Bibliomancy

the use of the bible for purposes of divination. the bible served as an important instrument of magical divination, particularly during medieval and reformation times in britain and parts of europe. it was believed that the bible, opened at random, would reveal ones's fortunes or answer questions. bibles laid on a childs's head would induce sleep. reading from the bible to a pregnant woman would give her a safe delivery. persons accused of withcraft and sorcery were weighed against the great bible in the local church. if the accused weighed less than the bible, she or he was innocent. a method of bibliomancy to determine guilt in a crime was the"key and book" method, still used in some rural parts of britain as late as the 19th century. in that procedure, a key was placed randomly within the pages of the bible. the names of the suspects were written on small peices of paper and inserted up the hollow end of the key. when the paper bearing the name of the guilty party was inserted, the bible would fall out of th grasp of the person holding it. Encyclopedia of Witches and witchcraft ~Guiley

~heather

hmmmm....what ways to determine witchery - wonder if the priests weighed less than the bible

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