Favomancy

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BlackMoonCoven
July 09

Favomancy is the practice if reading beans for divination purposes. An

old and interesting method of divination that by some sources
predates even the tarot. We are unsure about the origins of this
particular practice however we do know it made its way to the slavic
countries from the Turks or the Mongols. Since history is such a murky
topic with this act of divination this blog will be about developing and
using your very own set!
user uploaded image

××× picking the beans ×××

Depending on the method of bean reading you prefer that will be the
type of beans you buy. Good thing to note is that beans are cheap a
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whole bag runs a couple bucks and you will have plenty of beans for
various things besides your set. (Browse the various methods of bean
reading below).

There are millions of beans to choose from i would select the beans
based on your divination preference. If for example you prefer to scry
choose beans that are smaller for better images. If you prefer a more
outlined divination i would choose the largest ones. Personally i like
lima beans, the white makes them look like bones and they are large
enough to shuffle nicely. However you do not have to use beans! You
can use coffee beans, buttons, small pebbles, pennies even. Be creative,
use what you got.

For a more traditional set you will require a total of 41 beans, these
beans will be read using a tablet which i will explain below. Pick beans
that are all about the same shape, avoid any cracked or misshapen
beans. You will want the most perfect set possible. This takes a while
so have fun, light a candle and pour out your beans on a flat surface
and let your intuition guide you to pick out the most perfect ones.
user uploaded image

××× methods of reading ×××

Like mentioned previously the methods to reading beans vary by

culture, tradition or general divination style. I will detail 3 different
types of reading methods in this blog but please note that they are
infinite.

Yes/No
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For this method you will need 3 beans. Well i use 3, you can use as
many as you see fit. Take a marker and draw an x on one side of each
of the beans. Now you are ready to ask your question. Take the beans
in your hand whisper your question and toss them on the ground. 3 xs
up means no way, 2 means there might be a way, and 1 is a maybe.
When u get the blank side its 3 is hell yes, 2 is a maybe and 1 is not
likely.

Another way to read yes or no is by splitting. You will take your whole
set (41 beans). Whisper your question like before and toss the beans in
front of you. Next take your finger and split the mass of beans down
the middle. Your going to count the beans on each side, the side that
has more beans is your answer. Left is no, right is yes.

Images

This method is pretty self explanatory. Scrying makes up most of

divination, its a method where the seer will gaze at reflective surfaces,
smoke, fire, small objects etc. to see if images come forward. For this
method you will require either small beans for more clearer images or
your whole set of 41 beans. Take the beans in your hands, whisper
your question and toss them in front of you. Stare at the beans and see
what shapes or letters appear. Some tips; view it from different angles,
take glasses of or cross your eyes slightly. Don't overthink it!

Tablet

In the photo at the beginning of this section you will see a traditional
example of a tablet, made for favomancy purposes. Tablets are like
spreads each square is assigned a meaning and we count out the beans
to get the fortune. Below you will find a video from my youtube
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channel where i display how to not only make a tablet but to preform a
reading as well.

Making a tablet is not difficult usually there are 9 squares and each
square represents a aspect of life. Much like tarot in a way.
Traditionally we have; the head, the heart, the hand, and the foot with
varying squares of expenses, home life, heart break, spirit, wallet etc.

To use this method we start with our 41 beans and either whisper your
question or the persons name your reading for, shuffle the beans and
separate them into 3 piles.

Count out 4 beans until you get 4 or less and place the remainder in the
first square do this for the whole row. When you get to the next row,
bring the beans together again and repeat what you did for the row
above. You will have left over beans and that's okay, its what is on the
tablet that matter.

Now reading the tablet, takes some getting used to. It takes some
reading between the lines to figure out what the beans are trying to
say. However there are some basic rules; odd numbers are good, even
are bad. The higher the odd number the better the fortune for that
square, the higher the even number the worse for that square. Lower
numbers for both are obviously reversed.

Like I said it takes some practice but eventually you will see between
the beans!

Favomancy Video

https://youtu.be/45toQva2S0g
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user uploaded image

I am addicted to the simplicity and intricacy of Favomancy. Its really a

lost art, time to bring it back and make it thrive. Thank you all for
reading, any comments, questions or concerns please place them
below!

