rabdomancy

rhabdomancy. As main spelling - 1656 (Blount, following Cotgrave), 1755 (Bailey); as variant - 1908, 1969. Johnson has rhabdomancy. Also, (rare) rabdomanteia.

retromancy

divination by observing things over the shoulder. [L retro backwards]

1955 Shipley Dict. Early Eng. (1963) 17. retromancy, things seen looking over one's shoulder.

1993 McCormack Q&A 71. RETROMANCY - things seen over the shoulder. NOTES: not in OED.

rhabdomancy

I. 1. (1646) (generally) divination by means of any rod, wand, staff, stick, arrow, etc. (specifically) Used to describe various methods of divination as by a. using sticks to draw lots, b. setting staffs on end and watching them fall, c. divination by arrows (with wooden shafts) - see belomancy. 2. Used in reference to two instances occurring the Bible - Hosea iv.12 and Ezekial 21.21. It is not certain what practises these verses are actually referring to, but it is generally considered to be a divinatory practice. Numbers 17 has also been ascribed to rhabdomancy. None of these practises seem to be found in Ancient Greece. Liddle & Scott are "dubious" about the word's existence in Classical Greek, though, naturally, the word is well attested in Patristic Greek. II. (1649) the use of a divining-rod (the virgula divina, or baculus divinatorius), a Y-shaped branch of a tree, in discovering ores, springs of water, etc; also known as dowsing, water witching, and, rarely, Bletonism. Often the branch was taken from a hazel tree, a tree which has long had mystic significance - the rods of Moses and Aaron were of hazel, and Apollo gave Mercury a hazel rod. However, any other sort of appropriately shaped branch could be used, and in modern times two separate pieces of wire are often substituted. The method basically involved holding the divining-rod before oneself and wandering over the land, when above the thing sought for the rod moves involuntarily in some manner. This was in extensive use from the 16th century onwards in Germany for discovering ores. Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia universalis 1544, and Georg Agricola's De Re metallica 1546, provide early evidence of this art. It's use for discovery of subterranean water, hidden treasure, thieves, etc. does not seem to be recorded before the seventeenth century. In modern occultism rhabdomancy is explained as a form of radiesthesia.

1646 (1st ed.) in OED. 1650 Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica (2nd ed.) 232. As for the Divination or decision from the staff, it is an Auguriall relique... Of this kinde of Rhabdomancy was that practised by Nabuchadonosor in the Chaldean miscellany, delivered by Ezekiel. A like way of Belomancy or Divination by Arrowes hath been in request with Scythians, Alanes, Germans, with the Africans and Turks of Algiers.

1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, cxxxv, (OED): The Hassel soe will bend (A rhabdomancie was observ'd of old) Stretch'd on the Earth, vnto a Mine of Gold.

1650 N. Homes Daemonologie and Theologie viii. 80: Secondly, for `pāáëoæāvįiiā, [sic] Rhabdomancy, divination by a staffe, this also has been practised, Viz. to set up a staffe bolt up right, and which way it fals, thitherward for the owner to goe, as directed by speciall prediction.

1797 Encyc. Brit. (3rd ed.) VII 67. The prophet Hosea, chap. iv. ver. 12 mentions such as consult stakes, [(Hebrew script)**** ***]; which kind of divination may be called rhabdomancy.

1844 Brand Popular Antiquities iii. 332. In the manuscript Discourse on Witchcraft, 1705, written by Mr. John Bell..I find this following account from Theophylact on the subject of rabdomanteia, or rod divination: "They set up two staffs, and having whispered some verses and incantations, the staffs fell, forward or backward, to the right or left hand, and agreeably gave responses, having made use of the fall of their staffs for their signs."

1855 Elihu Rich in Smedley et al. Occult Sci. 330. The methods of using the lot have been very numerous, such as Rhabdomancy, Clidomancy, the Sortes Sagittariæ, otherwise Belomancy, and the common casting of dice.

