Coffee grounds are the last century
Throughout their history, people constantly consulted with a variety of soothsayers and fortune tellers in the hope of finding out their future. And all these mystics, for their part, have invented a number of different methods that allow, they say, to look into the future. And some of these methods are extremely strange.
1. Alelectromancy
Electromancy is a method of predicting the future using roosters. With this method of divination, the rooster is placed between several piles of grain. Each pile of grain corresponds to a specific letter of the alphabet. And according to the sequence in which the rooster approaches the piles, and pecks grains from them, the soothsayer tries to read a certain word. For all this, only young roosters are used, and preference is given to white birds. Before the start of the procedure, a few claws are cut off to the rooster, and they are fed to him, having previously wrapped them in the skin of a lamb. After that, the fortune teller pronounces a certain magic formula, holding the rooster with its head down, and then lowers it to the ground in front of the prepared piles of grain. All this should be done only when the Sun, or the Moon will be in the constellation Ares, otherwise nothing will work.
It is believed that the name of the successor to the Roman emperor Valens was predicted with the help of electromancy, although the details of this story are very sketchy and often contradict each other. Some researchers claim that Valens himself ordered fortune-telling, in order to find and eliminate all potential applicants for his throne in this way. However, Valens was a staunch Christian, so even if these events did take place, then a more likely scenario could be that this fortune-telling was used by Valens political opponents in order to determine the names of those whom they should help in the fight against the current emperor. and against Christianity.
Be that as it may, during the fortune-telling, the rooster pointed to the letters "i", "e", "o" and "d". Valens proclaimed that fortune-telling was illegal, and then sentenced the fortuneteller to death. Just in case, he also executed several other people, whose names began with the letters indicated by the bird. Valens himself was later killed in battle, and a man named Theodosius turned out to be his successor. Unfortunately for everyone who wanted to overthrow Valens, Emperor Theodosius was also a convinced Christian.
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2. Fortune telling on the insides
People have also tried to predict the future, and even influence it through a detailed study of the intestines of animals, most often through the study of the liver. Although it is believed that this technique was usually used by the Romans, in fact it was in use even among the Etruscans, who believed that God gave them this method of divination. So the Etruscans continued to use this method even when their civilization was completely absorbed by the Roman Empire. The Romans, on the other hand, considered divination by the entrails of animals to be a very powerful tool for predicting the future. Even the famous Roman philosopher and politician Cicero wrote about this type of fortune-telling.
The most famous haruspex (this is what the fortunetellers were called by the insides) was a man named Spurinna. At one time he enjoyed great respect, and predicted the future even for Julius Caesar. His most famous prediction was later immortalized by Shakespeare in his play about the doomed emperor. The soothsayer told Caesar: "Beware of the March idols." The Ides of March correspond to the 15th of March. It was on this day that Caesar was killed.
In reality, however, Spurinna's fame dims somewhat. The real prediction boiled down to the fact that the danger threatens Caesar no later than the Ides of March, and this sounds much more vague than something written by the great playwright. There is another suggestion that may seem creepy. Perhaps Spurinne was simply aware of the conspiracy and the impending assassination of Caesar.
3. "Parrot Astrology"
"Parrot Astrology" comes from South India and is most popular in Singapore. In fact, parrots are used to predict the future, and, as a rule, green ones. Although each fortune teller has her own style, all sessions usually begin with the client saying her own name while the fortune teller arranges a series of cards from Indian cosmology. After that, the cage with the parrot opens, the bird leaves it, and chooses one card in order to determine the fate of the client. After choosing a card, the bird returns to the cage.
Surprisingly, one such "psychic parrot" named Mani was able to successfully predict all the winners of the quarterfinals at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as well as the winner of the semifinal match between the national teams of Spain and Germany. However, the parrot's luck ended when he could not correctly predict the outcome of the final match. Despite Mani's fame, parrot astrology is a moribund art today. Singaporeans are gradually losing faith in the ability of parrots to "predict the future", and purely fortune-tellers with parrots are gradually dwindling.
4. Scatomancy
Scatomancy, or fecal divination, has been practiced by humans for centuries in a wide variety of forms. Perhaps the earliest divination technique was developed in ancient Egypt, when priests studied the movements of scarab beetles rolling balls of dung. And modern fortunetellers study in detail the droppings of ducks that walk indoors, eat certain food, and whose feces are then used for fortune-telling. And some are looking for meaning in human feces. Their predictions are based on analysis of the shape, texture and even smell of human feces.
5. Asparamantia
Self-proclaimed "asparamant" and mystic Jemima Packington, who lives in England, claims to be able to predict the future using asparagus sprouts. She says she learned to “read asparagus” at the age of eight, inheriting this “gift” from her grandmother, who was a tea leaf diviner. Her method of divination by asparagus consists of tossing shoots in the air and reading them after they fall to the ground.
