martial

en-adj

martial (comparative more martial, superlative most martial)

more martial (comparative)
most martial (superlative)

From Middle English martial, marcial, mercial, mercialle (“relating to war, warlike; military; for use in fighting or warfare; brave, hardy; combative, fierce; ruthless, vicious; domineering, overbearing”), from Middle French martial (modern French martial (“martial”)), or directly from its etymon Latin mārtiālis (“of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war”), from Mārtius (“of or pertaining to Mars”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). The English word is cognate with Italian marziale (“martial”), Portuguese marcial (“martial”), Spanish marcial (“martial”).

der

The Sun to the Quartile or Oppoſition of Mars. This Direction threatens the native with ſome martial Diſeaſe or Infirmity, as Fevers peſtilential, exceſs of Choler and Blood corrupted; it ſheweth danger by Fires, Wounds and Scalds, ill ſucceſs in Affairs, danger by Thieves and Robbers, ill having to do with martial Men, or to deal in martial Affairs; [...]

1682, Joseph Blagrave, “[The Effects of Directions.] The Sun Directed unto Promittors.”, in Obadiah Blagrave, editor, Blagrave’s Introduction to Astrology. In Three Parts. […], London: Printed by E. Tyler, and R. Holt, for Obadiah Blagrave, […], →OCLC, part III, page 251:

A martial man is many times full-faced, with a lively, high colour, like sun-burnt, or like raw tanned leather; a fierce countenance, his eyes being sparkling or sharp and darting, and of yellow colour; his hair, both of head and beard, being reddish (but herein you must vary according to the sign).

1852, William Lilly, Zadkiel [pseudonym; Richard James Morrison], “Another Brief Description of the Shapes and Forms of the Planets”, in An Introduction to Astrology […]: A Grammar of Astrology, and Tables for Calculating Nativities. […], London: H[enry] G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, page 55:

Venus was placed below Mars; that is, the sensual passion was subjected to martial ardour.

1875, J. A., “ASTROLOGY”, in The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, 9th edition, volume II, Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, →OCLC, page 741, column 2:

(not comparable, astrology, obsolete) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mars.


martial

(astrology, obsolete) A celestial object under the astrological influence of the planet Mars.


tasseography

A macaronic blend of French tasse (“cup”) and -graphy (“writing”).

Tasseography can be a very accurate means of seeing the patterns and choices playing out in your life.

2008, Colette Baron-Reid, Messages From Spirit: The Extraordinary Power of Oracles, Omens, and Signs, page 145:

Another activity option is tasseography—the art of reading tea leaves.

2008, Sabrina Hill, Joni Russell, The Everything Baby Shower Book: Throw a Memorable Event for Mother-to-Be, page 125:

Although tasseography is commonly associated with Gypsy fortunetellers, the tradition of tea-leaf reading arose independently in Asia, the Middle East, and Ancient Greece. Modern tasseography has also been associated with the Scottish, Irish, and cultures of Eastern Europe.

2011, Maureen Hancock, The Medium Next Door: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer, page 15:

Divination with tea leaves or coffee grounds.


quincunx

en-noun

quincunx (plural quincunxes or quincunces)

(astrology) An angle of five-twelfths of a circle, or 150°, between two objects.


signifier

/ˈsɪɡnɪfaɪɚ/

/ˈsɪɡnɪfaɪə/

merkityksen antaja

something or someone that signifies, makes something more significant or important

Something or someone that signifies, makes something more significant or important.

(cartomancy) A card representing a querent, question, or situation.


percussion

percussion (countable and uncountable, plural percussions)

From Middle English percussioun, from Middle French, Old French percussion, from Latin percussiō (“striking”), from percutiō (“I strike”).


God

→ Pohnpeian: Koht

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew-
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰutós
Proto-Germanic *gudą
Proto-West Germanic *god
Old English god
Middle English god
Middle English God
English God
Derived from Middle English God. See god.

god

as proper noun, often derogatory or in philosophy

God sent Jesus to earth to be the King of the Jews; that is, the one to tell them what they should do. […] I will tell you why God let Jesus die upon the cross.

1899, The Sunday School Journal, page 378:

The first deity of various theistic religions, and the only deity in the Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

(Trinitarian Christianity) God the Father as distinguished from Jesus Christ, God the Son.


astrometeorology

(astrology) The practice of using astrology for weather forecasting.


oneiromancy

en-noun

oneiromancy (countable and uncountable, plural oneiromancies)

/əʊˈnaɪɹəʊ-/

From oneiro- (“dream”) + -mancy (“divination”); compare French onéiromancie, oniromancie.

confix

The absence of oneiromancy among the divinatory techniques is justified by the fact that it occupies in Islam a higher place than that of divination in the sphere of religious inspiration.

1979, T. Fahd, “KIHĀNA”, in C[lifford] E[dmund] Bosworth, E[meri J.] van Donzel, B[ernard] Lewis, Ch[arles] Pellat, editors, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, volume V, Leiden: E. J. Brill, →OCLC, fascicules 79–80 (ḴH̱EMS̱H̱IL–ḴIRĀ’A), page 101, column 1:

7. Did Aristotle's attitude to oneiromancy change? / In the foregoing sections we sketched the consistent and lucid oneirology which various indirect sources attribute to Aristotle.

1989, A[braham] P. Bos, “Manteia in Aristotle”, in Cosmic and Meta-cosmic Theology in Aristotle’s Lost Dialogues (Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History; 16), →ISBN, page 164:

2. Deductive Oneiromancy / This form of oneiromancy aims to decipher the messages contained in ordinary, everyday dreams, messages thought to presage future events in the life of the dreamer.

1999, Jean-Marie Husser, translated by Jill M. Munro, Dreams and Dream Narratives in the Biblical World (The Biblical Seminar; 63), Sheffield, South Yorkshire: Sheffield Academic Press, →ISBN, page 30:

(uncountable, divination) Divination by the interpretation of dreams.

ܦܫܪܐ

divination by the interpretation of dreams

Finding that I could produce obedience to my silent will in somnambulists to the extent of inducing some to lift the hand to either cheek— […] I resolved to try if I could influence some of my patients to obey me in the performance of a train of actions. This was education, and this I take it requires the high order of patience to bring to the degree of perfection which we have seen exhibited in the oneiromancie of the cook-maid Mlle. Isa Prudence, whose mesmeric education does so much credit to the charming Mlle. Herminie Laurant and her rotund parent.

1847 October, John Ashburner, “IV. On the Silent Influence of the Will. By Dr. Ashburner. Communicated in a Letter to Dr. [John] Elliotson.”, in The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology & Mesmerism, and Their Applications to Human Welfare, volume V, number XIX, London: Hippolyte Ballière, publisher, […]; Paris: J. B. Ballière, […]; Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, published 1848, →OCLC, page 265:

[…] Minerva must never be confused with Santa Maria, for all that they occupy the same discursive space, for all that they must occupy the same position in [Sigmund] Freud's account of the mind, any more than The Interpretation of Dreams can be confused with oneiromancies and dream-books of the past, or Freud's account of the Eternal City with [René] Descartes's.

1997, Jacques Lezra, “The Ontology of the Letter in Descartes’s Second Meditation”, in Unspeakable Subjects: The Genealogy of the Event in Early Modern Europe, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 81:

(countable, divination) An act of such divination or dream-interpretation.


descend

en-verb

descend (third-person singular simple present descends, present participle descending, simple past and past participle descended)

descends (present singular third-person)
descending (participle present)
descended (participle past)
descended (past)
descend (infinitive)

PIE word
 *de
The verb is derived from Middle English descenden (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to go from a better to a worse condition, decline, degenerate; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”), from Anglo-Norman descendere, descendre, and Old French descendere, descendre (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”) (modern French descendre), and from their etymon Latin dēscendere, the present active infinitive of dēscendō (“to come or go down, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descendant; etc.”), from de- (prefix meaning ‘from; down from’) + scandō (“to ascend, climb; to clamber”) (from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to climb, scale; to dart; to jump”)).
The noun is derived from the verb.

laskea

to pass from a higher to a lower part of (something)

afgaan

to physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position

Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position.

(intransitive) To physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position; to come or go down in any way, such as by climbing, falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to move downwards; to fall, to sink.

(astrology) Of a zodiac sign: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; to sink; also, of a planet: to move to a place where it has less astrological significance.

laskea

of a zodiac sign: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; of a planet: to move to a place where it has less astrological significance


Neptunian

From Neptune (“eighth planet in the solar system”) + -ian.

suffix

The Sun represents a masculine principle—assertion, expression and spirit. Neptune touching it brings in the qualities of sensitivity and creativity as well as weakness, dissolution, dissipation and elusiveness. If we take the Sun to represent the image of father, the person's experience of father (the Sun) will be coloured by Neptune. The father will receive the Neptunian projection and the child with this aspect will be sensitive to the father's Neptunian side.

1987, Liz Greene, Howard Sasportas, “Your Inborn Images”, in The Development of the Personality: Seminars in Psychological Astrology, volume 1, Boston, Mass.: Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, part 1 (The Stages of Childhood), pages 11–12:

(astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Neptune.


Neptunian

To a Neptunian the common satisfaction of life seems too banal, and he often seeks the hidden mysteries of life. The advanced soul however realises that life is a dream, and a divine dream at that.

1983, Shakuntala Devi, “Characteristics of the Planets”, in Astrology for You, New Delhi: Orient Paperbacks, published 2007, →ISBN, page 54:

Often the Neptunian cannot bring his or her fantasies to birth in form because the fantasy world remains a surrogate womb, static rather than flowing, a place of painless oblivion rather than a bridge between human and divine.

2000, Liz Greene, “Neptune and the Artist”, in The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption, 1st paperback edition, York Beach, Me.: Samuel Weiser, Inc., →ISBN, page 324:

(astrology) A person under the astrological influence of the planet Neptune.


jinx

From jynx in the transferred sense “a charm or spell”.


astrologer

/əˈstɹɒl.ə.d͡ʒɚ/

From Middle English astrologer, astrologier, astrologere, formed from Middle English astrologie or Latin astrologus + Middle English -ere, equivalent to astrology + -er. Ousted imported Middle English astrologien (“astrologer”), borrowed from Old French astrologien. Displaced Old English tungolwītga (literally “star prophet”).

displaced

Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler both made a living as astrologers.

When witchcraft became a statutory offence again in 1563, astrologers reincurred the risk of prosecution […]

1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 335:

Astrologers, when they observe this pattern, insist that it corresponds to the zodiacal progression. I am not an astrologer and I hold no brief for it, but I do believe the origins of astrology are not with the Chaldeans of Mesopotamia but with the hunters and gatherers of the Stone Age.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 130:


mutable

en-adj

mutable (comparative more mutable, superlative most mutable)

more mutable (comparative)
most mutable (superlative)

From Middle English mutable, from Old French mutable, from Latin mutabilis (“liable to change”). By surface analysis, mutate + -able.

