Month: August 2011

Scrying

Scrying

Scrying is the ancient act of divination for the purpose of clairvoyance. It is usually achieved by concentrating on or staring at an object having a shiny surface until a vision appears. Magicians and witches have practiced scrying throughout the ages. The typical stereotype of a person scrying is a Gypsy fortune teller looking into her crystal ball.

Scrying comes from the English word “descry” which means “to make out dimly” or “to reveal.” There have been and are many purposes for the activity; to see into the future, to find lost objects or persons, and track criminals, among others. In the Middle Ages a wise woman or a wise man, perhaps also called a witch, with a natural gift of second sight was called upon for scrying purposes.

Although the object used for scrying usually has a shiny surface, innumerable objects have been used for the practice over the centuries. The Egyptians used ink, blood and other dark liquids. The Romans used shiny objects and stones. Water has been used for gazing into. Mirrors are often used.

There is an example of the interior of a cauldron being painted black, then filled with water at night, a silver coin was dropped into the water so to reflect moonlight. Such means have been employed to see visions and read mystical signs.

Many witches scry in a magic circle to prevent outside influences from distorting their visions. Also, this is why most scrying is done at night in order to receive better psychic vibrations. As a general rule most diviners work at night in order to avoid the excessive psychic vibrations that are generated in the day due to the confusion of everyday living. The methods of scrying differ but after a period of concentration on the speculum visions, mental images, or impressions appear. Frequently the visions are symbolic and the scryer must be trained and skillful in interpreting their meanings.

BASIC PREPARATION FOR SCRYING

BASIC PREPARATION FOR SCRYING

It is always best to scry at night, because this method of divination is closely related to the Moon and all other Lunar correspondences. If you are indoors, you should extinguish all of the lights except for one candle. The candle should be out of your line of sight when you are looking at your scrying tool. Above and behind you is a good placement. Some people prefer that the candle flame flickers, others like the flame to remain still. Experiment and see what you like.
The room should be as quiet as you can make it. If you live in an apartment or with someone else, some quiet instrumental music can be used to drown out any unwanted sounds. Don’t use music with lyrics, because at the least, the lyrics might influence your visions. At the most, they might prevent you from concentrating enough to see anything.
Make sure that you will not be disturbed, and figure out a comfortable way to sit either holding your scrying tool or with it resting before you on the floor or a table.
If you are scrying on a particular subject, you might get better results if you schedule your scrying time for when the Moon is aspected favorably to the corresponding planet. Visions are always stronger around the time of the full Moon.

THE ART OF SCRYING

THE ART OF SCRYING

Some people have a natural aptitude for scrying. They only have to walk past a shallow puddle in the road, glance at a piece of black glass, admire the glossy fur of a black cat or look at a wet patch on a black rubbish sack and numerous images flood into their minds. Others have to spend days, weeks, months, even years, mastering this apparently simple technique, staring into elaborate black mirrors and seeing nothing but their own dark reflection – frustrating indeed – and of course, that very frustration makes things more difficult. As with all magic, it needs to be taken seriously, but with a playful and curious state of mind. Trying too hard is counterproductive.

One of the things which makes scrying so hard for some people to do is that, like meditation, it requires an altered state of consciousness to be achieved, but with the eyes open. In meditation, pathworking, and in parts of a ritual, most people prefer to work with their eyes closed because this makes an altered state so much easier to reach and to maintain.

Those who can scry in anything are fortunate to have this magical skill so long as they are able to switch it off at will and do not become completely distracted every time they see a shiny black surface. For the rest of us there are many things we can experiment with to make scrying easier – and different things will work for different people.

Dark water is a good way to start, not least because it is easily available and costs nothing. A pool can be lovely to scry in, though I would recommend sitting or kneeling down to do so, since it is very easy to forget what your body is doing once your mind becomes absorbed, and it is somewhat undignified to fall into the (possibly stagnant) water at a moment of great revelation. A black bowl filled with water is another method and has the advantage of being safe and suitable for indoor use. Tap water is fine, but spring water will probably work better. Perhaps the best kind of water to use is Moon water: spring, rain or sea water which has been placed in the Moonlight every night for a whole lunar cycle. The water can be blessed in whatever way you feel is appropriate, possibly dedicated to one of the Moon goddesses who rule such activities as these.