To the credit of this fortuneteller, she predicted the high performance of the English team at the 2012 Olympics. She also predicted poor results for England at Euro 2012, during which the team dropped out of the tournament after the quarterfinals. Surprisingly, her predictions even became the subject of discussion of many football fans. Even more dubious were her predictions related to the royal family, and made in the same 2012 year. Two small shoots of asparagus fell to form a crown. The fortune-teller decided that this meant two pregnancies in the royal family.
Even she herself admits that "reading from asparagus" sounds rather silly, but still continues to insist on the accuracy of her predictions. However, her ability to predict, for example, rewards is in question. Her prediction that The King's Speech would win an Oscar came true. Unfortunately, her predictions about other films did not come true. She also predicted the imminent collapse of the European currency. But this was not destined to come true.
6. Rampology
Rampology is the reading of the human future in the shape of the buttocks. Jackie Stallone, the famous American rampologist, claims that this is a very ancient practice that was used by several ancient civilizations at once, but does not provide any serious evidence for this statement. According to Stallone, the ancients read the future according to the shape of the buttocks, first painting them with henna, and then forcing their owner to sit on a sheet of papyrus, after which they carefully studied the "imprint." Stallone is also engaged in reading "prints", in addition, she "reads" and digital photographs of the "rear facades" sent to her.
The most significant details of the human buttocks are their shape and roundness. It is these parameters that show many aspects of personality. In general, rampology is usually used to predict the future of a particular person, but Stallone claims that she once was able to accurately predict the results of an election by carefully analyzing the butts of her Dobermans (how canine asses relate to elections is anyone's guess). Rampology is common in several countries, including Germany, where a blind "fortuneteller" examines the clients' buttocks to "read" their fates. He claims that his disability is a blessing, as his blindness provides complete anonymity to his clients.
7. Divination by areolas
Divination, which is based on the use of the mystical power of the areola of the human nipple, came from Japan. This type of divination became popular in Japan after a "sorceress" named Eri Koizumi appeared on Japanese television wearing a nipple-shaped beret and began promoting her new book, Becoming Happy: Divination by Areolas.
Fate is predicted mainly by the shape of the areola. The forms have different funny names, such as "coffee bean", "wild apple". It is by the shape of the areola that the main personality traits are determined. For example, a wild apple-shaped areola means you are smart.
Another determining factor in areola divination is their color. Its shades can range from “creamy” to “biscuit”. The shades reveal such traits as loyalty to duty, talkativeness, and others.
This all sounds too crazy to be true, especially after seeing Koizumi's beret-nipple. It should be noted that although Koizumi is known as a "sorceress", she is listed as a comedian with the talent agency. So it could all turn out to be one big joke, although some people can no doubt take everything at face value.
8. "Lapomancy"
"Lapomancy" is almost the same as palmistry, but only for your cat. You can learn about it from the book "Lapomancy: how to read on the paws of your cat". The book should teach you to read the fate of your pet based on the basic lines and shape of its paws. If the owner of the cat engages in such "reading", then this, according to the authors, will help to understand the pet deeper, and take better care of him. They also argue that "reading" the cat's paws will show the owner not only the inner world of the cat. It can show its geographical origin, its hereditary characteristics, and much more. One of the book's authors, Ken Ring, claims to have "discovered" "lapomancy" after using a standard palmistry technique on a cat during a parapsychological party. The former clown and magician now claims to be a fortuneteller, a psychic,and a living alternative to daily weather forecast.
9. "Cutting"
Even during the Roman Empire, people used tables for fortune telling. The tops of these tables were engraved with letters. And when someone asked a question, the ring hanging above the tabletop allegedly moved above these letters, and the answer to the question asked was formed from them. At least two ancient fortune tellers were sentenced to torture for trying to guess the name of the next Roman emperor in this manner.
"Table turning", as we know it today, originated in the United States, and from there it spread throughout Europe. This was facilitated by events such as parties, which no longer required a professional fortune teller. Session participants sat around the table, and their fingers lightly touched its edge. One of the participants "got in touch" with some spirit, and began to talk to him. The idea was to ask the spirits questions, the answer to which was either yes or no, and to invite the spirits to answer those questions, either by knocking or by moving the table.
10. "Automatic writing"
"Automatic writing" is a phenomenon in which a person writes without making any conscious effort. Messages scrawled in this way are believed to come from various otherworldly entities, at least initially. This way of communicating with supernatural beings and with the dead came into vogue after it was used by the Fox sisters, famous diviners who were associated with the creation of spiritualism.
The sisters died in poverty after one of them confessed to a fraud, but their legacy and their techniques continued to live on. Helen Smith, a 19th century medium, claimed to receive messages from Mars and write them down using "automatic writing." These interplanetary messages were transmitted to her in the Martian language, which, according to skeptics, for some reason very much resembled her native French.
People not associated with spiritualism, such as psychologists, tend to view "automatic writing" as an ordinary spectacular trick, or as a manifestation of the collective unconscious.
