Spamancy

Spamancy is a modern day divination technique. For the computer-wise challenged: Spam means unwanted emails, usually advertisements for stuff nobody needs, scams, virii and such. Spamancy is the process of finding meaning and prediction in spam. This can either be spam you chace upon and see something in it spontaneously or spam you actively seek for this purpose by some random process.

A personal experiece with the technique

OK. This is a silly idea, but I just had a spam which was sort of true, but not in the way intended by the sender.

I get about one spam a minute (really!) so most of my spam is filtered into /dev/null, the UNIX answer to the Abyss. (For the microsoft only folks: that simply means deleting it automatically.) But this one got through:

Subject: 	Your Soul Mate.
.
.
A mutual friend wants you to end your single streak 
by sending you on an  adventure.
.
Go here to accept the invitation:  Accept this invitation 

It confirms my current major life decision. Interesting.

Nothing more to add on this subject for now, anyone else having an success with this method; write it up on this page...

General comments

For those who don't know it: such emails have got nothing to do with "mutual friends" or a real invitation. Such drivel is just a way to lure people into clicking on certain links, most probable to download virii. It was the intuition of the reciever that found meaning in it, although he certainly was not so stupid to take it literally and click on it. That's the basic priciple of most divination: allow the subconciousness, or some external spiritual entity, to speak to the seeker through some mundane clue.

Many people would describe this case as a coincidence, not true divination. On the other hand, observing spontaneous coincidences and finding meaning in them is definitely a divination technique, if it yields information about the future or other things that are not readiely observable. On the other hand, some people use the word "divination" in a wider sense, that includes information about the seeker's situation or mental state that are already known to him/her (or at least could be known if he/she choses to see it).

Aside from that personal experience, the idea of spamancy sounds interesting, In fact it might work like another modern brand of bibliomancy. Almost everybody has an email account dedicated to signing up for things that will invite tons of spam. How about playing with that a little bit?

This could also be an invitation to contemplate what spam means to us, and not only computer spam. Most advertizing can be defined as spam, in a way.

See also: Urban Paganism.