The Mysteries: Revised Edition Chapter Seven: Divination & Augury

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Divination & Augury

Augury and divination were known throughout the ancient world, and comprise possibly the most practiced magical tradition in Mythic Europe. In the 13th century, the most prestigious divinatory art was astrology, which had become ascendant in the Late Roman Empire and was certainly known to the Founders. The noble and royal courts are increasingly becoming breeding grounds for astrology and other divination, and some say this is because courtiers who have little real power can wield enormous influence over the magnate. John of Salisbury (11151180), in the Policraticus, complains about the various types of diviners common at court: augurs, astrologers, chiromancers, dream interpreters, and crystal-gazers. This role is strictly forbidden to Hermetic magi by the Code, and preparing a horoscope of a king or kingdom is usually viewed as a treasonable offense by the king in question.

Divination and augury are, as one would expect, a staple of 13th-century hedge magicians, and many forms are less exalted than in previous ages as astrology has come to be seen as preeminent. There is also a link with mystical names. The Leiden papyri contain a list of 37 substances and plants with their mystical names. In England, John of Mirfeld gives a series of techniques for prognosis using magical means, including one specimen of onomancy or divination through calculations based on names: “Take the name of the patient, the name of the messenger sent to summon the physician, and the name of the day upon which the messenger first came to you, join the numerical values of all their letters together, and if an even number result, the patient will not escape, if the number be odd, then he will recover.” Other divinatory practices including casting dice, and writing various talismans that would allow the user to see the thief who stole his property in his dreams.

Dream interpretation remains a very popular form of augury, but opinion as to its efficacy is mixed. Medieval writers were indirectly influenced by early critics of astrology and divination, such as Carneades (219-126 BC) and Cicero (106-43 BC). In his treatise On Divination, Cicero ridiculed the notion that the gods communicate messages in dreams, which were in fact merely confused and ambiguous recollections from waking life. Besides, if the gods wanted to communicate their truths to mortals they could find some better and more dignified way than to “flit about” people’s beds and “when they find someone snoring, throw at him dark and twisted visions” that he has to take next day to some interpreter. Furthermore, according to one penitential, that drew part of its material from the Synod of Ancyra, anyone celebrating auguries, omens from birds or dreams, or using other pagan forms of divination, including inviting the magicians who used such techniques, was, when he became a penitent, to be cast out if he was a member of the clergy, or, if he was a lay person, to do penance for five years.

Divination & Augury — Major Supernatural Virtue

Hermetic Divination allows interpretation of signs and connections to answer questions in a manner inspired by the magus’s knowledge of Hermetic magic. The divination is inherently interpretive in nature and not predictive, and is subject to the Limit of Time, like the rest of Hermetic magic. Therefore, it is entirely possible to make judgments by divination about future actions like “Is the Quaesitor Remus intending to visit the covenant?” — the question addresses the future, but a success will only give information current to the Quaesitor’s motives at this time. If the answer is no, but later that day Remus discovers evidence pointing to a breach of the Code and decides to visit after all, the successful divination has become inaccurate.

Not wishing to publicly acknowledge the limitations of their oracular powers, some diviners prefer to couch their answers in deliberately vague or cryptic ways when explaining their knowledge to their sodales, while others are unabashedly direct “Remus is not currently planning to visit the covenant.” This liability of things to change given time has caused even great diviners problems, as their less knowledgeable fellows often accuse them of being misleading or wrong.

The Limit of Time, however, plays a vital role in the defense of augury against its critics, especially in the Church. One of the objections brought against oracles, diviners, soothsayers, and augurs is that by their actions they actually cause the future events that unfold. The foreknowledge of the events is believed by superstitious folks to cause those events, and it is widely feared that demons can mislead the diviner to bring about catastrophic results. Hermetic Divination, however, is carefully designed to avoid both the lures of the infernal and the abrogation of free will that lesser divinations may entail.

Hermetic Divination

Hermetic Divination provides results equivalent to casting Hermetic Intellego spells of any Form. It is only available to Hermetic magi, as it requires the magus to have Hermetic Arts opened so as to model their divination. (There are other divinatory abilities available to hedge magic traditions.)

