting its rotating movements, and its stopping at some marked letters to indicate answers to queries.
Dreams: Dream wandering in confusion portends an impending event. Many specific dreams have been given meanings:
Whatever one dreams while sleeping under a new blanket or quilt will turn out real.
Morning dreams go by contraries.
Told before breakfast, dreams bring bad luck.
Muddy water - trouble or an impending death.
Dreaming of a white horse means you will become rich.
Fortune Telling: One's birthday foretells his/her fortune:
Mondays' child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is sorry and sad.
Thursday's child is merry and glad.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
Saturday's child must work for a living.
But the child born on the Sabbath Day is bonny and merry and glad and gay.
Magic Crystal: The "magic crystal", a kind of divining mirror, may be any size, usually spherical, and turned from pure rock. It offers divination and communication with the "living dead".
Onomancy: Divination of good or ill fortune from the letters of a person's name.
Palmistry: Foretells events, and character, from the shape, fatty tissues (mounds), and lines of the hands, fingers, nails, etc.
Chirognomy: assessing a person's character on the basis of the shape and general appearance of the hands.
Chiromancy: Prophecy from indications of the hands.
Onychomancy" Foretelling on the basis of characteristics of the finger nails.
Phrenology: Character reading from the size and shape of the human skull.
Medical anatomist Franz J. Gall developed the theory that the outer surface of the skull corresponded with the contents of the brain, and that regions of the brain were correlated with character traits.
Physiognomy: Popular in the 16th century, this was built upon the theory that bodily characteristics reveal mental characteristics. It was forbidden by the English Parliament in 1743.
Scapulimancy/omoplatoscopy: Reading the future from the features of an animal's shoulder blade.
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