Geomancy
WordNet
noun
(1) Divination by means of signs connected with the earth (as points taken at random or the arrangement of particles thrown down at random or from the configuration of a region and its relation to another)
WiktionaryText
Etymology
geo- + mancy (prophecy), Late geomanteia.
Noun
- A method of divination which interprets markings on the ground or how handfuls of dirt land when tossed.
Quotations
- 1660 Urquhart tr. Rabelais Gargantua & Pantagruel iii. xxv.
- Hard by here, in the Brown-wheat-Island, dwelleth Her Trippa; you know how by the Arts of Astrology, Geomancy, Chiromancy, Metopomancy, and others of a like stuff and nature, he foretelleth all things to come...
- 1868 Chambers's Encyc. III
- Geomancy (this was anciently practised by casting pebbles on the ground, from which conjectures were formed; but the Arabian geomancy was more recondite, being founded on the effects of motion under the crust of the earth, the chinks thus produced, and the noises or thunderings heard)...
- 1970 Man, Myth & Magic v.
- Geomancy - by dots on paper, marks on the earth, or particles of earth.