tephramancy

Etymology

From tephra + -mancy.

tephramancy means divination by ashes, especially, especially those of a victim has been sacrificed. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “tephramancy” is a great word

TEPHRAMANCY — [Noun] The practice of divining prophetic signs from the patterns and formations of cooled ashes, particularly those from a ritually significant fire. From the Greek tephra ("ashes") and -mancy ("divination"). Unlike spodomancy, which interprets the broader residue of soot and cinders, or capnomancy, which scries the rising, transient smoke, tephramancy concerns itself solely with the silent, settled relic of the flame. It is the careful smoothing of a grey-white plane, the tracing of fissures that might be rivers or serpents, and the mapping of fragile continents formed by a hearth's final collapse—a quiet testament that meaning, like heat, lingers longest in the geography left behind.

noun

Divination by ashes, especially, especially those of a victim has been sacrificed.