(astrology) Being one of the signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, associated with adaptability, flexibility and sympathy.


Ouija

en-noun

Ouija (countable and uncountable, plural Ouijas)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Ouija.wav

The popular belief that the word came from French oui (“yes”) + German ja (“yes”) is a misconception. The name is taken from a word spelled out on the board when it was asked to name itself by Helen Peters, sister-in-law of Kennard Company investor Elijah Bond. It is noted in personal letters that Ouija was the name of a woman in a painting above her head at the time, who it is speculated may have in fact been Ouida.

(countable) A board, having letters of the alphabet and the words yes and no; used with a planchette during a seance to "communicate" with spirits.

وْيْجَا

a board with letters of the alphabet and "yes" and "no"


chiromancer

/ˈkaɪɹəˌmænsɚ/

The ſcumme of the people partake of the Chyromancer; they will ſee the hand, to judge the heart: but how many are there who preſent themſelves before God with hands of gold, and hearts of clay?

1638, Virgilio Malvezzi, “Tarquin Makes Peace with the Equi, Renewes His League with the Tuscans, and Betaking Himselfe to Citie Affairs, will Finish the Temple of Jupiter Tarpeius”, in Henry Carey, Baron Carey of Leppington, transl., Romvlvs and Tarqvin: First Written in Italian by the Marques Virgilio Malvezzi; and now Taught English by H: Ld. Cary of Lepingtō, 2nd edition, London: Printed by I. H. for Iohn Benton, and are to be sould at his shopp under St Dunstons Church Fleet street, →OCLC, page 225:

Hippocrates Prince of Phyſick, ſayes, that the Phyſician cannot be accompliſhed in his Art, if he have not the knowledge of Aſtrologie; ſo I may ſay that the Chiromancer is not perfect nor accompliſhed if he have not Phyſiognomie, which is Scienta quâ natura hominum ex aſpectu corporis judicatur, […]

1653, Richard Sanders, “What Physiognomie is, and what of It is Requisite for the Chiromancer to Know”, in Physiognomie, and Chiromancie, Metoposcopie, the Symmetrical Proportions and Signal Moles of the Body, Fully and Accurately Handled; with Their Natural-predictive Significations. The Subject of Dreams; Divinative, Steganographical, and Lullian Sciences. Whereunto is Added the Art of Memorie, London: Printed by R. White, for Nathaniel Brooke, at the sign of the angel in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange, →OCLC, page 143:

There are many other inconstant folds, or markings of the skin, in this region [of the hand], which, to the surgeon, are of little import, but which present a book of mystic lore to the gipsy and the cheiromancer, wherein (when opened by the necessary charms) they discern the future destinies of all that seek to be enlightened by them.

1836–1839, F. T. M‘Dougall, “Hand, Regions of the”, in Robert B[entley] Todd, editor, The Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, volumes II (DIA–INS), London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, →OCLC, page 524:

Chiromancers divide the hand into several regions, each presided by a planet. The thumb belongs to Venus, the index to Jupiter, the middle finger to Saturn, the annulary to the Sun, the auricular to Mercury, the centre of the hand to Mars, the remainder to the Moon. The direction of the line of life is still undecided by chiromancers; some placing it between the thumb and index, traversing the centre of the palm; […]

1845, “Fortune-tellers and Chiromancy”, in Albany Poyntz, editor, A World of Wonders, with Anecdotes and Opinions Concerning Popular Superstitions, London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, publisher in ordinary to Her Majesty, →OCLC, pages 126–127:

It was considered blasphemous to forestall Providence, as most chiromancers and metoposcopists did, by predicting future events in everyday life from sundry bodily signs; and this accounts for the widespread belief throughout those centuries that physiognomy was a kind of black magic.

1982, Graeme Tytler, “Lavater and the Physiognomische Fragmente”, in Physiognomy in the European Novel: Faces and Fortunes, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 43:

Now this chiromancer, when he understood the king's wish, took hold of his hand and examined with the greatest care all the lines he could trace there. After considering them diligently, one and all, he stood silent and his face grew pale.

2012, Giovan[ni] Francesco Straparola, “King Galafro's Vain Precautions”, in W. G. Waters, transl., edited by Donald Beecher, The Pleasant Nights (The Lorenzo da Ponte Italian Library), volume 2, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 264:

One who practices chiromancy; a palm reader.


rhabdomancy

From rhabdo- + -mancy, first attested in 1646. From Latin rhabdomantīa, from Ancient Greek ῥαβδομαντεία (rhabdomanteía), from ῥάβδος (rhábdos, “rod”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination”).

der

ῥαβδομαντεία

This question of buried treasure exercised the minds of ancient occultists considerably, and in connection with it there was frequently employed the art of Rhabdomancy, which was similar to that of water divining or water "dousing".

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 145:

Divination with wands or rods, especially to use a divining rod to find things below the ground.


tarot

en-noun

tarot (countable and uncountable, plural tarots)

Borrowed from French tarot, from Italian tarocco. Compare tarok, German Tarock.

Any of the set of 78 playing cards (divided into five suits, including one of permanent trumps), often used for mystical divination.


necromantic

Of or relating to necromancy: the resurrection of or communication with the dead, especially through the use of black magic.


spooky

en-adj

spooky (comparative spookier, superlative spookiest)

spookier (comparative)
spookiest (superlative)

(informal) Eerie, or suggestive of ghosts or the supernatural.


malefic

In the previous condition of overcoming, it was notable that while the malefics could only maltreat by overcoming through a superior sign-based square, the benefics could bonify by overcoming through a superior square or trine.

2017, Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune, page 471:


ghostly

ghostly (comparative ghostlier, superlative ghostliest)

ghostlier (comparative)
ghostliest (superlative)

From Middle English gostly, gastlich, from Old English gāstlīċ (“spiritual, holy, clerical (not lay), ghastly, ghostly, spectral”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaistalīk (“spiritual”), equivalent to ghost + -ly. Cognate with Scots ghaistly, gaistly (“spiritual, ghastly, terrifying”), West Frisian geastlik (“spiritual, clerical, religious”), Dutch geestelijk (“spiritual, clerical, ecclesiastical”), German geistlich (“spiritual, sacred, religious”), Danish geistlig (“ecclesiastical, clerical”).

cog

A ghostly hush fell.

Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing in fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil.

1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 35:

His lips were chapped and lined with a ghostly purple fringe.

2019, Dave Eggers, The Parade, N.Y.: Vintage Books, page 134:


thaumaturgy

en-noun

thaumaturgy (countable and uncountable, plural thaumaturgies)

/ˈθɔːmətɜːd͡ʒi/

/ˈθɔməˌtɝd͡ʒi/

From Ancient Greek θαυματουργία (thaumatourgía), from θαῦμα (thaûma, “miracle, wonder”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”).

der

θαυματουργία

On all subjects known to man, from the Thirty-nine Articles of our English Church, down to pyrotechnics, legerdemain, magic, both black and white, thaumaturgy, and necromancy, he favoured the world (which world was the nursery where I lived amongst my sisters) with his select opinions.

1853, Thomas De Quincey, “Introduction to the World of Strife”, in Autobiographic Sketches (De Quincey’s Works; I), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 40:

There were astonishing changes. The small hours found Mr. Maydig and Mr. Fotheringay careering across the chilly market square under the still moon, in a sort of ecstasy of thaumaturgy, Mr. Maydig all flap and gesture, Mr. Fotheringay short and bristling, and no longer abashed at his greatness

1898, H. G. Wells, The Man Who Could Work Miracles:

The working of miracles, wonderworking; magic, witchcraft, wizardry.


thaumaturge

/ˈθɔːməˌtɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒ/

/ˈθɔ.məˌtɚd͡ʒ/

From Medieval Latin thaumatūrgus, from Ancient Greek θαυματουργός (thaumatourgós), from θαύματο- (thaúmato-, “marvel”) + -ουργός (-ourgós, “worker, maker”). Doublet of thaumaturgus.

θαυματουργός

suf

Though the apostles are naturally shown as rejecting with indignation the pecuniary offer of the thaumaturge, they display no hate for his personality, whereas the fathers depict him as the vilest of impostors and charlatans and hold him up to universal execration.

1892, George Robert Stow Mead, Simon Magus:

A performer of thaumaturgy; a performer of miracles; a magician.


wizardry

en-noun

wizardry (countable and uncountable, plural wizardries)

He used his computing wizardry to automate the search-and-replace process.


chiromancy

chiromancy (usually uncountable, plural chiromancies)

From Middle French chiromancie, from Latin chīromantīa, from Ancient Greek χειρομαντεία (kheiromanteía), from χειρο- (kheiro-, “hand-”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination, fortune-telling”). Equivalent to chiro- + -mancy.

der

χειρομαντεία

If they fore-tell things that shall happen by signes that they see in lines of a mans hand; then it is called Chyromancie...

1620, J. Melton Astrologaster, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

Modern palmistry differs from the ancient methods in concentrating on what is called chirognomy at the expense of chiromancy.

1995, C. Walker Encyc, Secret Knowledge:

Synonym of palmistry: fortune-telling performed by reading another's hand.


zodiacal

en-adj

zodiacal (comparative more zodiacal, superlative most zodiacal)

more zodiacal (comparative)
most zodiacal (superlative)

[…] in some passages of the Old Testament they think they discover the Zodiacal course of the Sun […]

1683, Thomas Browne, “Observations upon Several Plants Mention’d in Scripture”, in Certain Miscellany Tracts, London: Charles Mearn, page 3:

For several evenings the pale twinkling of the somber zodiacal stars lighted up the west side of the heavens for some time after the sun had set.

1912, Henryk Sienkiewicz, chapter 14, in Mary Webb Artois, transl., Through the Desert, New York: Benziger Brothers:

She knew by heart everyone’s Zodiacal sign.

1959, Muriel Spark, chapter 2, in Memento Mori, New York: New Directions, published 2000:

In the zodiacal procession of the poles, the 25,920-year cycle, Lascaux is the time of Virgo, and Virgo is associated with artistic excellence and discrimination.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 130:

(astronomy, astrology) Of or pertaining to the zodiac.


numerology

en-noun

numerology (countable and uncountable, plural numerologies)

/ˌnjuːməˈɹɒləd͡ʒi/

/ˌnuməˈɹɑləd͡ʒi/

The study of the purported mystical relationship between numbers (or the letters of words, represented by numbers) and the character or action of physical objects and living beings.


ankh

From Egyptian anx-Z1 (ꜥnḫ, “life, to live, symbol for life”).


line of life

(palmistry) A line on the palm of the hand, curving about the base of the thumb, supposed to indicate, by its form or position, the length of a person's life.


haruspex

If it be lawfull for Panæcius to maintaine his judgement about Aruspices, Dreames, Oracles and Prophecies[…]: Wherfore shall not a wise-man dare that in all things, which this man dareth in such as he hath learned of his Masters?