One of the most popular methods of fortune-telling in Bosnia and

Herzegovina is certainly divination with beans "falanje u grah" or
"throwing beans" (bacanje graha). Among the people there are stories
that demised Hazrat Fatima secretly performed divination with beans,
hiding it from her father Muhammad. On one occasion while Hazrat
Fatima predicted the fate of her friend in the room suddenly entered
Mohammed. Hazrat Fatima in shock and rush managed to hide under
her dress only half of the beans, which were located in front her,
therefore since then it is believed that in every divination lies half truth
and half lie. It is interesting that one combination of divination is
named after her name – “Hazrat Fatima fal”. It is a combination of 333,
which represents happiness, marriage and the fulfillment of whish.
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Reading destiny with 41 beans or falanje u grah Th_b4b4c6fb

In Bosnia, a person dealing with the divination in the beans is called

“faladžija" or "faladžinica" if it is a female person. For divination in the
beans fortune teller needs the red patch on which he or she lines up 41
grains of white beans. Before she starts placing the beans on the patch
she takes the beans into the right fist , places the fist close to her mouth
and recites the prayer: “Rabbi jesir vela tu'asir, rabbi temmim bil-hayr”
three times and then blows into her fist three times.

Then she divides the beans into three smaller piles and from each takes
the four seeds making a figure of three rows with nine beans pile
where each individual pile can have 1, 2, 3 or 4 seed. The left vertical
line represents a female person and the right male person. The vertical
line in the middle is called the house or heart. In addition, females and
males lines are divided into three symbols: the head, arms, legs and the
line in the middle is divided on: the cushion, fireplace and doors.
The method of divination in the bean is extremely broad and requires
much effort and space for an explanation, however there are several
shorter versions of divination which people mostly use to get the
answer to a specific question.

The group of 41 beads of white beans the fortune teller arranges three
times:
-The first arrangement is for the past and it symbolizes childhood and
youth
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The second arrangement symbolizes the clients present and the middle
of his life
The third arrangement symbolizes the future, and is treated as the
most important part of the complete fortune telling. It symbolizes the
latter part of someone's life.

ABC
DEF
GHI

TEHIR or TIME

The first row (A,B,C) is called „površina“ or "the surface", and its
characteristic is that it can only have an odd sum of numbers 5 or 9
beads, when compared to the second and third row. When there are
five beads in the first row (212, 122, 221), and in the bottom that
symbolizes time (or their) 5 groups each having four beads (or five
hatmi) then that shows speed to the fortune teller, favorable progress
of the situation, or as they like to say: „the beans go in your favour!"
The first row symbolizes intelligence, thinking patterns, thought
processes,. and that's why there is a "male" and "female" head inside
and a "pillow".

The second row (D,E,F) represents emotion and the house. It can be
said that the second and third row are connected while the first row is
separate and independent. The one thing that most people don't know
is that only in the second and third row there can be for example a
combination of infidelity, loss, moving, tears but also travel, gain, etc.

The third row (G,H,I) is a symbol of the things that are outside or in
front of the door. It is a symbol of movement and action which is
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confirmed by the male and female foot prints (or legs) and the
"threshold". The more beads there are on the threshold the more guests
in the house or if there is only one bead on the threshold-the news will
arrive inside the house, two beads "open door" that is the one whose
fortune is foretold will travel or the like.

Tehir or time symbolizes a specific period when a prophecy might

come true, for example, if there are five groups that have four beads in
the "time" row, that means that the foretold will come about soon, if
there are four groups each having four beads then the client has to be
patient because the prophecy will not come about soon, etc. Fortune
telling of four groups each having four beads is called „hatma“.

Besides this, each fortune teller with beans can foretell for three types
of persons- girlfriend, wife, widow or boyfriend, husband, widower.
For example, if a married person receives the "Hazrat Fatima fal" it is
not interpreted as to the other groups. While to the other groups it
foretells marriage, to the married ones it foretells divorce or the like.

