Geniza Lab

26 pages of a Ladino & Hebrew manual on divination, using astrology and geomancy and perhaps some casting of lots (see pp. 21–22, where there is a calendrical table that the soothsayer can use to determine when the event will come to pass).

Leaf from a treatise on divination in Judaeo-Arabic. The hand looks pre-1500 (unlike most of the material in the AIU collection).

Leaf of prognostications based on the timing of earthquakes.

26 pages from a book on divination based on biblical verses.

A leaf giving methods for predicting the future/answers to various questions (how you will escape from an enemy. . . whether the rumor is true or not. . .).

2 bifolia (8 pages), each containing a table corresponding to one of the stones of the Urim ve-Tumim, each one intended to be used for a different sort of Yes/No prognostication (whether so-and-so will be judged fairly... whether so-and-so will be saved from danger... whether so-and-so is righteous or wicked...).

Interesting fragment of a grid containing prognostications in Judaeo-Arabic with interspersed Arabic for various questions. E.g., "This man swore falsely" or "This woman will become pregnant" (הדא אלמראה حبلى באדן אללה).

Interesting grids with Judaeo-Arabic writing, presumably for casting lots.

8 pages of grids filled with Hebrew letters, presumably for casting lots.

Prognostications for the coming year in Judaeo-Arabic.

Horoscopes in Hebrew, with marginal notes in Judaeo-Arabic. One is headed "dukhifat" (hoopoe).

Forecasts. In Ladino. Foretelling the fortunes of the coming year based on the day of the week of the Copts' Feast of the Cross (ʿīd al-ṣalīb) (17 Thout).

Leaf from a Judaeo-Arabic treatise on prognostication or horoscopes.

Two pages from an Arabic work on prognostications, including whether the days of a month or lucky or unlucky.

Tables for divination or magic, e.g. giving the names of the angels of different lands. Judaeo-Arabic, late hand.

A curious late fragment in an uneven scribal hand and imperfect Hebrew. "I heard from the Rav Yeḥiel Adhan, from the inhabitants of Sale, that he went to Tetouan and found there a letter that had fallen into the hand (or was written in the hand?) of the Rav the divine kabbalist Yehuda ha-Levi ZHLH, and this is what is written exactly, letter by letter and word by word, just as I found it." The year 1784/5 CE (5545) is mentioned - perhaps this is the year Rav Yeḥiel found the letter - and then, "upon it is written in the following language, in the Holy Tongue, in letters of gold." The oracle reads "In the year 1820/1 (5581) there will be wars between the gentiles and the Roman Caesar. In the year 1829/30 (5590) there will be wars between three nations, Africa, A[na?]tolia, France. In the year 1830/31 (5591), the Afifo the Roman Rav, i.e., the Pope...." The fragment abruptly ends here. ASE.

Horoscopes in the name of Ilyās al-Ḥakīm, including prospects for currying favor with government and the effectiveness of medicines. On reused paper containing vestiges of enormous Arabic script in red ink (most visible on Image 2).

Arabic booklet on astrological prognostications.

"The chapter of knowing the unknown (taʿallum al-ghayb)." One takes a certain animal on Shabbat, breaks open its back, and eats its heart while still hot.

Tables for divination, late, entitled Urim ve-Tumim, each headed with a different question (e.g. "boy or girl?" "is this man trustworthy or not?").