Coffee Divination

To the questioner,

This is the wording of the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot:

"Negative commandment - 49:

He warned us against sorcery, meaning to stir up the power of imagination in some manner of stimulation, as if those who possess all powers that announce what will come before it has yet come to be were true; rather, this becomes established for them because their power of imagination is strong and their words are often fulfilled, and therefore they rely on what will be, and they have an advantage in this over the various levels of individual people in each of the powers of the soul. It is impossible for these imaginative practitioners not to perform some act and one deed of the deeds by which they stir up their power and bring its effect to light. Among them is one who strikes the staff in his hand upon the ground repeatedly and cries out strange cries, and abandons thought and gazes at the ground for a long time until something like the condition of one afflicted by falling sickness comes upon him, and he tells of what is destined to happen; I have already seen this several times in the far west. Among them is one who spreads out sand and makes images in it, and this is very well known in the west. Among them is one who throws small stones, on a leather cloth, and studies them for a long time and afterward tells things; this is known and publicized everywhere I have been. Among them is one who casts a long leather belt upon the ground and looks at it and announces hidden matters. The intent in this is to stir up the power of imagination through it, not that the act in itself should do something or indicate something by itself. In this the masses erred, for because some of the stories prove true to them, they think that these actions indicate what will be. They fall into error in this matter to such an extent that they think that some of those actions are the cause of what will be, just as those who hold astrological judgments think, for the judgments of the stars are of this kind, meaning that they are a form of stirring up the imaginative power and arousing it. Therefore, two people will not be equal in revealing hidden matters even if they are equal in knowledge of judgment. And anyone who performs one of these actions and the like, which go in this manner, is called a sorcerer. And I say (Deuteronomy 18:10) "There shall not be found among you" (Deuteronomy 18:10) "one who practices sorcery". And the wording of Sifri is: Who is a sorcerer? One who holds his staff in his hand and says, Should I go or should I not go. This is one of the well-known means of divination in that time. The prophet said (Hosea 4:12) "My people ask their wood, and their staff tells them". And one who transgresses this negative commandment and does one of these is liable to lashes, meaning one who is a sorcerer and tells people in practice to do it, not one who asks a sorcerer; but asking a sorcerer is very reprehensible. 

With blessings, 
Rabbi Nachum