Axinomancy

Axinomancy (Gr. axinē, 'an axe,' and manteia, 'divination'), a mode of divination much practised by the ancient Greeks, particularly with the view of discovering the perpetrators of great crimes. An axe was poised upon a stake, and was supposed to move so as to indicate the guilty person; or the names of suspected persons being pronounced, the motion of the axe at a particular name was accepted as a sign of guilt. Another method of axinomancy was by watching the movements of an agate placed upon a red-hot axe. This is only one of a multitude of analogous modes of divination practised in all ages and among all nations. See DIVINATION, and DIVINING-ROD.