Spodomancy
Encyclopedia
Spodomancy is a form of divination
by examining cinders, soot, or ashes , particularly although not exclusively from a ritual sacrifice
. Spodomancy has been practiced by numerous cultures, ancient and modern, across the globe. While many practitioners (particularly in Europe) have performed the ritual as part of a formal system of paranormal
, religious
, or ceremonial magic
, many have done so as part of mere folkloric practice
or superstition
.
Spodomancy is distinguishable from capnomancy
, which is divination by observing smoke, and pyromancy (and its many subsidiary rituals), which is divination by observing burning things or coals (but not their ash or cinders).
, while tephromancy may use the ashes of any sacrifice. Other sources claim, however, that tephramancy utilized only the ashes of human sacrificial victims.
(525 BC–456 BC) noted that ashes falling from a fireplace could be divined for portents. A word, phrase, name, or question would be written in the ashes with a finger or stick. The individual would wait for a breeze to disturb the ashes, which would form new letters or omens and provide an answer. Not everyone could practice the art. The gift of prophecy was believed to run in some Greek families, and only they were allowed to seek divination from the ashes left by fires on sacrificial altars. In Ancient Thebes
, the altar dedicated to Apollo
was known as "Apollo of the Ashes" not only because the altar itself was composed of the ashes of human sacrificial victims but because ashes blowing off the altar could be divined for their portents. The Etruscans
of the Italian peninsula
, whose civilization existed from 1200 BC to 550 BC, also practiced spodomancy in a fashion similar to the Greeks. Romani (Gypsy) folklore says ashes can be cast onto the floor. Smooth, uniform ashes are a good omen, while a pile (or piles) of ashes indicate bad fortune. During the Qin
(221 BC–206 BC) and Han
(206 BCE–220 CE) dynasties in China
, a form of spodomancy was used in which the bones of sacrificial animals were raked out of fires and the marks in the ashes and cracks in the bones interpreted for their portents. Several Native American
tribes believed that they could divine the future of a newborn or a friend who had left on a journey by looking in the marks and lines left in the ashes of a fire the next morning. From the 16th century to mid 19th century, unmarried English people would draw lines in smooth ashes. If another unmarried person sat down so that the line pointed to him or her, the line was an indication of a future spouse. In Kent
, this custom was used on Valentine's Day
to divine who one should court
. Peru
vians in the late 19th century would spread ashes on the floor the night after a funeral. The next morning, footprints and other marks in the ashes would indicate what kind of animal the dead person's soul had migrated into and the direction in which that animal might be found. Among the Loma people of western Africa
, spodomancy is still (as of the late 20th century) used to divine the sex of a child before birth. Chinese people in Taiwan
still use the ends of sedan chair poles to mark incense ash on altars, and then interpret the marks for divine communication.
The Greco-Etruscan form of the practice seems to be the most common in Europe
, historically. But the rites of the practice varied widely even into the early Renaissance
. In The Works of Rabelais, Book III (published in 1693), Sir Thomas Urquhart
claimed that the ashes and soot must be allowed to rise naturally from the fire. The ashes were interpreted as they rose. Ashes which dispersed quickly were a positive sign, but ashes which hung in the air were not. Another tradition indicates that spodomancy may also be practiced by writing a question or message on a piece of paper and then burning it. The burned ashes and soot of the burned message were then examined for omens and interpretation. In Slavonia
, only women were permitted to practice spodomancy. A woman would scratch in the ashes. An even number of scratches meant a positive outcome, while an odd number meant bad luck. In Poland
, too, only women could practice the art. Ashes would be spread around the bed of a sick person, and the signs which appeared in the ashes were interpreted to indicate whether the person would become healthy again or not. The practice of spodomancy continues to evolve even today. For example, modern Wicca
ns argue that the fire used by the spodomancer must be a sacred one.
Some spodomantic rituals require the use of a certain writing surface. Most of the rituals outlined above indicate the use of the hearth, floor, or exterior ground as the place to spread ashes. But some examples of spodomancy call for the use of other types of surfaces. Consider the use of bone: Divination techniques closely related to spodomancy include osteomancy (divination using bones, particularly that practice which heats them to produce cracks which are portentious), plastromancy (divination using turtle
plastrons), scapulimancy
(divination using the shoulder blade; the Scottish
term is slinneanachd
), and sternomancy
(divination using the sternum). However, in these practices, fire is used to cause cracks to appear in the bone. Ash may or may not be used to fill in this cracks, making them more visible. This is not spodomancy, however, as the cracks (not the ash itself) are being read. In Mongolia
, however, a divinatory ritual exists in which scapulimancy and spodomancy are combined: A smooth layer of ashes is spread on the shoulder blade of a cow, sheep, or ox, and a lama
is divinely inspired to make calculations in the ash which indicate answers to questions or the future. Bone is not the only alternative surface used. Some ancient Greek rituals of spodomancy required that the ashes be spread on a plank of wood rather than the floor.