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

All of this is nonsense, but so are all attempts to look at a few successes and a few failures and make fatuous generalizations based on coincidence. Etruscan and Roman haruspices did the same thing with the entrails of chickens.

2013, Angus Deaton, The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality:

A soothsayer or priest in Ancient Rome (originally Etruscan) who practiced haruspicy, divination by inspecting entrails.

harúspiz

one who practices divination by inspecting entrails


palmistry

en-noun

palmistry (usually uncountable, plural palmistries)

From Middle English palmestrie. Equivalent to palm + -ist + -ry.

Chiromantie is a coniecturyng by beholdyng the lynes, or wryncles of the handes called commonly Palmistry.

1546, Thomas Langley, An Abridgement of the Notable Woorke of Polidore Vergile, London, Book 1, Chapter 18, p. 34b:

And those fayre hands within whose louely palmes,
Fortune diuineth happie Augurie,
Those straightest fingers dealing heauenly almes,
Pointed with pur’st of Natures Alcumie,
Where loue sits looking in loues palmistrie.

1593, Michael Drayton, Idea the Shepheards Garland, London: Thomas Woodcocke, Eglog 5, page 32:

[…] but his [God’s] right hand of truth and bountie, does by a Catholike and vnfeigned Palmistrie, shew the blessings prouided for other men!

1626, Barten Holyday, “A Sermon preached at Christ-church in Oxford on Ascension-day”, in Three Sermons vpon the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of Our Sauior, London: Nathaniell Butter, page 94:

He must (at least) hold up his hand,
By twelve Free-holders to be scan’d,
Who by their skill in Palmistry,
Will quickly read his Destiny;

1664, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, London, published 1684, Part 2, Canto 3, p. 390:

I have seen a gipsy vagabond; she has practised in hackneyed fashion the science of palmistry and told me what such people usually tell.

1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 18, in Jane Eyre:

If you had cared to do so, you could have told the little chap’s fortune from those hands. They were not flat and featureless as you might have expected them to be; already they had all the lines and creases known to palmistry.

1941, H. G. Wells, You Can’t Be Too Careful, London: Secker & Warburg, Book 1, Chapter 1:

Telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand.

قِراءَةُ الْكَفّ

telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand


conjure

en-verb

conjure (third-person singular simple present conjures, present participle conjuring, simple past and past participle conjured)

conjures (present singular third-person)
conjuring (participle present)
conjured (participle past)
conjured (past)

/kənˈd͡ʒʊə(ɹ)/

From Middle English conjuren, from Old French conjurer, from Latin coniūrō (“I swear together; conspire”), from con- (“with, together”) + iūro (“I swear or take an oath”).

der

"Thou great Norman lump!" he muttered. "If I conjure till Doomsday, I cannot make thee gold."

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 7:

(intransitive, archaic) To practice black magic.


tortuous

en-adj

tortuous (comparative more tortuous, superlative most tortuous)

more tortuous (comparative)
most tortuous (superlative)

/ˈtɔːt͡ʃuːəs/

/ˈtɔɹt͡ʃuəs/

From Middle English tortuous, tortuose, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus (“a twisting, winding”).

Infortunate ascendent tortuous.

1872, Walter William Skeat, Chaucer's A Treatise on the Astrolabe:

(astrology) Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely.


paranormal

paranormal (comparative more paranormal, superlative most paranormal)

more paranormal (comparative)
most paranormal (superlative)

From para- (“above, beyond; abnormal”) + normal; compare supernatural.

prefix

“We who study the paranormal always hope for strong readings with our equipment,” explains Nancy.

That (ostensibly) cannot be explained by what scientists know; supernatural; especially of or pertaining to ghosts, spirits, and supposed abilities like telepathy.

خارق للطبيعَة

cannot be explained by scientific methods


prophetic

Borrowed from Middle French prophétique, from Latin prophēticus, from Ancient Greek προφητικός (prophētikós), equivalent to prophet + -ic.

Of, or relating to a prophecy or a prophet.

proféticu

of, or relating to a prophecy or a prophet


mystic

en-adj

mystic (comparative more mystic, superlative most mystic)

more mystic (comparative)
most mystic (superlative)

From Old French mistique, from Latin mysticus, from Ancient Greek μυστικός (mustikós, “secret, mystic”), from μύστης (mústēs, “one who has been initiated”). Doublet of mystique.

der

a mystic dance

Of, or relating to mystics, mysticism or occult mysteries; mystical.

мистичен

of, or relating to mystics, mysticism or occult mysteries

Taught he not thee—the man of eld, / Whose eyes within his eyes beheld / Heaven's numerous hierarchy span / The mystic gulf from God to man?

1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 245:

Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join,
Deep-seated in our mystic frame,
We yield all blessing to the name
Of Him that made them current coin; […]

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXVI, page 56:

Mysterious and strange; arcane, obscure or enigmatic.


Samhain

A holiday, falling on the night of 31 October to 1 November, celebrated by the ancient Celts and by modern neo-pagans as the beginning of winter and the new year, and a time during which the spirits of the dead could return to the earth.


hof

Borrowed from Old Norse hof or Old English hof, reinforced in modern (post-1990, chiefly neopagan) use by Icelandic hof (“shrine, temple”).

For each ten churches burned to ashes, one heathen hof is avenged.

1996, Varg Vikernes, cited after Gardell, Gods of the Blood, published 2003, page 307:

Asatruarfelagid lacks a central religious temple, or hof in Icelandic. Constructing a hof has been high on the members' wish list for many years.

2005, Michael Strmiska, Modern Paganism In World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, page 170:

The Candidate for membership of Hof, Garth or Hearth shall hold an Armill, or he may touch an unsheathed Sword throughout the ceremony.

2014 November 18, Stubba, The Book of Blots, page 102:

(Germanic paganism) temple, sanctuary, hall.


skyclad

From sky + clad, indicating that the person in question is clad only in the sky. Attested from early 20th century England, it is partially a calque of Sanskrit दिगम्बर (digambara, “having all (=ten) quarters of the globe as one's only clothing, i.e., naked”).

calque

There he stood, sky-clad, smearing witch's ointment all over.

(poetic or paganism) Nude, naked, especially when outdoors.


spiritualism

en-noun

spiritualism (countable and uncountable, plural spiritualisms)

/ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəlɪzəm/

/ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃəlɪzəm/

From spiritual + -ism.
In Allan Kardec's 1857 book The Spirits Book (Le Livre des Esprits in original French), in which a distinction between spiritism and spiritualism is defined.

The quality or state of being spiritual.


peregrine

en-adj

peregrine (comparative more peregrine, superlative most peregrine)

more peregrine (comparative)
most peregrine (superlative)

From Middle English peregrin, borrowed from Old French peregrin, from Latin peregrīnus (“foreign”). Doublet of pilgrim.

(astrology, of a planet) Lacking essential debility.


seer

From Middle English seere, equivalent to see + -er (“agent suffix”).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-seer.wav

"But I must not forget to tell you that the lad was born on a Sunday, and had found a card with the four of clubs; therefore he was a seer, that is to say, he could see the supernatural people, but they could not see him."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 185:

One who foretells the future; a clairvoyant, prophet, soothsayer or diviner.


shaman

Borrowed from German Schamane, from Russian шама́н (šamán), from Evenki шама̄н (şamān), сама̄н (samān). The Evenki word is possibly derived from the root ша- ("to know"); or else a loanword from Tocharian B ṣamāne (“monk”) or Chinese 沙門／沙门 (shāmén, “Buddhist monk”), from Pali samaṇa from Sanskrit श्रमण (śramaṇa, “ascetic, monk, devotee”), from श्रम (śrama, “weariness, exhaustion; labor, toil; etc.”), which would make this a doublet of sramana.

der

Near-synonyms: medicine man, medicine woman, priest-doctor, witch doctor

Shepard: What rites did you go through to become chief shaman?
Shaman: Becoming the shaman is excruciating. I passed through rites that made me wish to die. I carry the scars on my soul.
Shaman: I must perform rites each dawn and dusk to keep me bound into our krogan nature. Our spirit is one of violence and death. I must be attuned to that.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Tuchanka:

A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds; sometimes also a healer.


horoscope

Borrowed from Middle French horoscope, from Medieval Latin horoscopus, from Ancient Greek ὡροσκόπος (hōroskópos), from ὥρα (hṓra, “any limited time”) + σκοπός (skopós, “watcher”).

com

We must talk of the force of circumstances, of imperative necessity, and find fault with the cruel horoscope which ordained such a fate.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 90:

"Ah, min hart! And what day was it?"
"How curious you are! Do you want to cast my horoscope?"

1855, William Hurton, chapter XXIII, in The Doomed Ship; or, The Wreck of the Arctic Regions, London: Willoughby & Co., […], →OCLC, page 103:

An astrological forecast of a person's future based on such information.


medicine man

Probably a calque of Ojibwe mashkikiiwinini (“doctor”), from mashkiki (“medicine”) + inini (“man”).

cal

One of the most successful of the tent road-showmen is Dr. J. Van Cleve, old-time medicine man, who operates out of Portland. Van Cleve pitches his tent for a week and shows a different film program each night combined with a vaude show.

1942 September 19, “Van Cleve Shows Pix Under Canvas On Coast”, in Billboard, volume 54, number 37, page 26:

the medicine man offered free entertainment in exchange for an opportunity to sell hope to a nation of individually troubled people.

1991, Quentin J. Schultze, Televangelism and American Culture; The Business of Popular Religion, Baker Book House, →ISBN, page 128:


pentacle

PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From Middle French pentacle, from Old French pentacol (“pendant”), from pent (“hangs”), a (“from”), and col (“neck”), thus "hangs from neck". Likely reanalyzed in medieval times as coming from penta- (“five”) and -culum (object forming suffix), as evidenced by the Latinized form pentaculum and the narrowing of the modern sense to a five-pointed design, especially a pentagram.

ouer this pott and the cyrcle hold the pentacles, and perfume them; and say deuoutly theis psalmes followynge

mid- to late-16th century, British Library Additional manuscript 36674, London:

of the same pentacles be certayne exorcizmes and names ineffable and carecters and signes of all the science, therefore, in them the whole science of all this art lyeth hydd

1572, The Clavicle of Solomon, revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian [British Library Sloane MS 3847], London:

if ye constraine any spirit to come before you and when ye haue shewed him ye secret pentacles, there is none dare say against your minde

A flat talisman, almost always star-shaped, made of parchment, sheet metal, or other substance, marked with a magic symbol or symbols, used in magical evocation.

he drew a pentacle or five-pointed star.

