Forty-One Brothers & Sisters: An Introduction to Favomancy & Its Sorcery with Katarina Pejović

Kumalak, “gledanje u pasulj”, “falanje u grah”—from Kazakhstan to Bosnia, divination by forty-one beans (or pebbles, corn, coffee, and so  on) remains one of the more popular forms of fortune-telling. A remarkably flexible geomantic oracle, it has adopted the local folklore  and beliefs of each region, with stories of its origins and uses drawing on Bogomil heresies, Muslim folk tales, and Slavic polytheist magic.  While generally, each reading will physically resemble the next—being comprised of a three-by-three grid with one to four beans in each  square—the meaning behind the numbers of the beans and each individual  quadrant varies entirely depending on method of interpretation, chart  style, figures generated, and the advice that comes through in mediumship and spiritual consultation. 

This class will go over the procedures behind this popular yet elusive form of divination, the oral charms spoken over the beans; the myths and origins behind their use; a handful of chart styles and their accompanying generated figures; ways to read for love, money, magical success, diagnosing curses, and delivering messages from spirits; and the sorcery that can be done with the beans themselves after a reading has been completed. The aim is to not only present a comprehensive introduction into the history and  practice of favomancy, but also to lay the groundwork for anyone to begin to “gaze into” the beans themselves.