Amniomancy

Amniomancy is a method of divination whereby the future life of a child is predicted from the caul covering their head at birth.[1][2] The colour and consistency of the caul are used to interpret the future.[3] A vivid colour is supposed to reflect a vivid life whilst the opposite is also true.[3]

Amniomancy dates to at least the times of the Roman Empire.[4]

The word amniomancy comes from the Latin amnion, meaning membrane.[5] The French proverb Il est ne coiffe is thought to originate from this practice.[6]

References

  1. ^ Pickover, Clifford A. (2001). Dreaming the future: the fantastic story of prediction. Prometheus Books. pp. 70. ISBN 1-57392-895-X.
  2. ^ Cunningham, Scott (2003). Divination for beginners: reading the past, present & future. Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 203. ISBN 0-7387-0384-2.
  3. ^ a b Buckland, Raymond (2003). The Fortune-Telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying. Visible Ink Press. p. 16. ISBN 1-57859-147-3.
  4. ^ Epstein, Randi Hutter (2011-04-11). Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. ix. ISBN 978-0-393-07990-6.
  5. ^ "Amniomancy". The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World. Harper Element. 2006. p. 21.
  6. ^ The Recreative review, or Eccentricities of literature and life, Volume 2. 1822. p. 138.
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