Online Reference For Body, Mind & Spirit

Term: Gyromancy

DEFINITION:
An unusual form of divination. A circle would be marked out with letters of the alphabet around the circumference. The person performing the divination would stand in the center and turn round and round until he or she became dizzy and began to stumble around. Words based on the letters thus walked on are used in the divination.

The goal of the spinning and becoming dizzy is to eliminate the possibility that the conscious mind or will are responsible for selecting the letters. Alternatively, the dizziness could produce an altered state of consciousness amenable to divination, what might be called a “divinatory trance.”

Modern Chaos magicians use a variation of this technique to send off energy for magical purposes.