When wax congeals, it forms all kinds of interesting shapes. The shapes may take on forms of images as interpreted by some to mean certain things in regards to a particular individual's future. The practice of melting wax until lit becomes a liquid; pouring the wax into another container holding cold water and then "reading" the images as they appear as congealed wax in the container is called ceroscopy. Using wax to conduct readings became popular along with the reading of tea leaves and crystal balls. There are so many ways to tell one's future according to the occult and black magic practices. These methods are all very similar in the results they produce, but the fascinations are with the individual methods used.

Where some prefer a clairvoyant reading to look back and get information regarding what has already happened, there are those who want to look ahead. Police Departments and private investigators have many times secretly incorporated the use of clairvoyants to help solve cases that are years old and still don't yield any answers.

Some subjects prefer the atmosphere of the low lights, candles glowing, and the gypsy type fortune teller that they experience during a séance. In this form, one person conveys messages and secrets from the dead relatives of the subject paying to gain access to their long lost relative. Sometimes the subject is seeking answers to a question or situation that was not able to be answered prior to the person's death. Other times the subject may want to know the location of some hidden valuable.

For those interested in looking ahead, ceroscopy, or using wax is another way to find answers. Tiny discs usually appear on top of the cold water when wax is poured from a container in which it was melted into a container, or vessel, holding cold water. Interpreting these figures often will "reveal" things for the subject and help to ease their stress and tension about a particular situation or circumstance. Sometimes, the information that the divination session reveals is not positive.

Keeping in mind the horoscopes, these divination processes differ from those of actual fortune telling in that the fortune tellers are usually seen as being specifically for the value of entertainment. Not a lot of credibility is put behind the modern day fortune teller by those of us in America. However, the ritualistic interpretation of the images in the wax during ceroscopy is seen more as a credible practice and one that will actually prove to be genuine in nature.

There are dangers in both. If you know beforehand that being willing to put your trust in something as incredible as any type of fortune telling or divination can prove to be disastrous will help you to understand that by agreeing to engage in this type of activity you will be open to like to aggravation and disappointment. If you are able to keep in mind that there must be real expectations in any situation and in dealing with any person or group of people, your result is likely to be a more positive one. People who choose to pay for these types of experiences either chalk it off to fun or, in more serious cases, become entrapped in the phenomena and can develop an addictive obsession with the supernatural world.