“Do not divine!” (Vayikra 19:26)
It is a negative commandment that one should not follow diviners, as it says “Do not divine!”, and Chazal explained that this refers to people who say things like “My bread fell out of my mouth”, “My stick fell out of my hand”, “A snake passed by my right hand and a fox by my left hand”, and because of these things they refrain from doing certain other things. An example of this is that which silly people say that since either he turned back from his way, a deer crossed his path, a crying raven flew over his head or he saw a certain thing that day, that he will therefore not make any money that day, or that something bad will happen to him. These and all other similar things are included in this prohibition.
Amongst the roots of this commandment are that these ideas are madness and utter foolishness, and it is not fitting for the truly holy nation which Hashem chose to be involved in falsehood. Furthermore, these things are a direct cause for people being brainwashed to leave their trust and belief in Hashem and through this will come to complete denial of Hashem, for he will think that everything which happens to him whether good or bad is coincidental, and does not come from heavenly intervention, and by thinking this he will leave all the foundations of our religion. Therefore, since Hashem wants only our good ha commanded us to remove from our hearts this thought and to fix in our hearts that all the good and bad things come from the Most High according to the actions of man, be they good or bad, and divinations do not make any difference whatsoever, as the verse says “for there is no diviner in Yaakov and no medium in Yisrael”.
This commandment applies in all places and at all times, both to men and women.
