Ceromancy

Hello,

Ceromancy is a form of divination where heated wax is used to foretell the future or provide answers to the questions asked by the diviner by allowing wax to drip into a bowl of cold water. The wax shapes in the cold water ready for interpretation by the soothsayer. Often, herbs and oils are applied on the cold water for a specific answer to a specific question or anoint the candle before burning.

Ceromancy seems to have originated in ancient Celtic times, albeit this practice isn't popular anymore there are a few practitioners who use this method for divination. I'm more interested in reading the candle flame when doing candle magick. Surprisingly, candle flame reading falls under ceromancy also known as carromancy from Greek carro, meaning 'waxen', and manteia, which signifies 'divination'. Thus, I don't see the correlation for candle flame reading and carromancy. Is there a term that refers to candle flame reading? I might have to look that one up. I was thinking of pyromancy.

Have anyone tried this divination method?

Lepus

[Kine Lea]

Hello,

Is that really candle wax? I immediately thought of a glow-worm when I saw the image.

I wonder what do glow-worms mean - symbolically speaking.

Lepus

[Kine Lea]

Yes, all candle wax. (photoshop frame)
The greenish wax was actually taken from the spill dish, so strictly speaking isn't really the Ceromancy described above.

The white wax was from a t-light that I accidentally dropped into the basin instead of pouring out the hot wax.

By the way, I used very hot water. Not the best idea because it took ages for the wax to cool. It collected around the edge of the bowl, hence it's shape.

... glow-worms

Hello,

I'd say your wax came out nicely. I tried this divination method using cold water today, wax tends to harden quickly in cold water, unfortunately when I tried this technique I wasn't able to 'read' it, nothing stood out for me. I did ask, "what is in store for me?"

Lepus

[Kine Lea]

Experimentation with differing temperatures could yield better results.

Hello,

I tried again using cold water. I should probably use a different bowl with no designs.



Looks like a flower to me, what do you think?

Lepus

[Kine Lea]

Amaryllis, Queen Anne's Lace perhaps.

I see a white rabbit.

Hello,

Yes, I see it now. I thought it was a caterpillar. I also see a bee hovering underneath the flowers. I wonder what this all means.

Lepus

[lostsoulll]

Is that really candle wax? I immediately thought of a glow-worm when I saw the image.