In the Celtic pagan tradition, spodomancy did not necessarily require the reading of ashes themselves. The fili
dh were a class of poet-judge-seers who functioned as keepers of mythology and knowledge, historians, lawyers, arbitrators, linguistic experts, and more. One branch of the filidh was expert solely in divination and dreams, and it was commonly believed that simply sleeping next to the ashes of an animal burned in a sacrificial fire could lead to knowledge about the future.
Historical and modern writers consider spodomancy one of the least-familiar methods of divination. Nonetheless, it was common enough in Spain
in the late 16th century so that Archbishop of Seville and Grand Inquisitor
Alonso Manrique de Lara
had to openly ban the practice. It also seems to have been widely practiced in northwestern Germany
around the same time.
tradition of the festival of Imbolc
, cold ashes from the fireplace should be spread on the hearth. In the morning, markings in the ash will indicate that the goddess Brigid
has visited the home and has blessed the people living there. If no markings are found, the body of a rooster
must be buried at the confluence of three stream
s and incense burned on the fire the next evening.
An English
tradition of the 19th century ("riddling the ashes") involved spodomancy on St. Mark's Eve (April 24). Ashes would be left on the hearth on St. Mark's Eve, and examined the next day. Folklore said that the footprint of anyone who was to die in the coming year would be left in the ashes. On the Isle of Man
, a similar tradition was observed, although a death would occur only if the footprint pointed inward (an outward-pointing imprint would mean a birth). Another Manx tradition has it that riddling the ashes on St. Mark's Eve or Halloween
will allow the spirit-imprint of one's future husband to appear in the ashes the next morning. Elsewhere in Europe, the riddling of the ashes to learn of births and deaths was observed on Halloween or New Year's Eve
.
Modern Wiccans advocate practicing spodomancy on Lammas
or Lughnasadh
(August 1). Ashes from a bonfire
or even a simple barbecue grill can be spread on the ground, and any symbols or images in the ashes interpreted. Shapes in the ashes have a wide variety of meaning.
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
by examining cinders, soot, or ashes , particularly although not exclusively from a ritual sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
. Spodomancy has been practiced by numerous cultures, ancient and modern, across the globe. While many practitioners (particularly in Europe) have performed the ritual as part of a formal system of paranormal
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
, religious
Magic and religion
Magical thinking in various forms is a cultural universal and an important aspect of religion.In many cases it becomes difficult or impossible to draw any meaningful line between beliefs and practices that are magical versus those that are religious, but in general the term religion is reserved for...
, or ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by...
, many have done so as part of mere folkloric practice
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
or superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
.
Similar practices
Spodomancy includes at least two and possibly three other divination practices and rituals involving cinders or ashes. These are:- Cineromancy/Ceneromancy—Divination involving the ashes of a specifically sacrificial or ritual fire. This ritual calls for the removal of any unburned wood or coals, and interpreting the mounds, ridges, valleys, and other imperfections in the surface. Special attention was paid to intersections of these elements, or where they dead-ended.
- LibanomancyLibanomancyLibanomancy is a divination primarily through observing and interpreting burning incense smoke, but which may include the way incense ash falls as well. Like most other methods of divination, during libanomancy a specific question must be asked...
—Divination by studying the burning of incense, or the patterns made by incense smoke or ash. - Xylomancy—Divination by observing the shape of wood in one's path, or the appearance wood takes while burning. Most sources places xylomancy under pyromancyPyromancyPyromancy is the art of divination by means of fire.-History of pyromancy:Due to the importance of fire in society from the earliest of times, it is quite likely that pyromancy was one of the earlier forms of divination...
(divination by observing flame, coals, or embers or by burning ritual items such as coalCoalCoal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, laurelBay LaurelThe bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...
leaves, or saltSaltIn chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
). But one source claims that spodomancy includes xylomancy.
Spodomancy is distinguishable from capnomancy
Capnomancy
Capnomancy signifies a method of divination using smoke. This is done by looking at the movements of the smoke after a fire has been made. A thin, straight plume of smoke is thought to indicate a good omen whereas the opposite is thought of large plumes of smoke...
