A Word on 'Astragalomancy'

[Metaphysically Inc]: Astragalomancy, meaning divination by dice, is a compound word derived from the ancient Greek astragalos, meaning a bone from the vertebrae, or when in the plural, astragali, a dice or knuckle bone; and manteia, meaning prophesy or divination.

The confluence between dice and bone makes sense because the ancient Greeks made their dice from sheep knuckles.

A related term, astragyromancy, comes from the Greek word gyromancy, which suggests divination performed by the spinning of a dice. Both of these terms are actually subsets of the larger discipline of cleromancy, which is divination by the process of sortition, or casting lots.

Sortition was an important concept in the ancient world, especially in Greece and Rome where the casting of lots was used to to select government officials.

Sortition was considered by the Greeks to be a purer, less corruptible form of democracy than holding elections. It had in the past at times been popular to believe that casting lots indicated the will of the gods. Included amongst possible items used to conduct the process, were marked sticks and pebbles....<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...