The publication in 1997 of a book called The Bible Code by Michael Drosnin, formerly a reporter on the Wall Street Journal, created something of a sensation in theological circles – as well as starting a whole new craze.

The Bible Code states that, hidden within the text of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible), is a series of encoded messages that predict future events. A section of text is arranged in the form of a grid, in which the characters can be read horizontally, vertically or diagonally, rather in the manner of a Wordsearch puzzle. Starting with any letter at random, the user constructs what is known as an equidistant letter sequence (ELS), by taking every fifth letter, for example, from then on, in any direction, and looking for possible messages in the text that emerges.

Practitioners claim that they soon uncover interesting combinations of names and dates in close proximity to each other. Drosnin himself claims to have used this method to predict, a year in advance, the assassination of the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Other events predicted (not always by Drosnin himself) have included the 1981 assassination of Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.

Sceptics who have analysed these claims using the laws of statistical probability say that there is nothing unusual in being able to find apparently significant words and phrases by taking random sequences from any piece of text. In addition, there is not merely one but several versions of the original Hebrew text of the Torah, and the codes can be traced in some of these but not others.

Defending his work, Drosnin declared, “When my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encoded in Moby Dick, I’ll believe them.” A sceptical researcher named Brendan McKay then did precisely that, finding premonitions of the deaths of not just Rabin, but Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Diana in Melville’s tale of the pursuit of the great white whale.

In medieval times, bibliomancy was commonly practised with other texts than the Bible. The Aeneid, the heroic verse epic of Roman poet Virgil, was a popular resource.

Taking a dip

Bible-dipping is becoming increasingly popular, judging by the number of blogs that relate personal experiences of it. As a technique, it is as much about seeking advice as it is about predicting the future, and in this respect bears some resemblance to the ancient Chinese practice of consulting the I Ching, or Book of Changes.

First, a question is asked. The Bible is then opened at random and the user sticks his or her finger on the page without looking. The surrounding passage, or even just the single word indicated, is then interpreted in the light of the original question.

Icons divinatory researcher Stuart Walton puts the question, “Should I embark on a long journey to visit relatives?” The one word that jumps out seems less than helpful: “Therefore.” The longer passage, such as the whole verse, is more suggestive: “Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under the glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.” (Isaiah 10:16). That decides it then.

Are you sure?

It should, perhaps, also be borne in mind that the Old Testament contains many passages in which God declares that he detests divination. The following verses make things fairly clear:

“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” (Deuteronomy, 18: 10-12).

Some of the popularity of Bible-dipping may be accounted for by its depiction in American writer Augusten Burroughs’ memoir of dysfunctional youth, Running With Scissors (2002), which became a cult book on both sides of the Atlantic.

Other methods

Consulting the I Ching is traditionally a matter of throwing either yarrow stalks or coins to produce any combination of six broken and/or unbroken lines, which are fitted together to form a hexagram. Since there are 64 possible combinations of these lines, any question posed may have one of 64 answers.

Other forms of divination with ancient lineage include:

• Reading the entrails of slaughtered animals or birds.
• Palm reading.
• Consulting the Tarot.
• Scrying (looking into reflective surfaces, such as crystal balls, dark mirrors or the surface of water).
• Reading tea leaves. Find out more here.