Astragalomancy

Marked astragali (talus bones) of sheep and goats are common at Mediterranean and Near Eastern archaeological sites, particularly at funeral and religious locations.[3] The practice of contacting divine truth via random castings of dice or bones stretches back before recorded history.The Metropolitan Museum of Art displayed bone "dice" (hakata) used by the Shona people of southern Africa.Another branch of cleromancy sometimes compared to astragalomancy is pessomancy (also known as psephomancy) – a type of divination which uses colored or marked pebbles rather than numbered dice.[7] Astragalomancy was performed in Ancient Greece through the rolling of Astragaloi and subsequent consultation of "dice oracles", tables of divination results carved into statues or monoliths.[8] Astragaloi are the marked and cut off knucklebones of sheep, or similarly shaped imitations in bronze or wood that served as divination dice in the ancient Greek world.The text's standard construction of the inquirer then is one who has come from a foreign place to the oracle, puts the business or activities he wants to conduct to the god, and then receives an answer.Others such as the Sanskrit pāśaka are four sided rectangular dice, and date from the eighth to the tenth century with evidence from manuscripts.[14] The contents can be summarised as follows: The Dalai Lama is reported as using the mo, balls of dough in which have been placed pieces of paper with possible "choices" written on them, to help in making important decisions.Lha-Mo's connection to dice throwing is apparent in a story in the Beun-mo bka'i than-yig, a religious text.In this story, Lha-Mo appears in the guise of a fortune teller multiple times, and ritually throws dice in each apparition, eventually healing a queen who was sick.[18] The lamas of the Lha-Mo cult, the “Dpal-Idan dmag-zor rgyal-mo'i sgo-nas” still perform a dice throwing ritual for divination today, called ‘mo’.
Replica Roman astragali
Astragali used for gaming in Mongolia
EB1911 Greek Art - Greek Drawing of Women Playing at Knucklebones
Astragalomancy animation: computer simulation of 1 million throws with 10% chance for 1 and 6 and 40% chance for 3 and 4. The complete set of 56 is reached between the 20,000th and 200,000th throw.
divinationdice gamesknucklebonestalus bonesrecorded historyMetropolitan Museum of ArtShona peoplecleromancysortitionTibetan BuddhismAncient GreeceAstragaloiMediterraneanAnatoliaoraclesAnatolianoracleBuddhistSanskritTibetanDalai LamaLha-Moeight terrible onesLha-Mo'strigramsTurkishSogdianMaheśvaraDunhuangChinesedivinerŚakraBrahmāfour heavenly kingstrigramdiviningllamaslibationsAmazonianMethods ofAiluromancyAlectryomancyAuguryMyomancyMyrmomancyOrnithomancyNggàmBibliomancyFalnamaRhapsodomancyVirgilScryingAspidomancyCatoptromancyCrystal gazingDowsingOculomancyPyromancyBotanomancyCapnomancyLibanomancyAeromancyAlomancyHydromancyLecanomancyScyphomancyAcultomancyAichmomancyAxinomancyBelomancyCartomancyParrot astrologyTarot card readingCowrie-shell divinationFavomancyKumalakMengduMolybdomancyObi divinationOpon IfáRhabdomancyRunic magicSikidySortesSortes SanctorumTasseographyNecromancyMediumshipSéanceSpirit possessionTaghairmAnthropomancyCephalonomancyHaruspexOmphalomancyOracle bonePalmistryPodomancyScapulimancyAbacomancyAfricanAleuromancyAlphitomancyÅrsgångAmniomancyApopheniaApparitionAstrologyCarromancyCledonomancyFortune-tellingGeomancyI ChingMesopotamianNumerologyGematriaIsopsephyOnmyodoProphecyRevelationEcstasyVisionTyromancy