It is more flexible than Formulaic Magic spells, but weaker; it is generally more powerful than Spontaneous Magic, but only within the Technique of Intellego. Divination covers all ten Forms by a single Ability but is hard to improve, whereas a magus choosing a few Forms can specialize and exceed the diviner. A magus choosing this method is turning his back on general Intellego magics and choosing to specialize in divination. He is likely to study divination fairly intensively, enchant ceremonial tools, and devise methods to gather arcane connections; the Ease Factors are calculated on this basis.

Method and Additional Methods

You chooses your character’s method of divination when the Virtue is acquired: This is the manner in which she makes her divinatory interpretations. Particular methods give a bonus for certain types of question posed in Ceremonial Divination. (Some methods have other Virtues as prerequisites.)

When a magus learns his first method of divination, the Initiation rites enable him to learn the Supernatural Ability Divination at level 1. Specialties: particular methods of divination, particular times of day for questions, particular types of target.

If he later Initiates additional methods as Minor Virtues, those Initiations grant no additional levels of Divination Ability, but do allow him to change his specialty if he wishes.

If he has access to further Initiations, he can acquire additional divination methods as Minor Virtues once he has the Major Virtue of Divination. Additional methods let him phrase questions in different ways and use different tools, and let him gain further bonuses in Ceremonial Divination.

Note: Astrology and Numerology as methods of divination are branches of this Supernatural Ability; Hermetic Astrology and Hermetic Mathematics are concerned with working influences into general Hermetic magic. (See Chapter 5: Hermetic Astrology and Chapter 11: Arithmetic Magic.)

Hermetic Divination (Astrology) requires Planetary Magic as a prerequisite; Hermetic Divination (Numerology) requires Hermetic Numerology as a prerequisite; Hermetic Divination (Dream Interpretation) requires the Virtue Dream Interpreter (which is itself a variant of, and compatible with, Divination and Augury).

Limitation

Divination only answers questions; it cannot provide senses, or allow the maga to “speak with X.” This is represented by limiting the effects to those with Momentary duration (see ArM5, page 149: “a momentary spell can answer a single question, although the answer need not be brief.”).

Hermetic Divination cannot simulate the effects of Ritual Magic.

Ease Factor

Any question that can be posed as a non-Ritual Hermetic Intellego spell (of any Form), of any range and target (other than Sense targets), and of Momentary Duration can be attempted using Divination.

In Divination, an Arcane Connection held in the hand may be interpreted as if the diviner were Touching the target (rather than at Arcane Range).

Divination may answer questions about Boundary Targets without the normal ritual requirement.

The Ease Factor for Hermetic Divination is the level of the equivalent Hermetic spell. The divination answers truly if the magus succeeds in a roll of:

Stress Die + Characteristic + Divination + Aura + Bonuses Vs. Ease Factor

Bonuses are explained under Casual Divination and Ceremonial Divination.

Penetration

The Penetration (if needed) of a divination is:

Divination Total + Penetration Bonus – Ease Factor

The rules on increasing Penetration Bonus on ArM5, page 84 apply as normal.

