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Definition: The practice of divination is the attempt to gain knowledge of future events or otherwise hidden information through some sort of supernatural agency. Some forms of divination include hepatoscopy (reading livers, mainly from sheep), dice, astrology, reading pig entrails, dowsing, graphology, palm reading, etc.
Acquiring knowledge from supernatural powers can be divided into two classes. The first has been traditionally called oblavita, or "given" - these are the sorts of omens which occur independent of human agency. Examples include lightning, the movement of birds, the appearance of comets, etc. Methods of reading such omens usually end with the suffix -scopy. This is derived from the Greek verb skopein, which means "to look."
A second means of acquiring such knowledge has been traditionally called impetrativa, which means "solicited" or "provoked" - these are the sorts of omens which are produced through the help of human agency, for example tossing dice or laying out tarot cards. Methods of reading such omens usually end with the suffix -mancy, which derives from the Greek manteia, which means "diviniation." This is related to the Greek word matnis, which means "prophet."
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