The practice of fortune telling is more properly termed divination; its practitioners are diviners. “To divine” means simply “to discover”; diviners discover hidden knowledge by intuitive techniques. The practice of divination is almost as old as human culture itself and is found in some form in virtually every culture; in modern Western society, many Neo-Pagans and New Agers practice divination or consult diviners. Some of the most common forms used today are Tarot cards, rune stones, I Ching coins, and tea leaves. Astrology and palmistry are useful practices but are not considered divination techniques, because while they may shed light on personality and/or destiny, they do not allow for the answering of specific questions.
With most divination techniques, information is gathered by asking a question and then “throwing” or “casting” the divinitory object, such as the cards or stones. The diviner interprets or “reads” the answer to the question based on the seemingly random pattern and position that the objects land in. Combinations of cards or stones have different meanings, including the absence of those not pulled during that session. When reading tea leaves, the diviner sees patterns in the leaves left in the bottom of the cup after the tea has been drunk by the questioner or “querent”.
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