Gyromancy is a method of

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

in which a person spins around inside or walks the circumference of a circle drawn on the ground, the perimeter of which is marked with the letters of an alphabet. The divination is inferred from the letter at the position where the person either stumbles or falls across the circle's edge. The person would repeat the practice "...till he evolved an intelligible sentence, or till death or madness intervened." The

dizziness Dizziness is an imprecise term that can refer to a sense of disorientation in space, vertigo, or lightheadedness. It can also refer to Balance disorder, disequilibrium or a non-specific feeling, such as giddiness or foolishness. Dizziness is a ...

brought on by spinning or circling is intended to introduce randomness or to facilitate an

altered state of consciousness An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called an altered state of mind, altered mental status (AMS) or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. It describes induced changes in one's me ...

. The word is derived from

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

, , which is derived from Greek (circle) and (oracle).Online Etymology Dictionary
/ref> Gyromancy is mentioned in the PlayStation game

Silent Hill (video game) is a 1999 survival horror video game developed by Team Silent, a group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. It is the first installment in the ''Silent Hill'' video gam ...

References

Divination {{Occult-stub