Despite its strangeness (or, perhaps, because of it), the Marnameh remains, centuries on, a largely forgotten and esoteric text. Even as a work of literature, it can “lay no claim to elegance of style or beauty of language”, to quote Waters; yet, like the poems of Hafez and the grounds of Turkish coffee, both of which are popularly used in divination among Iranians, the more favourable omens of the Marnameh might be a source of solace to some. After all, who wouldn’t want the “revolving heavens” to fulfill their wishes or to have their “desires . . . satisfied from all directions” — especially after stumbling upon some fork-tongued fiend?
