Every way to ask the universe, in one place

Type a question, gaze into the glass and watch an answer form in the mist.

Where it comes from: Scrying, reading images in water, mirrors and crystal, runs from ancient Persia and Egypt to John Dee's shew-stone in 1500s England and the crystal balls of Victorian fortune tellers.

Best for: A quick yes or no, or a sense of where something is heading

Draw from all 78 cards in seven spreads, from one card to the Celtic Cross.

Where it comes from: Tarot began as an Italian card game in the 1400s. French writers turned it into an oracle in the 1780s, and the Rider-Waite-Smith deck was published in London in 1909.

Best for: A layered situation: what led here, what is happening, where it goes

36 picture cards read like sentences, from a daily card to the 36-card Grand Tableau.

Where it comes from: The deck grew out of a German parlor game from about 1799 and took the name of Marie Anne Lenormand, the famous Paris fortune teller. It is a favorite in Germany, France, Brazil and Russia.

Best for: Practical answers about people, news and events

Toss three coins for the Book of Changes, or cast the Elder Futhark runes.

Where it comes from: The I Ching took shape in Zhou dynasty China about 3,000 years ago. The runes are the alphabet of the early Germanic and Norse peoples, used from about the 2nd to the 8th century.

Best for: A decision or a crossroads where you need perspective

Mark 16 lines of dots and the earth oracle builds a shield chart that ends in a Judge.

Where it comes from: Known in Arabic as the science of the sand, it was practiced by the 800s, traveled across Africa (where Ifa and sikidy are close cousins) and reached medieval Europe in the 1100s.

Best for: A clear yes or no, with the reasons behind it

Pick the shapes you see in your cup and where they sit, and get a reading with timing.

Where it comes from: Tasseography is the Turkish and Greek art of reading coffee grounds, and the tea-leaf reading of kitchen tables from Ireland and Britain to Eastern Europe.

Best for: Right after a cup of Turkish coffee or loose-leaf tea

Keep seeing 111, 444 or 1212? See what it means for love, work and money.

Where it comes from: A modern practice that spread in the 2000s, built on the number meanings of Pythagorean numerology from ancient Greece.

Best for: A number that keeps showing up on clocks, receipts and license plates

Describe a dream and get a written interpretation of its symbols.

Where it comes from: Dream books go back to ancient Egypt and Babylon. Artemidorus wrote the classic Greek one in the 2nd century, and Carl Jung gave dreams a modern psychology.

Best for: A dream that stayed with you after you woke up

A personal answer from your birth chart, a tarot draw and the I Ching, with the best days to act.

Where it comes from: It borrows from horary and electional astrology, the old Western and Vedic arts of answering a question and choosing the moment.

Best for: A real decision where timing matters