Editing Pyromancy

{{Short description|Divination by means of fire}}
{{distinguish|Pyrokinesis}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2011}}
[[File:Candle-light-animated.gif|thumb|150px|A candle's flame]]

'''Pyromancy''' ([[Ancient Greek]] ἐμπυρία (empyria), ''divination by fire'')<ref name=":2">Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press.</ref> is the art of [[divination]] by means of [[fire]] or flames.<ref name=":3" />

The word ''pyromancy'' is adapted from the Greek word ''pyromanteia'', from pyr (πῦρ, ''fire)''<ref name=":2" /> ''and'' ''manteia'' (μαντεία, ''divination by means of'').<ref name=":2" /> Its first known use was in the 1300s, and it evolved into the [[Late Latin]] word ''piromantia'' and [[Old French]] word ''piromance.''<ref name=":3">“Pyromancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pyromancy . Accessed 26 Jan. 2023.</ref>

==History of pyromancy==
Due to the importance of fire in society in prehistory and its continued importance within civilizations, it is quite likely that pyromancy was one of the earlier forms of divination, arising independently in many civilizations around the world.{{cn|date=October 2024}} 

In much of [[Western culture]], fire was often associated with a god, or was revered as a god itself.{{cn|date=October 2024}} Fire was associated with a living being (because it ate, breathed, grew, decayed, and died) in both Western and non-Western religions. [[Fire]] was so basic to the human experience that it has persisted in the minds of humanity as an element close to nature.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |pmid = 27216523|pmc = 4874404|year = 2016|last1 = Pyne|first1 = S. J.|title = Fire in the mind: Changing understandings of fire in Western civilization|journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences|volume = 371|issue = 1696|pages = 20150166|doi = 10.1098/rstb.2015.0166}}</ref>

The [[Nymphaion (fire sanctuary)|eternal fire at Nymphaion]] in southern [[Illyria]] (present-day [[Albania]]) also functioned as an oracle. The forms of divination practiced in this natural fire sanctuary with peculiar physical properties were widely known to the ancient Greek and Roman authors.<ref>{{cite book|last=Anamali|first=Skënder|authorlink=Skënder Anamali|chapter=Santuari di Apollonia|pages=127–136|editor-last1=Stazio|editor-first1=Attilio|editor-last2=Ceccoli|editor-first2=Stefania|title=La Magna Grecia e i grandi santuari della madrepatria: atti del trentunesimo Convegno di studi sulla Magna Grecia|volume=31|series=Atti del Convegno di studi sulla Magna Grecia|publisher=Istituto per la storia e l'archeologia della Magna Grecia|year=1992|language=it|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6L0jAQAAIAAJ}} pp. 134–135.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Larson|first=Jennifer Lynn|title=Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|year=2001|isbn=978-0-19-514465-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ww3m1vSRtsC}} pp. 162–163.</ref>

Fire rituals in [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Eurasia]] were thought to originate with ancient [[Zoroastrian]] rituals around the use of fire in [[temples]] and on [[altars]]. Ancient Zoroastrians believed fire to have been “the most holy spirit” from which all life was born, and fire was used as a central [[icon]] in many Zoroastrian rituals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chosky |first1=J. K. |title=Reassessing the Material Contexts of Ritual Fires in Ancient Iran |journal=Iranica Antiqua |date=2007 |volume=42 |pages=229–269|doi=10.2143/IA.42.0.2017878 }}</ref>

In the [[Old Testament]], fire was often associated with [[miracle|divine intervention]]; with the [[burning bush]] guiding the decision of [[Moses]], and the [[Pillar of Fire (theophany)|pillar of fire]] guiding the [[Israelites]] in the wilderness. Even the burning of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]] was accomplished through [[divine retribution]].<ref name=":0" />

[[Greek legend]]s of the origins of fire speaks to the importance of fire to separate humans from animals. To many [[ancient Greeks]], fire was a [[godly]] element that was bestowed by higher forces, having been given to humans by the Titan [[Prometheus]].<ref name=":0" /> It is said that in [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] society, [[virgin]]s at the [[Parthenon|Temple of Athena]] in [[Athens]] regularly practiced pyromancy. It is also likely that the followers of [[Hephaestus]], the Greek god of fire and the [[forge]], practiced pyromancy.<ref name=":1">[[Johannes Hartlieb]] (Munich, 1456) ''The Book of All Forbidden Arts''; quoted in Láng, p. 124.</ref>

In [[Renaissance magic]], pyromancy was classified as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with [[necromancy]], [[geomancy]], [[aeromancy]], [[hydromancy]], [[palmistry|chiromancy (palmistry)]], and [[scapulimancy]].<ref name=":1" />

Fire [[rituals]] in [[East Asia]] most often revolved around animal bones. In [[ancient China]], [[Japan]], and [[Tibet]], bones from animal [[scapula]] (the shoulder bone) would be thrown into fires, and the cracks would be interpreted to divine the future. This made up an important part of the culture of ancient China, with these bones later being referred to as [[oracle bones]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Keightley |first1=David N. |title=Sources of Shang history: the oracle-bone inscriptions of bronze age China |date=1985 |publisher=Univ. of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-520-02969-0 |edition=2nd print}}</ref> In Japan, [[turtle shells]] would also be used as a ritualistic divination technique.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kory |first1=Stephen |title=From Deer Bones to Turtle Shells |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |date=2015 |volume=42 |pages=339–380}}</ref> In Tibet, such divination was used to understand [[natural phenomena]] that was otherwise inexplicable to [[village]]rs. [[oil lamp|Lamps]] that use [[animal fat]] were often burned by ancient Tibetan peoples, and the [[smoke]] and [[flames]] thereof were interpreted as the guidance of natural forces.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ekvall |first1=Robert |title=Some Aspects of Divination in Tibetan society |journal=Ethnology |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=31–39 |date=1963 |doi=10.2307/3772966 |jstor=3772966 }}</ref>

==Types of pyromancy==
The most basic form of pyromancy is that in which the diviner observes flames, from a sacrificial fire, a candle, or another source of flame, and interprets the shapes that he or she sees within them. However, there are several variations of pyromancy, some of which are as follows:{{cn|date=October 2024}} 

*[[Alomancy]]: divination by salt, one type of which involves casting salt into a fire
*[[Botanomancy]]: divination by burning plants
*[[Capnomancy]]: divination by smoke; light, thin smoke that rose straight up was a good omen; otherwise, a bad one.
*Causinomancy: divination by burning (non-specific as to the object burned)
*[[Daphnomancy]] (also called empyromancy): divination by burning laurel leaves
*Osteomancy: divination using bones, one type of which involves heating to produce cracks
*[[Plastromancy]]: divination using turtle [[plastron]]s; in China, this was done by heating pits carved into them.
*[[Scapulimancy]]: divination by scapulae; in Asia and North America, this was done through pyromancy.
*Sideromancy: divination by burning straw with an [[Ironing|iron]].{{cn|date=October 2024}}

==See also==
{{Artes prohibitae}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Divination}}

[[Category:Divination]]
[[Category:Fire in culture]]
[[Category:Bone carvings]]