Tyromancy
Tyromancy is a method of divination using cheese.[1]
History
[edit]The first recorded mention of tyromancy is believed to be in Oneirocritica, a 2nd century AD treatise on dream interpretation by Greek diviner Artemidorus of Daldis.[2][3] He claimed it to be one of the most unreliable forms of divination, writing that "the truth is spoken by sacrificers and bird-diviners and astrologers and observers of wonders and dream diviners and liver-examiners alone". He counted tyromancers as "false diviners” along with dice diviners, sieve-diviners, and necromancers.[1][4]
At the Robber Council of Ephesus in 449, bishop Sophronius of Tella was accused of various forms of divination including tyromancy, and oomancy (divination with eggs).[5][3]
In a piece for food magazine Saveur, 21st century tyromancer Jennifer Billock wrote that the practice of cheese fortune-telling reached peak popularity in agrarian England in the middle ages and early modern period. She noted that most families had some sort of milk-producing livestock, and that using cheese was more convenient than previous methods of divination like molybdomancy, which uses molten metal.[2]
According to Billock, tyromancy had all but disappeared by the 1920s. She speculates that this may be in part be due to the popularity of the Rider–Waite tarot card deck, introduced in 1909.[2]
In 2023, Billock's own practice was covered by the CBC News in Canada and by ABC News in Australia. She described tyromancy as a fun method of divination because you get to eat the cheese after your fortune has been told.[6][7]
Method
[edit]ABC News defines tyromancy as being divination involving "the observation of cheese, especially as it coagulates", with areas of focus including smell, patterns and texture of the cheese.[6] Jennifer Billock describes her method as looking for shapes and symbols in the cheese, including observing ridges, holes, crystallization, and mottling on the rind. Some of symbols she looks for include a heart shape, meaning love, an arrow meaning a journey, a dog meaning companionship, and a baby meaning change. She has based this method on sources including antique spell manuals and dream interpretation book transcripts, saying "there wasn’t any sort of central repository of tyromancy information".[3]
In popular culture
[edit]An episode of animated television series Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts features three goat witches, the Chevre sisters, who use cheese to tell the future.[8]
Video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt features a quest named "Of Dairy and Darkness" involving a mage with connections to tyromancy.[2][9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Stanmore, Tabitha (2021-01-22). "The spellbinding history of cheese and witchcraft". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
- ^ a b c d Billock, Jennifer (2023-11-16). "The Un-Brie-Lievable History of Tyromancy". Saveur. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
- ^ a b c Adams, Kathy (2023-10-31). "When Cheese Can Tell the Future". Eater. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
Though no one knows exactly when tyromancy originated, written accounts of it date back to the 2nd century in Artemedorus Daldianus' Oneirocritica books on dream interpretation.
- ^ "The Library of Dreams". The Awl. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
- ^ Honigmann, Ernest (1944). "A Trial for Sorcery on August 22, A.D. 449". Isis. 35 (4): 281–284. ISSN 0021-1753.
- ^ a b "The ancient art of cheese fortune telling". ABC. 2023-09-02. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
- ^ "Step aside crystal ball, this cheese will tell your fortune". CBC News.
- ^ Weldon, Glenn (2020-06-12). "'Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts' Returns, Weirder And Warmer Than Ever". NPR.
- ^ Rahaman, Reyadh (2021-03-06). "The Witcher 3: A Complete Walkthrough For Of Dairy And Darkness". Game Rant. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
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