Is there a word or an Idiom for this act?

Is there a term or word or an idiom that describes the following act?

My religious friend could not make up his mind about a trip he wanted to make to a country. Hence, wanting to get an answer from his deity, whose statue he had at his altar, he wrote on a piece of paper a "yes" and on another a "no", rolled each piece of paper up, shook them together in his hands, and threw them in front of our deity, i.e., statue.

He closed his eyes, prayed earnestly, and picked one of the pieces strewn in front of the statue. When he opened the paper in hand, he had a "no" written on it. He took that to mean that his deity had dissuaded from making the trip.

Is there a term or word or an idiom that describes the act that I have underlined?