1949, Gerald Gardner, chapter 10, in High Magic's Aid, page 92:

a five-pointed star (pentacle).

1954, Gerald Gardner, chapter 12, in Witchcraft Today:

the figure of the pentacle, or pentagram.

1959, Gerald Gardner, chapter 8, in The Meaning of Witchcraft, page 122:

(Wicca) A pentagram, or a disk with a pentagram on it, especially one that is used for magical or mystical purposes.

The pentacle—a pentagram enclosed within a surrounding circle—as found as the centre-piece on a witch's altar is often worn as a silver pendant by witches and other neo-pagans alike repesenting their beliefs in the interconnectedness and interdependence of the powers of nature and spirit.

2002, Kevin Saunders, Wiccan Spirituality: A Magical Attitude for the 21st Century, London: Green Magic, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 57:

A pentacle is a pentagram with a circle drawn around it.

2006, Denise Zimmermann with Gleason, Katherine and Liguana, Maria, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, Indianapolis: Alpha, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, LCC BF1566.Z55 2006, page 146:

The pentagram becomes a pentacle when it is enclosed within a circle and inscribed on a disc or stone.

2007 March 1, Ruth Barr, chapter 5, in Women's Rites, Women's Mysteries: Intuitive Ritual Creation, 2nd edition, Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, LCC BL625.7.B39 2007, page 93:

A figure formed by two equilateral triangles intersecting regularly so as to form a six-pointed star.


domicile

From Middle English domicelle, domicylie, from Middle French domicile and directly from Latin domicilium.

(astrology) The zodiac sign over which a planet (a term which in astrology includes the Sun and Moon) is considered to have especially strong influence; the planet is called the sign's ruling planet or sign ruler.


haint

"Ain't you scared of haints?"

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 254:

I got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter I am holding in my arms.

It didn't take long for word to spread that there was a "haint" in the graveyard. A haint is what the old-timers called a ghost.

2005, Eulie Rowan, “The Four-Legged Haint”, in The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, Simon and Schuster, page 106:

My dead grandpa's haint floated above my bed one night when I was a young'un and scared me so bad I busted the bedroom door down tryin' to get out that room so fast.

2009, Mary Monroe, God Still Don't Like Ugly, page 211:

(US, dialectal) A ghost; a supernatural being; Alternative form of haunt.


magically

en-adv

magically (comparative more magically, superlative most magically)

more magically (comparative)
most magically (superlative)

In a magical manner; by magic, or as if by magic.


dwimmer

en-noun

dwimmer (usually uncountable, plural dwimmers)

From Middle English dwimmer, from Old English ġedwimor, dwimor (“illusion, delusion, sleight, magic”).

"It is ill dealing with such a foe: he is a wizard both cunning and dwimmer-crafty, having many guises."

“The Lych and his dark dwimmer spell have you resisted—even defeated, defeated for the present. But you have not destroyed. They shall return in time, I fear.”

2010, W. R. Cooper, Oriana Oakley and the Primrose Path:

The soldiers peered into the deep dark shaft In which lay the monk with tonsorshorn A victim of the sorcerous lady's dwimmer craft

(obsolete) Magic, magic arts; sorcery; spell; occult art.


fascinum

Here are some brides of ten compelled to seat themselves on the fascinum, the virile ivory in the temples of classical scholarship.

Today people use a four-leaf clover, the pompom from a European sailor’s hat, the fascinum (winged phallus, some of which were found in the ruins of Pompeii and seemed to have done little good there), and so on.

1988, Leonard R. N. Ashley, The Amazing World of Superstition, Prophecy, Luck, Magic & Witchcraft, Random House Value Publishing, →ISBN, page 107, →ISBN:

(historical, occult) An ivory phallus used in certain ancient erotic rites.


bewitch

en-verb

bewitch (third-person singular simple present bewitches, present participle bewitching, simple past and past participle bewitched)

bewitches (present singular third-person)
bewitching (participle present)
bewitched (participle past)
bewitched (past)

From Middle English bewicchen, bewycchen, biwicchen, equivalent to be- + witch.

I was bewitched by the sight of the girl dancing in the forest.

A Svveet diſorder in the dreſſe / Kindles in cloathes a vvantonneſſe: / […] / A Cuffe neglectfull, and thereby / Ribbands to flovv confuſedly: / […] / Do more bevvitch me, than vvhen Art / Is too preciſe in every part.

1648, Robert Herrick, “Delight in Disorder”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 29:


shamanic

Of or relating to a shaman or to shamanism.


lifeline

→ Japanese: ライフライン (raifurain)

(palmistry) A particular crease in the palm.


Arian

From Aries + -ian, from Latin aries (“ram”).

(astrology) Synonym of Aries, a person born under the influence of Aries.


Arian

en-adj

Arian (comparative more Arian, superlative most Arian)

more Arian (comparative)
most Arian (superlative)

The Arian nature is to create the idea...

1917, Herbert T. Waite, Compendium of Natal Astrology and Universal Ephemeris, page 39:

(astrology) Of or related to Aries, its nature, and its influence.


Capricorn

/ˈkæp.ɹɪˌkɔːn/

/ˈkæp.ɹɪˌkɔɹn/

(astrology): The zodiac sign for the goat, ruled by Saturn and covering December 22 – January 20 (tropical astrology) or January 15 – February 14 (sidereal astrology).


xylomancy

Divination by means of examining or burning pieces of wood.


high priest

Hogepriester

Bible: male person responsible for making the annual sacrifice

(Wicca) A second or third degree male witch in Wicca.


ghostbuster

From ghost + buster, popularized by the 1984 film Ghostbusters.

Someone who purports to rid a place of ghosts.


zodiacal light

I also, this morning gave attention to the stars as seen through the Zodiacal Light, and found, even to 4ʰ 30ᵐ, when the effulgent Light below the zigzag lines is very strong, that with the naked eye I could readily make out stars of the 6th magnitude within the effulgent Light; [...]

1856, George Jones, “No. 271. December 30th, 1854: Morning.”, in Observations on the Zodiacal Light, from April 2, 1853, to April 22, 1855, Made Chiefly on Board the United States Steam-Frigate Mississippi, during Her Late Cruise in Eastern Seas, and Her Voyage Homeward: With Conclusions from the Data thus Obtained (Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, […]; III; 33d Congress, 2d Session, Senate Ex. Doc. no. 79), Washington, D.C.: Beverley Tucker, senate printer, →OCLC, page 542:

Westward I saw the zodiacal light mingling with the yellow brilliance of the evening star.

1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Thing in the Forest”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, →OCLC, pages 81–82:

(astronomy) A soft glow of white light seen in the sky along the ecliptic in an elongated triangular form with its base being on the horizon, particularly in the tropics.

اَلْفَجْر اَلْكَاذِب

soft glow of white light extending upward from the horizon along the ecliptic, particularly in the tropics


domal

(dated, astrology) Of or relating to an astrological house.


Mercurian

When a Mercurian is connected with the arts, it is often possible to discern a lack of the heavy, thoroughgoing seriousness which some artists seem to feel is the least that life deserves.

The thumb of a Mercurian has a tendency to be stiff, as they love money and may have difficulty sharing it.

2000, Madame La Roux, The Practice of Classical Palmistry, →ISBN, page 113:

Unfortunately yellow color is not unusual to find in the palm of a Mercurian.

2016, Ellen Goldberg, Dorian Bergen, The Art and Science of Hand Reading, →ISBN:


athame

From French arthame in a 1929 passage from É.-J. Grillot de Givry (see 1931 citation below), apparently from Medieval Latin artavus (“quill-sharpening knife”). Artavus was also mistranslated into artauo in an Italian manuscript. The arthame was conflated with the cortel nero ("black knife") by Grillot de Givry, and that conflation was passed on to Gerald Gardner (the creator of Wicca).

der

She is moving with a regal gait, grasping the arthame, or magic knife.

1931, Émile-Jules Grillot de Givry, chapter 7, in JC Locke, transl., Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy:

Agia was quicker, making a cut at my neck with an athame before his weapon was free of the scabbard.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 60:

The athame is a black-handled ritual knife—one of the most common distinguishing marks of the Neopagan Witch.

1999, James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions, page 22:

A ceremonial pointed knife or dagger, used especially in Wicca and other neopagan traditions and typically having a black handle with magical symbols on it.


Plutonian

From Pluto (“dwarf planet in the Solar System”) + -n- + -ian (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘from, related to, or like’, or nouns meaning ‘one belonging to, relating to, or like’), probably influenced by Plutonian (“of or relating to Pluto, Greek and Roman god of the underworld”) (see etymology 1).

affix

Another and perhaps more Plutonian view of this would be that David's bondage to his mother and the codes of behaviour which she set for him had extended throughout his life, in both profes[s]ional and personal spheres; and that bondage now had an opportunity of loosening, with all the attendant consequences.

1985, Liz Greene, “Fate and Synchronicity”, in The Astrology of Fate, Boston, Mass.: Weiser Books, Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, page 293:

The notion of toxicity is a useful one in our effort to understand the further implications of Pluto in the USA chart. [...] Factor in what we have learned about the second house and we get another meaning of waste, related but distinctly more Plutonian: debris that poses an elimination problem once its value has been used up.

2006 October 6, Jessica Murray, “Power Madness: Pluto and American Hegemony”, in Soul-sick Nation: An Astrologer’s View of America, Bloomington, Ind., Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 41:

(astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of Pluto, formerly regarded as a planet.

Plutoon liittyvä

pertaining to the astrological influence of Pluto, formerly regarded as a planet


Plutonian

If you are a Plutonian and some of these traits emphatically do not fit you, just let them go and take what is helpful and descriptive of you personally. What will be given is a composite picture, based on working with a great many Plutonians over the years. Plutonians who are negatively inclined are often very guarded and rigid, afraid to let others get close. [...] There are Plutonians who operate predominantly on the positive level—healing, transforming, transmuting themselves and those around them.

1986, Donna Cunningham, “The Personality and Character of the Plutonian”, in Healing Pluto Problems, Boston, Mass.: Weiser Books, Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, page 28:

(astrology) A person under the astrological influence of Pluto, formerly regarded as a planet.


scry

en-verb

scry (third-person singular simple present scries, present participle scrying, simple past and past participle scried)

scries (present singular third-person)
scrying (participle present)
scried (participle past)
scried (past)

From Middle English scrien, scryen, a shortened form of Middle English ascrien, from Old French escrier (“to cry out”). Influenced by Middle English descrien (“to descry”).