1871 Tylor Primitive Culture (1891) i. iv. 112. [heading] ..Rhabdomancy, Dactyliomancy, Coscinomancy, &c. - Astrology...

1893 Howitt tr. Ennemoser Hist. of Magic ii. 460: rhabdomancy - Was an ancient method of divination performed by means of rods or staves. St. Jerome mentions this kind of divination in his commentary on Hosea, chap. vi. 12, where the prophet says, in the name of God, 'My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them;" which passage that father understands of the Grecian Rhabdomancy. The same is met with again in Ezekiel xxi. 21, 22, where the prophet says, "For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way," at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he made his arrows bright, or, as St. Jerome renders it, "he mixed his arrows;" "he consulted with images;" "he looked into the liver." If it be the same kind of divination that is alluded to in these two passages, Rhabdomancy must be the same kind of superstition with Belomancy; these two, in fact, are generally confounded. So much, however, is certain, that the instruments of divination mentioned by Hosea are different from those of Ezekiel; though it is possible they might use rods or arrows indifferently; or the military men might use arrows, and the rest rods. By the laws of the Frisones, it appears that the ancient inhabitants of Germany practised Rhabdomancy. The Scythians were likewise acquainted with the use of it; and Herodotus observes (lib. vi.) that the women among the Alani sought and gathered together fine straight wands or rods, and used them for the same superstitious purposes. [copied in Daniels & Stevans 1903]

1898 Hastings Dict. of the Bible i. 612. Rhabdomancy or xylomancy (Hos 412) and belomancy (Ezk 2121) are but forms of divining by the aid of a tree-god.

1899 Cheyne & Black Encyclopædia Biblica i. 1117/1. Rhabdomancy..appears to be referred to in Hos. 4 12, 'My people ask counsel at their "wood," and their "staff" declares unto them'. The higher prophets of course forbade this; but we may perhaps assume that it was uncondemned in earlier times.

1903 Daniels & Stevans Encyc. Occult Sci. (1971) III 1662. [text copied from Howitt 1893]

1911 Encyc. of Religion & Ethics (1967) iv. 819/1: The regular forms of divination among the Iranians were astrology, oneiromancy, cylicomancy, and rhabdomancy.

1913 Halliday Greek Div. x. 226. Rhabdomancy or belomancy does not concern the student of Greek divination. Its mention here is rendered necessary solely by the fact that careless writers are often to be found referring to the Hellenic art of rhabdomancy, or even to "the divining rod" of Greece. The Greek names for this mode of divination occur in the comments of Hieronymus and Cyrillus on Ezekiel xxi. 18ff.
Ibid. 227. If rhabdomancy was practised by the peoples of ancient antiquity, it has left no trace in their literature. The only passage known to me which suggests the possibility is the scholium on Nikander's Theriaka i. 612.

1920 L. Spence Encyc. Occult 336/1: Belomancy and Rhapsodomancy, in fact, have been confounded in these two passages, and it is a question whether in one of the methods arrows and rods or stones were not used indifferently.

1931 Lock tr. de Givry Picture Museum of Sorcery (1963) viii. 311: A mode of divination performed by means of little sticks was called rhabdomancy in antiquity. We find mention of it in the Prophet Hosea (iv, 12): "Populus meus in ligno suo interrogavit et baculus ejus annuntiavit ei" ("My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them"). In Psalm cxxv, 3, we also read: "Non reliquet Dominus virgam peccatorum super sortem justorem" ("The Lord will not let the rod of the wicked rest upon the lot of the righteous"). These passages have been interpreted as referring to rhabdomancy. Further, it was in pursuance of a divinatory procedure of the same nature that Moses (Numbers, chapter xvii) laid up in the Tabernacle of Witness twelve rods, each inscribed with the names of one of the tribes of Israel, as a means of knowing which tribe should provide the head of the people. But I am not sufficiently acquainted with the details of these operations to be able to assert that the rhabdomancy of antiquity was like the art of the divining-rod as we find it in the sixteenth century.

1953 Gaynor (ed.) Dict. Mysticism (1974) 155: Rhabdomancy: The science, art and practice of handling the divining rod.

1969 T. Witton Davies Magic, Divination, & Demonology ii. 79. In Hosea iv. 12 we read of divination by arrows or rods..It is almost certain that rabdomancy or belomancy is what Hosea refers to, and what Ezekiel (xxi. 21 ff.) describes.

1970 Man, Myth & Magic v. 658: Rhabdomancy - by a wand or divining-rod.

1970 Zolar Encyc. of Ancient & Forbidden Knowledge 469: RHABDOMANCY: Divination by means of a wand or stick. It is of Ancient origin; much of its history is obscure, but it was the forerunner of the divining rod.

