Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal - Theresa Cheung, Theresa Cheung - Страница 76

A form of divination using the flight or song of birds. This was common practice in ancient Rome, where augurs foretold the future by observing and interpreting bird omens, which included noticing the type of bird seen as well as the direction of its flight and its singing. The Romans also used the term ‘augur‘ to refer to divination by thunder and lightning, which was believed to be communication from the god Jupiter.

The term ‘augury‘ also refers to the general art of divination, especially the interpretation of the future based on divinations and omens, mostly related to the appearance and behaviour of animals. These practices include:

Ailuromancy (cats).

Alectromancy (chickens).

Arachnomancy (spiders).

Batrachomancy: (frogs).

Entomancy (insects).

Hippomancy (horses).

Ichthyomancy (fish).

Myomancy (mice).

Ophiomancy (snakes).

Zoomancy (any animal).

A related practice was Haruspicy, or interpreting animal entrails.