Example Divinations Did William Steal My Book? This is an Intellego Mentem base 10 “discover the truth of a statement,” but as the information comes from William’s mind, the total would also have to beat his Magic Resistance, if any. The question “Who stole my book?” would use the same base, but the Target would vary depending on the number of individuals to be investigated. A covenant with grogs and covenfolk would have an Ease Factor of 30 (+1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 Size). A modest medieval city is a Boundary Target, and has an Ease Factor of 35 (+1 Touch, +4 Boundary). Is Thurydices the Redcap Merely Delayed, Or Has He Been Slain? Overlooking the fact that using magic to answer questions about a fellow member of the Order is a breach of the Code, the question is really, “Is Thurydices still alive?” Since he is not present, the maga has no idea where he is, she requires an Arcane Connection to him. An Intellego Corpus level 4 allows her to “sense general information about a body.” The Ease Factor is therefore 5 (adding one magnitude for Touching the Arcane Connection). Did I Put Out All the Candles in My Lab Before Setting Out Vis Gathering? This can be formulated either as a Group target (the candles) or a Room target (the laboratory). The guideline is level 1 “locate a fire.” As a Casual Divination, standing on the threshold of the room before leaving, the Ease Factor is 4. If considering the matter en route to dinner, holding an Arcane Connection to the laboratory, the Ease Factor is also 4 (Base 1, +1 touching AC, +2 Room). Will it rain during the Aegis ritual? This is equivalent to the Formulaic spell Sailor’s Foretaste of the Morrow, Intellego Auram 20. The Ease Factor is 20. Is Etienne Lying To Me? The Ease Factor is 15 (Base 10, +1 Eye, or +1 touching an AC). Unlike the common spell Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie, the question is momentary and the answer personal — no frosty breath emerges. Is There a Hidden Regio in the Covenant? Detecting a Regio is straightforward, but given the uncertainty as to location, a Boundary target seems best. The Ease Factor is 20 (Base 3, +1 Touch, +4 Boundary). This reveals the presence and rough shape of the boundary. Is There a Vis Source On That Mountain? Ease Factor is 20: Intellego Vim base 1 “detect the presence of vis,” +3 magnitudes for Sight range, +4 magnitudes for Boundary target. If the diviner holds an Arcane Connection to the mountain, the range drops to Touch, and the Ease Factor drops to 10. If the vis source is to be precisely located, this complexity adds 2 magnitudes, increasing the Ease Factor back to 20. If vis is hidden inside the mountain, in caves or tunnels or buried, a Hermetic spell to find the vis would need a Terram requisite and add +1 magnitude, and that magnitude is needed in divination too, making our final Ease Factor 25. Will the Tribunal Tomorrow Convict Me of Interfering With Mundanes? At first glance this appears to breach the Hermetic Limit of Time, but what is really being asked is, at this time, before they have heard the evidence, “What is the gut feeling of those magi who have heard the charge is to be brought?” Such a question can be asked, but the answer is unlikely to prove very helpful in making an informed decision, as many of the magi will change their minds on hearing the evidence, or hear of the case for the first time, after the divination is cast. This is Intellego Mentem, base 15, “pick a single answer from the mind of a target,” affecting a group of up to 100 magi, for an additional +3 magnitudes, +1 for Touch (including the caster in the Group). The Ease Factor is therefore 30, but the caster also has to defeat all their Magic Resistances, and is in breach of the Code, having scryed upon his sodales. As some will undoubtedly resist the divination, the answer will be based on those with poor Magic Resistance, and since others may change their minds tomorrow, the caster could be much better employed intriguing, bargaining, and preparing his defense.

Ceremonial Augury Phenomena

Technique	Description	Important Uses
Aeromancy	Patterns in the air	Health of nobles +3, weather +5
Alectryomancy	Eating behavior of chickens	Corpus +2, Mentem +3
Aleuromancy	Burning or cooking flour	Herbam +2, crops +5
Alomancy	Patterns in thrown salt	Aquam +1, Terram +2, weather +3
Alphitomancy	Eating barley bread	Guilt or innocence +5
Apantomancy	Chance meetings with animals	Locations and buildings +3
Aleuromancy	Burning or cooking flour	Herbam +2, crops +5
Ashagalomancy	Casting bones	Ghosts +3, Corpus +4
Astrology	(Requires Planetary Magic)	+5 + horoscope Bonus
Axinomancy	Balancing a hatchet	Search for treasure +3, detect thieves +5
Belomancy	Shooting arrows in the air	Auram +1, battle +3
Botanomancy	Burning sticks carved with questions	Herbam +5
Capnomancy	Fumes from burning poppies	Imaginem +2, dreams + 2, mental illness +3
Causimomancy	Behavior of objects placed in a fire	Curses and bindings +3, Ignem +2
Cephalomancy	Severing the head of a goat or donkey	Animal +5, travel +5
Ceroscopy	Patterns of wax dripped in water	Marriage +1, happiness +3
Cleidomancy	Dangling a key from the Bible	Sin +3, lying +5
Cleromancy	Casting dice or lots	Courts of justice +2, business +3, money +5
Crystalomancy	Crystal-gazing	Friends +1, enemies +2, Vim +3
Dream Interpretation	C(See Hermetic Dream Interpreter)	+5
Geomancy	Patterns in earth	Kingdoms +2, Terram +5
Haruspicy	Entrails of sacrificed animals	Animal +4, disease +5
Hippomancy	Behavior of horses	Nobles +3, war +4
Hydromancy	Observing water	Judgments +3, Aquam +5
Lecanomancy	By bowls of fluid	Ghosts +5, spirits +3
Myomancy	Behavior of mice and rats	Battle +2, disaster +5
Numerology	(Requires Hermetic Numerology)	Book Bonus — See Chapter 11
Onomancy	Comparing names	Mentem +2, Corpus +3, conflict resolution +5
Ooscopy	Burning or cooking eggs	Youth +4, children +5
Phyllorhodomancy	Rose bush leaves	Love +3, desire +5
Pyromancy	Observing flames	Ignem +5
Rhabdomancy	Divining rods	Hidden objects +4, things underground +5
Scapulomancy	Roasting shoulder blades	Farming +2, herds +5
Scrying	Gazing into reflective surfaces	Clairvoyance +5

Divination in Practice

The magus has two options, casual divination and ceremonial divination.

