Gyromancy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A method of divination involving spinning in circles to induce a trance or obtain prophetic visions through dizziness and altered consciousness
2. A form of fortune-telling where an individual rotates repeatedly to achieve a mystical state and gain insight or predict future events
3. A spiritual practice that employs continuous turning to enter a meditative or ecstatic condition for the purpose of divine revelation or forecasting outcomes

Etymology: Gyromancy is a plain compound, built from "gyro-" (from Greek "gyros", meaning circle or ring) and "-mancy" (from Greek "manteia", divination). Put together, it names divination by circling or spinning, and the practice is what the name describes: the diviner set something revolving and read meaning in how it came to rest. The "-mancy" element is the more familiar half. It appears in many older and learned terms for fortune-telling, such as "necromancy" (divination through the dead) and "chiromancy" (palm reading), so gyromancy follows that same pattern of naming a method of prophecy after the object or action used. Because the ending is so productive in English, the word reads as a transparent formation rather than an inherited one.

Synonyms: divination by spinning, circle divination