Scrying spells can simply toggle the state of hidden objects to the revealed state, […]

2014 April 22, Jeff Howard, Game Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 149:

[…] with the loss of Mekha, the shields and wardings on the temple had weakened. That meant Alonnen could now scry inside directly, albeit with a fuzzy view and no real hope of clear sound. On hearing that, Guardian-apprentice Pelai had suggested he could send in a whole series of clever, Mendhite-style scrying nodes.

2014 May 6, Jean Johnson, The Guild, Penguin, →ISBN, page 239:

[…] to get the kid's family back, they needed a plan. “You three keep an eye out. I'm going to scry inside that house.” “You sure that's a good idea?” Naleni asked. “If he's actually a string mage, no. He might sense [it].”

2020 January 26, Stephanie Flint, The Restless Sands of Neel, Infinitas Publishing, page 66:

He glanced at the silver bowl on the table near the window. She had explained its purpose, how it was used to scry what was and what might be. He feared her device more than his for what was more frightening than an uncertain future? Her gaze followed his. She squeezed his hand and looked deeply into his eyes.

2023 October 31, Garrett Boatman, The Clocks of Midnight, Crossroad Press:

(more broadly, fantasy, video games) To use magical means to see or look into (something that is happening outside one's sight, e.g. inside a building or far away, or in the distant past, or future, etc).


Cthulhu

Invented in 1926 by H.P. Lovecraft for his short story The Call of Cthulhu. Possibly based on chthonic (“dwelling under the earth”).

Then, bolder than the storied Cyclops, great Cthulhu slid greasily into the water and began to pursue with vast wave-raising strokes of cosmic potency.

1928, H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu:

A gigantic fictional humanoid alien god being described with a head resembling an octopus and dragon wings and claws, around whom an insane cult developed.


placement

en-noun

placement (countable and uncountable, plural placements)

(astrology) The zodiacal region of the sky in which the sun, moon, or a planet appears at the time and place of a person's birth.


sortilege

sortilege (countable and uncountable, plural sortileges)

/ˈsɔːtɪlɪd͡ʒ/

From Old French sortilège, from Medieval Latin sortilegium (“witchcraft”), from Latin sortilegus (“sorcerer, diviner”), from sors (“fate”) + legere (“choose”).

der

We have therefore summoned to our presence a Jewish woman, by name Rebecca, daughter of Isaac of York — a woman infamous for sortileges and for witcheries.

Orthodox believers […] were less happy about using sortilege to coerce God into taking decisions on their behalf.

1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 115:

‘Too much evil sortilege,’ Glad always says when someone suggests he open a franchise over Cheat Ridge.

People who faced difficult decisions or needed insight into the future would consult a diviner, who performed a ritual to locate an oracle in the codex and then interpreted the divinatory text. In Egypt and the wider Mediterranean world, this practice - sortilege - was both common and controversial.

2014, AnneMarie Luijendijk, “Introduction”, in Forbidden Oracles? The Gospel of the Lots of Mary (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity; 89), Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebek, →ISBN, page 1:

Witchcraft, magic, especially as a means of making decisions or predictions.


arithmancy

From Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number”) + -mancy.

Of this roote last spoken of [astrology], springs innumerable branches; such as the knowledge of natiuities; the Chiromancie, Geomantie, Hydromantie, Arithmantie, Physiognomie: & a thousand others: which were much practiced, & holden in great reuerence by the Gentiles of olde.

1597, King James I of England, Daemonologie in forme of a dialogue, Book 1, page 14:

Divination using numbers that are the equivalent of letters of a name

aritmomanzia

divination using numbers that are the equivalent of letters of a name


austromancy

From Latin auster (“south wind”); austro- + -mancy.

Soothsaying or divination from observing the winds or clouds.


Lovecraftian

en-adj

Lovecraftian (comparative more Lovecraftian, superlative most Lovecraftian)

more Lovecraftian (comparative)
most Lovecraftian (superlative)

From Lovecraft + -ian, in reference to H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), an American author of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives.

Lovecraftian horror

Lovecraftian fiction

The present story, "Born of the Winds", is one of the best. For one thing, the vision of the story is pure Lovecraftian cosmic pessimism.

2006, A. Blackwood, August Derleth, The Ithaqua Cycle, page 102:

That abandonment, incidentally, compelled Sam’s mother to fill her young son’s head with H. P. Lovecraftian horror-style lies about the interior of Emily Dickinson’s house, lies that motivated her son’s break-in to begin with.

2007 September 23, David Bowman, “Torchlit Crit”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Of, pertaining to, or emulating the style or works of author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937).

lovecraftià

of, pertaining to, or emulating the style or works of author H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)


pyromancy

one type of which involves casting salt into a fire

thin smoke that rose straight up was a good omen

one type of which involves heating to produce cracks

this was done by heating pits carved into them

The magical power of conjuring or controlling fire.


Celtic cross

(cartomancy) A spread commonly used by tarotists, usually comprising a six-card "circle" or "cross" on the left and a four-card "staff" on the right.


ascendant

ascendant (comparative more ascendant, superlative most ascendant)

more ascendant (comparative)
most ascendant (superlative)

PIE word
 *h₂éd
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English ascendent (“ascending, rising; increasing in quantity; (astronomy) rising above the horizon”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French ascendant, from Latin ascendentem, the accusative singular of ascendēns (“ascending, rising”), the present participle of ascendō, adscendō (“to climb up, go up, move upwards; to rise; to spring up”), from ad- (prefix meaning ‘(up) to’) + scandō (“to ascend, climb, mount; to clamber”) (from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to climb, scale; to dart; to jump; to scan (poetry)”)). The English word is analysable as ascend (verb) + -ant (suffix forming adjectives from verbs with the sense of ‘doing [the verbal actions]’).
The noun is probably derived from the adjective, though it is attested earlier than the latter.

suffix

suffix forming adjectives from verbs with the sense of ‘doing 􂀿the verbal actions􂁀’

This Phœbus promis'd, I forget the Year, / VVhen thoſe blue eyes firſt open'd on the Sphere; / Aſcendant Phœbus vvatch'd that hour vvith care, / Averted half your Parents ſimple Pray'r, / And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf / That buys your Sex a Tyrant o'er itſelf: […]

1735, [Alexander] Pope, Of the Characters of Women: An Epistle to a Lady [Martha Blount] [Moral Essays], London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 16:

(astrology) In an eastern direction rising just above the horizon.

nouseva

in an eastern direction rising just above the horizon


ascendant

[T]hey ſay that Jeſus in his natiuitie, had for his aſcendent, the ſigne of Virgo in her firſt face, as they terme it, […]

1587, Philip of Mornay [i.e., Philippe de Mornay], “A Solution of the Obiections of the Heathen ageinst Iesus, the Sonne of God”, in Philip Sidney, Arthur Golding, transl., A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, […], London: […] [John Charlewood and] George Robinson for Thomas Cadman, […], →OCLC, page 619:

At my Nativity, my aſcendent vvas the earthly ſigne of Scorpius, I vvas borne in the Planetary houre of Saturne, and I think I have a piece of that Leaden Planet in me.

1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The Second Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC, section 11, page 164:

There he was a mere cypher: here he was lord of the ascendant; the choice spirit, the dominant genius.

1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Club of Queer Fellows”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 22:

The most important part of the sky in the astrologer's consideration, was that sign of the zodiac which rose at the moment of the child's birth; this was, properly speaking, the horoscope, the ascendant, or the first house; the whole circuit of the heavens being divided into twelve houses, in which life and death, marriage and children, riches and honours, friends and enemies were distributed.

1837, William Whewell, “On the Mysticism of the Middle Ages”, in History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Times. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, book IV (History of the Physical Sciences in the Middle Ages), page 300:

(astrology, also figurative) The degree of the zodiac or point of the ecliptic which rises in an eastern direction above the horizon at a particular moment (especially the moment of a person's birth), which is supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's fortune and life; a horoscope.

askendentti

degree of the zodiac or point of the ecliptic which rises in an eastern direction above the horizon at a particular moment (especially the moment of a person’s birth) — see also horoscope


godi

(Germanic paganism) A priest of the modern Norse religion.


sorceress

From Middle English sorceresse, from Anglo-Norman sorceresse.

The strange-looking chamber, the red glare of the charcoal, her tall form, and long black hair loose, realised the wildest dream of one of the sorceresses of old, bending over herb and drug, to form their potent spells.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Laboratory”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 328:

A female sorcerer, especially one who is elegant; compare witch.


energumen

From Latin energumenus, from Ancient Greek ἐνεργούμενος (energoúmenos), from verb ἐνεργέω (energéō, “to influence”).

uder

ἐνεργούμενος

A person possessed by an evil ghost, spirit, or entity.


revenant

19th century. From French revenant, the present participle of revenir (“to return”). Compare revenue.

For granting even that Religion were dead; that it had died, half-centuries ago, with unutterable Dubois; or emigrated lately, to Alsace, with Necklace-Cardinal Rohan; or that it now walked as goblin revenant with Bishop Talleyrand of Autun; yet does not the Shadow of Religion, the Cant of Religion, still linger?

1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

Earlier you mentioned a ghost, a revenant with which we may contaminate the Emperor.

1969, Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah, published 2008, →ISBN, page 19:

And to a revenant who had lived in body after body, died death after death, evanescence could seem like a dream of peace. But the chimaera could ill afford to let soldiers go.

2011, Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone, →ISBN:

If reports from the time are to be believed, 17th-century Poland was awash in revenants—not vampires, exactly, but proto-zombies who harassed the living by drinking their blood or, less disagreeably, stirring up a ruckus in their homes.

2023 September 5, Franz Lidz, “Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.


demonology

en-noun

demonology (countable and uncountable, plural demonologies)

/ˌdiːməˈnɑːləd͡ʒi/

But it wasn't all that strange, because any wizard bright enough to survive for five minutes was also bright enough to realize that if there was any power in demonology, then it lay with the demons.

The study of demons, especially the incantations required to summon and control them.


shoggoth

A monstrous gelatinous creature with green eyes, featured in the horror fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.


combust

en-adj

combust (comparative more combust, superlative most combust)

more combust (comparative)
most combust (superlative)

From Middle English combust (“burnt”), from Old French combust, from Latin combustus, the perfect passive participle of Latin combūrere (“to burn up”).

Guianerius had a patient could make Latin verses when the moon was combust, otherwise illiterate.

Who can discern those planets that are oft Combust, and those stars of brightest magnitude that rise and set with the Sun, untill the opposite motion of their orbs bring them to such a place in the firmament, where they may be seen evning or morning.

(astrology) In close conjunction with the sun (so that its astrological influence is "burnt up"), sometimes specified to be within 8 degrees 30'.


apheta

(astrology) The planet that has the most influence on a person's life.