Casual Divination

Casual Divination takes one round, and allows the magus to observe signs in his immediate environment; for example, the flight of birds, or the exercises of the turb at practice.

Stress Die + Perception + Divination + Aura + Bonus Vs. Ease Factor (equivalent Spell Level)

The storyguide may add a bonus of +0 to +3 (very rarely +4 or +5) if the omens picked are especially relevant to the subject matter; for example, the cloud patterns as an indication of weather.

(Note that this is not open-ended like Spontaneous Magic: the magus makes the Ease Factor, or fails, although you can, of course, add Confidence.)

Ceremonial Divination

Ceremonial Divination takes 15 minutes per 5 Ease Factors (the same as 15 minutes per magnitude), and allows the magus to include sympathetic magic and devices.

Stress Die + Intelligence + Divination + Aura + Bonuses Vs. Ease Factor (equivalent Spell Level)

Divination Bonuses

A number of different bonuses can be applied to the Ceremonial Divination roll.

• Ceremonial Bonus: The ceremonial bonus is determined by the relationship between the phenomenon observed to infer the answer, and the nature of the question if the method of divination is sympathetic to the question asked. This ranges from +1 to +5. See the Ceremonial Augury Phenomena table on page 61. Hermetic Numerology (see Chapter 11: Arithmetic Magic) adds specific bonuses for the numerologist’s book.
• Sympathetic Magic Bonus: To find the sympathetic magic bonus refer to the tables on ArM5, page 84. Calculate the “multiplier” for any Arcane Connection to the subject of the divination, and for the other factors in the sympathetic connection table. The “multiplier” calculated is then added as a bonus to the Divination roll. Most of the “multipliers” also apply again to the Penetration calculation. Having a good set of sympathetic connections to a subject may yield very high penetration results. Example: Determinata wishes to locate her shield grog, missing after a night on the town. She knows his nickname (+1), has his signature (+1),and has a lock of hair (an Arcane Connection lasting years, +3), for a total sympathetic magic bonus of +5. Note that the caster can only add Daily and Nativity Horoscope bonuses if he is divining using astrology. For this reason, perhaps, astrology is a popular method among Hermetic magi.
• Magical Bonus: The magus can make a specially enchanted device (e.g., mirror, astrolabe, silver dish for water) appropriate to his method of divination. The nature of this device commonly reflects the diviner’s method (see the table of Ceremonial Augury Phenomena). The magus enchants the Mystery divinatory general Effect Enchantment of the Scrying Device into the device, which may be an invested device or a lesser enchanted device. Diviners often enchant their talisman for this purpose, and choose the shape and material of their talisman to allow attunements relating to divination.

The magus adds Ceremonial Bonus, sympathetic bonus, and Magic Bonus to the roll against the Ease Factor for the divination.

Example: Numera is a Hermetic Numerologist, and has chosen a copy of Bonisagus’ De Theoria Magica as her text. She has spent 8 pawns of vis to open the pages of the book for numerology, making this a lesser Numerologist’s Book (see Chapter 11). She wants to learn more about a mountain that she suspects harbors a Magical regio.

She is engaged in Ceremonial Numerology, so gets a Ceremonial Bonus of +4 from the book.

She has also invested a level 35 Intellego effect in the book, so gets +4 from a Magical Bonus.

She has a piece of rock from the target (lasts years — bonus +3) and has drawn a picture of the mountain (symbol, +2). Her sympathetic bonus is +3+2 = 5.

She has Intelligence 3 Divination 7, and the laboratory aura is 5.

Numera’s Ceremonial Divination roll is a stress die + 3 + 7 +5 + bonuses of 5 + 4 + (3+2), or die + 29. She is ready to start asking questions about the mountain.

Hermetic Dream Interpreter — Major Supernatural Mystery Virtue

Hermetic Dream Interpreter is a specialized method of Hermetic Divination. It is similar to the Divine Virtue Dream Interpreter (see the Realms of Power: The Divine).

