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Alectromancy
Also
Alectromantia,
Alectryomancy, Alectoromancy, Alectryomantia and Alectormancy.
Derived from the Greek
alectruon ('cock') and manteia ('divination'), this is an ancient method
of divination using a cock or hen.
In the most common method, the bird
was placed inside a circle of grain around which were positioned letters of the alphabet.
The
letters close to where the animal pecked were then gathered and assembled to answer specific
questions.
If a simple 'yes' or 'no' was required then only two piles of grain would be
used. According to occult tradition, this should be done when the Sun or the Moon
were in Aries or Leo.
This practice was used extensively in ancient Rome,
typically by magicians who wanted to
identify robbers, and has been attributed to the famous
philosopher
Iamblichus, who died about the
year 330 AD, after restoring various mystic rites dating back to the times
of the ancient oracles.
Magical preparations of the bird and the area where the creature
was supposed to perform the divination were typically necessary. In one cruel form, after the question was asked, the
diviner would cut off both
claws of the unfortunate rooster and then, after wrapping them in small roll
of lambskin parchment containing magical words and symbols, force the
packet down the animal's throat before releasing it inside the lettered
circle. Other protocols included the phrasing of incantations while holding
the cock, after placing the bird inside the ring and, of course, while the
letters were arranged in the outer edge of the circle.
Norman Bailey, in his
Universal Etymological
Dictionary (1727), wrote of Alectromancy;
"It is a very mysterious divination, in which they
made use of a cock in discovering secret and unknown transactions or
future events. The method was this; they first wrote on the dust the 24
letters of the alphabet, and laid a grain of wheat or barley upon every
one of them; then having prepared a cock magically, they let him loose
among them, and those letters out of which he picked the corns being put
together, were thought to declare whatever they had a mind to know."
Reverend Edward Smedley, in
his
The Occult Sciences (1855),
also mentions this type of divination;
"Alectromancy, or Alectoromantia, an ancient method of
divination with a cock. In practising it, a circle must be made in a
good close place, and this must be divided equally into as many parts as
there are letters in the alphabet. Then wheat-corn must be placed on
every letter, beginning with A, during which the depositor must repeat
this verse, Ecce enim veritatum. This must be done when the sun or
moon is in Aries or Leo. A young cock, all white, should then be taken,
his claws cut off, and these he should be forced to swallow with a
little scroll of parchment made of lambskin upon which has been
previously written [heb chars]. The diviner holding the cock should
repeat, O Deus Creator omnium, qui firmamentum pulchritudine stellarum
formâsti, constituens eas in signa et tempora, infunde virtutem tuam
operibus nostris, ut per opus in eis consequamur effectum. Next, on
placing the cock within the circle, he must repeat these two verses of
the Psalms: Domine, dilexi decorum doműs tuć et locum habitationis tuae.
Domine Deus virtutum, converte nos et ostende faciem tuam, et salvi
erimus. These are exactly the midmost of the seventy-two verses
mentioned under the head of Onimancy, and it is to be noted on the
authority of an ancient Rabbi, that there is nothing in these
seventy-two which is not of some cabalistic secret. The cock being
within the circle, it must be observed from what letters he pecks the
grains, and upon these others must be placed, because some names and
words contain the same letters twice or thrice. These letters should be
written down and put together, and they will infallibly reveal the name
of the person concerning whom inquiry has been made."
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