Also called molybdomancy, uudenvuodentina, Bleigießen, Zinngießen, Wachsgießen
Melting a little tin (or wax) on New Year's Eve, tipping it into cold water and reading the year ahead from the shape it freezes into.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Never melt lead or old lead kits. Use lead-free tin or beeswax, a completely dry ladle, eye protection and a stable surface; water hitting molten metal can spit. Keep children back from the pour.
Germans melted little lead figures in a spoon over a candle on Silvester and read the results from a printed list of meanings. Kits with more than 70 percent lead were withdrawn from EU sale from 2018, and most households switched to wax-pouring or lead-free tin.
Here pouring molten lead is a cleansing rather than a fortune. A practitioner holds a bowl of water over the head of a person thought to be touched by the evil eye and pours the lead in; spiky shapes show the harm being drawn out. It is protective magic using the same technique.
Finnish New Year 'tin' horseshoes often turned out to be mostly lead. When EU rules on lead in consumer goods took effect in 2018, Tukes warned buyers and suggested beeswax or sugar instead, and the shops moved to lead-free tin.
The name molybdomancy comes from Greek molybdos, lead. Pouring molten metal or wax into water to see a future, or a husband's trade, was a winter custom across northern and central Europe, especially on St Andrew's Eve, Christmas and New Year. Finns call it uudenvuodentina and in the 20th century bought small tin horseshoes for the purpose. Unmarried girls often read the shape as a sign of their future husband's trade.
Reading is done by shadow as much as shape: the lump is held before a candle and the outline on the wall interpreted. Concern about lead fumes and toxic waste brought EU restrictions from 2018. The custom carries on with wax, sugar and lead-free tin, and Finnish and German families still keep it on New Year's Eve. Printed lists of meanings come with most modern kits.
Naming two nuts for a couple and setting them side by side on the fire on Hallowe'en. If they burn quietly together the match is good; if they jump apart, it is not.
Drinking loose-leaf tea, swirling the dregs and reading the shapes the leaves leave on the cup. A kitchen-table way to ask about the weeks ahead.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
