Divination by means of a cock and grains of corn placed on theletters of the alphabet, the letters being put together in the orderin which the grains were eaten. Amer. Cyc.

]]>https://definedictionarymeaning.com/topic/15330/alectryomancyRSS for NodeThu, 04 Jun 2026 08:13:55 GMTTue, 21 Mar 2017 19:44:03 GMT60(also called alectoromancy or alectromancy)
derivation comes from the Greek words alectryon and manteia, which mean rooster and [divination] respectively) is a form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird, several birds (or most preferably a [white rooster] or [cockerel]) [pecking] at [grain] (such as wheat) that the diviner has scattered on the ground. The observer may place grain in the shape of letters and thus discern a divinatory revelation by noting which letters the birds peck at, or the diviner may just interpret the pattern left by the birds pecking in randomly scattered grain.
In another version, the observer tethers the bird in the center of a circle, around the perimeter of which is marked the alphabet, with a piece of grain at each letter. For each grain the bird [pecks], the observer writes down the letter which that grain represents. The observer also replaces each grain as the bird eats it, so that letters may be repeated. [The sequence] of letters recorded will presumably contain a message.
This form of divination is related to [Ouija], by the random selection of letters; and gyromancy by the random selection of letters from a circle around the diviner themself; and to orniscopy, divination by the movements of birds.
Alectormancy is also sacrificing a sacred rooster.

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