Divination: Playlist Scrying (Shufflemancy)

Did you know that you can divine with music? Well… you can. It can be done rather simply, but may require some out-of-the-box thinking.

And for those of you who may try to dismiss this offhand, let me remind you that bibliomancy is a pretty universally accepted form of divination, probably stretching all the way back to ancient times. And with this particular method, you just grab a book and go to a random page.

Fun Fact: When I was a kid in church, people would often tell me that I could find answers or inspiration from the Holy Spirit by grabbing my Bible, opening it up randomly, pointing somewhere on the page, and reading the verse that my finger touched. I would love to go back in time and explain to those folks that this process is witchcraft.

Uh oh…

If that is divination, then anything can be divination. Including music.

All the Many Mancies

You may have noticed that many forms of divination have a “proper name” that ends in the suffix -mancy. This comes from a Greek word, manteia, which means divination or prophecy. When attached to a root word, it helps specify the particular method or medium of divination. For example, the bibliomancy I mentioned a moment ago combines it with the word “biblion,” meaning book, to indicate a method of divination that uses books.

Different -mancies. Some weird. Some hilarious. Yes. Phallomancy.

We combine words pretty often. And we can change the meaning completely by keeping the same root and swapping the suffix. Bibliophile? A person who loves books. Bibliography? The study of books. Bibliomane? Someone obsessed with books. Bibliophobia? The fear of books. I would hate to be a bibliomane who suffered from bibliophobia… it would certainly make bibliomancy rather difficult. The study of language is fascinating isn’t it? But I digress.

We have a couple of these -mancy words that are specific to music:

• Canticumancy – A form of divination where practitioners listen to music to receive guidance and insight or predict future events.
• Shufflemancy – A form of divination where practitioners create a playlist, focus on a specific question, and then shuffle the playlist ro receive guidance and insight from the melodies, song titles, and lyrics that appear

If you were curious, canticum is Latin for song. I guess things always sound fancier when you use ancient languages. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like either the Ancient Romans or the Ancient Greeks had ever conceptualized a shuffled Spotify playlist, so when it comes to shufflemancy, we’re obviously building off of a modern term.

Of course, you could also call all of this “technomancy,” which is a broader term that encompasses using modern technology to perform divination.

So what is scrying?

Google says that scrying means to “foretell the future using a crystal ball or other reflective object or surface.” Unfortunately, that’s too narrow of a view. It’s only partially correct. Let me update the definition.

Scrying is just when you observe something long enough to arrive at a divinatory result. That could be a shiny crystal ball, yes, but it could also be a rock, a puff of smoke, or a dancing flame. Or you could just close your eyes, sit quietly in the woods, and listen to the sounds of nature around you. Those are all forms of scrying in my book.

And the divinatory result? That could be signs of the future, a message from the spirit world, knowledge of a past life, personal insight, or just meditative reflection. It takes many forms!

Random

Divination methods often use a random element in order to ensure that results are varied and to help combat personal bias. In Tarot, for instance, you shuffle the deck before you draw a card. In some schools of geomancy, you perform a series of random dice rolls.

With playlist scrying, you introduce the element of random by clicking the shuffle and skip buttons.

How it works

Once you’ve determined what playlist to use, there are two options for proceeding — one will give you an instant result and the other will take place over a deeper and longer session.

• Quick Method: Hit the skip button repeatedly. Once you stop skipping, play close attention to the song that is playing — this contains your message.
• Meditative Method: Press play on your music. Meditate and reflect on your situation or whatever is causing you to seek guidance. Try to achieve a state of mind where you are not paying attention to the music for at least 5 – 10 minutes. At some point, one of the songs will inevitably grab your focus — your message is there.

Always have shuffle turned on! Bonus points if you skip enough songs to leave your playlist and wind up in “discover” territory.

Whatever option you choose, the overall divinatory result may require some deep thinking. Be sure to pay attention to every detail: the title of the song and album, the name of the band or performer, the lyrics, and even the exact time stamp of the track. Furthermore, you can ask yourself a series of questions. What do you hear? What do you feel? Does the melody seem to convey a particular emotion? Does the rhythm have a message? Answers can be hidden anywhere.

Step by Step

Here’s a breakdown of the process:

You may wish to start this whole session with a prayer or some sort of general declaration to the universe or your spirit guides. “Hi, guys. I’m here and I am listening.” Even such a simple statement is enough.

Try not to be discouraged if nothing happens the first time. Maybe none of your spirit guides have anything to say at that moment. Just try again later.

Playlists

The method is simple, but one of the most difficult things is choosing songs for a playlist. What type of music should you use? Should you use spacey, meditative music? I think something with easily understood lyrics is more important here rather than subtle tones that aid in the meditation process, but your mileage may vary. Either way, it’s usually pretty hard to find songs that check both boxes (lyrics and meditative qualities).

The good news is that you can really use anything.

Or you could just go with either of these two playlists that I threw together for your enjoyment. They’re mostly filled with rock and pop songs.

PLAYLIST SCRYING – YES OR NO ANSWERS

PLAYLIST SCRYING – GENERAL QUERIES

As the names would imply, the first playlist is only good if you have a simple question that can be answered with “yes” or “no.” You’ll find that the lyrics and song titles are FILLED with those words. It should be pretty straight to the point. The second playlist is for general inquiries or more opened-ended questions. Have fun!

An Accidental Example

Many years ago, and possibly in another life entirely, I didn’t have a car. I did, however, have a 50cc scooter, which I rode across vast distances. I would often just put a short Spotify playlist on shuffle and then let the gods of random queue up whatever suggested songs they wanted to introduce me to — I found a lot of new music that way.

On one fine, sunny day, I was riding merrily along, when I suddenly became aware of the fact that the words “run for cover” were playing over my headphones. It was different. They seemed to be warning me of something.

Of course, I ignored it.

And before the song ended, I got stuck in a torrential downpour.

Was I inadvertently engaging in playlist scrying? Or was it just a coincidence? You be the judge.

Signs and Messages

I don’t really see this as a way of telling the future, per se, but then again, I view most divination tools as methods of self reflection. Playlist Scrying is a little different. For me, it’s kind of like giving the spirits around me a medium to communicate. They might have a message… then again, they might not.

We all accept signs and symbols in our life in unique ways. What I ascribe meaning to, you may not see or agree with. The dragonfly that hovers for a moment has meaning to me. Equally so with the squirrel barking in a tree. Others, of course, may see something in a flock of birds or the shape of a cloud. The universe is constantly speaking to us — it’s up to us how we interpret.

Lyrics carry so much intention. It can pretty much be a direct form of communication from the spirit world… that is… as long as you allow it to be.