, which is divination by observing smoke, and pyromancy (and its many subsidiary rituals), which is divination by observing burning things or coals (but not their ash or cinders).
Possible differences between tephramancy and tephromancy
Not all sources agree that tephramancy and tephromancy are synonyms. Some sources claim that tephramancy uses only the ash of tree barkBark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
, while tephromancy may use the ashes of any sacrifice. Other sources claim, however, that tephramancy utilized only the ashes of human sacrificial victims.
The rite, history, and global practice of spodomancy
Spodomancy is an ancient and globally widespread divination practice. The ancient Greek playwright AeschylusAeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
(525 BC–456 BC) noted that ashes falling from a fireplace could be divined for portents. A word, phrase, name, or question would be written in the ashes with a finger or stick. The individual would wait for a breeze to disturb the ashes, which would form new letters or omens and provide an answer. Not everyone could practice the art. The gift of prophecy was believed to run in some Greek families, and only they were allowed to seek divination from the ashes left by fires on sacrificial altars. In Ancient Thebes
Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)
See Thebes, Greece for the modern city built on the ancient ruins.Ancient Thebes was a Boeotian city-state , situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain...
, the altar dedicated to Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
was known as "Apollo of the Ashes" not only because the altar itself was composed of the ashes of human sacrificial victims but because ashes blowing off the altar could be divined for their portents. The Etruscans
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
of the Italian peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
, whose civilization existed from 1200 BC to 550 BC, also practiced spodomancy in a fashion similar to the Greeks. Romani (Gypsy) folklore says ashes can be cast onto the floor. Smooth, uniform ashes are a good omen, while a pile (or piles) of ashes indicate bad fortune. During the Qin
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
(221 BC–206 BC) and Han
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(206 BCE–220 CE) dynasties in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, a form of spodomancy was used in which the bones of sacrificial animals were raked out of fires and the marks in the ashes and cracks in the bones interpreted for their portents. Several Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes believed that they could divine the future of a newborn or a friend who had left on a journey by looking in the marks and lines left in the ashes of a fire the next morning. From the 16th century to mid 19th century, unmarried English people would draw lines in smooth ashes. If another unmarried person sat down so that the line pointed to him or her, the line was an indication of a future spouse. In Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, this custom was used on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
to divine who one should court
Courtship
Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...
. Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vians in the late 19th century would spread ashes on the floor the night after a funeral. The next morning, footprints and other marks in the ashes would indicate what kind of animal the dead person's soul had migrated into and the direction in which that animal might be found. Among the Loma people of western Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, spodomancy is still (as of the late 20th century) used to divine the sex of a child before birth. Chinese people in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
still use the ends of sedan chair poles to mark incense ash on altars, and then interpret the marks for divine communication.
The Greco-Etruscan form of the practice seems to be the most common in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, historically. But the rites of the practice varied widely even into the early Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. In The Works of Rabelais, Book III (published in 1693), Sir Thomas Urquhart
Thomas Urquhart
Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty was a Scottish writer and translator, most famous for his translation of Rabelais.-Life:...
claimed that the ashes and soot must be allowed to rise naturally from the fire. The ashes were interpreted as they rose. Ashes which dispersed quickly were a positive sign, but ashes which hung in the air were not. Another tradition indicates that spodomancy may also be practiced by writing a question or message on a piece of paper and then burning it. The burned ashes and soot of the burned message were then examined for omens and interpretation. In Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
, only women were permitted to practice spodomancy. A woman would scratch in the ashes. An even number of scratches meant a positive outcome, while an odd number meant bad luck. In Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, too, only women could practice the art. Ashes would be spread around the bed of a sick person, and the signs which appeared in the ashes were interpreted to indicate whether the person would become healthy again or not. The practice of spodomancy continues to evolve even today. For example, modern Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
ns argue that the fire used by the spodomancer must be a sacred one.
Some spodomantic rituals require the use of a certain writing surface. Most of the rituals outlined above indicate the use of the hearth, floor, or exterior ground as the place to spread ashes. But some examples of spodomancy call for the use of other types of surfaces. Consider the use of bone: Divination techniques closely related to spodomancy include osteomancy (divination using bones, particularly that practice which heats them to produce cracks which are portentious), plastromancy (divination using turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
plastrons), scapulimancy
Scapulimancy
Scapulimancy is the practice of divination by use of scapulae...
