Akan Day Names
Reads a soul name from the day of the week one is born
GHANA
An Atlas of World Divination
World Divination
From tarot, palmistry and the Four Pillars to Java’s Weton and West Africa’s Ifá.
We organize the divination traditions of the world into the Fate, Omen and Form systems, and unravel their history and practice one by one.
✦100 methods and counting — added weekly✦
I
Fate Reading
✦
Read the destiny and life course you were born with, from your birth date and place.
Western Astrology
Reading destiny from the positions of the stars at birth
MESOPOTAMIA / EUROPE
Ben Ming Nian (Fan Tai Sui)
Reads the year when one’s birth-year zodiac sign returns
CHINA
Biorhythm
Reads cyclical waves of the physical, emotional, and intellectual
MODERN
Birth Tarot
Reduces a birth date to a number read through tarot
MODERN WEST
Blood Type Personality
Reads personality from the four ABO blood types
JAPAN
Celtic Tree Astrology
Reads birthdays through 22 trees
MODERN (CELTIC)
Bone-Weighing Fate Calculation (Chenggu Suanming)
Sums zodiac weights and reads a poem
CHINA
Chinese Zodiac (Twelve Animals)
Reads personality and compatibility from your birth-year animal
EAST ASIA
Decan Astrology
Reads from the decan, one of 36 divisions of the zodiac
ANCIENT EGYPT
Four Pillars of Destiny (Bazi)
Reading birth date and time through four pillars
CHINA
Islamic Astrology
Reads celestial positions through a medieval interpretive system
MIDDLE EAST
Kabbalah Numerology
Reading the numeric values of Hebrew letters
JUDAIC
Mahabote (Eight-Day Astrology)
Reading the eightfold division of one’s birth weekday
MYANMAR
Mayan Calendar Divination (Tzolk’in)
Reading one’s day-sign from the 260-day sacred calendar
MAYA
Moon Phase Reading
Reads from the phase of the moon at the moment of birth
MODERN WEST
Nine Star Ki
Reads direction and fortune from the birth star and month star
JAPAN
Numerology
Reduces a birth date’s digits to a single number
ANCIENT GREECE
Panchanga (Hindu Calendar Divination)
Reading a five-element Indian calendar
INDIA
Pawukon (Balinese Calendar Divination)
Reading Bali’s 210-day cycle calendar
BALI, INDONESIA
Seven Governors and Four Remainders (Qizheng Siyu)
Reading seven celestial bodies and four shadow stars
CHINA
Rokuyo (Six-Day Fortune Cycle)
Reading auspicious and inauspicious days from a six-way classification
JAPAN
Sanmeigaku (Destiny Calculation)
Reading the sexagenary cycle and Five Elements through a destiny chart
CHINA / JAPAN
Sukuyo (Esoteric Buddhist Astrology)
Reading one of 27 lunar mansions and compatibility from a birth date
INDIA / JAPAN
Thai Weekday Divination
Reads a guardian Buddha and lucky color from the day of birth
THAILAND
Tibetan Astrology
Reads the Five Elements and twelve animals through the Tibetan calendar
TIBET
Tojeong Bigyeol
Reads new year fortune from the date of birth
KOREA
Tonalpohualli
Reads a 260-day sacred calendar
AZTEC
Vedic Astrology (Jyotish)
Reads lunar and planetary cycles through the sidereal zodiac
INDIA
Weton
Reads the Javanese weekday-and-market-day cycle
JAVA, INDONESIA
Zeri (Day Selection from the Chinese Almanac)
Selects an auspicious day for action from the almanac
CHINA
Zi Wei Dou Shu (Purple Star Astrology)
Reads a star chart formed by placing stars into twelve palaces
CHINA / TAIWAN
II
Omen Reading
✦
Read the present flow and answers to your choices, from signs that appear by chance.
