Bibliomancy

Bibliomancy (Gr. ta biblia, 'the Bible,' and manteia, 'divination'), a mode of divination by opening the Bible haphazard, and observing the first passage which occurred, or by entering a place of worship and taking notice of the first words of the Bible heard after entering it. The application was often very fanciful, and depended rather upon the mere sound of the words than upon their proper signification or the scope of the passage. Prayer and fasting were sometimes used as a preparation for a mode of consulting the divine oracles. Bibliomancy was prohibited, under pain of excommunication, by the Council of Vannes, 465 A.D., and by the Councils of Agde and Orleans in the succeeding century. It continued, however, to prevail for many centuries thereafter, and is said to have been introduced into England at the Norman Conquest. Tennyson introduces it into Enoch Arden. It was essentially the same as the famous Sortes Virgiliane, the only difference being in the book employed.