Divination by Dice, Lots & Sacred Random Casts by Red-Antz Master Spiritualist / Occultist / Shaman
Cleromancy (from Greek klēros = lot + manteía = divination) is the practice of determining divine will through random selection — casting dice, drawing lots, or using other sortition methods. Practiced for over 3,500 years across virtually every civilization, cleromancy operates on the principle that what appears random to humans is actually guided by spiritual forces. Major forms include astragalomancy (dice), sortition (lot-drawing), and the casting of sacred objects like rune stones or yarrow stalks.
Cleromancy is a form of divination involving sortition — the determination of an outcome by means that would normally be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, the drawing of straws, or the casting of lots. Unlike tarot reading (which interprets symbolic imagery) or astrology (which reads celestial patterns), cleromancy relies on the practitioner's faith that randomness is not truly random — that spiritual forces guide the fall of the dice, the selection of the lot, or the pattern of the cast.
This belief in divinely-guided chance is one of humanity's oldest spiritual concepts. The word cleromancy itself derives from the Greek klēros (κλῆρος), meaning "lot" or "portion," and manteía (μαντεία), meaning "divination" or "prophecy." In ancient Greece, klēros also carried the sense of an allotted fate or inheritance — suggesting that the lot you draw reveals what has already been assigned to you by the gods.
The practice appears in virtually every major civilization:
What makes cleromancy unique among divinatory systems is its democratic accessibility. Unlike astrology (requiring mathematical calculation) or scrying (requiring developed psychic sensitivity), cleromancy requires only a set of objects to cast and a system for interpreting the results. This simplicity has kept it alive across millennia and cultures, making it one of humanity's most enduring spiritual technologies.
The history of cleromancy is inseparable from the history of religion itself. The earliest written records of organized religion include references to lot-casting as a means of communicating with the divine.
The Hebrew Bible contains more references to cleromancy than any other ancient text. The Urim and Thummim (אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים), kept in the breastplate of the High Priest, were the primary means by which Israelite leaders sought God's guidance on matters of war, law, and national policy.
Key biblical passages involving cleromancy include:
The Hebrew word for lot (goral, גּוֹרָל) carries connotations of fate and destiny. The lot does not merely reveal information — it enacts divine will. When the land was divided by lot, the Israelites understood that God Himself was assigning the territories, not human surveyors.
The Greeks elevated cleromancy from religious practice to political institution. Athenian democracy (established circa 508 BCE under Cleisthenes) used sortition — random selection by lot — to fill most government positions. The kleroterion (κληρωτήριον), a stone slab with slots for citizen tokens and channels for colored dice, was the world's first random-selection machine.
The Greeks believed sortition was more democratic than election because it prevented wealthy or charismatic individuals from monopolizing power. Aristotle wrote in the Politics (Book IV, Chapter 9): "The appointment of magistrates by lot is thought to be democratic, and the election of them oligarchical."
Religious cleromancy continued alongside political sortition. The Oracle at Dodona — Greece's oldest oracle, dating to approximately 2000 BCE — used lot-oracles for simpler queries. Pilgrims wrote questions on lead tablets, and priests drew lots from a sacred vessel to determine the god's answer.
Roman religion was deeply cleromantic. Before any major public action — a battle, a law, a journey — Roman officials sought the gods' approval through auspices (reading bird flights) or sortes (casting lots). The sortes Praenestinae (lots of Praeneste) were particularly famous: pilgrims traveled to the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste to have their questions answered by a child who randomly selected inscribed oak lots from a box.
Roman dice (tesserae for six-sided dice, tali for four-sided knucklebones) were used both for gaming and divination. The alea (dice game) was technically illegal except during the Saturnalia festival, but divinatory dice-casting was exempt from this prohibition because it served religious purposes.
The I Ching (易經, "Book of Changes"), one of the world's oldest texts (compiled circa 1000 BCE, with roots extending to 3000 BCE), uses a cleromantic method to generate hexagrams. The traditional method involves sorting 50 yarrow stalks through a precise series of divisions — a process taking approximately 15 minutes per hexagram. The modern shortcut uses three coins tossed six times.