111 - problems, divorce, departure

112 - loss of a loved one

121 – love between partners

131 - ''wings'': happiness, cash gain, succes

144 - relationship, marriage

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212 - bismillah fal grah: love date

233 - love joy

242 - meeting, cash gain

224 - travelling

314 - problems in a marriage or family

323 - love

333 - Hazrat Fatima fal: marriage, luck, succees on work or in love

414 - problems

431 - loss

432 - news

444 - prosperity, succees on work or in love

10 Judul Buku

Favomancy is a form of divination that involves throwing beans on the

ground and interpreting the patterns in which the beans fall; it is
therefore a type of cleromancy. Various forms of favomancy are
present across the World cultures. The term favomancy comes from
the Latin faba "bean" and formed by analogy with the names of similar
divination methods such as alectromancy.
Favomancy used to be practised by seers in Russia, in particular,
among the Ubykh. Russian methods of favomancy may still exist;
however, since the departure of the Ubykhs from the Caucasus in 1864,
details of exactly how Ubykh soothsayers interpreted the patterns
formed by the beans are lost.[1] The Ubykh term for a favomancer
simply means "bean-thrower", and later became a synonym for all
soothsayers and seers in general.[2]
In Bosniak traditions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, favomancy is is
called bacanje graha 'bean-throwing' or falanje (from Persian fal 'to
bode'). The fortune-teller places 41 beads of white beans onto a flat
surfaces, dividing them into smaller groups using a complex set of
rules. The resulting numbers of beans in each group are then
interpreted as favorable or unfavorable signs in different aspects of life.
[3]
Both Russian and Bosnian methods are remarkably similar, and likely
share a common origin. Since the method is not present in the West, it
is possible that the origin might be in the middle East. In Iran, a similar
method exists, involving fifty-three peas.
Error! No text of specified style in document. 11

In Bosnian way of bean grains fortune telling particular attention is

committed to the interpretation of each grain positioning. Direction in
which the grain is directed, its horizontal or vertical position, whether
one grain is attached to another, or tree or more, is very important data
in the process. An example concerning one love couple follows:

1. Woman is burdened with love relationship and displays serious

insecurity. She easily gets angry with the man and then she terminates
communication with him.
2. Man and woman are together.
3. Man has got similar temper as woman he gets angry easily and than
he does not communicate to her.
4. Woman loves man
5. Regardless certain problems in character and communication
themselves, as a couple, go along fine.
6. Man is quite introverted; he does not display enough emotions or
affection.
7. Woman is indecisive; she often does not know what to do to
improve their relationship.
8. Communication seems to be a great problem. They both
communicate more with others than with each-other.
9. Man is more oriented towards carrier, income, money.
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If this combination of grains appeared in the first cast of beans than

analyse is interpreted in the past tense. This, in fact, interprets the
relationship of partners in the past. However, if it appears in the
second cast than it represents their present, while in the third cast has
negative connotation and may indicate problematic love relation.

Favomancy is a form of divination that involves throwing beans on the

ground and interpreting the patterns into which the beans fall; it is
therefore a type of cleromancy. In Muslim traditions of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, favomancy is called bacanje graha 'bean-throwing' or
falanje (from Persian fal 'to bode').

The next technique I will cover is the use of Favomancy, that is,
divining with beans. Throughout Sicilian culture one may find a
particular amount of lore surrounding one common type of bean; the
Fava bean. Known to bring luck to anyone who carries one with him, it
is often said that anyone who carries the fava will never go without the
common necessities of life. They are used as symbols of abundance
and offerings to ancestors and saints alike- fava beans can often be seen
adorning St. Joseph’
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Favomancy
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Favomancy is a form of divination that involves throwing beans on the

ground and interpreting the patterns into which the beans fall; it is
therefore a type of cleromancy.

Various forms of favomancy are present across the world's cultures;

the term comes from the Vicia faba meaning Fava bean, and by way of
cult etymology, from the Latin faba for "bean" and formed by analogy
with the names of similar divination methods such as alectromancy.

Favomancy used to be practised by seers in Russia, in particular,

among the Ubykh. Russian methods of favomancy may still exist after
the departure of the Ubykhs from the Caucasus in 1864, but the details
are now lost of exactly how Ubykh soothsayers interpreted the
patterns formed by the beans; the Ubykh term for a favomancer
(pxazayš’) simply means "bean-thrower", and it later became a
synonym for all soothsayers

and seers in general in that language.

In Muslim traditions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, favomancy is called

bacanje graha 'bean-throwing' or falanje (from Persian fal 'to bode'); the
fortune-teller places 41 white beans onto a flat surface, dividing them
into smaller groups using a complex set of rules. The resulting number
of beans in each group is then interpreted as a favorable or unfavorable
sign for the different aspects of life represented by each of the groups.
14 Judul Buku

Both Russian and Bosnian methods are remarkably similar, and likely
share a common origin. Since the method is not present in the West, it
is possible that the origin might be in the Middle East. A similar
method exists in Iran, involving fifty-three peas.