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Onychomancy
Onychomancy or onymancy (from Greek ''onychos'', 'fingernail', and ''manteia'', 'fortune-telling') is an ancient form of divination using fingernails as a "crystal ball" or " scrying mirror" and is considered a subdivision of palmistry (also called chiromancy). As with palmistry, the contradictions between different interpretations and the lack of evidence for the predictions have led onychomancy to be viewed as a pseudoscience by academics. It consists of gazing in bright sunlight at one's own fingernails or another person's fingernails that often are coated in oil and then interpreting the "symbols" that appear on them. In medieval times onychomancy was performed by gazing at the fingernails of a prepubescent (unspoiled) boy. The symbols are interpreted in relation to chakra points, reflexology points, astrological planetary interpretations or tarot card representations. The fingers on which symbols appear and the position of the symbols on the fingernails are interpreted as ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortune-telling
Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation. Historically, Pliny the Elder describes use of the crystal ball in the 1st century CE by soothsayers (''"crystallum orbis"'', later written in Medieval Latin by scribes as ''orbuculum''). Contemporary Western images of fortune telling grow out of folkloristic reception of Renaissance magic, specifically ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physiognomy
Physiognomy () or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without reference to its implied characteristics—as in the physiognomy of an individual plant (see plant life-form) or of a plant Community (ecology), community (see vegetation). Physiognomy as a practice meets the contemporary definition of pseudoscience and is regarded as such by academics because of its unsupported claims; popular belief in the practice of physiognomy is nonetheless still widespread and modern advances in artificial intelligence have sparked renewed interest in the field of study. The practice was well-accepted by Greek philosophy, ancient Greek philosophers, but fell into disrepute in the 16th century while practised by vagabonds and Charlatan, mountebanks. It revived and was popularised by Johann Kaspar Lavater, before falling from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phrenology
Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the Human brain, brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific Human brain#Function, functions or modules. It was said that the brain was composed of different muscles, so those that were used more often were bigger, resulting in the different skull shapes. This provided reasoning for the common presence of bumps on the skull in different locations. The brain "muscles" not being used as frequently remained small and were therefore not present on the exterior of the skull. Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology generalizes beyond empirical knowledge in a way that departs from science. The central phrenological notion that measuring the contour of the skull can predict personality traits is discredited by empirical research. Developed by Germans, German physician Franz Joseph Ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmistry
Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who practice palmistry are generally called ''palmists'', ''hand readers'', ''hand analysts'', or ''chirologists''. There are many—and often conflicting—interpretations of various lines and palmar features across various teachings of palmistry. Palmistry is widely viewed as a pseudoscience due to various contradictions between different interpretations and the lack of evidence for palmistry's predictions. History Ancient palmistry Palmistry is a practice common to many different places on the Eurasian landmass; it has been practiced in the cultures of Sumer, Babylonia, Arabia, Canaan, Persia, India, Nepal, Tibet and China. The acupuncturist Yoshiaki Omura describes its roots in Hindu astrology (known in Sanskrit as '' jyotish''), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fingernails2
A nail is a protective plate characteristically found at the tip of the digits (fingers and toes) of all primates, corresponding to the claws in other tetrapod animals. Fingernails and toenails are made of a tough rigid protein called alpha-keratin, a polymer also found in the claws, hooves, and horns of vertebrates. Structure The nail consists of the nail plate, the nail matrix and the nail bed below it, and the grooves surrounding it. Parts of the nail The nail matrix is the active tissue (or germinal matrix) that generates cells. The cells harden as they move outward from the nail root to the nail plate. The nail matrix is also known as the ''matrix unguis'', keratogenous membrane, or onychostroma. It is the part of the nail bed that is beneath the nail and contains nerves, lymph, and blood vessels. The matrix produces cells that become the nail plate. The width and thickness of the nail plate is determined by the size, length, and thickness of the matrix, while the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarot Card Reading
Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. The process typically begins with formulation of a question, followed by drawing and interpreting cards to uncover meaning. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. French-suited playing cards can also be used; as can any card system with suits assigned to identifiable elements (e.g., air, earth, fire, water). History The first written references to tarot packs occurred between 1440 and 1450 in northern Italy, for example in Milan and Ferrara, when additional cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack. These new packs were called , triumph packs, and the additional cards were simply known as trionfi (cards), trionfi, which became "trumps" in English. One of the earliest references to tarot triumphs appears around c. 1450–1470 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mien Shiang
Mien shiang ( zh, c=, p=miànxiàng meaning face () reading ()) is a physiognomic and fortune-telling practice in Chinese culture and traditional Chinese medicine which purports to determine aspects of person's character, personality, and (future) health by analyzing their face according to the five phases (''"wu xing"''). The five phases (namely wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) are metaphors devised by ancient Chinese philosophers to explain the relationship, interaction, and ongoing change of everything in the universe. In recent times the art of face reading has become more popular and schools that teach more wide spread. Historical records There are early written records of . In Book of Rites, it writes, "Those who look up are arrogant; Those who look down are worried; Those who look sideways are sly". After Gou Jian () of Yue () settled the State of Wu, Fan Li () (536–488 BCE) knew that Gou Jian had a "long neck and sharp upper lips", which meant they could face ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metoposcopy
Metoposcopy is a form of divination in which the diviner predicts personality, character, and destiny, based on the pattern of lines on the subject's forehead. It was in use in the Classical era, and was widespread in the Middle Ages, reaching its zenith in the 16th and 17th centuries. History Pliny the Elder, Pliny mentions a ''metoposcopos'', described by Appion the Grammarian, who ("a thing incredible to be spoken") could judge a person's age and how much longer they would live. According to Suetonius, another practitioner determined that Titus, and not Britannicus, would become Roman emperor, Emperor. Juvenal was disdainful, and considered metoposcopy to be plebeian. Metoposcopy is prominently featured in the Zohar. Isaac Luria (1534 - 1572), a Ottoman Syria, Syrian rabbi considered to be the founder of contemporary Kabbalah, practised a form of metoposcopy in which he interpreted the appearance of Hebrew letters on the forehead. Metoposcopy was developed by the 16th century I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yin And Yang
Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and the parts are as important for the cohesion of the whole. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of primordial qi or material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, force and motion leading to form and matter. "Yin" is retractive, passive and contractive in nature, while "yang" is repelling, active and expansive in principle; this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature—patterns of change and difference. For example, biological, psychological and seasonal cycles, the historical evolution of landscapes over days, weeks, years to eons. The origin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Element
The classical elements typically refer to Earth (classical element), earth, Water (classical element), water, Air (classical element), air, Fire (classical element), fire, and (later) Aether (classical element), aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler Substance theory, substances. Ancient cultures in Ancient Greece, Greece, Angola, Ancient Tibet, Tibet, Ancient India, India, and Mali had similar lists which sometimes referred, in local languages, to "air" as "wind", and to "aether" as "space". These different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as cosmology. Sometimes these theories overlapped with mythology and were personification, personified in deities. Some of these interpretations included atomism (the idea of very small, indivisible portions of matter), but other interpretations considered the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
