taghairm

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A mode of divination formerly practised among the Scottish Highlanders. According to Scott, a person wrapped in a fresh bullock's skin was left lying alone beside a waterfall, at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other wild place. Here he meditated on any question proposed, and the response that his excited imagination suggested was accepted as inspired by the spirits who haunted the place.

Wiktionary

1. n. An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots: The oracle of the hide in which a person was sewn into the hide of a freshly killed ox, and placed beside a waterfall. This would enable him to foresee the results of an impending battle. From Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake.
2. n. An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots, in which cats were roasted alive to call up the spirit of the demon cat who would grant the wishes of the torturers. Described in detail in the London Literary Gazette for March 1824.