God expects humanity to rely entirely on Him, guiding their lives by the laws of the Torah and straightforward logic. Attempting to uncover or manipulate the future through magical forces and superstitions directly violates this expectation. Because these practices disrupt the natural order established by God, there is a strict obligation to uproot them completely [רבנו בחיי, חומש קה״ת]. This absolute prohibition extends even to the presence of non-Jews practicing these customs within the broader society [ספורנו]. The responsibility to ensure these practices do not take root falls primarily on the community's leadership and courts, who are tasked with maintaining a society free of the occult [מלבי״ם, צפנת פענח, רש ר הירש].
The most severe of these forbidden customs involves the idolatrous worship of Moloch. The primary approach among commentators is that this ritual required passing children between two fires. While some maintain that this was an actual execution by burning [שד״ל], others argue it was a rite of dedication rather than death. In this view, similar to the purification of metals, children would leap over a fire pit without being burned [אם למקרא, רלב״ג, בכור שור]. The prohibition extends beyond immediate offspring, encompassing grandchildren and all future descendants [תורה תמימה]. Additionally, some interpret this as a broader injunction against having relations with a foreign woman and raising the resulting children for idolatrous worship [מלבי״ם, צפנת פענח].
Beyond extreme idolatry, various methods of divination and fortune-telling are strictly forbidden. Diviners employed tools and tricks to predict the future or make decisions [אבן עזרא, רלב״ג, ביאור יש״ר]. Common methods included measuring a stick with one's fingers or throwing it to decide whether to embark on a journey [רש״י, רבנו בחיי, חזקוני], as well as shooting arrows [שד״ל]. Another technique utilized wooden sticks peeled on one side; when thrown into the air, the exposed side represented a woman and the peeled side a man, with their landing sequence interpreted as a good or bad omen for travel [פענח רזא, הדר זקנים, בכור שור]. Similarly, augury involves making decisions based on random occurrences interpreted as signs, such as a piece of bread falling from one's mouth, a dropped stick, or a deer crossing one's path [רש״י, רבנו בחיי]. This also includes observing the flight and chirping of birds, or the movements of animals like weasels and foxes, to forecast impending events [רבנו בחיי, אדרת אליהו].
Other practitioners focused on timing, illusions, and the elements. Commentators offer three primary explanations for the soothsayer. The first suggests these individuals calculated auspicious and inauspicious days or hours to begin new endeavors [רש״י, רבנו בחיי, רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A second approach identifies them as illusionists who created optical tricks, causing people to see things that did not truly exist [רש״י, רבנו בחיי, שפתי חכמים]. The third view describes individuals who predicted the future by observing cloud formations [רבנו בחיי, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A more unique and graphic interpretation describes a witchcraft ritual where a practitioner smeared the semen of seven male animal species over their eyes [הדר זקנים, בכור שור].
Finally, actual sorcery involves active engagement in the dark arts and unholy mysticism. Unlike an illusionist who merely deceives the eye, a sorcerer performs genuine magical acts intended to alter reality [רלב״ג, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ], with some explaining that this magic works by blinding people to the truth [נתינה לגר]. Ultimately, all these practices are forbidden because they represent an attempt to bypass and deny God's will and the simple laws of nature He set for His creation. Instead of seeking control through the occult, humanity is instructed that observing the Commandments is the true and proper way to connect to the Divine order [רבנו בחיי].