sortilege means witchcraft, magic, especially as a means of making decisions or predictions. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
SORTILEGE — [Noun] Witchcraft or magic, especially that involving divination or decision-making by casting lots. From Old French sortilège, from Medieval Latin sortilegium ("witchcraft, divination by lots"), from Latin sortilegus ("sorcerer, diviner"), from sors ("lot, fate") + legere ("to choose, gather"). Unlike "divination," a general seeking of omens, or "sorcery," a willful command of unseen forces, sortilege is a sacred gamble, a formalized surrender to chance as an oracle. It is the rattle of marked bones in a cup, the slick whisper of stones from a leather pouch, the silent turn of a tarot card on rough cloth—a ritualized whisper from the universe, asking us to trust the arbitrariness of an answer.
noun
- Witchcraft, magic, especially as a means of making decisions or predictions.“We have therefore summoned to our presence a Jewish woman, by name Rebecca, daughter of Isaac of York — a woman infamous for sortileges and for witcheries.”