Alectormancy Added: 01/10/2008

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Alectormancy is also known as Alectromancy or Alectryomancy. The derivation comes from the Greek words alectruon and manteia. These mean rooster divination respectively. They placed a rooster in a pile of some wheat or corn and then discerned what letters were spelled out after the rooster left it. Some of these would spell a word if you were lucky. Most of the time, you got 2-3 letters and had to figure out the rest. Hence, a lot of readers didn't read the future very well with this practice.

Other people used to see which letters were spelled out more often. They would also speak the letters aloud until the rooster crowed in hopes that this would spell out a word. They also watched to see which letters a rooster would go back to again and again. All of these tricks were used to answer questions or try to tell the future.

There are other animals used as well in these practices. They are mice, snakes, fish, horses, spiders, and other small animals. The readers would try to find a pattern to the animal and then interpret the patterns into signs and omens.

Alectormancy is also used when one is sacrificing a sacred rooster. Alectryomancy is when the reader gathers the corn or wheat and discerns what signs or symbols were left in it.

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