1973 Gibson Complete Illust. Bk Div. & Prophecy (1989) 323. RHABDOMANCY: Use of a wand is found in the earliest forms of magical ritual, hence it not only became an important adjunct in many types of divination, but served that purpose in its own right. Held in the hand of a true mystic, a wand might dip in the manner of an arrow, or turn in the fashion of a wheel, hence its use as a final convincer increased with the years. From this developed the divinatory process of rhabdomancy, utilizing a forked stick, held by the Y-shaped branches, one in each hand, so the stem could serve as a pointer in uncovering hidden treasure, lost objects, or missing persons. The tendency of the rod to dip made it especially popular in locating mines or other minerals, but its use in that field gradually waned. Instead, the forked rod became the property of modern dowsers, a group of hardheaded, down-to-earth practitioners who use it chiefly to find springs or underground streams. However, their efforts are not confined to "water witching," as critics of the process still term it. Some of the older claims have been revived and demonstrated with sufficient success to gain the art a degree of scientific notice under the head of radiesthesia, which is being studied as a form of ESP, thus supplanting much of the superstition that was found in old time rhabdomancy.

1985 N. Drury Dict. Mysticism & Occult 225/1: Rhabdomancy. The art of divination by using a rod. The term is generally associated with dowsing, but also applies to divination by interpreting the flight of arrows.

1985 G. Luck Arcana Mundi 255. No doubt many other techniques of divination were known to the ancients but were never described in detail. The term rhabdomancy appears in a gloss without further explanation. Translated as 'divination by means of a rod or wand', it is connected with a passage from Herodotus (4.67) in which we are told that the Medes, the Persians, and the Scythians used a stick or rod for divining. How they used it is not known, but it is reasonable to assume that Herodotus was speaking of the 'divining rod' used for dowsing or 'water witching' to this day.

1986 F. Gettings Encyc. Occult

1993 McCormack Q&A 71. RHABDOMANCY - sticks or wands. In Dictionaries Blount gives two spellings in different places. With the rabdo- form he simply follows Cotgrave. The Century Dictionary is the first to properly record sense II.

[1632 Cotgrave Dictionarie of French & Eng. Tongues Rabdomantie: f. Diuination by twigs, or small wands.]

1656 Blount Glossographia Rabdomancy, Divination by Twigs or small Wands.
Ibid. Rhabdomancy (rhabdomantia) a divination by Rod or Staff.

1658 Phillips New World of Eng. Words: Rhabdomancy, (Greek) divination by a wand staff, or rod.

1676 Coles An Eng. Dict.: Rabdomancy, g. divination by rods.
Ibid.: Rhabdomancy, g. divination by a rod or staff.

1755 Bailey An Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. (16th ed.) RABDOMANCY [`Pāáëomanteia, Gr.] Divination by Rods or Staves.

1755 Johnson Dict. of the Eng. Lang. (1840) Rhabdomancy..Divination by a wand. [citing Browne]

1852 Roget Thes. § 511. ..by a wand, Rhabdomancy...

1871 Ogilvie Imperial Dict. ii. pyromancy..Divination by a rod or wand.

1882 Worcester Dict. of the Eng. Lang. Rhabdomancy..Divination by means of a wand or rod.

1899 Century Dict. (1903) VI rhabdomancy.. Divination by rod or wand; specifically the attempt to discover things concealed in the earth, as ores, metals, or springs of water, by a divining-rod; bletonism; dousing. [cites S. Judd, Margaret, i. 9]

1899 New Sydenham Society's Lexicon V: 1908 Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dict. ii. rhabdomancy..Divination by means of a rod or twig; especially the practice of searching for springs, well-sites, precious metals, etc., concealed in the earth, by means of a divining-rod. rabdomancy.

1908 OED

1910 Encyc. Dict. (Cassell's) VI

1912 Webs. New Int. Dict. rhabdomancy [main words list]

c1920 Cassell's New Eng. Dict. rhabdomancy..Divination by a rod, esp. the discovery of minerals, underground streams, etc., with the divining-rod.

