Nutshell Cleromancy in a nutshell (or: a beginner’s guide to cleromancy)
Hi, I’m Lucy! I’m pretty new to witchblr, but I’ve been practicing witchcraft for a while now and I wanted to share with you all a specific technique of fortune-telling I’ve come to use regularly in my personal life and for others: nutshell cleromancy.
What is cleromancy?
Cleromancy is defined as ‘divination by throwing dice or any such marked objects, like beans, pebbles, or bone.’
What can I use cleromancy for?
Anything you’d use other divination for! Guidance, help, insight. It’s not as detailed as let’s say tarot, but it is more specific in answering simpler questions.
Is cleromancy really witchcraft?
As it is a form of divination, yes! It is like tarot or any other form of divination based on ‘randomness’ in which we prescribe meaning to a seemingly random occurrence and believe that fate or another power has guided the ‘random’ event.
Is cleromancy a new thing?
No, not at all! Although it has taken many different forms through the ages and cultures, people have practiced cleromancy for centuries. It’s present in ancient cultures all around the world.
Why use nutshells?
In history, a lot of cleromancy was practiced through the reading of bones or seeds, emphasizing the importance of the use of objects related to the cyclical nature of life. I was taught to use nutshells, and have had great results with them more so than say pebbles or plastic dice, which is a clear signal to me. However, like many forms of witchcraft, cleromancy is a way to express your personal connection to fate and/or higher powers, and you should decide on the proper tools to suit your own traditions and craft.
Is cleromancy culturally charged?
This is a hard question to answer, but an important one! The modern witch must take care not to appropriate other cultures and take into consideration the historical contexts of all practice. I know ‘casting of lots’ or a form of reading thrown bones is mentioned in the Hebrew bible, and this is one of the reasons I have shied away from using bones in my own cleromancy. I am not aware of any cultural history behind the use of nutshells for cleromancy, but if anyone does know of anything like that, please let me know! It is our shared duty to make sure we are respectful to all cultures.
What materials do I need?
The beauty of this practice is that it is, in its essence, very bare-bones (get it?). You need a few nutshells that meet some criteria I’ll specify in a bit and that’s it. Of course, if your practice requires you to use certain other materials (crystals, candles, herbs etc.) in your rituals those should be used in your cleromancy process as well. Now, for those criteria:
The nut shells you pick must be able to lie flat on one side. Walnut shells, pistachio shells, that sort of deal. Nutshell cleromancy is about which side of the shell lands upwards, so it’s important that your shells have a defined top and bottom.
If your shells of choice have an inherent asymmetry (as pistachio shells do, for example) you need to use matching sets. This doesn’t mean you have to use both sides of one nut, but for every ‘left-facing’ shell you have to use a ‘right-facing’ one as well.
How many shells do I need?
You’re gonna need 4 shells at least, but you can expand your ‘hand’ as it’s called. In essence, this is what you need:
One marked shell. Many nuts, when you buy or harvest them, have natural imperfections. One of these shells can serve as your marked piece, but if your shells come without any apparent deviants, you can mark a normal shell by carving, colouring or otherwise altering it. Keep in mind you have to be able to see the deviancy from both sides of the shell.
Sets of normal shells. Whether asymmetrical or not, you should use an even number of normal shells for cleromancy. Two shells (one set) is the minimum, but you can use as many as you want. Just keep it even and keep in mind that more shells are more difficult to interpret.
Broken shells. For every set of two normal shells, you need a single shell fragment or broken shell. These still need to be able to lie on one of two sides.
This is an example of a possible hand:
[Image ID: A photo showing pistachio shells laid out on a wooden table. There are three sets of two shells, three fragments of shells and one shell that bears an orange/brown discoloration. /End ID]
I have my shells. What do I do?
A cleromantic reading has three stages: the question, the throw and the reading. I’ll discuss these separately:
For the question stage, you take a question in mind that you want the answer to. As the nature of nutshell cleromancy depends on the dichotomy of up and down, it will best serve you to phrase your question in a way that allows for two answers and no more. A yes or no question works very well for this, but a choice between any two options is fine. Don’t worry, you’re not limited to extremes: the reading of the shells accounts for degrees of certainty/severity. I’ll explain this later.
Now, for the throw: take all your shells in one hand, shake them an even number of times around and let them fall down gently on a flat surface like a table. If you have an altar space for your practice, that’s the ideal spot! If you have any actions you’d like to incorporate, such as lighting candles or saying incantations, do them before you throw the shells. When your shells have all landed, the actual reading can begin. That’s the fun part!
When reading your shells, these are the basic principles:
Your marked shell is your most basic answer. If you asked a yes or no question, hollow side up means yes, and hollow side down means no. If you asked another question, you have to make sure beforehand you establish which side up is which answer.
Your normal shells represent a degree of certainty/severity. The more shells have their hollow side up, the more certain/accurate your divination will be. If they all land hollow side up, it’s bad luck to ask more on the subject or ask again. Any other results welcome more questions on the subject, so don’t be afraid to specify your question and throw more than once until you get an all-up result. If they all land hollow side down, you might want to consider rethrowing with the same question another time or using another form of divination.
Your fragments represent clarity. The more they land hollow side up, the more likely it is that your answer is straight-forward and should be interpreted that way. If the majority of your fragments land hollow side down, there’s likely a second meaning or a deeper layer to your answer. Throw again if you’d like, unless all your normal shells landed the same way (as described above).
Can you show us an example of a throw?
Of course! I’m so glad you asked. I’ll be using the hand pictured above, with three sets and three fragments, as I personally find this to be a good balance between specificity and readability.
For my example throw, I’ll use a question related to my garden. This will be my question: Should I harvest my nettles soon or let them grow further? Because this is not a yes-or-no question, I’ll keep in mind that the first answer is hollow side up, and the second answer is hollow side down. Now, let’s throw! Here’s the result:
[Image ID: The shells lay scattered on a wooden table. The marked shell is facing downward, as are three of the normal shells and one of the fragments. This leaves three normal shells and two fragments lying face up. /End ID]
As you can see, the result favours letting the nettles grow. It has a normal amount of certainty in this, 3 shells, but there is another factor to be considered: the majority of my fragments is lying face up, which means I should think a little on this question. For me specifically, this means I’ll be using my nettles for something else than I was planning on.
Anything else I should keep in mind?
There’s a few little notes and thoughts I have, so I’ll put those here:
Nutshell cleromancy is great for the visually impaired witch! This is because it relies on the shape of the shells on the table, which can be determined by touch. Of course, you would need to alter your marked piece in such a way that you can feel the marking, but that’s very doable.
I tend to re-use my shells, as I don’t have a nut tree or something like it and nuts from the store are a rarity for me. However, the witch I learned this from buries her shells after every few throws and selects a new hand, which might fit well into your practice.
You can sort the shells once they’ve fallen onto the table, so that you have a clearer picture of how many of everything there is.
There is more to reading shells. When you throw shells, they might fall onto each other and overlap, forming patterns. I might make a post about some of those if you guys are interested!
And that’s the basics! The process of throwing shells is very quick and gives great insight, so I highly recommend it to all of you! Let me know if you have any questions and/or are interested in that follow-up on multi-shell patterns. Until then, stay well and happy!
