Books are one of the greatest things humans have ever invented.
I don’t say this as a writer, but as a regular person whose life has been shaped by them.
Reading a book is so ordinary that it is easy to forget what a privilege it really is. For centuries, books were largely reserved for the upper classes, religious leaders and the small percentage of people who had been taught to read. While books are much more accessible today, literacy is still not equally accessible to everyone.
Whether we are looking at an ancient religious text in a museum or reading an e-book borrowed from the library, books have long given us the tools we need to understand ourselves and the world around us. It only makes sense that at some point we started using them for divination.
These days our relationship with books continues online, with bookstagrammers regularly sharing their Instagram posts about favourite reads, passages and recommendations with thousands of other people who love books just as much. The way we read has changed considerably over the centuries, but our love of books really hasn’t.
Bibliomancy, sometimes called stichomancy, is the practice of using a book for divination.
The basic idea is simple. You ask a question and then choose a page, passage or specific line to receive your answer. How you choose that passage is entirely up to you and can be as simple or as intricate as you would like.
For centuries, bibliomancy was mostly practiced with religious or sacred texts like the Bible and the Torah. These days, almost any book can be used.
The book you choose will shape the context, tone, and overall mood of your reading. Wuthering Heights, for example, is probably going to give you a very different answer than Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A mythology book like By Jove gives you access to gods, myths and all sorts of symbolism, while even the dictionary can be a great choice for bibliomancy.
A Brief History of Bibliomancy
The Romans believed that everything was controlled by fate and the gods. Your path could be uncovered through divination, and considering their love of literature, it makes perfect sense that they eventually combined the two.
Two of the most common forms of bibliomancy practiced by the Romans were Sortes Vergilianae and Sortes Homericae.
The Romans believed that whatever line your eyes first fell upon when you opened the book was the one you were meant to receive. From there, you would interpret the passage in a way that applied to your own circumstances. This could mean changing the tense of a sentence, replacing a name in the passage with your own or simply looking at the overall meaning of what you had received.
This is still a good way to approach bibliomancy today. You don’t need the passage to perfectly describe your situation for it to be useful. Instead, look at the people, actions, symbols and ideas within it and consider how they might relate to your question.
Following the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, books found safe harbour in monasteries.
Monks protected these texts and copied them by hand for their own collections. This was more than a way to pass the time; preserving and copying books was considered an important duty.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Bible became the obvious book to use for bibliomancy. Religion played an enormous role in daily life, and the Bible was one of the few books that people knew and community leaders were likely to have access to. Of course, this didn’t mean that the Church actually approved of people using it for divination.
Then, in the fifteenth century, Johannes Gutenberg changed the landscape of books forever.
Europeans had already been using woodblock printing, but the process was expensive and time-consuming. Gutenberg’s movable-type printing press made mass production possible, and books slowly became more affordable. They were no longer something possessed by a handful of religious figures, government workers and wealthy people.
As books became easier to obtain, literacy increased, and ideas spread much further than before. By the Victorian era, more and more people saw value in being able to read and write. Parents who could afford to send their children to school often did so earlier and for longer, though education was still far from equal.
The rise of spiritualism during the late nineteenth century also meant that bibliomancy was due for a change.
As communicating with spirits became increasingly popular and society became more secular, the Bible was no longer the only book people turned to for answers. Beloved novels and poetry began being used as divinatory texts instead. These books could now entertain you and provide important messages from the spirit world.
Bibliomancy as we tend to practice it today was born.
Choosing a Book
Choosing the correct book for your reading is the most important part of bibliomancy.
Your choice will shape the context, tone, and overall mood of whatever answer you receive, so it is worth thinking about what you are asking before grabbing something from the shelf.
Subject Matter
Whether it is a religious book, a vampire novel or something about Greek mythology, try to choose a subject that makes sense for your reading.
Dictionaries of all sorts can make wonderful bibliomancy tools too. A dream dictionary can give you an entire collection of symbols to work with, while a regular dictionary might provide a word, definition or etymology that changes how you look at your question.
Familiarity
Most people have a favourite book they return to time and time again. Using a story you already know can add comfort and understanding to your reading because you are already familiar with its characters, themes, and world.
Books can also be wonderful teachers. Much like the Hierophant in Tarot, they allow us to learn from people who came before us rather than expecting us to figure everything out on our own.
The downside of using something familiar is that sometimes we know a book so well that we subconsciously turn to a particular page or passage that gives us the answer we want rather than the one we need.
Sentimentality
Just as you have favourite books, there is a good chance your ancestors and loved ones did as well.
Personally, I love reading Alice in Wonderland and using it for bibliomancy. I have a connection to that story that helps me figure out all sorts of clues.
Performing a Reading
Once you have chosen your book, you are ready to begin.
If you are seeking general advice about a situation, place the book in front of you and spend a few moments thinking about your question. I also like to think about all the people over the centuries who made this moment possible. Think about the writer, the people who made the paper, the printer and even the person who delivered the ink that eventually created the markings you are about to read.
If you are attempting to communicate with a specific spirit, spend this time thinking about them instead. Think about their accomplishments, their laugh or your favourite memory with them.
When you feel ready, pick up the book. Run your hands over the cover and pages and pay attention to how it feels. Is it heavy? Do the pages stick together? Does it naturally want to open somewhere? You may also find it helpful to repeat your question out loud during this time.
Next, choose your page.
You can open the book and read the first passage your eyes fall upon, or close your eyes and run your finger across the page until you feel like you should stop. This is your answer.
Your message could be contained in one word, one line, an entire paragraph or even the whole page. Follow your intuition and read as much as you feel you need to.
You can repeat the process as many times as needed, either to ask another question or to seek clarification.
Whether you use a favourite novel, an old book of mythology or the dictionary you’ve had sitting on your shelf for years, bibliomancy can turn just about any book into a tool for divination. All you need is a question, a book and a little curiosity to see where the pages take you.