The I Ching's cleromancy is unique in its philosophical depth. Rather than a simple yes/no answer, it produces one of 64 hexagrams, each with six lines (yin or yang), creating 4,096 possible readings when line changes are considered. The system embodies the Chinese philosophical principle that reality is in constant flux, and the hexagram captures the precise momentary configuration of forces surrounding your question.
Astragalomancy — divination by dice (specifically knucklebones, astragali) — is the most widespread form of cleromancy. The word derives from the Greek astragalos (ἀστράγαλος), meaning "knucklebone" or "die." Understanding astragalomancy provides the foundation for all dice-based cleromantic practice.
The earliest dice were not cubes but astragali — the ankle bones of sheep or goats, which naturally land on four distinct sides. These four-sided dice have been found in archaeological sites dating to 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Each side had a specific name and value:
The most auspicious throw was four "ones" (all chios sides), called the Venus throw — a term that survives in modern gaming. The least auspicious was four "sixes" (all hytis), called the dog throw.
Roman astragalomancy used five tali (four-sided knucklebones) cast simultaneously. Each combination of values corresponded to a specific omen, recorded in sortes books that served as divinatory reference guides. The most famous was the Sortes Astragalorum ("Lots of the Knucklebones"), a Greek text from the 2nd century CE that provided interpretations for all 625 possible five-dice combinations.
Roman soldiers were particularly devoted astragalomancers. Before battle, a commander would cast the tali and consult the haruspex (diviner) for interpretation. The historian Herodotus records that the Persian king Xerxes cast dice before invading Greece and received an unfavorable reading — but proceeded anyway, with disastrous results.
India's dice divination tradition, Aksha Vidya (अक्ष विद्या, "the science of dice"), is documented in the Mahabharata (circa 400 BCE – 400 CE). The epic's central conflict begins with a rigged dice game — the infamous dyuta — in which the Pandavas lose their kingdom. This narrative reflects the deep cultural understanding that dice outcomes are influenced by both karma and divine will.
Indian astragalomancy used aksha (dice made from vibhitaka nuts or tamarind seeds) cast onto a cloth marked with directional zones. The combination of values and landing positions produced readings covering health, wealth, relationships, and spiritual progress.
Modern practitioners can use standard six-sided dice (D6), polyhedral dice sets (D4, D8, D10, D12, D20), or specially crafted divinatory dice. The key principles remain unchanged from antiquity:
No discussion of cleromancy is complete without examining the Urim and Thummim — the most mysterious divinatory instrument in the Hebrew Bible. Mentioned seven times in the Old Testament, these sacred objects were kept in the hoshen (חֹשֶׁן), the breastplate of the High Priest, and were used to obtain yes/no answers from God.
The exact nature of the Urim and Thummim remains one of biblical scholarship's enduring mysteries. The Hebrew words suggest:
Traditional Jewish interpretation (Talmud, Yoma 73b) holds that the Urim and Thummim were either inscribed stones or small objects that produced light or changed appearance to indicate answers. The High Priest would pose a question, and the objects would signal "yes," "no," or "no answer" through some visible mechanism — possibly glowing, protruding, or rearranging themselves.
The procedure for consulting the Urim and Thummim is described in several biblical passages:
The system was remarkably limited — it could only answer yes/no questions — but this limitation was considered a feature, not a flaw. Binary questions force clarity of thought, and the binary answer eliminates ambiguity. Modern decision-making research confirms that reducing complex choices to a series of binary questions significantly improves decision quality.
The Urim and Thummim appear to have ceased functioning by the time of the Babylonian Exile (586 BCE). The Talmud records that they were lost or became inactive after the destruction of the First Temple. This "silencing" of the divine oracle was interpreted theologically as God withdrawing direct communication — a transition from oracular to prophetic revelation.