(divination using the shoulder blade; the Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
term is slinneanachd
Slinneanachd
Slinneanachd is a kind of divination formerly practiced in Scotland.The practice is now extinct in Scotland.It involved inspecting the shoulderblades of an animal , and according to one version, one had to eat the flesh of the animal without touching the bone with tooth or nail....
), and sternomancy
Sternomancy
Sternomancy, from the Greek sternon is a divination practice involving reading the markings or bumps on the chest or breast bone . Sternomancy may have been commonly practiced on victims of sacrifice...
(divination using the sternum). However, in these practices, fire is used to cause cracks to appear in the bone. Ash may or may not be used to fill in this cracks, making them more visible. This is not spodomancy, however, as the cracks (not the ash itself) are being read. In Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, however, a divinatory ritual exists in which scapulimancy and spodomancy are combined: A smooth layer of ashes is spread on the shoulder blade of a cow, sheep, or ox, and a lama
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
is divinely inspired to make calculations in the ash which indicate answers to questions or the future. Bone is not the only alternative surface used. Some ancient Greek rituals of spodomancy required that the ashes be spread on a plank of wood rather than the floor.
In the Celtic pagan tradition, spodomancy did not necessarily require the reading of ashes themselves. The fili
Fili
A fili was a member of an elite class of poets in Ireland, up into the Renaissance, when the Irish class system was dismantled.-Elite scholars:According to the Textbook of Irish Literature, by Eleanor Hull:-Oral tradition:...
dh were a class of poet-judge-seers who functioned as keepers of mythology and knowledge, historians, lawyers, arbitrators, linguistic experts, and more. One branch of the filidh was expert solely in divination and dreams, and it was commonly believed that simply sleeping next to the ashes of an animal burned in a sacrificial fire could lead to knowledge about the future.
Historical and modern writers consider spodomancy one of the least-familiar methods of divination. Nonetheless, it was common enough in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in the late 16th century so that Archbishop of Seville and Grand Inquisitor
Grand Inquisitor
Grand Inquisitor is the lead official of an Inquisition. The most famous Inquisitor General is the Spanish Dominican Tomás de Torquemada, who spearheaded the Spanish Inquisition.-List of Spanish Grand Inquisitors:-Castile:-Aragon:...
Alonso Manrique de Lara
Alonso Manrique de Lara
Alfonso or Alonso Manrique de Lara y Solís, , Bishop of Badajoz, was a Spanish churchman. He was Bishop of Cordoba, , and Archbishop of Seville...
had to openly ban the practice. It also seems to have been widely practiced in northwestern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
around the same time.
Spodomancy and festivals
According to one account of the Celtic paganCeltic polytheism
Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...
tradition of the festival of Imbolc
Imbolc
Imbolc , or St Brigid’s Day , is an Irish festival marking the beginning of spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on 1 or 2 February in the northern hemisphere and 1 August in the southern hemisphere...
, cold ashes from the fireplace should be spread on the hearth. In the morning, markings in the ash will indicate that the goddess Brigid
Brigid
In Irish mythology, Brigit or Brighid was the daughter of the Dagda and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She was the wife of Bres of the Fomorians, with whom she had a son, Ruadán....
has visited the home and has blessed the people living there. If no markings are found, the body of a rooster
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
must be buried at the confluence of three stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s and incense burned on the fire the next evening.
An English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
tradition of the 19th century ("riddling the ashes") involved spodomancy on St. Mark's Eve (April 24). Ashes would be left on the hearth on St. Mark's Eve, and examined the next day. Folklore said that the footprint of anyone who was to die in the coming year would be left in the ashes. On the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, a similar tradition was observed, although a death would occur only if the footprint pointed inward (an outward-pointing imprint would mean a birth). Another Manx tradition has it that riddling the ashes on St. Mark's Eve or Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
will allow the spirit-imprint of one's future husband to appear in the ashes the next morning. Elsewhere in Europe, the riddling of the ashes to learn of births and deaths was observed on Halloween or New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
.
Modern Wiccans advocate practicing spodomancy on Lammas
Lammas
In some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day , the festival of the wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop...
or Lughnasadh
Lughnasadh
Lughnasadh is a traditional Gaelic holiday celebrated on 1 August. It is in origin a harvest festival, corresponding to the Welsh Calan Awst and the English Lammas.-Name:...
(August 1). Ashes from a bonfire
Bonfire
A bonfire is a controlled outdoor fire used for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Celebratory bonfires are typically designed to burn quickly and may be very large...
or even a simple barbecue grill can be spread on the ground, and any symbols or images in the ashes interpreted. Shapes in the ashes have a wide variety of meaning.