Want to be a bibliomancer? Divination for book lovers

The ancient divination ritual using books, poetry, and sacred texts

Oct 03, 2024

"Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world." – Jeanette Winterson

You’ll find “mancy” attached to many Greek root words, indicating that divination takes many, many forms, some ancient, some modern. And some methods have become more “standard” than others, of course.

Bibliomancy is essentially consulting a book, perhaps a sacred or religious text, poetry, a favorite novel, maybe even a dictionary, and letting chance, or (intuition, if you will) guide you to a particular phrase. The words may answer a specific question, be left for interpretation, or achieve whatever end the diviner is attempting to achieve. Obviously, there are no rules.

What I think is interesting about Bibliomancy in particular, is that the “divination” is drawing on actual written language, as opposed to bones or entrails or clouds, or even Tarot, and thus could be seen as having a very low “barrier to entry”.

Poetry, for example, is by its nature evocative, ambiguous, open to interpretation, etc. and arguably perfect for the mind or subconscious to seek guidance or wisdom from, for personal significance, if one so desires.

Robert Browning’s story

The 19^th century poet Robert Browning wanted to try bibliomancy to determine the outcome of his romantic interest in a woman. He referred to the first random page of the first random book he grabbed, which turned out to be Cerutti's Italian Grammar. But the passage he landed on happened to be a translation exercise, using this sentence:

If we love in the other world as we do in this, I shall love thee to eternity

They were married for 15 years until her death.

Rick Rubin’s story

Rick Rubin, music producer and author of The Creative Act had an interesting bibliomancy story:

When my appendix burst, the doctor who diagnosed it insisted that I go to the hospital immediately to have it removed. I was told there were no other options. I found myself in a nearby bookstore. Standing out on a table in the front was a new book by Dr. Andrew Weil. I picked it up and let it fall open. The first passage my eyes went to said: if a doctor wants to remove a part of your body, and they tell you it has no function, don’t believe this. The information I needed was made available to me in that moment. And I still have my appendix.
- Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

More examples

In ancient Greece, Sortes Homericae was divination by passages from Homer. The Romans had Sortes Virgilianae, which used Virgil instead of Homer.

Bibliomancy has a long tradition in Islamic culture. In the 16^th century, one would recite Quran passages before opening the Falnama (Book of Omens) to a random page which had an illustration on the right and text on the left, which would both be used to interpret the divination.

Refer to caption — A page from the *Falnama*

Augustine supposedly converted to Christianity due to a little bibliomancy:

In the eighth book of his Confessions, Augustine recalls the story of his conversion. According to Augustine’s account, he heard a child repeat the phrase, “Pick it up and read” ( tolle lege) while he was writhing in anguish over his sin … Augustine randomly opened the Bible to Romans 13:13-14 (“…not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires,” which he interpreted as a divine dictum to change his ways. Augustine then became a follower of Jesus, and the rest is history.
Joseph E. Sanzo, University of Warwick, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

If you’re not into divining rituals, there’s another way you can gain wisdom from books: you can read them :)