Editor's Corner

I missed Halloween and El Dia de los Muertos, but I guess this is better late than never. Today, I have some words for you from page 600 of I Never Knew There Was a Word for It, by Adam Jacot de Boinod.

· onychomancy (1651) fortune-telling using reflected light on oiled fingernails

· pessomancy (1727) divination by throwing pebbles

· belomancy (1646) divination using arrows marked with symbols or questions, guidance being sought by firing the arrows or drawing them at random from a bag or quiver

· planchette (French 1920s) a small, heart-shaped board on casters with a pencil attached; when participants in a séance touched it lightly the planchette allegedly wrote messages from the dead

And let’s throw necromancy in there just for fun! From Merriam-Webster:

a (1) : the art or practice of magically revealing the future, of magically influencing the course of natural events, or of magically attaining other purposes especially through communication with and the intervention of the dead (2) : the art or practice of magically conjuring up the souls of the dead b : magic in general especially when directed toward the attainment of evil purposes : witchcraft, sorcery

planchettes

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services