Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

To not engage in clairvoyance: That we were prevented to not engage in clairvoyance. And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote (Sefer HaMitzvot, Negative Commandments 31) that the matter of clairvoyance is the restraint of his ability and thought to [concentrate] on one of the types of movement — like all of the men of [these] abilities all do — that they should tell them what will happen before it does. And truly it becomes realized for them, in that the power of their [concentration] and their quantity from it is very strong. (The explanation of his explanation is) meaning to say that they isolate themselves in their thoughts and fix all of their concentration and all of their feeling to that matter that they want to know. And from the isolation and the strong fixing and the elimination from their thought of all matters of the physical world, their souls mix with the spiritual [forces] that [become aware] of near futures, as is known among the wise men. But nonetheless, they never have the power — and not even in demons — to know the distant futures. And no one can arrive at this great level, except for a true prophet. And even in near futures, the clairvoyants do not fathom the whole truth, but rather [only] most of their words come true. And in this matter itself, not all of the people are the same in it. Rather there are some who have much superiority in these matters, like the superiority of people in strength and [in] other things that some have over others. And the actions of the people with [these] abilities are not [all] the same. As among them are some that isolate themselves in the deserts to focus on this, and from them one that hits the ground with a stick in his hand — blows that come quickly one after the other — and yells out strange yells and leaves his thought and looks to the ground a long time until he understands what will happen. And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, testified that he saw this once in the West. And among them, there is one who flattens the sand and makes images in it — and this is done by many people in the West. And among them [also] is one who throws small stones in a piece of leather and he stares at them for a long time. And among them [also] is one who does this craft with handfuls of barley and a grain of salt and a charcoal mixed in — and this is famous among us, [as] the Yishmaelite men and women always do it in front of our eyes. And among them [also] is one who throws down a leather belt to the ground and stares at it and speaks. And the intention of all of this is to arouse the ability of the soul that can see. And our perfect Torah distanced us from all of these matters. And about all of this was it stated (Deuteronomy 18:10), “There shall not be found in you a clairvoyant, a soothsayer, a diviner, etc.”

And I have already written in the warning (negative commandment) about “do not divine” in the Order of Kedoshim (Sefer HaChinukh 249) what I have known about the reason for these matters. And I saw in the books of the early scholars about the reason for this prohibition, [that it is] because all of these matters mislead the masses. And because some of what the clairvoyants tell them come out to be true, they think that the constellations and powers are the cause of all actions that are in the world. And they can almost be called part of the evil group that say, “The Lord has abandoned the land” (Ezekiel 8:12). And because of this matter which was very famous at the time of the prophets, the prophet said, “My people asks its wood, and its stick will speak to it” (Hoshea 4:12).

The laws of the commandment are elucidated in [various] places in Sanhedrin, in the Tosefta of Shabbat and in the Sifrei. (See Tur, Yoreh Deah 189.)

And this prohibition is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females. And one who transgresses it and makes himself a clairvoyant in one of the ways from all the matters we have mentioned or in another matter, and tells people things that he sees through his clairvoyance, is liable for lashes — and that is when he does some act in the thing, as we do not administer lashes without an act. But one who asks [something] from a clairvoyant is not under the liability of lashes. Nonetheless, very disgusting is anyone who fixes his thoughts or expends his time on these vanities. As it is not appropriate for one whom God has graced with knowledge and given the true religion as an inheritance to think about these vanities. Rather, he should fix his thoughts on the service of the Creator, may He be elevated, and not fear the words of the clairvoyant; since God, in His kindnesses will change the system of the stars, and nullify the power of the constellations, [so] as to do good to His pious ones. And it is known that we are the holy people, such that we are not under [the power of] a star or constellation — “the Lord is our inheritance, as He spoke to us.” And [it is] like the matter that we found with the forefathers, that God placed their stature above the ministers above: Like that which is written about Yaakov, “but rather Yisrael will be your name” (Genesis 35:10), “for you have dominated (sarita) with powers, etc.” (Genesis 32:29); meaning that God made him a minister (sar) over the [celestial] ministers. And so [too,] is Yitschak called Yisrael, as it is stated (Genesis 46:8), “these are the Children of Israel that were coming to Egypt, Yaakov and his children.” And so [too,] Avraham is called Yisrael, as we wrote in the Introduction of the book. And this is [the meaning of] what is written about the matter of the disagreement of the prophet, Eliyahu, with the prophets of Baal, as is stated (I Kings 18:31), “like the number of tribes of the children of Yaakov,” whose name was called Yisrael: As he was rebuking them [about] why they were leaving the service of the Master, the Lord of Hosts, who has in His hand to nullify all the actions of the powers and the constellations; and like the matter that He did with the forefathers, such that He put the constellations under their hand. And that is [the meaning] of its stating in that place (I Kings 18:31), “like the number of tribes of the children of Yaakov, to whom was the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Yisrael will be your name,’” — meaning to say, that He made him a minister over the [celestial] ministers, to change their system and their power with his merit. [This is] meaning to say, Israel, who are the children of Yaakov, are also ministers over the celestial ministers; and hence it would be fitting for them to not worship anything besides God alone. And so did we find with Yehoshua, who decreed to the sun and the moon to stand — as it is written in Joshua 10:12, “Sun, be still in Giveon, moon in the Ayalon Valley” — and they stood. And so [too,] several pious ones of Israel who changed the system of the constellations [and their power] with their merit. The matter would [take too] long, to bring [the] several stories that happened in Israel about this matter.