Bibliomancy
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Bibliomancy, also known as Stichomancy and Libromancy, is a form of divination that seeks to know the future by randomly selecting a passage from a book, frequently a sacred text.
The most common procedure involves placing the book on its spine, and with eyes closed, allowing the book to fall open to a random page. Then, with the eyes still closed, place a finger on the open page and read the passage indicated.
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.
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,
- 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.
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.
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.
Bibliomancy in fiction
In The Book of Webster's (1993) by J. N. Williamson, the sociopathic protagonist Dell uses the dictionary to guide his actions.