Hosea 4:12

‘My people ask counsel at their piece of wood (tree, timber), and their staff makes declaration to them, for the spirit of whoredom has caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God.'

The result of their behaviour is that they foolishly seek counsel from pieces of wood carved into idols, or alternatively from sacred trees (Hosea 4:13), and look to their staffs to divine for them. This latter probably involved holding a rod vertically and spinning it, or holding two or more rods vertically, and then letting go of them, reading the future from the way in which they fell (called rhabdomancy). The idea is that they prefer this to hearing YHWH's word through His prophets, while using it as a substitute for the Urim and Thummim in the Temple, which was the God-ordained mean of consultation. And they do this because the spirit of licentiousness within them has caused them to err, turning their minds to folly. The idea may well be that evil spirits have therefore taken possession of them (compare Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Kings 22:22), or it could merely be indicating the driving force of their sexual urges which can make men think foolishly and do foolish things. And the consequence is that they have committed spiritual adultery, and probably literal adultery with sacred prostitutes or willing drunken worshippers of the opposite sex, thereby departing from being under YHWH's control through the covenant. They are flouting all YHWH's requirements.