Heathenry

The old Germanic (Norse, Anglo-Saxon, etc.) religion(s).


prophetess

From Middle English prophetesse, from Old French prophetesse, from Late Latin prophetissa. By surface analysis, prophet + -ess.

What made matters worse was that Montanus was accompanied by female prophetesses who spoke in states of ecstasy.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 138:


hydromancy

en-noun

hydromancy (usually uncountable, plural hydromancies)

From French hydromancie or Late Latin hydromantia, from Ancient Greek ὑδρομαντεία (hudromanteía); corresponding to hydro- + -mancy.

uder

Hydromancy is the supposed art of divining by water. The Persians, according to Varro, invented it; Pythagoras and Numa Pompilius made use of it; and we still admire the like wonderful prognosticators.

1797, Encyclopædia Britannica, 3rd edition:

Hydromancy was extensively practised by the Egyptian priests and sorcerers[.]

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 39:

Hydromancy, like many other methods of divination, seems to have originated in Babylonia and reached the Greco-Roman world via Egypt, in the first century b.c. or earlier.


esbat

Borrowed from Old French esbat, cognate to modern ébat (“frolic”).

Latter day witches, continuing the age-long cult, frequently made use of these old circles as meeting places, holding esbats, sabbats, and performing their ritual "ring" dances within the circumference of the tall granite stones.

1965, Ruth E. St. Leger-Gordon, Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor, page xviii. 146:

A Wiccan coven gathering other than one of the Sabbats. While a full moon ritual may be held during an esbat, esbats encompass coven business meetings, social occasions, and opportunities for merriment.


alectryomancy

From Ancient Greek ἀλεκτρυών (alektruṓn), ἀλέκτωρ (aléktōr, “a rooster”) + -mancy.

"Alectromancy, by Cooks [sic] or Pullen..." -- The Magastromancer xix, Gaule, 1652

A form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird or birds (preferably a white rooster or cockerel) pecking at grain that the diviner has scattered on the ground.

alectromancia

form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird pecking at grain


rectification

en-noun

rectification (countable and uncountable, plural rectifications)

/ˌɹɛktɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

From Middle English rectificacioun, from Old French rectificacion, from Late Latin rectificatio.

(astrology) A procedure that attempts to determine a person's time of birth based on events in their life.


jovially

en-adv

jovially (comparative more jovially, superlative most jovially)

more jovially (comparative)
most jovially (superlative)

From jovial + -ly (suffix forming adverbs from adjectives). Jovial is borrowed from French jovial (“jolly, jovial”), from Italian gioviale (“jolly, jovial; (obsolete) born under the influence of the planet Jupiter”), from Latin ioviālis (“relating to the Roman god Jupiter”), from Iuppiter, Iovis (“the Roman god Jove or Jupiter, counterpart of the Greek god Zeus”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“to be bright; heaven, sky”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship).

der

Some are of the opinion, that the world was made, to giue a body in lieu of puniſhment, vnto the ſpirits, which through their fault were fallen from the puritie, wherin they were created: The firſt creation having beene incorporeal. And that according as they have more or leſſe elonged themſelves from their ſpirituallitie, ſo they are more or leſſe merilie & Giovially, or rudely and Saturnally incorporated: Whence proceedeth the infinite varietie of ſo much matter created.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, “An Apologie of Raymond Sebond”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 315:

(astrology, obsolete) Under the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter.


sciomancy

From Late Latin sciomantia, from Ancient Greek σκιά (skiá, “shadow”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination”).


bibliomancy

en-noun

bibliomancy (usually uncountable, plural bibliomancies)

Divination by interpreting a passage chosen at random from a book, especially from the Bible.

bibliomancie

divination by interpreting a passage from a book


logomancy

logomancy (countable and uncountable, plural logomancies)

He mimed and mocked me. His allusions were definitely highbrow. He was well-read. He knew French. He was versed in logodaedaly and logomancy.

1955, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 23, in Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 2, pages 251–252:


trine

From Middle English trine, from Middle French trin, from Latin trīnus.

The physicians refer this to their temperament, astrologers to trine and sextile aspects, or opposite of their several ascendants, lords of their genitures, love and hatred of planets […]

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition III, section 1, member 2, subsection ii:

(astrology) Denoting the aspect of two celestial bodies which are 120° apart.


trine

(astrology) An aspect of two astrological bodies when 120° apart.


trine

en-verb

trine (third-person singular simple present trines, present participle trining, simple past and past participle trined)

trines (present singular third-person)
trining (participle present)
trined (participle past)
trined (past)

By fortune he [Saturn] was now to Venus trined.

1697, Virgil, “Palamon and Arcite”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(transitive, astrology) To put in the aspect of a trine.


Olympianism

(uncommon) Synonym of Hellenism (the modern-day revival of the polytheistic religious system of Ancient Greece).


enchanter

/ɪnˈtʃɑːntə/

/ənˈtʃɑːntə/

/ɛnˈtʃɑːntə/

/ɪnˈt͡ʃæntɚ/

/ɛnˈt͡ʃæntɚ/

From Middle English enchantour, from Old French enchanteor (Modern French enchanteur), from Latin incantātor (“enchanter; spellcaster; conjurer”), from incantāre (“to sing, to consecrate with spells”). Doublet of incantator. Equivalent to enchant + -er.

der

1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book One, Indianapolis: Hackett, 2006, Canto VII, stanza 35, p. 113,
No magicke arts hereof had any might, / Nor bloody wordes of bold Enchaunters call, / But all that was not such, as seemd in sight, / Before that shield did fade, and suddeine fall:

He was indeed as bitter an enemy to the savage authority too often exercised by husbands and fathers, over the young and lovely of the other sex, as ever knight-errant was to the barbarous power of enchanters; nay, to say truth, I have often suspected that those very enchanters with which romance everywhere abounds were in reality no other than the husbands of those days; and matrimony itself was, perhaps, the enchanted castle in which the nymphs were said to be confined.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XI:

[I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it could be no other than the body of their justly-boasted Pen-Dragon; and that he had been immured in that sepulchre by the spells of some powerful and implacable inchanter.

1810, J[ohn] Stagg, “Arthur’s Cave. A Legendary Tale.”, in The Minstrel of the North: Or, Cumbrian Legends. […], London: Printed by Hamblin and Seyfang, […], for the author, and sold by J. Blacklock, […], →OCLC, page 105:

Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead / Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind, lines 2–3:

[…] Goldstein […] seemed like some sinister enchanter, capable by the mere power of his voice of wrecking the structure of civilization.

1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part One, Chapter 1:

A spellcaster, conjurer, wizard, sorcerer or soothsayer who specializes in enchantments.


jumbo

Returning to the villa, we were greeted by a party which frightened the boys. It was the Moco Jumbo and his suite. The Jumbo was on stilts, with a head, mounted on the actor's head, which was concealed: the music was from two baskets, like strawberry baskets, with little bells within, shook in time. The swordsman danced with an air of menace, the musician was comical, and Jumbo assumed the "antic terrible," and was very active on his stilts.

1806, William Young, “A Tour through the Several Islands of Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Antigua, Tobago, and Grenada, in the Years 1791 & 1792”, in Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies. […] In Four Volumes, volume IV, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed and sold by James Humphreys, […], →OCLC, page 257:

[A]nother Krooman came hurrying up, holding out a wooden image with a few bits of grass round its neck, and exclaiming, "Wurra! Wurra! Jumbo hang in fetische-house, sure he make much finish die." […] Jumbo was an uncouthly-carved figure of a man, about a foot in height, sitting cross-legged like a tailor, with ears preposterously large, the Kroo mark down the forehead and nose, and a piece of looking-glass fixed in the thorax and abdomen.

1845 April, “Delta” [pseudonym], “Krooman versus Boobie. A Scene at Fernando Po.”, in P. L. Simmonds, editor, Simmond’s Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany, volume IV, number 16, London: Simmonds & Ward, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 487–488:

(paganism, historical) Short for mumbo jumbo (“a deity or other supernatural being worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol representing such a being”).


Lughnasadh

From Irish Lughnasadh (obsolete form of Lúnasa (“August”)), from Old Irish Lugnasad.

The Celtic people of Ireland viewed they year in two equal halves, Samhain, side of dark, and Beltaine, side of light. Dividing these halves are the harvest festival of Lughnasadh and the spring festival of Imbolc. The Celtic year begins November 1st, but I have started my collection in the fall harvest festival of Lughnasadh, a time of year where memories abundant dance in my head like the leaves in which my brothers and I played.

1998, Kelly Ann McMillin, Seasons of Time, Lulu.com, page i:

It was first light and the kitchens were alive with activity, this was Thar's day, the day of the festival of Lughnasadh, the beginning of a new year.

2012, Tony Collins, The Lost Crystal: Key to the ancient world of Thar Cernunnos, AuthorHouse, page 203:

August brings us to the eighth month of our modern calendar and the celebrations of the first harvest at Lughnasadh and the Corn Moon.

2014, Lotuswulf Satyrhorn, Tribes of the Moon: A Book of Otherkin Coventry, Seasonal Rituals and Lunar Magick for All 13 Months, AuthorHouse, page 138:

A Gaelic/Celtic holiday celebrated on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the summer solstice and autumnal equinox, during the time of the harvesting.

lúnasa

holiday near the midpoint between summer solstice and autumnal equinox


diurnal arc

(astrology) the path followed by a planet, point, or degree from its rising point to its setting point.

일주호

path from the rising point to the setting point


magick

en-noun

magick (countable and uncountable, plural magicks)

Actual magic or sorcery in fiction or in e.g. Wicca, neopaganism or modern witchcraft, as opposed to illusion or stage magic.


magick

Relating to actual magic or sorcery in fiction or in e.g. Wicca, neopaganism or modern witchcraft, as opposed to illusion or stage magic.


neo-pagan

1901, J. A. Symonds, American Journal of Sociology 6, page 560,
The Italian Renaissance produced a brief but astounding burst of neo-pagan individualism.

The neopagan impulse of the classical revival.

1877, J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy iv. 193

Of or relating to neo-paganism, a modern form of paganism.


neo-pagan

1868 April 5, William James, letter, in R. B. Perry (ed.), The thought and character of William James as revealed in unpublished correspondence, together with his published writings 1842–1910, (1935), volume I, page 268,
The very persons who would most writhe and wail at their surroundings if transported back into early Greece, would, I think, be the neo-pagans and Hellas worshipers of today.

An adherent of neo-paganism, a modern pagan.


Ophiuchus

From Latin Ophiūchus, from Ancient Greek ὀφιοῦχος (ophioûkhos, “serpent-handler”), from ὄφις (óphis, “snake”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”).

derived

(astronomy) A zodiacal constellation of the northern summer said to depict a man (Asclepius) holding a serpent; the serpent is the constellation Serpens.


sextile

From Latin sextīlis (“one sixth”), from sextus (“sixth”) + īlis (“-ile”).

