What's in a Word?
Ancient Greek Concepts in Modern Language

Mantic Arts

from Greek manteia, divination

A term used to indicate the wide spectrum of methods used for divination. The Greek manteia appears in many of the names used to indicate these methods as the suffix mancy; for example Cartomancy (divination with cards), Geomancy (patterns on the ground) and Bibliomancy (words, texts or page numbers in a randomly opened book; often the Bible).

The various mantic arts can be subdivided according to several criteria, as direct or indirect methods, as utilising natural phenomena or man-made tools, and whether or not the system has been codified and standardised (i.e., written down) or whether is mainly dependent on the intuitive, psychic gifts of the diviner.

To the better known mantic arts belong Astrology, Numerology, I Ching, Tarot, and Pallomancy (pendulum divination), and the most far out examples are perhaps Hepatomancy (based on the liver of a sacrificed sheep) and Oinomancy (Greek oino, wine), a divination method that interprets the taste and colour of wine, sometimes on the patterns created by wine that has been accidentally spilled.

So the next time you spill some wine - preferably red one - why not claim it was simply in order to predict the future from the pattern.

"I see desalination plants in the future of Crete" would be a rather safe prediction.