Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The method of employing sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is universal in all religions of the world. "What the Vedas were to the Hindus, Homer to the Greeks, and Ovid and Virgil to the Romans, the Old Testament was to the Jews, the Old and New Testaments to the Christians, and the Koran and Hadith to the Muslims." (quoted from Jewish Encyclopedia) This article is about the religious practice of divination. ... The Vedas (Sanskrit: वेद) are a large corpus of texts originating in Ancient India. ... A Hindu ( , Devanagari: हिन्दु), as per modern definition, is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, and the religious, philosophical and cultural system that originated in the Indian subcontinent. ... Homer (Greek: ) is the name given to the supposed unitary author of the early Greek poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. ... For other uses, see Ovid (disambiguation) Publius Ovidius Naso (March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD) was a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid who wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh to refer to its canon, which corresponds to the Protestant Old Testament. ... This article is about the Christian scriptures. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      A Christian () is a person who... The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ...

Sometimes this term is used in the same way as Stichomancy and Libromancy, which is a form of divination that seeks to know the future by randomly selecting a passage from a book, frequently a sacred text. This article is about the religious practice of divination. ... Random redirects here. ... A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. ... Many religions and spiritual movements believe that their sacred texts (or scriptures) are the Word of God, often feeling that the texts are wholly divine or spiritually inspired in origin. ...

Method

1. A book is picked that is believed to hold truth.
2. It is balanced on its spine and allowed to fall open.
3. A passage is picked, with the eyes closed.

Among Christians, the Bible is most commonly used, and in Islamic cultures the Qur'an. In the Middle Ages the use of Virgil's Aeneid was common in Europe and known as the sortes Virgilianae. Christianity percentage by country, purple is highest, orange is lowest Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... The Qur’ān [1] (Arabic: ;, literally the recitation; also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, or Alcoran) is the central religious text of Islam. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became... Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 Galleria Borghese, Rome The Aeneid (IPA English pronunciation: ; in Latin Aeneis, pronounced — the title is Greek in form: genitive case Aeneidos): is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BCE (between 29 and 19 BCE) that tells the legendary story... World map showing the location of Europe. ...

Because book owners frequently have favorite passages that the books open themselves to, some practitioners use dice or another randomiser to choose the page to be opened. This practice was formalized by the use of coins or yarrow stalks in consulting the I Ching. Tarot can also be considered a form of bibliomancy, with the main difference that the cards (pages) are unbound. Binomial name Achillea millefolium L. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. ... Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ... Visconti-Sforza tarot deck - The Devil card is a XX Century remake of the card missing from the original XV Century Deck The tarot is a set of cards featuring 21 trump cards and a special card called The Fool, in addition to the usual suit (face and pip) cards...

Another variant requires the selection of a random book from a library before selecting the random passage from that book. This also holds if a book has fallen down from a shelf on its own.

Bibliomancy is a type of Stichomancy: "divination from lines". Some sources refer to bibliomancy as a specialized form of stichomancy, often falsely attributing the word root "biblio" to "the Bible", rather than books in general.

Favoured works

The Bible

At the acclamation of Martin as bishop of Tours (371) a few cast aspersions, largely for his lack of personal glamor. According to the Vita by Sulpicius Severus, Saint Martin of Tours (Latin: Martinus), (316/317 – November 11, 397 in Candes) was a bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. ... Saint Sulpicius Severus (born around 360, died between 420 and 425), wrote the earliest biography of Saint Martin of Tours. ...

it so happened that the reader, whose duty it was to read in public that day, being blocked out by the people, failed to appear, the officials falling into confusion, while they waited for him who never came, one of those standing by, laying hold of the Psalter, seized upon the first verse which presented itself to him. Now, the Psalm ran thus: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise because of thine enemies, that thou mightest destroy the enemy and the avenger." On these words being read, a shout was raised by the people, and the opposite party were confounded. It was believed that this Psalm had been chosen by Divine ordination.

St. Francis of Assisi, to seek divine guidance, is said to have thrice opened to a random page of the book of Gospels in the church of St. Nicholas. Each time he opened to a passage in which Christ told His disciples to leave their earthly belongings and follow Him. Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Saint Francis of Assisi (born in Assisi, Italy, ca. ... For other uses, see Divinity (disambiguation) and Divine (disambiguation). ... For the genre of Christian-themed music, see gospel music. ... It has been suggested that Ecclesia (Church) be merged into this article or section. ... Saint Nicholas, also known as Nikolaus in Germany and Sinterklaas (a contracted form of Sint Nicolaas) in the Netherlands and Flanders, is the common name for the historical Saint Nicholas of Myra, who lived in 4th century Byzantine Anatolia, (now in modern Turkey) and had a reputation for secret gift... Christ is the English term for the Greek word (Christós), which literally means The Anointed One. ...

St. Augustine related, in his autobiographical Confessions, how his conversion to the Catholic faith was assisted by a voice chanting tolle lege or 'take up and read': “Augustinus” redirects here. ... Confessions is the name of a series of thirteen autobiographical books by St. ...

So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, "Take up and read; Take up and read." Instantly, my countenance altered, I began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such words: nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming in during the reading of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as if what was being read was spoken to him: Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me: and by such oracle he was forthwith converted unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle when I arose thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence. No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.

Virgil's Aeneid

The sors Vergiliana, also spelled sors Virgiliana (Latin: "Vergilian lot"), plural sortes Vergilianae or sortes Virgilianae, is a form of divination by bibliomancy in which advice or predictions of the future are sought by randomly selecting a passage from Virgil's Aeneid. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became... This article is about the religious practice of divination. ... Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became... Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 Galleria Borghese, Rome The Aeneid (IPA English pronunciation: ; in Latin Aeneis, pronounced — the title is Greek in form: genitive case Aeneidos): is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BCE (between 29 and 19 BCE) that tells the legendary story...

