Spodomancy

Spodomancy (also known as tephramancy and tephromancy) is a form of divination by examining cinders, soot, or ashes (Greek: σποδός spodós), particularly although not exclusively from a ritual sacrifice.

The ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus (525–456 BC) noted that ashes falling from a fireplace could be divined for portents.

The individual would wait for a breeze to disturb the ashes, which would form new letters or omens and provide an answer.

The gift of prophecy was believed to run in some Greek families, and only they were allowed to seek divination from the ashes left by fires on sacrificial altars.

[20] Among the Loma people of western Africa, spodomancy is still (as of the late 20th century) used to divine the sex of a child before birth.

In The Works of Rabelais, Book III (published in 1693), Sir Thomas Urquhart claimed that the ashes and soot must be allowed to rise naturally from the fire.

In Mongolia, however, a divinatory ritual exists in which scapulimancy and spodomancy are combined: A smooth layer of ashes is spread on the shoulder blade of a cow, sheep, or ox, and a lama is divinely inspired to make calculations in the ash which indicate answers to questions or the future.

The filidh were a class of poet-judge-seers who functioned as keepers of mythology and knowledge, historians, lawyers, arbitrators, linguistic experts, and more.

[26] One branch of the filidh was expert solely in divination and dreams, and it was commonly believed that simply sleeping next to the ashes of an animal burned in a sacrificial fire could lead to knowledge about the future.

[28][29] Nonetheless, it was common enough in Spain in the late 16th century so that Archbishop of Seville and Grand Inquisitor Alonso Manrique de Lara had to openly ban the practice.

[31] According to one account of the Celtic pagan tradition of the festival of Imbolc, cold ashes from the fireplace should be spread on the hearth.

[2] In the morning, markings in the ash will indicate that the goddess Brigid has visited the home and has blessed the people living there.

[2] If no markings are found, the body of a rooster must be buried at the confluence of three streams and incense burned on the fire the next evening.

[33][34] On the Isle of Man, a similar tradition was observed, although a death would occur only if the footprint pointed inward (an outward-pointing imprint would mean a birth).