chartomancy means divination by interpreting inscriptions on writing paper. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “chartomancy” is a great word
CHARTOMANCY — [Noun] Divination by interpreting stray marks, stains, or accidental inscriptions on a sheet of paper. From Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, "leaf of paper, papyrus") + -mancy (from μαντεία (manteía, "divination")). First attested in 1652. Unlike bibliomancy (which seeks prophecy in the curated words of a text) or graphology (which mines handwriting for psychological insight), chartomancy finds meaning in the paper’s own accidental wounds. It is the diviner squinting at a water stain’s archipelago, tracing the prophetic path of an inkblot’s tendrils, or reading a future in the crease left by a careless fold—a quiet faith that meaning leaks through in the very substance meant only to carry it.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “leaf of paper”) + -mancy.
noun
- Divination by interpreting inscriptions on writing paper.“1652 Gaule The Magastromancer xix.
Chartomancy, by writing in papers […]”