Molybdomancy

What it is

Molybdomancy is divination with molten metal. A small piece of lead, or tin in most kits sold today, is heated in a ladle over a flame until it turns liquid. That liquid is tipped into cold water, where it hardens at once into a strange lump. The lump can be read as it is, or held near a candle so its shadow shifts on the wall and can be named. Readings are symbolic. A bubbly surface points to money. A shape that cracks or comes out thin warns of trouble. The piece chosen before melting can point to one part of life: a ship for travel, a key for work.

Finland's new year tin

In Finland the custom is kept on New Year's Eve and is called uudenvuodentina. People melt what they call tin in a ladle on the stove and throw it fast into a bucket of cold water. Shops sell the ladle and small bars, some shaped like a horseshoe, for this one purpose. The shapes are read both plainly and symbolically. A basket means a good mushroom year. A horse means a new car. The bars were once lead and tin. After Tukes, the safety and chemicals agency, banned lead for this use in 2018, they have mostly been lead-free tin. In Loviisa, members of the Valko volunteer fire department cast a 41 kilogram piece at New Year 2010, the largest on record.

Germany and its neighbours

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland the custom is called Bleigießen, which means lead pouring, and it belongs to New Year. Each shape that comes out of the water is matched to an object, an animal or a building it looks like, and each match carries its own meaning. European Union rules brought in during 2018 limit the sale of products that contain toxic lead, kits for this custom among them. Tin can stand in for lead. So can carromancy, the dripping of melted wax into water. In the Czech Republic the same kind of reading is counted among the Christmas traditions.

Turkey and the Balkans

In Turkey the practice is known as kurşun dökme, lead casting or lead pouring. It is used for a range of spiritual troubles and also to look ahead. The rituals differ from one place to another, but in all of them molten lead goes into water. Researchers at Ankara University looked at what the custom does to the health of women and reported risks of antimony poisoning and of lead poisoning. A similar traditional practice is found in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Yiddish folk medicine

Among Yiddish-speaking Jews, Bley-gisn is a segula, a practice believed to bring good. A practitioner, usually a woman, says a psalm or an incantation and then pours melted lead into a vessel of water. It has been used to tell the future, to remove the evil eye, and to work out what lies behind a fright that is thought to cause illness in pregnant women and children. One account describes a bowl of water placed at the patient's head or on the belly, the metal melted on a teaspoon, and poured three times through the twigs of a besom onto the water, with magic words said each time.

How Molybdomancy is kept

A small piece of lead or tin is chosen, sometimes for the part of life it stands for. It goes into a ladle, which is held over a flame until the metal melts. The liquid is poured into cold water and hardens at once. The cooled shape is read straight away, or turned in candlelight so that its shadow can be named. A broken piece warns of trouble, bubbles mean money, a horse means a new car. In Finland this happens on New Year's Eve, in the German-speaking countries at New Year, in the Czech Republic at Christmas. In Turkey and in Yiddish folk use, a practitioner does the pouring for a person who has come for help.

When and where

Most often the reading happens at the turn of the year. In Finland it is a New Year's Eve custom, and Bleigießen in Germany, Austria and Switzerland belongs to New Year. In the Czech Republic it is counted among the Christmas traditions. Elsewhere it is not fixed to a date: in Turkey and in Yiddish folk medicine a person comes to a practitioner when there is a problem to solve.

It appears across a wide belt of Europe. Finland has its own New Year form, and Germany, Austria and Switzerland share Bleigießen. The Czech Republic keeps it at Christmas. Turkey has kurşun dökme, and a similar practice is used in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Estonia, Latvia and Bulgaria are also named among the places where it is found. Yiddish-speaking Jewish communities have their own version, Bley-gisn.

What Molybdomancy means

Those who pour the metal treat the shape as an answer, not as decoration. A figure that holds together is read as good luck; one that breaks, or comes out weak, is read as a warning. Bubbles on the surface point to money, a ship to travel, a key to a step forward at work, a basket to a good mushroom year, a horse to a new car. In Yiddish use the same pouring is meant to lift the evil eye and to name a hidden fright so that it can be treated.

Days Molybdomancy is marked

Questions people ask about Molybdomancy

See also

NazarA blue glass eye amulet worn and displayed to deflect the evil eye.Friday the 13thA Western folk superstition regarding the unluckiness of a Friday falling on the 13th.Evil eyeA belief in harm cast by envious glares, met with protective charms and spoken blessingsChristmas treeA decorated evergreen or artificial tree placed indoors to mark the Christmas season.

Good reading and sources

• Molybdomancy on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.