From The Ancient Greeks To The Salem Witch Trials, Eggs Were Once Used To Tell The Future
In 1700, John Hale– who was a Puritan reverend living in Beverly, Massachusetts– passed away. But, just before his death, John decided to write about his experiences during one of the darker periods in history: the Salem Witch Trials.
In his posthumously published book, A Modest Inquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft, John revealed how he watched his first execution at the mere age of twelve. Then, once he reached adulthood, John became an instrumental part of the proceedings himself.
Between the years of 1692 and 1693, accusations of witchcraft skyrocketed to over two hundred allegations. And being that John was a reverend, he went on to listen to the confessions of the accused.
This made John Hale’s book one of the only written first-hand accounts of the Salem Witch Trials, one written by a condemner of witchcraft, no less.
“In the 1600s, the Puritan hierarchy was very opposed to magic of any form– particularly fortune-telling,” explained Peter Muise, the author of Witches and Warlocks of Massachusetts.
So, it makes sense why within his work, John also damned another lesser-known form of magic known as oomancy– or divination by eggs. In other words, using eggs to tell the future.
The word “oomancy” has deep roots in Ancient Greece and was coined by the Ancient Greeks after they combined “oon” (egg) and “manteia” (divination).
All the way back around 100 B.C., one Roman historian even claimed that Empress Livia Drusilla would keep a chicken egg in her cleavage because she believed it would tell her the gender of her unborn child.
The Ancient Greeks were not the only believers in egg magic, though. Cultures across the globe, spanning from Latin America to Southeast Asia, also turned to the hard-shelled masses to illuminate their futures.
Mara Zemgaliete – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
One egg fortune-telling method was known as “Venus glass,” in which people would slowly pour a raw egg white into a glass filled with warm water. Then, as the proteins changed shape, people would watch and try to interpret the egg’s meaning– similar to tea leaf-reading.
For instance, if the egg whites looked like cattle or a plow, then one woman might see her future husband as a farmer. Likewise, boats often meant fishermen, and castles meant soldiers.
The ancient Druids in Ireland also practiced oomancy during Samhain– the pagan holiday predecessor from which most modern Halloween traditions drew inspiration. Germans pagans participated, too.
It is now believed that many turned to eggs due to the dairy product’s obvious connection to rebirth and the circle of life. In addition to the more symbolic reasoning, though, people also had to make do with whatever resources were readily available to them.
“You see magic with apples, eggs, cabbage, nuts because that’s what people had around the house. They didn’t have tarot cards or crystals,” Muise noted.
So nowadays, oomancy is more so seen and practiced as a fun party game rather than a means to tell the future– especially with the high prevalence of so-called magic tools on the market.
Nonetheless, if you are looking to dabble in magic methods’ past, you can still try out the “Venus glass” to see what your future may hold.
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