Onimancy (or Onycomancy)
Onimancy (or Onycomancy)
An elaborate ritual of divination, possibly based on the observation of the angel Uriel. Olive oil or walnut oil mixed with tallow is put on the nails of the right hand or in the palm of a young boy or girl. To recover money or hidden objects, the face of the child must be turned toward the east; for inquiry into a crime or romance toward the south; for robbery toward the west; and for murder toward the south.
Then the child must repeat the seventy-two verses of the Psalms, which the Hebrew Kabalists (see Kabala ) collected for the Urim and Thummim. In each verse the venerable name of four letters and the three lettered name of the seventy-two angels occurs. Believers claim that at the end of this process would be the answer.
Other authorities give the name onychomancy to the interpretation of the spots on the human nails.