(astronomy, astrology) Of or denoting the aspect or position of any two celestial bodies separated by 60°.


sextile

(astronomy, astrology) A sextile aspect or position.


chirography

en-noun

chirography (usually uncountable, plural chirographies)

From chirograph + -y under influence from geography &c., from French chirographe, from Latin chirographus and chirographum, from Ancient Greek χειρόγραφος (kheirógraphos) and χειρόγραφον (kheirógraphon), from χειρο- (kheiro-, “hand-”) + γραφος (graphos, “writing, written thing”). Equivalent to chiro- (“hand”) + -graphy (“writing”) and handwriting.

der

Synonym of palmistry, fortune-telling based on one's hand.


quinary

From the Latin quīnārius (“containing five each”), from quīnī (“five each”, “five at a time”) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French quinaire, the Italian quinario, and the Portuguese quinário. Doublet of quinarius.

(astrology) Any of 72 rays associated with the Sun, six for each of the 12 houses of the Zodiac.


balefire

From Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (“balefire, funeral or sacrificial fire”); equivalent to bale (“funeral pyre”) + fire.

inh

Rites done on a lakeshore or seashore can be illuminated with balefires of dried driftwood collected prior to the rite.

2002, Marilyn F. Daniel, Kitchen Witchery, Weiser, →ISBN, page 236:

A bonfire, any large outdoor fire (for example those used in a funeral pyre, or in witches' rituals).


bone fire

A fire lit with bones instead of wood, so that when livestock were driven between two such fires the acrid smoke drove off parasites.


enchantress

/ɪnˈt͡ʃæntɹɪs/

/ɛnˈt͡ʃæntɹɪs/

/ɪnˈtʃɑːntɹɪs/

/ɛnˈtʃɑːntɹɪs/

From Middle English enchaunteresse, from Old French enchanteresse; equivalent to enchanter + -ess.

His desire for that enchantress led him to financial ruin.


vespertine

From Middle English vespertyne, from Latin vespertīnus (“evening”).

But, owing to the vespertine configuration of Jupiter and Mars, as well as the masculine condition of the anterior parts of the triplicity, and the feminine condition of its latter parts, the said nations regard women with scorn and indifference.

1822, Claudius Ptolemy, translated by J. M. Ashmand, Tetrabiblos, published 2002, page 44:

Finally, he^([Ptolemy]) says that the vespertine or second stations of the planets, especially those posited in the I.C. [4th House], and in the case of Mercury and Venus, when they are vespertine in day charts but matutine in night charts, signify temperaments that are ingenious, capable of hard work, and able to discern arcane matters, such as are seen in the nativities of magicians, prestidigitators, dream interpreters, and so on.

2004, Jean-Baptiste Morin, translated by Anthony Louis LaBruzza, Astrologia Gallica, Book 18, page 56:

(astrology, of a planet or star) That sets after the sun.


wu

From the Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin Chinese 巫 (wū, “shaman”).


spiritualistic

en-adj

spiritualistic (comparative more spiritualistic, superlative most spiritualistic)

more spiritualistic (comparative)
most spiritualistic (superlative)

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of spiritualism.

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of spiritism; spiritistic.


fortune-telling

The act or practise of predicting the future (especially for money), as by using a crystal ball, reading palms, reading tea leaves in a cup, etc.; prediction of future events, especially those of a personal nature.


banishing

A magical ritual intended to remove negative spiritual influences.


mons

Borrowed from Latin mōns (“mountain”). Doublet of mount.

(obsolete, palmistry) One of the fleshy areas at the base of the fingers; a mount.


schematism

en-noun

schematism (countable and uncountable, plural schematisms)

(astrology) The combination of the heavenly bodies.


crystal ball

The psychic looked into the crystal ball and saw into the future.

A globe of glass or crystal used to foretell the future.

If her past is a crystal ball to her future, she will perhaps never be rich, even though she is a kind, hard-working person.

(by extension) A way of seeing into the future.

One of the magickal tools of Wicca, used for divination and altar purposes


Aquarian

(astrology) Of or pertaining to the astrological sign of Aquarius.

aquariano

of or pertaining to the astrological sign of Aquarius


Aquarian

(astrology) A person born under the astrological sign of Aquarius.


querent

Old French and Anglo-Norman querant, from Latin quaerens, present participle of quaerō (“I search for, I inquire”) (English query).

Meanwhile, the querent stood before the Altar, crowned with laurel, while powered laurel leaves were burnt as incense.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 61:

(obsolete outside divination) An inquirer.


heathendom

heathendom (usually uncountable, plural heathendoms)

From Middle English hæthendom, from Old English hǣþendōm; equivalent to heathen + -dom. OED records a single attestation in the period between 1230 and 1840, a (nonce?) occurrence in J. Law, Proposals and reasons for constituting a council of trade in Scotland (1701, p. 233). Otherwise replaced by Middle English hethenesse in the later Middle English period and heathenism in the 17th and 18th centuries. Cognate with Dutch heidendom, Old High German heidentuom (German Heidentum), Old Norse heiðindómr (Swedish hedendom).

Ziegenbalg mentioned some major forms of heathendom (African, American, old European)[…]

2011, Urs App, The Birth of Orientalism, page 102:

(Germanic paganism, sometimes capitalized) The collection of people who follow Heathenry, a modern pagan faith inspired by the pre-Abrahamic religions of Germanic tribes, Anglo-Saxons and Norse peoples.

heidendom

worldwide community that follows Heathenry


gramarye

Inherited from Middle English gramarie, from Old French gramarie, a variant of gramaire; thus a doublet of glamour, glamoury, grammar, and grimoire. The word was revived by Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832).

doublet

My mother was a weſterne woman / And learned in gramaryè, / And when I learned at the ſchole, / Something ſhee taught itt me.

1765, Thomas Percy, compiler, “King Estmere”, in Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: […], volume I, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, book I, page 64, lines 143–146:

And, but that stronger spells were spread, / And the door might not be opened, / He had laid him on her very bed. / Whate'er he did of gramarye [footnote: Magic.], / Was always done maliciously. / He flung the warrior on the ground, / And the blood welled freshly from the wound.

1805, Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, 2nd edition, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster-Row, and A. Constable and Co., Edinburgh, by James Ballantyne, Edinburgh, →OCLC, canto III, stanza XI, page 81:

She took a spell of grammary, and threw it on the knight: / Still he stood, and moved not: (I tell the tale aright:) / She took from him his falchion, unlac'd his hauberk bright. / Mournfully Wolfdietrich cried, "Gone is all my might.[…]"

1814, “The Book of Heroes. Book Second. Of Hughdietrich, and His Son Wolfdietrich.”, in [Henry William Weber, Robert Jamieson, and Walter Scott], editors, Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, […], Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London; and John Ballantyne and Co., Edinburgh, →OCLC, adventure IX, page 80:

Had I possessed any power of ‘gramarye,’ you would certainly have found yourself all of a sudden transported through the air.

1836, Henry F[othergill] Chorley, chapter II, in Memorials of Mrs. Hemans: With Illustrations of Her Literary Character from Her Private Correspondence. [...] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street, →OCLC, pages 58–59:

Whilst a tale of gramary, or love, will draw thousands to Melrose or Loch Katrine, few are willing to read the history of Popish ascendency, or Protestant reformation, amidst the ruins of St. Andrew's.

1836, Lord Teignmouth [i.e., Charles John Shore Teignmouth], “St. Andrew’s, Cathedral, Castle, Churches, University, Education, Clergy, Harbour, Bell-Rock Light-house, Fifeshire”, in Sketches of the Coasts and Islands of Scotland, and of the Isle of Man; […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker, West Strand, →OCLC, page 131:

But the daughter of my uncle (this gazelle) had learned gramarye and egromancy and clerkly craft from her childhood; so she bewitched that son of mine to a calf, and my handmaid (his mother) to a heifer, and made them over to the herdsman's care.

1885, “Tale of the Trader and the Jinni. [The First Shaykh’s Story.]”, in Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night: […], volume I, [s.l.]: Privately printed by the Burton Club, →OCLC, page 28:

Long ago, when magic was the only written knowledge, our business was called simply Knowing. But there is far too much to know in your day, on all subjects under the sun. So we use a half-forgotten word, as we Old Ones ourselves are half-forgotten. We call it "gramarye".

1973, Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC; republished London: Vintage Books, 2013, →ISBN, pages 151–152:

(archaic) Mystical learning; the occult, magic, sorcery.


genethliac

Latin genethliacus, from Ancient Greek γενεθλιακός (genethliakós, “belonging to a birthday”).

uder

The follie of our genethliaks, or nativiti-casters.

1584, Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft:


star sign

(astrology) Any of the twelve astrological signs.


astrological sign

en-noun

astrological sign (plural astrological signs)

(astrology) Any of twelve signs, corresponding to constellations, that are used as the basis of astrology

sterreteken

sign that is used as the basis of astrology


ailuromancy

Divination by the appearance and behaviour of cats.


daphnomancy

From Ancient Greek δάφνη (dáphnē, “laurel”) + -mancy.

(rare) Divination by laurel branches or trees, leaves etc.


amniomancy

Divination based on the characteristics of the amniotic sac at childbirth.


halomancy

Halomancy is the origin of the superstition surrounding spilled salt.


dactylomancy

From dactylo- + -mancy (“divination”), from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”).

uder

Dactylomancy, by rings […]

Dactyliomancy was divination by means of a ring. The ring was suspended by a thread above a round table, on the edge of which letters of the alphabet were marked. The ring, in shaking or vibrating over the table, stopped over certain of the letters, which, on being connected, supplied the answer asked.

Mysteries of all Nations xiii, J. Grant, 1880

Divination by various methods using rings, such as using silver or gold rings placed on the fingernails in patterns in conjunction with the planets.


rhapsodomancy

From French rhapsodomancie, from Ancient Greek ῥαψῳδός (rhapsōidós) + -mancy.

Rhapsodomantia sive divinatio ex rhapsodia aliqva poëtæ.

1723, Fabricii, Bibliographia Antiquaria xii:

1953, Gaynor (ed.), Dict. Mysticism
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.

Using chance to arrive at a particular passage in the I Ching is a form of rhapsodomancy: the seeking of guidance through the chance selection of a passage in a literary work. Another early form of rhapsodomancy is represented by the sibylline books. [...]

1998, Deborah J. Bennett, Randomness, Harvard University Press, page 42:

Divination by reading a random passage from a poem.


alphitomancy

From Ancient Greek ἀλφῐτόμαντις (alphitómantis, “diviner who used barley meal”), from ἄλφῐτον (álphiton, “barley meal”) and μαντεία (manteía, “prophecy”).

