Acutomancy
Alternatively known as Acultomancy and Acutomanzia.
A form of divination by means of sharp or pointed objects, such as needles or pins.
Needles are a popular divination tool among the Gypsies of the British Isles, and are used by other cultures as well.
In the most popular method, the diviner allows a number of these sharp or pointed objects (usually seven) to fall onto a table or any other appropriate flat surface. He then reads from the patterns they make.
In another method, used since ancient times by Gypsies, seven needles (or up to twenty one) were dropped into a shallow bowl filled with water. Prognostications were read in the needles pattern in the water. Sometimes the dish was slowly filled with water, and as the needles moved about, futurity was determined. Gypsies would also use needles or sharp sticks as pointers while performing divination readings.
Another method uses thirteen pins, ten of them straight and the other three bent. They are shaken in the hand and dropped onto a surface sprinkled with powder, usually sugar, flour or talcum. The patterns in the powder as well as the positioning of the pins are then read by the diviner.
On yet another method, the pins are marked with mystical symbols or letters, cast into a quiver and mixed together. The diviner then proceeds drawing one or more pins, one at the time, to interpret the results and make the prognostication.
A needle could be used as a pendulum as well. By asking questions and observing the needles swing and direction, the answers were obtained.
Acutomancy divination patterns are usually lines, broken or parallel, vertical or horizontal. Broken lines are perceived as representing travel or a great journey. Parallel lines indicate money in the future, though that money may be either given or taken. Vertical lines characterize guided roads that we are meant to be taken, while horizontal lines could show us our fate.
Acutomancy, like most divinatory systems, is quite ancient, and has been practiced since time immemorial.
See Stoichomancy, Cleidomancy, Augur, Dowsing, Tarot, Heptameron, Demonology, Sortilege, Demonomancy, Grimoires, Witchcraft, Agrippa, Diviner, Divination, Wizard, Pythagoras, Witch, Warlock, Alchemy, Paracelsus, Devil, Kabbalism, Numerology, Alchemy, Magic, Satan, Casting Black Magic Spells, Commanding Spirits, The Tarot Store, The Chakra Store, Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies, and The Pyramid Collection.
Sources: (1) Morwyn, The Complete Book Of Psychic Arts, Llewellyn Publications; (2) Walker, Charles, The Encyclopedia of the Occult, Random House Value; (3) Dunwich, Gerina, A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy and Divination, Carol Publishing Group; (4) Buckland, Raymond, The Fortune-Telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying, Visible Ink Press.
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