Online Reference For Body, Mind & Spirit

Term: Wax Reading

DEFINITION:
One of two forms of divination. The first involves letting a candle burn down while letting it drip over its sides as it will. The wax leavings are then interpreted. This version has both advantages (you can choose a candle of a color appropriate to the issue, anoint the candle, etc.) and one major drawback: you have to wait until the candle burns down, a process that can take hours. The second form heats wax until melted. The diviner then uses a spoon or ladle to pour some of the wax into a bowl of cool water. The wax solidifies and the pieces are removed and interpreted. This has the advantage of speed, but requires more tools (a way of melting the wax, a bowl to hold the water) and can be very messy. In both forms, the diviner must use his or her intuition to interpret the meaning of the blobs of wax. This is usually done by looking for shapes, similar to what is done in tea leaf reading.