Apple Peel Divination
Reads a future love from the shape of a peeled apple skin
WESTERN (HALLOWEEN)
Augury
A state divination that once read omens in birds
ANCIENT ROME
Belomancy
A once-practiced lot divination drawn with arrows
ANCIENT ARABIA / SCYTHIA
Bibliomancy
Opening a book at random and reading the passage
WORLDWIDE
Kieu Fortune-Telling (Bói Kiều)
Opens The Tale of Kieu at random and reads the verse
VIETNAM
Capnomancy (Smoke Divination)
Reads the way smoke rises
ANCIENT WORLD
Cartomancy (Playing-Card Divination)
Divination using a standard 52-card deck
EUROPE
Ceromancy (Wax Divination)
Reads the shapes formed by hardened melted wax
EUROPE
Chinese Character Divination (Cezi)
Breaks a single character apart to read its meaning
CHINA
Corn Divination
Reads how kernels fall and whether they sink or float
MESOAMERICA
Cowrie Shell Divination (Búzios)
Reads how the shells fall
BRAZIL / CUBA
Crystal Gazing (Scrying)
Reads the images that appear in a crystal
EUROPE
Dice Divination (Astragalomancy)
Reads an oracle from dice shaped like knucklebones
GREECE / ROME
Domino Divination
Reads the combination of tiles drawn face down
EUROPE / CHINA
Dream Temple Incubation
Once sought divine messages in dreams at a temple
ANCIENT EGYPT / GREECE
Dream Interpretation
Reads the meaning of symbols that appear in a dream
WORLDWIDE
Fal-e Hafez
Opens a collection of Hafez’s poems at random and reads it
IRAN
Flower Divination
Reads whether the petal count is odd or even
EUROPE
Futomani
A Shinto rite that once divined by burning deer bone
JAPAN (SHINTO)
Western Geomancy
Draws one of 16 figures from rows of dots
MEDIEVAL EUROPE
Hakata (Bone Divination)
Reads from combinations of four divination tablets
SOUTHERN AFRICA
Haruspicy
Once divined affairs of state from the shape of entrails
ETRURIA / ROME
Horary Astrology
Reads the positions of the stars at the moment a question is asked
EUROPE / MIDDLE EAST
Hydromancy
Reads omens from ripples and colors on water
ANCIENT EUROPE / MIDDLE EAST
I Ching (Zhou Yi)
Tossing coins six times to form a hexagram
CHINA
Ifá
Casts a chain or seeds to read 256 symbols
WEST AFRICA
Ilm al-Raml
Derives figures from rows of dots marked in sand
ARABIA
Jiaobei (Poe)
Reading divine will with a pair of crescent-shaped wooden blocks
TAIWAN / CHINA
Kau Chim
Shaking out a numbered fortune stick and reading its verse
CHINA
Kiboku (Tortoise Shell Divination)
An ancient form of divination once performed by heating a tortoise shell
CHINA / JAPAN
Lenormand Cards
Reading concrete events from 36 picture cards
EUROPE
Liuren (Da Liu Ren)
Building a divination board from the time of the question
CHINA
Mo (Tibetan Dice Divination)
Reads the answer from the roll of dice
TIBET
Molybdomancy (Lead Pouring)
Reads the new year from the shape of molten metal
GERMANY / NORDIC / TÜRKIYE
Nephomancy (Cloud Reading)
Reads signs from the shapes of clouds in the sky
ANCIENT WORLD
Obi Divination
Reads from how kola nuts fall
YORUBA / CARIBBEAN
Ogham Divination
Draws staves inscribed with Ogham letters and reads them
CELTIC REVIVAL
Omikuji (Fortune-Telling Lots)
Draws a lot and reads its fortune
JAPAN
Egg Divination (Oomancy)
Reading the shapes formed by egg white in water
EUROPE / LATIN AMERICA
Oracle Cards
Free-form message cards
MODERN
Parrot Astrology
Reading the card an intelligent parrot selects
SOUTH INDIA
Pendulum (Dowsing)
Answering yes-or-no questions from the swing of a pendulum
EUROPE
Pyromancy (Fire Divination)
Reading the flickering of flames
ANCIENT WORLD
Qimen Dunjia
Casting a chart from time and direction
CHINA
Runes
Drawing letters carved onto stones
NORTHERN EUROPE
Scapulimancy
Reading the cracks in a burned bone
MONGOLIA / CENTRAL ASIA
Shagai (Mongolian Ankle-Bone Dice)
Reading the faces of four sheep anklebones
MONGOLIA
Sikidy
Deriving and reading figures from arrangements of seeds
MADAGASCAR
Tarot
Answers drawn from 78 cards
EUROPE
III
Form Reading
✦
Read character and fortune from the shapes of things.
Aura Reading
Reads mental and physical states through color imagery
MODERN
Grave Physiognomy (Boso)
Reads fortune from a grave’s shape, orientation, and stone
JAPAN / CHINA
Chabashira (Floating Tea-Stalk) Divination
Reads today’s fortune from whether a tea stalk stands upright
JAPAN
Coffee Reading (Tasseography)
Reads the shapes left by coffee grounds in a cup
TÜRKIYE / MIDDLE EAST
Feng Shui
Reads a home’s orientation and flow of energy
CHINA
Graphology
Reads personality from handwriting traits
EUROPE
Insō-gaku (Seal Physiognomy)
Reads career fortune from a seal’s script style and chips
JAPAN
Kaso (Japanese House Divination)
Reading a home’s fortune from its floor plan and orientation
JAPAN
Metoposcopy (Forehead Reading)
Reading the number and position of forehead wrinkles
RENAISSANCE EUROPE
Mogu (Bone Palmistry)
Reads fortune from the structure of the hand’s bones
CHINA / TAIWAN
Mole Reading
Reads character and fortune from the position of moles
CHINA / INDIA / EUROPE
Nail Reading (Onychomancy)
Reading character from the shape, color, and marks of the nails
EUROPE
Palmistry
Reading character and fortune from the lines of the hand
INDIA / WORLDWIDE
Physiognomy (East Asian Face Reading)
Reading character from the balance of facial features
CHINA / JAPAN
Samudrika Shastra
Indian form-reading of the hands, face, and other bodily features
INDIA
Seimei Handan (Japanese Name Divination)
Reading fortune from the stroke counts of a name
JAPAN / CHINA
Tea Leaf Reading (Tasseography)
Reads the shapes left by tea leaves in a cup
UK / CHINA
Vastu Shastra
Indian architectural wisdom that reads a home’s fortune from its layout and orientation
INDIA
Western Physiognomy
European face-reading that interprets character from facial features
EUROPE
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Browse all methods▶About Sekai Fortune
Sekai Fortune researches the divination traditions of the world and presents them as a clear, structured reference. This atlas is a free, growing dictionary of how each method works and what it reveals.