Hermetic Dream Interpretation permits Casual and Ceremonial Divination in a specialized manner through the interpretation of dreams. If a maga lacks other methods of divination, she may only perform divination as below. If she has the Virtue Divination, she may Initiate into Dream Interpretation as an additional method as a Minor Virtue, and vice versa.

When she learns her first method of divination, the Initiation rites enable her to learn the Supernatural Ability Divination at level 1. Specialties: particular methods of divination, particular times of day for questions, particular types of target.

(If she later Initiates additional methods as Minor Virtues, those Initiations grant no additional levels of Divination Ability, but do allow her to change her specialty if she wishes.)

Hermetic Dream Interpretation

Dream interpretation helps translate the confusing symbols within dreams to make clear their deeper meaning. Hermetic Dream Interpretation uses the rules for Hermetic Divination and Augury in this chapter.

This Ability has special uses, described below.

Divinatory Interpretation

The magus may use Dream Interpretation as Ceremonial Divination by focusing his mind through ritual preparation before going to sleep. This takes approximately half an hour of preparation, and he must sleep until he naturally wakes; he must sleep for at least as long as a waking Ceremonial Divination. If he is woken before this time, his dreams are interrupted and he learns nothing.

He may also interpret other people’s dreams using this ability, by spending at least an hour discussing the symbols in the dream with the subject. He may use this discussion as both Casual and Ceremonial Divination. The magus may work more than one question into the discussion: for game purposes, simply add the time taken for each Ceremonial question (15 minutes per magnitude) to find the total time spent discussing — Casual Augury questions about the dream take only moments and need not be counted. If the magus cuts short the discussion, he might not be able to pose all the divinatory questions he wishes.

Refer to the section on Ceremonial Divination for more details, including Divination Totals, bonuses and magical enchantments that may help the dream interpreter.

Symbolic Interpretation

The magus may instead look for a symbolic interpretation of dreams. Roll an interpretation total:

Stress Die + Intelligence + Divination (dream Interpretation)

This is purely interpretative, not divination, and is unaffected by aura and other such factors. The symbolic meaning of dreams is also notoriously vague and ambiguous. Compare the result to the Ease Factor table (ArM5, page 7) to consider how clearly you might interpret the dream.

An Average result (9+) suggests an outline of the dreamer’s state. A Hard (12+) or Very Hard (15+) result suggests some or more of the reasons for the dream. Impressive or greater results may hint at underlying causes and consequences. You should discuss the interpretation with your storyguide, creating a symbolic tale between you, and try work it into the story.

Dream Calling

By touching another as he approaches sleep and talking to him about the subject matter, the dream interpreter can ensure that when he sleeps, he will have a dream that generally concerns a subject of the interpreter’s choosing. This is a supernatural action, with an Ease Factor of 6. Penetration (if needed) is determined as normal.

Stress Die + Presence + Dream Interpretation + Aura Vs. an Ease Factor of 6

You may interpret this dream later, as described above.

Enchantment of the Scrying Device In(Forms) Gen Pen +0, uses per day: as enchanted R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind The effect may be enchanted with any Hermetic Forms desired, applying them as requisites to each other (no cost for extra requisites). The Forms enchanted (main and requisites) limit the range of divinations possible with the device. Such a device adds a magical bonus of +1 per 2 magnitudes of effect (round up). Magical Bonus Effect Level / 10 (round Up) The effect’s uses per day limit its use as normal, but do not count toward the magical bonus. Example: Notarius creates an enchanted astrolabe that he uses to measure the positions of stars as he performs Ceremonial Astrology. He enchants this with Intellego Corpus (Mentem, Vim) — his three best Forms. He has Intelligence 3, Intellego 19, Corpus 17, Mentem 16, Vim 15 (the lowest Form is thus 15), Magic Theory 7, aura 5. The storyguide agrees that the astrolabe merits a Shape Bonus of +5 for Astrology. He has a Lab Total of 54. He has previously opened the astrolabe as an invested device. He chooses a level 31 effect, which is enough for a +4 bonus on Ceremonial Astrology. He also wishes to consult the astrolabe several times per day, so adds 5 levels for 24 uses/ day. The final effect level is 36, and (Lab Total 54 – Effect level 36) = 18, so he can just invest the effect in the two seasons he has free.

Editor's Note: This text includes errata.

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