The second way is to sit with a bowl of cold water in front of you, calm and focus your mind, concentrate on your question, then light a candle, and when it’s good and burning, take up the candle and hold it sideways over the bowl of cold water. It’s this approach to candle wax divination I’m going to discuss here.
According to Eva Shaw in her book, Divining the Future, this second form of candle wax divination probably originated in ancient Rome and its popularity continued into the Middle Ages. It fell out of favor for a while, then experienced a resurgence in the 1700s C.E., particularly in the Spanish-speaking countries. It’s still practiced in the Caribbean and Central America.
According the rules Shaw outlined, the requirements are a red candle, a shallow dish of water, a quiet peaceful place where you will be undisturbed for a while, and of course, patience. These old rules specify the candle should be lighted and allowed to burn for an hour in order for the candle to melt enough wax to form a figure. In the meantime, you’re supposed to be focusing your mind on your question or issue. When you pour the wax into the bowl, you’ll interpret the resulting figure in the same way as you would tea leaves or embers. (We’ll get to the subject of embers divination in a future lesson).