Alectryomancy is still practised in many parts of the world. The African tribe of Zande uses a method where by two leaves are placed in an ant hill, if the ants eat the one on the left first the answer is ‘yes’, if the one on right, the answer is ‘no’. In the United States and Canada Groundhog Day is a traditional festival celebrated on February 2. If a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks.

Cats have always held a fascination for people and in some cultures held in high esteem. Felidomancy is divination through observing the behaviour of both domestic and wild cats. If a cat sneezes, licks its face or sleeps with it’s back to the fireplace, it is said to rain, if a black cat crosses your path in the British Isles it’s a sign of good luck (bad luck in the USA). A cat at a wedding is to assure a long happy marriage. All these predictions and omens stem from the age-old art of Felidomancy. Cats have often played an important part in religious and occult ceremonies in India and held in reverence by the Egyptians, Incas and Chinese.

In the Celtic divination system of Hippomancy horses where trained to walk in certain areas of consecrated groves. Psychics and priests would then make predictions from the observations of their movements; the prints left in the ground and even the amount of dust created. The custom of hanging horseshoes on the wall dates back to the times of Hippomancy. In England in the 1500’s they where hung in farmhouses as a charm against evil.