Bibliomancy is divination by opening a sacred or authoritative book at random and reading the passage the eye first falls on as an answer. This report item follows the historical practice, the Bible, Virgil, the I Ching and the Divan of Hafez were all consulted this way, explaining the method, its rules and its cautions rather than casting a chart.

History

The oldest well documented Western instance is the Sortes Vergilianae, opening the works of Virgil at random for guidance, a practice later Roman and medieval tradition associated with a number of historical figures. The Sortes Biblicae, the same method applied to the Bible, is its Christian era successor and continued in various forms across medieval and early modern Europe. Outside the Western tradition, the I Ching is consulted through its own separate divinatory casting method, described in full on this atlas's own I Ching report item page, rather than by opening a physical book at random. In Iran, opening the Divan of Hafez, the collected poems of the fourteenth century Persian poet Hafez, for guidance, known as fal-e Hafez, is a well documented and still actively practiced custom, often performed at gatherings and on specific occasions such as the Persian new year.

How A Reading Is Constructed

The method itself, rather than a cast chart, is what this report item explains: a question is held in mind, the book is opened at random, and the first passage the eye falls on is read as the answer, following the same procedure the Sortes Vergilianae, the Sortes Biblicae and fal-e Hafez each use in their own text and tradition. The report item names the cautions each tradition itself attaches to the practice, since a method open to any question invites a wide range of readings and the traditions that use it have their own rules for treating a passage responsibly.