ἀλφῐτόμαντις

Aleuromancy and alphitomancy were almost analogous processes; cakes were made of wheat or barley flour which could not be swallowed by anyone guilty of a given misdeed.

1931, Lock translating de Givry Picture Museum of Sorcery

An Ancient Greek method of divination using barley meal, used for instance to reveal guilty parties; it entailed feeding a person or group barley meal, and judging those who felt no effects to be innocent, while judging those who felt indigestion to be guilty.


lampadomancy

From Ancient Greek λαμπάς (lampás, “torch”), + -mancy.

1652, The Magastromancer xix, Gaule
Lampadomancy, by candles and lamps […]

A divination based on the observation of the movements of the flame of a lamp was called lampadomancy.

1931, Picture Museum of Sorcery viii, Lock tr. de Givry:

divination by the interpretation of the flame of a lamp. A type of pyromancy.


aleuromancy

From aleuro- (“wheat flour”) + -mancy (“divination”).

confix

divination using flour or related products such as dough or cakes and fortune cookies


anthropomancy

From anthropo- + -mancy, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos, “man, mankind, human, humanity”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination”).

uder

divination by the interpretation of human sacrificial entrails.


belomancy

From Ancient Greek βέλος (bélos, “an arrow, dart”) + -mancy.

der

Studying the flight of arrows, an ancient form of divination used by the Greeks and Arabs.


aeromancy

From aero- + -mancy, from Ancient Greek ἀέρος (aéros, “air”) and μαντεία (manteía, “prophecy”).

"If these apparitions are in the Ayre, then it is called Aeromancie." -- Astrologaster, J. Melton, 1620

"Have you a mind, quoth Her Trippa, to have the truth of the matter yet more fully and amply disclosed unto you by..aeromancy, whereof Aristophanes in his Clouds maketh great estimation..?" -- Works of Rabelais III, 1951

Divination by use of atmospheric conditions.

aéromancie

divination by use of atmospheric conditions


metopomancy

From French métopomantie (from Ancient Greek μέτωπον (métōpon, “forehead”)), later reformed after + -mancy.

uder

These elaborate systems of divination, with their subdivisions, such as divination by moles on the face, or lines on the forehead (metopomancy), had been set out in many medieval treatises […].

1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 231:

(now historical) Divination by interpreting the facial lines and wrinkles, especially the forehead.


arachnomancy

The ability to take control over spiders with the intent to use them for attacking or similar purposes.


ariolater

one who practices the art of divination and uses interpretation to produce omens.


botanomancy

Divination by plants. A form of pyromancy in which tree branches and/or leaves are burnt.


apantomancy

From Ancient Greek ἀπαντάω (apantáō, “to encounter”) and μαντεία (manteía, “prophecy”).

der

Apantomancy: Divination by means of any objects which happen to present themselves. To this class belong the omens drawn from chance meetings with a hare, an eagle, etc.

1920, Lewis Spence, An Encyclopædia of Occultism:

Even objects that lie about haphazardly were fit for mantic purposes. The prcatice was called apantomancy.

1961, H.E. Wedeck, Treasury of Witchcraft:

Divination by chance meetings with any objects that present themselves, most commonly animals; for example, the superstition associated with a black cat crossing one's path.


armomancy

From Latin armus (“shoulder blade”) + -mancy.

Divination through inspecting one's shoulders. In ancient times, this inspection was to see whether a human was a suitable sacrifice to the gods.


astragalomancy

From Ancient Greek ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos) + -mancy.

Divination by throwing astragaloi (see etymology above) onto the pages of a picture book.


ceromancy

From Ancient Greek κηρός (kērós, “wax”) + -mancy.

1660, Urquhart tr. Rabelais Gargantua & Pantagruel iii. xxv
By Ceromancy, where, by the means of Wax dissolved into Water, thou shalt see the Figure, Poutrait and lively Representation of thy future Wife, and of her Fredin Fredaliatory Belly-thumping Blades.

1983, Complete Bk Predictions.
In ceromancy, melted wax is allowed to drip into a shallow dish of cold water, and the resulting shapes are interpreted. Ceromancy was very popular in the eighteenth century, when correspondence was normally fastened with sealing wax.

divination by pouring melted wax into water and interpreting the bubbles formed.


chaomancy

Ancient Greek (Paracelsian) chaos, "the atmosphere".

1650 French tr. Paracelsus Nine Books Of the Nature of Things (1674) ix.
Chaomancy shews its Signs by the Stars of the Air and Wind, by the discolouring, destroying of all tender and subtil things […] If the Stars of Chaomancy are moved, Spirits fall from the superiour Air, and Voices and Answers were often heard […] There are seen Hobgoblins, Household Gods, airy Spirits, and Woodmen, &c. also a heavenly Dew and Manna falls upon Trees and Herbs.

1908 Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dict. i.
chaomancy...Fortune-telling by aerial apparitions.

Divination by aerial visions, a form of aeromancy.


causimomancy

Ancient Greek kausimos, "fit for burning", from kausis, "burning heat".

Causimomancy: Divination by fire. It is a happy presage when combustible objects cast into the fire do not burn.

1973 L. Watson Supernature ix.
Precoginition means "knowing in advance," and systems of knowing cover just about every possible source of variation. They include..causimomancy (the study of objects placed in the fire)... None of these need be taken seriously...

Divination by studying the behaviour of objects placed in a fire. Related to empyromancy and pyromancy.


cleidomancy

Cleidomancy was performed with a key suspended from a thread from the nail of a young virgin's third finger, this verse from the Psalms being repeated meanwhile: "Exurge, Domine, adjuva nos, et redime nos propter nomen sanctum tuum." The key would revolve if the thing asked could be affirmed.

1931, J. Courtenay Locke, translator, Émile-Jules Grillot de Givry, author, Picture Museum of Sorcery, Magic & Alchemy

Divination by using a hanging key as a pendulum. A form of radiesthesia.


crithomancy

Ancient Greek κριθομαντεία (krithomanteía, “divination by barley”), from κριθή (krithḗ, “barley”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination”).

uder

κριθομαντεία

1652 Gaule The Magastromancer xix.
Crithomancy, by grain, or corn...

Divination by interpreting food, usually bread and grain used in sacrifice.


cromniomancy

From Ancient Greek κρόμμῠον (krómmuon, “onion”) + -mancy.

der

1660, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy in Brand Popular Antiquities (1844) iii.
Burton […] speaks of "cromnysmantia," a kind of divination with onions laid on the altar at Christmas Eve, practised by girls, to know when they shall be married, and how many husbands they shall have. This appears also to have been a German custom.

cromniomancy consisted of laying onions on which certain names had been written upon the altar on Christmas Day; when these were planted the one which sprouted first would give the required indication.

1931, Lock tr. de Givry, Picture Museum of Sorcery:


chartomancy

From Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “leaf of paper”) + -mancy.

bor

1652 Gaule The Magastromancer xix.
Chartomancy, by writing in papers […]

CHARTOMANCY: Divination by writing or interpreting inscriptions, sometimes of mysterious origin. Predictions written in invisible ink, which appears when papers are heated, come in this general category. So do greeting cards.

[1973, Walter B. Gibson, Litzka R. Gibson, The Complete Illustrated Book of Divination and Prophecy, London: Souvenir Press, published 1987, →ISBN, page 315:

Divination by interpreting inscriptions on writing paper.


coscinomancy

Ancient Greek koskinomantis, "a diviner using a sieve", from koskinon, "a sieve".

1603 Christopher Heydon A Defence of Ivdiciall Astrolgie
And as for Hydromancie, and Choschinomancie, they could vanish as superfluous, as were evident and ridiculous even to the ignorant.

1660 Urquhart tr. Rabelais Gargantua & Pantagruel iii. xxv.
By Coscinomancy, most religiously observed of old, amidst the Ceremonies of the ancient Romans. Let us have a Sieve and Shiers, and thou shalt see Devils.

1913 Halliday Greek Div. x.
To the same species of divinatory rites [i.e. those involving a swinging pendulum] belong the koskinomancy of Theokritos, familiar in England as the consultation of the sieve and shears, and the minor rites of axinomancy and sphondylomancy.

Divination by the use of a suspended sieve sometimes from tongs or shears. The movement of the sieve when a person's name or word is spoken is interpreted.


dendromancy

1970 Zolar Encyc. of Ancient & Forbidden Knowledge
DENDROMANCY: This is associated with both the oak and the mistletoe.

Divination by leaves and branches of plants and trees. Especially oak and mistletoe.


cledonomancy

From Ancient Greek κληδών (klēdṓn, “an omen”) + -mancy.

der

The consultant whispered his questions into the god's ear, then stopped his own ears, went out, and, when he got beyond the market-place, listened for chance words from passers-by. These were construed into an answer. This form of divination (cledonomancy) remained popular at all periods.

Pausanias (2nd century AD) gives an example of cledonomancy. A man was not sure whether to marry a young woman of his own clan or a rich woman of more exalted rank. While thinking over the problem, he heard a child at play with his fellows shout, 'Take care of yourself' which he at once understood to mean that he should marry the rich one!

1970, B. I. Rakoczi, Man, Myth & Magic v.:

Divination through interpreting chance remarks or events.


ceraunoscopy

Mr. Lampredi divides his ſubject into ſeveral heads, viz. Natural Theology, Coſmogony, Ceraunoscopy, i.e. the judgments to be formed from thunder and lightning, Phyſic, Botany, Mechanics, and Politics.

1758 September 20, The Monthly Review, London, page 301:

In this valuable work, treating of the Natural Theology, Cosmogony, and Ceraunoscopy of the Etruscans, the author refutes many of the opinions of Brucker.

1861, Catalogue of the Mathematical, Historical and Miscellaneous Portion of the Celebrated Library of M. Guglielmo Libri, part 1, page 301:

Ceraunoscopy uses patterns of lightning during a thunderstorm as a form of divination.

2004, Quill Mastercraft, Out of his Time: The Spiritual Struggle and Magickal Writings of a Modern Mage, part 1, page 98:

Most important for the present survey and also the most convincing part of Weinstock’s analysis are the fundamental and pervasive connections he highlights between Etruscan ceraunoscopy, and Greek and Babylonian astrology/astronomy, especially planetary theory.

2016, Kyle Grothoff, Astrology in Augustan Rome: A Cultural History, page 64:

Divination by interpreting thunder and lightning.


cephalomancy

Cephalomancy was divination by a donkey's head […]

Divination by the study of the skull or head of a donkey or goat. Sometimes described as the roasting of an ass's head on hot coals.


demonomancy

Demonomancy: Divination by means of demons. This divination takes place by the oracles they make, or by the answers they give to those who evoke them.

Divination using the aid of demons to reveal information.