Clearing the Waters

A Monograph on Saint Cyprian Divination from the 17th to the 19th Century

José Leitão

• Publisher: Hadean Press Limited
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781914166280
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Folklore & Mythology
• Index: Social Sciences

Card divination has long been a particularly iconic aspect of the Portuguese Book of Saint Cyprian, featuring in the cover illustrations of most of its nineteenth-century versions. Included in many of the cartomancy incantations is a small pseudo-hagiographical narrative which mentions a supposed seven-year seafaring journey made by Saint Cyprian himself. The origin and meaning of these thematically coherent incantations, as related to these cartomancy systems (or any other 'Cyprianic' divination method), has until now remained unresolved.

In Clearing the Waters: A Monograph on Saint Cyprian Divination from the 17th to the 19th Century, author José Leitão utilises Portuguese Inquisition records and Prosecutor's Notebooks to unravel the mystery of the seafaring incantation, and how it has come to be associated with contemporary Cyprian divination. Also included is a discussion of other divinatory techniques found in the Book of Saint Cyprian, such as coscinomancy, favomancy, and hydromancy, of which many examples can be found in the extensive appendices.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction to a Historical Problem
• Expanding Methods, Contexts, and Databases
• Ritual Description
• From Hydromancy to Cartomancy to Text
• Conclusions
• Appendix 1A: ‘System of casting cards’, from the contemporary Book of St. Cyprian
• Appendix 1B: ‘Way of reading the cards exactly like St. Cyprian did’, from the contemporary Book of St. Cyprian
• Appendix 1C: ‘Crossed Cartomancy’, from the contemporary Book of St. Cyprian
• Appendix 2A: Known Saint Cyprian hydromancy references with complete incantations and ritual procedures
• Appendix 2B: Known Saint Cyprian hydromancy references with absent or incomplete ritual procedures
• Appendix 2C: Known Saint Cyprian hydromancy references with absent or fragmented incantations
• Appendix 2D: Known Saint Cyprian hydromancy references with incomplete or absent ritual procedures and incantations
• Appendix 2E: Castro Marim Saint Simeon hydromancy reference
• Appendix 3: Devotions of Saint Erasmus
• Appendix 4A: Alternative fava baptism
• Appendix 4B: Alternative fava casting incantation
• Bibliography
• Index