Editing Myomancy

{{Short description|Practice of reading omens from the behavior of rats or mice}}
[[File:Apodemus sylvaticus bosmuis.jpg|thumb|right|A [[wood mouse]]]] 

'''Myomancy''' (from ''[[wikt:myo-#English|myo-]]'' "mouse" + ''[[wikt:-mancy#English|-mancy]]'' "divination by means of") is the practice of reading [[omen]]s from the [[Ethology|behavior]] of [[rat]]s or [[mice]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Chester |first=Rodney |title=Radar: Appetising prediction |newspaper=[[The Courier-Mail]] |location=[[Brisbane]], [[Australia]] |page=22 |publisher=[[News Limited]] |date=February 8, 2012 |url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/radar-appetising-prediction/story-fn6ck8la-1226264698286?sv=d49be5e4f3c09de4a9ebd943fa6c4648 |access-date=September 2, 2012}}</ref> a "[[Oracular animal|theriomantic]]" [[Methods of divination|method]] of [[divination]] which might be implied [[List of animals in the Bible|in the Bible]] verse [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 66:17.<ref name="Harper">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Myomancy |encyclopedia=The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World |volume=1 |page=465 |publisher=Harper Element |date=2006 }}</ref>

In the context of [[History of Western civilization|Western history]], certain mouse or rat vocalizations ("their particular cries") and other phenomena, including severe cases of damage wreaked by the rodents, was taken to be a sign predictive of [[evil]].<ref name="book">{{cite book | last = Smedley | first = Edward |author2=William Cooke Taylor |author3=Henry Thompson |author4=Elihu Rich  | title = The Occult Sciences: Sketches of the Traditions and Superstitions of Past Times, and the Marvels of the Present Day | publisher = R. Griffin | date = 1855 |page=[https://archive.org/details/occultsciencessk00smed/page/335 335] | url = https://archive.org/details/occultsciencessk00smed | quote = Myomancy. }}</ref> For example, [[Ælain]] relates that [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus]] resigned the dictatorship in consequence of a "warning" from these creatures; according to [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], [[Cassius Flaminius]] retired from the command of the cavalry for the same reason.<ref name="Harper" />

[[Horapollo]] describes the rat as a [[symbol]] of destruction. According to [[Herodotus]], [[Sennacherib]]'s attempt to invade Egypt was thwarted due to his army's weapons being systematically destroyed by rats the night before they were due to attack.<ref name="book" />

The Hebrew word for "mouse" is derived from a root meaning "to separate, divide, or judge". It was remarked by one of the commentators on Horapollo that the mouse has a finely discriminating taste. An Egyptian manuscript in the ''[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]'' in Paris contains the representation of a soul going to [[Last Judgment|judgement]] in which one of the figures is depicted with the head of a rat wearing a traditional [[judges' wig]].<ref name="book" />

==References== 
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{{Divination}}
[[Category:Divination]]
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[[Category:Old World rats and mice]]
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