Some scholars believe the Urim and Thummim were a form of binary cleromancy — essentially a sacred coin flip guided by divine will. The 12 gemstones of the breastplate may have served as a random-output generator, with specific stones corresponding to "yes" and others to "no."
Contemporary practitioners have created modern equivalents of the Urim and Thummim using:
While these reconstructions cannot claim the authority of the original sacred objects, they preserve the essential cleromantic principle: binary divine communication through guided randomness.
The Norse tradition of rune casting (útiseta, "sitting out") is one of the best-documented forms of cleromancy from the ancient world. The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in Germania (98 CE), described the practice:
"They attend to auspices and lots more than any other people. Their method of casting lots is simple: they cut a branch from a nut-bearing tree and slice it into strips, which they mark with distinguishing signs and throw randomly onto a white cloth."
Norse cleromancy operated within the cosmological framework of Wyrd (ᚹᚢᚱᛞ) — the Norse concept of fate or destiny. The three Norns (Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld) sat at the base of Yggdrasil, weaving the threads of fate for all beings. Rune casting did not create the future — it revealed what the Norns had already woven.
This is a crucial distinction: Norse cleromancy was revelatory, not generative. The runes showed what would happen given current trajectories, not what must happen. The practitioner could then take action to alter unfavorable outcomes — a concept remarkably similar to modern predictive analytics.
The Elder Futhark — the oldest form of the runic alphabet (circa 150–800 CE) — consists of 24 characters divided into three groups of eight (aettir). Each rune carries both a phonetic value and a divinatory meaning:
Three primary methods were used:
The runes were traditionally cast onto a white cloth, and only runes landing face-up (with the symbol visible) were read. Runes landing outside the cloth or face-down were ignored — a built-in filtering mechanism that prevented over-reading.
Cleromancy is one of the most accessible divinatory arts. You can begin practicing today with materials you already own. Here are three complete methods, from simplest to most advanced.
This method uses three identical coins and produces a simple yes/no/maybe answer with nuance.
Materials: Three coins of the same denomination, a flat surface, a journal for recording
Assign values: Heads = 3, Tails = 2
Cast all three coins simultaneously and add the values:
This method uses five standard six-sided dice and produces a nuanced reading based on the combination of values.
Total 5–10: Strong caution. Powerful opposing forces. Reconsider your approach or timing.
Total 11–15: Uncertainty. The situation is in flux. Wait for more information before deciding.
Total 16–20: Neutral to mildly favorable. Proceed with awareness but without urgency.
Total 21–25: Favorable. Conditions support your intention. Move forward.
Total 26–30: Highly favorable. Strong alignment. Act decisively.
Additional nuance: Note any triples, pairs, or sequences in the individual dice values. Three-of-a-kind amplifies that number's meaning. A straight (1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6) indicates a process unfolding in stages.
This method creates a personalized cleromantic set using objects that hold meaning for you.
Keep a Cleromancy Journal with the following entries for each reading:
This journal becomes your most valuable cleromantic tool over time. After 50+ entries, you will begin noticing patterns — certain results that consistently correspond to certain outcomes — that refine your personal system beyond any book's instructions.
Q: Is cleromancy just gambling with spiritual dressing?
A: No. Gambling seeks to predict outcomes for personal gain. Cleromancy seeks spiritual guidance for decision-making. The mindset, intention, and framework are fundamentally different. A gambler asks "What will happen so I can profit?" A cleromancer asks "What does the divine will for my highest good?" The former is transactional; the latter is devotional.
Q: Can cleromancy predict the future?
Q: How many times can I ask the same question?
Q: What if I don't like the answer?
Q: Do I need to be psychic to practice cleromancy?
Q: How does cleromancy relate to the I Ching?
Cleromancy's simplicity makes it ideal for modern integration. Consider these practical applications:
Cleromancy reminds us that not everything needs to be figured out through analysis alone. Sometimes the wisest action is to surrender the decision to a higher power — to let the dice fall where they may and trust that the pattern they reveal carries meaning beyond what our conscious minds can perceive.
May your lots be cast with clarity and your guidance come from the deepest well of wisdom.
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