Divination is the art of foreseeing or foretelling future events or of discovering hidden or secret knowledge. There are basically two kinds: natural and artificial. Natural divination includes oneiromancy, based on dreams and chresmology based on oracles. Artificial, or inductive, divination is of many types. Ornithomancy is based on the flight, cries and eating of various species of birds. Cledonomancy is based on observing human signs, actions or utterances and includes palmistry. Extispicy is based on the examination of the entrails of animals. Pyromancy is based on observing the actions of wood, bone, eggs, flour or incense when thrown on a fire or the actions of the fire itself. Hydromancy is based on the action of water when various things are thrown on it. Cleromancy is divination by lots and includes a wide variety of types. Meteorological divination includes observation of lightning, shooting stars, meteorites and earthquakes. Astrology is well known. Christianity and Judaism generally oppose all forms of divination. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions of the Middle and Far East use divination as a part of their traditions as do most less formal traditions.
It has been estimated that in France there are 30,000 people offering the fortune-telling services with an annual turnover of 5 billion francs.