Monday, June 30, 2025
🐦
A word ending in "-mancy" will refer to some kind of divination. So is there such a thing as ornithomancy, divination by birds? Indeed. And it was probably inevitable that at least one method included therein would involve cutting the bird open. But most don't, and I'd guess the best methods don't. If there's a chance of a bird telling you something you want to know about the future, it will be in the guise of informing you about the present. And this will be through the bird's behavior.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I hadn't thought about how many terms end in the suffix 'mancy but you're right that there are far more than I'd imagined other than the major ones like necromancy, geomancy and pyromancy. Some are quite obscure:
https://www.benjamintmilnes.com/2024/06/17/words-of-divination-words-that-end-with-the-greek-element-mancy/
As the woman who wrote the article about ornithromancy said "The universe is always speaking in the form of signs, symbols, and synchronicity, and birds are a part of divine communication with the world." It was a heartwarming article to read and the video about young lady who made friends with what looks to be all the magpies in her neighborhood was wonderful.
Thanks for the reminder there are still so many good things in the world.
It's an interesting side to Ancient Greece, although I'd guess some forms were more prevalent than others. Cartomancy would apply to Tarot cards, although they weren't invented until the Italian Renaissance. Gyromancy is funny, because it could just mean walking around a room a few times and saying, "I've got an idea."
The universe is always sending messages, some of which we don't perceive, and others of which we've chosen to ignore. That's one of the things that people used to be wiser about, maybe. The Australian woman's friendship with the magpies who live near her is heartwarming. Also quite funny to watch them playing on the clothesline.
You're welcome. We all need a reminder now and then.
Post a Comment