Alectryomancy

Alectryomancy , or alectryomancy (from the Greek alektor = rooster) denotes the prediction of the future by a bird , mostly a chicken or a black hen or a fighting cock . Alectryomancy is known from Africa , but also from Greece .

There are two ways to let the bird predict the future:

1. Cereal grains are scattered loosely on the earth so that the animal can pick up the grain. As soon as it leaves the grain, the pattern of the remaining grain is interpreted.
2. A circle is drawn on the floor and the letters of the alphabet are written around it. A grain of grain is placed on each of these letters and the rooster is placed in the center of the circle. The message is read from the letters from which the bird picks the grain.

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• Nevill Drury, Lexicon of Esoteric Knowledge (Munich 1988)
• Wilhelm Vollmer, Dictionary of the Mythology of All Nations (Stuttgart 1874)