1930 Winston Simplified Dict.

1932 Wyld Universal Dict. Divination by means of a rod, as in water-finding.

1955 Shipley Dict. Early Eng. (1963) 17. rhabdomancy, a rod or wand.

1961 Webs. Third New Int. Dict. rhabdomancy

1974 Mrs. Byrne's Dict. rhabdomancy..fortunetelling by sticks of wands.

1981 Macquarie Dict. (1st ed.) rhabdomancy..divination by means of a rod or wand, esp. in discovering ores, springs of water, etc.

1984 Macquarie Thes. § 268.6 rhabdomancy (wands)

1986 Urdang (ed.) -Ologies & -Isms (3rd ed.) 212. rhabdomancy a form of divination involving a rod or wand, especially to locate objects or materials beneath the ground, as water or precious metals; dowsing.

1987 Random House Dict.

1988 Chambers Eng. Dict. [NL rhabdomantia, from Patristic Gk `pāáëomanteia (rhabdomanteia) from `pāáëoc (rhabdos) rod] (rabdomancy, ??? rhabdomoncie) (rare) rabdomanteia. NOTES: OED 1646 T Browne, 1649 G Daniel, 1727-38 Chambers, 1817 Edin. Rev., 1856 DeQuincey, 1871 Tylor Prim.Cult. Makes no metion of the Biblical stuff.

rhapsodomancy

divination by choosing passages at random from poetry books. [F rhapsodomancie, NL rhapsodomantia, from Gk `pāywëoc (rhapsodos) reciter of epic poems]

[1696-9 Potter Archæologia Græca]

[1713 Fabricii Bibliographia Antiquaria xii. 420: Rhapsodomantia sive divinatio ex rhapsodia aliqva poëtæ.]

1727-38 in OED.

1913 Halliday Greek Div. x. 217. Between this method of kleromancy and rhapsodomancy there is no difference of principle. The verses of Homer, Virgil, or the Bible may be written out on slips and one of them at random selected, or you may open the book and take as ominous the first verse on which you eye may fall.

1920 L. Spence Encyc. Occult 336/1: Rhapsodomancy: Divination by means of opening the works of a poet at hazard and reading the verse which first presents itself oracularly.

1953 Gaynor (ed.) Dict. Mysticism (1974) 155: Rhapsodomancy: A form of divination, based on a line in a sacred book or book of poetry which strikes the eye when the book is opened, or which is the last line to be pierced by a needle stuck through the closed book.

1970 Zolar Encyc. of Ancient & Forbidden Knowledge 470: RHAPSODOMANCY: Performed by opening a book of poetry and reading a passage at random, hoping it will prove to be an omen.

1973 Gibson Complete Illust. Bk Div. & Prophecy (1989) 324. RHAPSODOMANCY: A form of bibliomancy in which books of poetry are used instead of sacred writings or classical works. The consultant opens the book at random and divines the future from the first verse that catches his eye.

1983 Complete Bk Predictions 105. Divination from a book of poetry is sometimes known as rhapsodomancy.

1985 N. Drury Dict. Mysticism & Occult

1986 F. Gettings Encyc. Occult

1986 P. Hellweg Insomniac's Dict. x. 1993 McCormack Q&A 71. RHAPSODOMANCY - poetry. In Dictionaries

1899 Century Dict. (1903) VI rhapsodomancy.. Divination by means of verses. [lengthy cit from Rees Cyc.]

1908 Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dict. ii. rhapsodomancy..Divination by verses of poetry selected by chance or lot.

1908 OED

1910 Encyc. Dict. (Cassell's) VI

1912 Webs. New Int. Dict. rhapsodomancy [minor words list]

1974 Mrs. Byrne's Dict. rhapsodomancy..fortunetelling with poetry.

1986 Urdang (ed.) -Ologies & -Isms (3rd ed.) 212. rhapsodomancy a form of divination involving verses. NOTES: OED 1727-38 Chambers only. Not labelled.

roadomancy

divination by stars. [? OE rodor technical term for the firmament, the fixed stars, but this word did not apparently survive into ME]

1652 Gaule The Magastromancer xix. 165. ..Roadomancy, by Starres...

1777 Brand Popular Antiquities (1844) iii. 330. [citing Gaule]

1832 Hone Year Bk 1517/2: [citing Gaule (via Brand)]

1959 Robbins Encyc. of Witchcraft and Demonology 139. [citing Gaule] Roadomancy, by stars. NOTES: not in OED, though should be along with all other of Gaule's terms.