Bibliomancy 101

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This article shows different ways to practice bibliomancy and includes instructions for beginners.

What is Bibliomancy?

Bibliomancy has been around for a long time. Most normally done with a bible, a bibliomancer can work with any book, though usually a sacred scripture is used. It can be vague at times when you want an answer, but you must use your own intuition as your guide to answer it. There are countless of ways to practice bibliomancy and many create their own method like I did. Here I would like to share my own and other ways to practice bibliomancy.

First...Which book do I use?

Any book can be used for bibliomancy, but some may be harder than others to read. Like when I use my bible I get verses and chapters that deal with my questions at hand, but it isn't always like that. Sometimes I get weird verses that need some time to interpret. while there are times that the answer are spot on and easy to understand. Much like tarot your book can develop its own personality. A book of poems from Edgar Allan Poe will have darker and perhaps a more in your face attitude when it comes to your problems. While books from Doctor Seuss can be more friendly and eccentric. You must treat your book with  the same respect as you would a tarot deck. Don't just have it lying around, put it somewhere safe or even sacred. I recommend you cleanse your book every week and don't anyone else touch it.

Some books are better to use more than others. If you are asking a philosophical question then use a book on philosophy or if you are wondering what to eat use a cook book. Not every book will be suitable for every type of question, so please keep that in mind. Mainly I see people use sacred scripture as there only book they read from, like me, but like I said it can be any book you feel comfortable with.

How to Practice Bibliomancy

Like I said there are many ways to practice bibliomancy. I am only going to speak of the ones I know. If reading from the bible, I like to ask my question three times then intuitively pick a page and read the closest chapter on the left side. I do this because in America we read from left to right. If there is no beginning chapter I will flip the left pages underneath the left side until I get to the closest chapter. When I get to the closest chapter, I read the whole thing and then I should receive my answer. If the chapter doesn't seem right, that does not mean you didn't receive it. Though, if you wish to ask again you have two more tries. If you still don't get it then maybe the book is being sassy or now wasn't the right time for you to ask it.

Another way is to flip a coin. If the coin lands on heads it is the right side of the page. If the coin lands on tails it's the left. I find this best when it comes to a book of affirmations or what I use, devotional books. Each page will have its own message directed towards the reader. So when flipping a coin you automatically choose a page and message before even opening the book. Similarly, you can flip a coin for the same reason for any ordinary book. When the coin has chosen the page you read that side and more until you feel like you got your answer.

The most common way to do a reading is to ask a question, close your eyes, open it up, and intuitively point on either page. The closest sentence or paragraph your finger has chosen is your answer. This doesn't work for me because I like more thorough reading. The readings I usually do are longer and are usually done with more than one paragraph. I am fully dissing this way to do a reading, but it is certainly not one of my favorites.

What I do not recommend for doing a reading is laying a book on it's spine and let it go to the right page on it's own. If you have a new book it is most likely not gonna do that. If you have an old one it may flip to the same exact or close by page that it will always land on. It may do this because the former owner kept a bookmark there or probably it was flipped too that page often. This is my own experience and I am not saying this way of reading is bad, more so difficult.

When I am usually asking questions for no apparent reason that isn't important or just for the heck of it, the reading doesn't normally end well and I don't really get my answer. I am not saying you can't have fun with your readings it is just that you should have genuine reason to ask it. But this could also be just how my book operates. it is is a Bible after all.

It is best to use your intuition when it comes to bibliomancy, especially when it comes across tricky answers. Not always will your response from your book be all clear, so sometimes you have read between the lines. Tell yourself how does this make me feel? Is it a bad or good feeling? Do you feel surprised or scared? Keep telling yourself these questions and you may make a meaning out of something that makes completely no sense!

Always take care of your books! They need as much love and attention just as tarot deck would receive. An unhappy book is gonna give you terrible readings. When I first got into bibliomancy I'd ding up a lot of my books and I am surprised they still answer my questions. Remember books are knowledge and they all have their own kind of way to share it to those who seek it. I hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any questions feel free to leave them down below or message me any time you want .

Added to on Oct 29, 2019
Last edited on Oct 31, 2019
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