Predict Your Future

It seems humans have for a very long time been troubled by the opacity of the future. They'd like to have a better sense of what lies ahead, and they've come up with some ingenious ways of trying to get at that information, each of which has a name.

The selection that follows includes words that end in a common suffix: -mancy , meaning "divination." Divination is the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events, or to discover hidden knowledge. Divination usually involves the interpretation of omens or, if you're really lucky, the assistance of supernatural powers. Let us know if any of these work for you.

Aeromancy requires that you keep your eyes on the skies. You'll have to watch for clouds, birds, precipitation, etc. This word doubles as a fancy word for weather forecasting, though we have yet to hear the word thrown around on the local weather report.

Don't try this one at home—or anywhere else. Horrifyingly, anthropomancy is widely reported to have been practiced by a great many of the ancient peoples of the world. Anthropo comes, via Latin, from the Greek anthrōpos , meaning "human being."