Seeing the Signs

Molybdomancy: The art of Divining with Metal and Water

 

I have to admit, this is a new one on me.  A half an hour before this very moment – as I sit here at my dining room desk, eating a Yuletide cookie and sipping a cup of Constant Comment Tea – I had never heard of Molybdomancy.  Not that I pretend to know everything about divination – I know very little, really.  I am just a novice in the subject.  Every day I learn something new.

 

I was thinking of end of the year rituals – the New Year’s resolutions that are common here in the States – customs such as eating a grape for each stroke of the clock at midnight; kissing another person so as not to be lonely in the new year; wearing a certain color of underwear to ensure good luck; and so on.   Molybdomancy is popular in the Nordic countries, especially Finland, but also Germany and Norway.  It is beginning to become better known here in the United States, partly because of an influx of Russian immigrants.

 

Molybdomancy is the melting of metal, usually lead, then pouring it into water and observing what shape it takes and determining the future accordingly.  Occultopedia.com writes that the practice originated in Ancient Greece and was used in the Middle Ages to cure sickness and for medical prognosis.  Also that witch hunters used molybdomancy to determine if individuals had been victims of bewitchment.  Not only did they observe the shapes of the molten lead, they also listened to the “noises and hisses” of the hot metal when it was dropped into the cold water, since omens were apparent in sounds as well as shapes. 

 

In Finland and Germany today, as well as parts of Russia, it is a common New Year tradition to melt some kind of metal on the stove and pour it into cold water and observe the shape it makes.  There are kits you can buy for this purpose.  Here’s one I found on Amazon.UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Horror-Shop-Molybdomancy-Kit/dp/B008UQF03I.  And here’s an app for your phone!  http://www.appato.com/jung-von-matt-neckar-gmbh/bleigie-en/   Isn’t technology wonderful? 

 

However, if you want to try this at home and you don’t want to melt any metal or you just don’t have any on hand, use a candle instead.  On the blog, “Art of divination,” Cassandra Eason advises using a light or pure white candle and letting the wax drip into a bowl of cold water.  “As you let the wax fall, think of any New Year Resolution you have made and ask what the New Year will bring,” she writes.  Take note of the shapes that appear and perhaps two or three of them will predict your future.  “For example, a boat or plane might suggest that you would have to travel far to achieve your ambition, a baby that there may be an unexpected arrival in the family that may change your plans. Trust the first image or words that may come into your mind.”

 

Whatever your New Year’s rituals are, every day is a new day and each day can bring a need to see the future.  So try Molybdomancy, either with metal or with wax!  I know I’m going to.  And have a very prosperous and happy 2015! 

 

Works Cited

Eason, Cassandra.  “Art of divination.” http://artofdivination.blogspot.com/2014/03/new-years-divination.html.

M.V.G.  “Molybdomancy” http://www.occultopedia.com/m/molybdomancy.htm.

USA Today.  “New Year’s Traditions Explained.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2013/12/26/new-years-traditions/4205141/