Cleromancy

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Cleromancy is a form of divination using sortilege, casting lots or casting bones in which an outcome is determined by random means, such as the rolling of a die.

For the use of random selection as a way to make a fair form of selection see allotment.

1 In Western culture
2 In Eastern culture
3 Yes-no pens
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] In Western culture

Casting of lots occurs frequently in the Bible. One notable example of casting lots is represented by the soldiers who cast lots for Jesus' clothes (John 19:24) as he was dying on the cross. In this case, the casting of lots was implicitly looked down upon by the biblical authors.

However, in the Old Testament, there are three cases where casting lots was invoked as a legitimate means of determining God's wishes:

In the Book of Joshua, God commands that a thief is found by casting lots, first among the tribes of Israel, then among the families of that tribe, etc. Akan, the person identified in this way, confesses his guilt, and shows where he has buried the loot.
In the First book of Samuel, the people of Israel demand God to set a king over them, and God decrees a king to be found by a procedure similar to the above, leading to the selection of king Saul.
In the Book of Jonah, casting of lots is used to determine by Jonah's crew that he was, in fact, the source of the storm they were enduring. He was subsequently cast overboard, causing the storm to dissipate.

[edit] In Eastern culture

In China, and especially in Chinese Taoism, various means of divination through random means are employed, such as use of the I Ching. In Japan, omikuji is one form of drawing lots.

[edit] Yes-no pens

Pens which can answer "yes-no" questions are widely used in divination and fortune telling, especially by New Age adherents. Their use is similar to the usage of pendulums for the same purpose (with the difference that a pendulum can also be used for spiritism). Another classical "yes-no" fortune telling method is the use of coins. There exist some websites which utilise software to simulate these "yes-no" pens to produce similar results on the computer screen.