DIVINATION SCIENCE
I started with two questions. Question One: If it’s really only the egg whites which are read, then would it be just as valid to use one of those cartons of egg-whites they sell at my local supermarket, thus avoiding wasting a perfectly-good yolk? Question Two: If the egg/egg-white were dropped into three different glasses, one containing cold water, one containing room-temperature water, and a third containing warm-bordering-on-hot water, how would the differing temperatures affect the outcome? Armed with a fresh carton of eggs and a carton of egg whites, I set out to answer these questions.
This was the result when I tried it with the carton of just egg whites:
In retrospect, this was a stupid experiment. The carton of egg whites had been highly- pasteurized in the manufacturing process, rendering it thin and watery, and denatured it of its normal goopy, oleaginous structure. As you can see from the picture above, in all three water-temperatures, the pasteurized egg white gave me uniformly-milky water.
Time for Question Two. Removing three eggs from the carton in the fridge, I held each in my hands, told each of them to tell me something about my coming year, then placed them in the pocket of the hoodie I was wearing for four hours, rendering them all nice and room-temperature-y. By keeping the eggs on my person for a period of time before cracking it into the glass, they had time to absorb my energies, and the energy of my question. (Regular ovomancers, please note: I did not specifically do an egg cleanse). Again, I decided to use three different water temperatures in order to determine what effect the temperature of the water had on how the egg-white formed around the yolk.
I cracked each into a glass containing either hot (119 F/approx. 45C), room-temperature, or cold water (20F/-0C), then set them on the windowsill in the kitchen. At first they looked like this:
The next morning, they looked like this:
I liked how quickly the egg white ‘set’ when I poured the egg into the hot water; it instantly formed what looked like an arch in a church, or a portal, or a path through some woods, and it stayed that way. The egg dropped into the cold water also caused the egg white to form, not as quickly as the hot water, but still rather quickly, resembling two mountain ridges flanking the yolk, almost basket-like. Intriguingly, the room temperature water caused the egg-white to immediately cast off one slender thread of egg white, reaching from the yolk to the surface of the water, as if the egg wanted to stay in communication with the surface of the water.
This experiment made it clear to me why it’s recommended you wait a period of some hours before trying to divine with the egg. Letting the eggs sit overnight gave the egg whites a chance to ‘set’, to form clearer, more definite images.
So which temperature of water is best? I can’t tell ‘ya. They all had their virtues, and they all had something to tell me. If you want to do egg-reading in a jiffy, then using warm-to-hot (not boiling) water appears to be the way to go. Next best, cold. One ovomancer I watched on YouTube dropped the egg white into room-temperature water, then immediately refrigerated it for 20 to 25 minutes. If you’re patient, room-temperature water is fine. If you start practicing ovomancy regularly, you’ll probably eventually find a particular water temperature you prefer, and find works for you.
It took a while for bubbles to form in all three glasses; I didn’t notice them when I first dropped the eggs in the water, but they were there when I checked them the next day. Ovomancers who practice egg cleansing say bubbles represent enemies or opposition or just negative energy directed at you, so bubbles can be significant. It’ll be up to you to decide if you want to take bubbles into consideration when egg-divining.
What do you do with the raw egg after the reading? I don’t think it’ll be a good idea to eat the egg, but I would cook the egg and then discard it, since throwing the raw egg in the garbage can would just go rotten, and the smell would be the worst smell in all of creation! Or maybe a raw egg in the compost bin or garden might be good for the environment, but may attract raccoons and other hungry scavengers.
I’ve been looking to practice some kind of scrying method for awhile. I like that this divination method is similar to crystal scrying and tea leaf reading, but crystal balls are expensive and heavy, and I occasionally drink tea but not often. But I most definitely have a carton of eggs! Eggs have always looked very mystical to me, so I wonder what kind of readings I will get.
The discarding of the egg after divining with it does present a bit of a problem. Adding it to a compost bin or pile is a good solution. You may also want to bury it, if you have access to a yard. If I have no choice but to discard the raw egg in the regular trash, I pour the egg, in its glass of water, through a small sieve, then dump the raw egg onto a sheet of newsprint, on top of which I’ve layered a paper towel or two. This is liberally-sprinkled with baking soda to both kill the smell and discourage would be foragers, then the whole thing is carefully wrapped-up and discarded in the trash.
It seems to me that egg divination should be approached much the same way tea-leaf reading would (a subject I will be getting-to some day). That is, as you gaze at it, you will see certain images in it, or the sight of the egg suspended in water will bring certain things to mind. Unlike tea-leaf reading, where you’re looking into the cup from just one direction, with egg divination, you really ought to look at the glass from every direction, both above and below, as well as looking at the glass 360 degrees around the sides. Something which looks non-existent from the side of the glass may be stunningly apparent when viewed from above or below the glass. Or something you can’t see from one side of the glass will be as plain as day from the other. The marvelous thing about egg divination is its multidimensionality. It can even change slightly over the hours. If you crack the egg into its glass of water the night before, observe how it forms and check on it again in the morning, it’s very-likely to have changed, if only slightly
Finally, I’ll end with a bit of advice I’ll be offering with the tea-leaf reading lesson I’ll write some day–don’t panic when you first look in the glass and see a seemingly-meaningless sploosh of egg (same thing with tea-leaf reading: you look inside the cup and at first, it’s nothing but wet, clumped leaves). Shift your thinking brain to ‘Park’ and just gaze at if for a while; thoughts, ideas and images will start to occur to you. I hope all this helps.
Just as an update, I’ve done egg divination a few times now. It is so beautiful to behold, and it’s interesting to see the images that appear in the glass container, It’s like it’s own little world.
I wanted to write more, but I submitted my comment prematurely, so I’ll just add more now.
I really enjoyed egg divination. I save as much of the egg as possible for cooking (and eating!), and then I use the leftover egg white that’s still in the shell to do the reading (probably 3 drops worth). I just put it into a glass jar with half a cup to a cup of cold water, and then I wait a half hour before doing the reading. And it’s interesting that I can spin it around to check all sides, to see more images. I mean sometimes I cook more than one egg so I get more leftover eggwhites to do the reading, and I get the best of both worlds (a hearty meal and a good reading!)
Lately when I start daydreaming, I have caught myself scrying things everywhere in the house, like the bathroom tiles with it’s cloud-like marbled patterns, the rainbow soap upon the water’s surface while washing dishes, the shadows that tree branches and leaves cast upon the wall at night, these contained all kinds of images that were helpful. I used to be scared of scrying (I didn’t want to see anything scary!) But I’ve realized that scrying is as fun as looking up at the clouds! The images and the messages they bring are so helpful, so thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us. It’s been really useful.