1. Telling someone's fortune by listening to stomach sounds which were interpreted as words: Gastromancy often included ventriloquism, which sounded very low and hollow, making people think that it was coming from the stomach.
2. The art of fortune-telling by using a clear, "pot-bellied" glass bowl which was full of water and placed in front of candles: This form of gastromancy preceded crystall-ball gazing as another type of telling fortunes.
3. Etymology: from Greek gastromanteia, "divination by the belly"; consisting of gaster, "pot-belly" + mant-eia, "power of divination" or "fortune telling"

The element, manteia, or -mancy, is related to Latin mens, mentis, "mind, soul, feelings".