Molybdomancy - Predicting the Future with Molten Lead and Cold Water

Divination was one of the ways mankind in earlier times attempted to make sense of the unpredictability and transience of both human life and earthly fortunes. Even though many of the lesser known divination techniques have been lost to obscurity, some of them still survive in pockets of the globe, enjoying a status of cultural distinction; and one of these is molybodmancy.

Molybdomancy is a form of divination that uses molten tin or lead to uncover a hidden truth or to provide answers to perplexing questions. The term is derived from New Latin molybdomantia, which in turn goes back to the ancient Greek for lead, molybdos. The practice appears to have been invented in ancient Greece.

According to the most common version of molybdomancy, the seer would start off by consecrating the lead which was to be used for the divination practice and inscribe it with occult signs and symbols. Then the seer would pour molten lead into cold water. As the liquid instantly froze into forms with gently curving tendrils or round blobs, the seer would observe the shapes formed. The shapes would usually be studied by candlelight, where they would appear as fish, birds, angels or demons and then the diviner would interpret them as portents for the future.

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According to a different version of molybdomancy, the diviner would read omens by interpreting the noises and hisses of molten lead as it was dropped into a large cauldron filled with cold water. Sometimes the vessel of water into which the molten metal was being poured would be anointed with a few drops of holy oil. According to ancient priests, this was done to enlist the help of sacred spirits for the success of the divination. Yet another technique involved spilling liquid metal on a flat surface and then observing the direction to which it would flow – the seer would make predictions about the future based on the certain directions where the liquid metal flowed.

Molybdomancy is one of the few unusual forms of divination that has survived into the modern times. Even though it is rarely used for serious prophesying, certain cultures still perform molybdomancy on special occasions; for instance it is a common New Year’s tradition in Nordic countries as well as in Germany and Austria when people perform it to find out how the forthcoming year will unfold for them. Most of the times the shapes that the molten metal solidifies into are interpreted symbolically; thus a bubbly surface would imply that money is to be gained while a fragile or broken shape may indicate misfortune around the corner. Ships denote that the person may travel in the ensuing year while keys usually indicate career advancement. The shape of a basket may refer to a good mushroom year, that of a horse to a new car and so on.

Originally, molybdomancy was usually performed with tin but now they are performed with cheaper low-melting alloys based on lead. The metal is melted on a stove and poured into a bucket of cold water. The resulting shape is then rotated in candlelight to create shadows, whose shapes are then interpreted.  In Finland in fact, shops sell ladles and small bullions in the shape of a horseshoe for this express purpose. One of the most dramatic examples of this practice resulted in a cast of a massive 41 kg, and was made by members of the Valko volunteer fire department in Loviisa, Finland in New Year 2010.