The sors Vergiliana was most widely practiced in the later Roman Empire and in medieval times, when Vergil was often thought to have magic powers or a gift of prophecy. Clyde Pharr, in the introduction to his edition of the Aeneid, notes that Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... This article or section seems to describe future events as if they have already occurred. ...

In the mediaeval period a great circle of legends and stories of miracles gathered around [Vergil's] name, and the Vergil of history was transformed into the Vergil of magic. He was looked upon not only as a great magician but as an inspired pagan prophet who had foretold the birth of Christ. It was at this period that the spelling Virgil came into vogue, thus associating the great poet with the magic or prophetic wand, virga.

(Compare virge and virgule.) Christ is the English term for the Greek word (Christós), which literally means The Anointed One. ... The Virtual Reality Graphics Engine (ViRGE) graphics chipset was one of the first 2D/3D accelerators designed for the mass market. ... A solidus, oblique or slash, /, is a punctuation mark. ...

Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesie describes Roman beliefs about poetry and recounts a famous Sors Vergiliana: Philip Sidney. ...

Among the Romans a poet was called vates, which is as much as a diviner, foreseer, or prophet, as by his conjoined words, vaticinium and vaticinari, is manifest; so heavenly a title did that excellent people bestow upon this heart-ravishing knowledge. And so far were they carried into the admiration thereof, that they thought in the chanceable hitting upon any such verses great fore-tokens of their following fortunes were placed; whereupon grew the word of Sortes Virgilianae, when by sudden opening Virgil's book they lighted upon some verse of his making. Whereof the Histories of the Emperors' Lives are full: as of Albinus, the governor of our island, who in his childhood met with this verse,

Arma amens capio, nec sat rationis in armis,

and in his age performed it.

Sidney refers to Decimus Clodius Albinus, a Roman who ruled Britain and laid claim to the Roman Empire, but was defeated in battle by Septimus Severus. The verse upon which Albinus reportedly chanced, Aeneid II, 314, means "madly I take up arms, without having reason to do so". Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Clodius Albinus. ... Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between 43 and 410. ... Decimus Clodius Albinus (c. ... Emperor Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus, (April 11, 146 - February 4, 211) was Roman emperor from April 9, 193 to 211. ...

The Greek equivalent of the sors Vergiliana is the sors Homerica, or bibliomancy employing Homer's Iliad. Homer (Greek: ) is the name given to the supposed unitary author of the early Greek poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. ... title page of the Rihel edition of ca. ...

Bibliomancy in fiction

In Michael Strogoff (1876) by Jules Verne, Feofar Khan judged Michael Strogoff to blindness after pointing randomly in the Koran at the phrase: "And he will no more see the things of this earth.". Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar (French: Michel Strogoff) is a novel written by Jules Verne in 1876. ... Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. ... The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ...

In The Book of Webster's (1993) by J. N. Williamson, the sociopathic protagonist Dell uses the dictionary to guide his actions. Gerald Neal Williamson (April 17, 1932 - December 8, 2005) wrote and edited horror stories under the name J. N. Williamson. ...

In Running with Scissors (2002) by Augusten Burroughs, the eccentric psychiatrist Dr. Finch performs bibliomancy using the Bible. Augusten Xon Burroughs (born Christopher Robison on October 23, 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American writer noted for his New York Times best-selling memoir Running with Scissors (2002), which spawned a feature film of the same name written and directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Joseph Cross as...

The popular 'lonelygirl15' internet fiction series mentions the use of bibliomancy as part of the main character's religious beliefs. lonelygirl15 is an interactive web-based video series, centering on the life of a fictional teenage girl named Bree, whose YouTube username is the eponymous lonelygirl15. ...

The novel The First Verse by Barry McCrea tells the story of Niall Lenihan, a student who falls in with a 'cult' whose members use sortes to guide them. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

In the short story Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick, every major character uses bibliomancy, mainly by casting yarrow stalks in conjunction with the I Ching. Dick himself reportedly used this process for deciding key points in the story, even going so far as to blaming the I Ching for plot developments that he himself did not particularly care for. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982), often known by his initials PKD, or by the pen name Richard Phillips, was an American science fiction writer and novelist who changed the genre profoundly. ... Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ... Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ...

The device (sortes Vergilianae) is briefly attempted and mentioned by name in Graham Greene's "The Comedians". Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH (October 2, 1904 – April 3, 1991) was a great English playwright, novelist, short story writer, travel writer and critic whose works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. ... NOTE: This article does not refer to the Graham Greene novel The Comedians. The Comedians is a British television show from the 1970s (later reprised in the 1980s) which gave a stage to nightclub and working mens club comedians of the era, including Stan Boardman, Frank Carson, and Bernard...

Trivia

• Bibliomancy is a school of magic available in the horror roleplaying game Unknown Armies.

Unknown Armies (abbreviated UA) is an occult-themed RPG by John Tynes and Greg Stolze and published by Atlas Games. ...

See also

• Rhapsodomancy

Rhapsodomancy is an ancient form of divination performed by choosing through some method a specific passage or poem from which to ascertain information. ...

External links

• Bibliomancy from the Jewish Encyclopedia
• Free Bibliomancy readings from multiple literary sources at bibliomancy.org
• Free Online Stichomancy Readings at Facade.com
• Bibliomancy from A Word A Day