Anthropomancy (from Greek anthropos (ἄνθρωπος, man) and manteia (μαντεία, divination)) is a method of divination by the entrails of dead or dying men or women through sacrifice. This practice was sometimes also called splanchnomancy. In ancient Etruria and Rome, the usual variety of divination from entrails was haruspicy (performed by a haruspex), in which the sacrifice was an animal.
An excerpt from, "Occult Theocrasy" By Edith Starr Miller, 1933, Pg. 27:
Anthropomancy. — This is one of the practices supposed at present to have fallen into disuse. It is a horrible, savage abomination and consists in disembowelling a human being for the purpose of divining the future by inspection of the entrails.
Mediaeval history accuses Gilles de Retz of perpetrating this crime on children, whom he lured to his castle for the purpose. Tacitus says that the Druids, in ancient Britain, used to consult their Gods by looking into the entrails of their captives.
Gilles de Rais, Baron de Rais (1405 – 26 October 1440) was a French knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army during the Hundred Years' War, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He remains chiefly known for his conviction on charges of the rape and murder of several children.
. . .At the same time, he was tried and condemned by the secular judges of the ducal court of justice to be hanged and burned at the stake for his act of force at Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte, as well as for crimes committed against "several small children." On 26 October 1440, he was sent to the scaffold with two of his servants.
. . .According to testimony at his trial by the priest Eustache Blanchet and the Tuscan cleric François Prelati, Gilles de Rais sent out Blanchet to seek individuals who knew alchemy. Blanchet is said to have recruited Prelati in 1438, during a trip to Florence.
In addition to this search for the philosopher's stone, Prelati claimed to have attempted to summon a demon named "Barron" at the castle at Tiffauges, in the presence of Gilles de Rais. The cleric also claimed to have interrogated Barron in a meadow near Josselin, not far from the castle where Duke John V of Brittany met Gilles de Rais on July 1440.
Gilles de Rais provided a contract with the demon for riches that Prelati was to give to the demon later.[citation needed] As no demon manifested after three tries, Gilles de Rais grew frustrated with the lack of results. Prelati said Barron was angry and required the offering of parts of a child. Gilles de Rais provided these remnants in a glass vessel at a later evocation, but to no avail, and the occult experiments left him bitter and his wealth severely depleted.
Divination of human entrails. This horrid form of divination is very ancient. Herodotus wrote that Menelaus practiced it when detained in Egypt because of contrary winds. Because of his barbarous curiosity he sacrificed two country children in order to discover his destiny.
Also, Heligabalus practiced anthropomancy.
Julian the Apostate incorporated anthropomancy in his magical operations. He had large numbers of children killed so he could read their entrails. During his last experiment at Carra, in Mesopotamia, he enclosed himself within the Temple of the Moon, and having performed all manner of evil within, he had the Temple doors sealed and placed a guard there so no one would enter until his return. However, he was killed in battle with the Persians. When men of Julian’s successor entered the Temple at Carra they discovered a woman hanging by her hair with her liver torn out.
