Coscinomancy: Turning the Sieve & Shears with Dr Alexander Cummins

‘Coscinomancy is a form of divination utilising a sieve and shears, used in ancient Greece, medieval and early modern Europe and seventeenth century New England, to determine the guilty party in a criminal offense, find answers to questions, etc.’

The paired works of cutting away confusion and winnowing the truth. The cunning detection of thieves and the determining of guilt. The cutting of possibility into choice. By accuser and advocate, by St. Peter and by St. Paul– the arguing saints at the foundation of the Church – a two-headed judge’s balance of witnesses is weighed.

The folk magical divinatory practices of ‘turning’ the sieve, shears, or both have been remarked to be found all across the ancient world, and located by some scholars and plenty of practitioners in the present in a variety of forms.

In this illustrated class, contemporary cunning-man and historian of magic Dr Alexander Cummins explores the…