Daphnomancy - Predicting the Future from Burning Laurel Leaves

Divination is one of the ways mankind has tried to make sense of the unpredictability and vulnerability of human life. With the help of certain objects and omens, people have tried to uncover hidden meanings, answers as well as what lies beyond the veil of the future. One such method of divination is daphnomancy which involves the burning of laurel leaves.

Daphnomancy refers to a form of divination in ancient times that interpreted the action and description of burning laurel leaves as a way of seeking answers to specific questions or determining what was going to happen in future. For instance a loud crackling from the fire was supposed to be a good omen, whereas silence the absence of such a sound usually implied lack of divine favor. Also the kind of flame produced upon the burning of laurel leaves was considered significant for reading the future. A bright fire burning the leaves was considered favorable, but if it smoldered and died out, the outlook was thought to indicate a gloomy turn of events. The shape of the flames produced during the burning of the laurel leaves could also provide some answers; for instance three flame points would mean that things were coming together to a harmonious conclusion, one point was single-mindedness and two flame points meant that the seeker may need the aid of a friend to accomplish his/her goal. In later ages, sometimes bay leaves was also be used for this technique, since they were easier to obtain as compared to laurel leaves.

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Daphnomancy as a specific form of divination originated in ancient Rome and at this time only the leaves from the sacred grove of Apollo were thought to be eligible for use of divination purposes. In fact each roman emperor when they ascended to the throne was supposed to plant laurel trees at the grove sacred to Apollo. The term ‘daphno’ harks to the figure of Daphne who in Greek mythology was a nymph transformed into the first laurel tree in order to escape the pursuit of the Olympian god Apollo. The story goes that, Apollo chased the nymph Daphne so persistently that she was forced to beg for help to the gods who took pity on her and turned her into a laurel tree. Eventually the laurel became sacred to Apollo, and crowned the victors at the Pythian games.

The original grove from which the Romans took their laurel branches withered in 68 AD; contemporary augurs believed that this was a portent of the roman emperor Nero’s death and the eventual demise of the long line of Caesar’s successors. Daphnomancy was considered to be widely practiced in the pre-Christian kingdoms of Greece and Rome.

Daphomancy can be understood as a sub-group of pyromancy which is a form of divination that depends on any burning action and its characteristics to determine the future. The most basic form of pyromancy is that in which the diviner observes flames, from a sacrificial fire, a candle, or as in case of daphnomancy burning leaves. The seer then interprets the shapes that he or she sees within the flames or the sound of crackling fire as portents of the future or indicating the answer to a pertinent question. A related form of divination and yet another sub-group of pyromancy is botanomancy which involves the burning of plants.