Have you engaged in molybdomancy recently?
It’s an ancient Greek tradition, that’s also a German New Year’s Eve tradition. You melt tin in a spoon, pour the liquid metal into a jar. of bowl of cold water, and predict the fate of a person in the coming year from the frozen, contorted silvery shape.
Today, this fortune-telling game, called Bleigießenin Germany (lit: lead pouring). It’s now practiced using lead-based alloy figures rather than expensive tin or toxic full-lead ones) is still practiced in Germany, Austria, the UK, and Northern European countries, especially on New Year’s Eve.
A Molybdomancy How-To
Here is how it’s done:
- Buy a Bleigießen kit at your local convenience store (if you live in German-speaking Europe) or online if you are living in North America.
- Melt the small led figures (bell, horseshoe, etc.) in a spoon provided in the kit
- Rapidly pour molten led into a dish with ice-cold water
- Retrieve the frozen shape and interpret the resemblance to objects or animals found in nature
- Read in the supplied booklet the meaning of the object or animal for your fate next year.
Will you fall in love? Will you make more money? Will you experience malaise or misfortune due to a stroke of bad luck? It’s all foretold by a piece of lead.
Enjoy some good champagne while you seek the shape of the future — and cherish family and friends who will stand by you no matter what.
Happy New Year!
