Lithomancy is using stones to divine the future. There are several ways to do this.
1) gazing into a crystal ball. Now, this, to me, is scrying, not lithomancy, and the crystal ball could be any reflecting, smooth surface, from a mirror and still water to ink and snowglobes. The material is irrelevant. But some people say flawless quartz crystal adds its own magical qualities to the scrying process and therefore it works better.
2) you toss the stones and read the patterns and positions of the stones. This is akin to runecasting and bonecasting. If you could replace the stones with anything else, like "stones" made of polymer clay or bottle caps or something, then it's not lithomancy but cleromancy.
3) "LITHOMANCY: This divination using precious stones, one form of which involves candlelight. Scatter gemstones of different colors around a candle. Darken the room, light the candle, close your eyes, and clear your mind of thoughts. When you open your eyes, notice which color of stone first reflects the light back to you."
-- Complete Book of Predictions, 1983
4) you place stones in a bag and pick one or several in random. You can use a black and white stone as "yes" or "no" answer. You can use crystals and gems and interpret them as runes, according to their magical qualities. (Start writing a list of the stones and their magical qualities and symbolism.)
There is a reason to believe the Jewish Urim and Thummim is a form of lithomancy.
Here's some articles and pages about lithomancy
Serena's excellent divination page
Gary L. Wimmer has written a book about the subject and judging by its page, it looks excellent. (There is information on the page, not just ad for the book, so go there.)
Occultopedia's page on lithomancy
Good Witches's Homestead - page on lithomancy
Here's how Jolearra created her lithomancy kit and how she uses it.
Carol Holaday about lithomancy
Learn Religions's page about stone divination
An article about stone and rock divination at Llewellyn
1) gazing into a crystal ball. Now, this, to me, is scrying, not lithomancy, and the crystal ball could be any reflecting, smooth surface, from a mirror and still water to ink and snowglobes. The material is irrelevant. But some people say flawless quartz crystal adds its own magical qualities to the scrying process and therefore it works better.
2) you toss the stones and read the patterns and positions of the stones. This is akin to runecasting and bonecasting. If you could replace the stones with anything else, like "stones" made of polymer clay or bottle caps or something, then it's not lithomancy but cleromancy.
3) "LITHOMANCY: This divination using precious stones, one form of which involves candlelight. Scatter gemstones of different colors around a candle. Darken the room, light the candle, close your eyes, and clear your mind of thoughts. When you open your eyes, notice which color of stone first reflects the light back to you."
-- Complete Book of Predictions, 1983
4) you place stones in a bag and pick one or several in random. You can use a black and white stone as "yes" or "no" answer. You can use crystals and gems and interpret them as runes, according to their magical qualities. (Start writing a list of the stones and their magical qualities and symbolism.)
There is a reason to believe the Jewish Urim and Thummim is a form of lithomancy.
Here's some articles and pages about lithomancy
Serena's excellent divination page
Gary L. Wimmer has written a book about the subject and judging by its page, it looks excellent. (There is information on the page, not just ad for the book, so go there.)
Occultopedia's page on lithomancy
Good Witches's Homestead - page on lithomancy
Here's how Jolearra created her lithomancy kit and how she uses it.
Carol Holaday about lithomancy
Learn Religions's page about stone divination
An article about stone and rock divination at Llewellyn
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