An alternative to using a black bowl is simply to use any dish but to darken the water with black ink. The old witch in her cottage would doubtless have done her scrying in a bubbling cauldron of stew or in the water boiling in an iron pot ready to make up some herbal brews. Red wine (especially elderberry) or dark beer both make good scrying material, though definitely not after drinking any of it! Coca Cola would probably be effective too, though I have never tried it. The possibilities are endless…

Personally I find black mirrors easiest to use because they don’t slop about like water (at least not under normal circumstances!). They are expensive to buy but very easy to make. Spray the back of the glass from a cheap clip frame with a couple of coats of black enamel paint. Make sure the glass is spotlessly clean before you do so as any little marks may spoil your concentration when you come to use it. Once the paint is completely dry, return the glass to the frame. Bless the mirror if you wish to and treat it with the respect due to any magical object. It can be kept hanging on the wall or put away after use, wrapped in a natural material like silk or cotton. If you prefer something a little more fancy, charity shops are excellent hunting grounds for interesting frames. Even better, you could make your own out of wood (carved, if you are skilled in that craft), papier mâché, textiles, or anything else that appeals to you. Indeed the more effort you put into making it, the more personal it will become – imbued with your own energy, in tune with you, and therefore easier for you to use. The size of the mirror is not important, although if you are just learning the technique, a larger surface area will probably prove easier to use. I would also avoid too elaborate a frame on a small mirror as it may prove unhelpful.

Once you have mastered this art, you can do it anywhere and in any light, but at first it is best to be in a dimly lit area, possibly using candles. The bowl or mirror needs to be placed at a height and angle which are comfortable, so that you can sit relaxed and breathe calmly and easily. Candles or other lighting will need to be in a position where their reflection will not bother you. Do not be disheartened if nothing happens for a while. It is a knack and perseverance pays off in the end.

A further use of this art is to communicate with another person, such as a magical partner, especially if they live a long way away and you cannot meet very often. Each person should have their own mirror, dedicated solely to this purpose. Ideally the mirrors should be identical and made by the people involved on an occasion when they are together, to ensure the closeness of the link. When separated both people look into the mirror at an agreed time and a good psychic channel of communication can be set up. With practice, it becomes possible to call the other person to the mirror if you really need to talk to them at a time when you have not agreed to “meet”.

Scrying is a magical art with many possibilities. Exactly what it is and how it works is for each individual practitioner to decide for themselves, but it will certainly enhance and focus both the psychic and creative abilities of the magician who is drawn into dark pools to find the bright treasure of secret knowledge.

Black Bowel Scrying

Black Bowel Scrying

Black Bowls
Simple tools like the black bowl or cauldron are very effective for
scrying. Simply pour water in a black bowl or cauldron and scry the
surface of the water.
Moon Phase: 3rd quarter
Items needed:
Dried herbs — rose petals, sea salt, jasmine, and
hyssop.
A large clear bottle or jar.
In a separate bowl, mix together the herbs.
Add one part herb mixture to four parts water.
Stir in 3 teaspoons of sea salt.
Pour mixture into the jar, cover, and place in a sunny spot.
Leave undisturbed until the last night of the 4th quarter of the waning
moon so both moon and sun energy will blend with herbs and water.
Watch it throughout its distillation. If the water level drops, you can
add another one-half to three-quarters cup of water.
Strain herbs and store water in a lidded container until use.
The water will look like tea.

Shell Scrying

Shell Scrying

This is a modern method of scrying and is becoming more popular. Most people are familiar with the sound of when a shell is placed over the ear.

It sort of sounds like the ocean. But in fact it is the sounds of blood flowing through the vessels in your ear.

If however you listen to this sound you will eventually by able to pick up fragments of conversation. At first you may be able to only make out a few words, but in time you will come to understand whole segments of conversations.

The subject of this talk will be usually meaningless, but if you can mentally break into this communication you may find the voices may choose to respond.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR SCRYING

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR SCRYING

  • A short meditation session before you begin to scry often helps to get you into the mood and release some of your tension. You must be feeling as relaxed and receptive as possible. Make sure that you are sitting as comfortably as possible. It is quite frustrating to be on the verge of perceiving something when a leg or arm falling asleep breaks your concentration.
  • When you look into your scrying tool, try to look past the surface and into the center of it.Try to keep your eyes fixed on one spot, but don’t prevent yourself from blinking. Since you are in a dark room, the need to blink might lessen as your body relaxed, but don’t try to force yourself not to. That will only cause discomfort and distraction.
  • Limit your sessions to a set period of time. Don’t be discouraged if you can not remain focused during the entire session or if you feel the need to stop before the session is over. If you are not used to meditating, try to start out with a 15 minute session. You will be surprised to experience how long 15 minutes will see as you try to keep your mind from wandering. Ultimately, scrying sessions should last up to an hour in length. Don’t set a timer or try to keep track of time. This will create a distraction and you don’t want to be in the middle of a particularly vivid image when the timer goes off!
  • Keep in mind that though the words “vision” and “scry” almost always call to mind information that is perceived with the eyes, that this is not necessarily the case. While scrying, information can come to you via all five of the senses and also as intuitive flashes. When reviewing the information that you have perceived, take all you senses into account.
  • Start a scrying journal if you intend to scry on a regular basis. Date each entry, and make sure that it is close by during each scrying session. Note down all your perceptions after your session, sleep on them, and then work on interpreting them the next day. Though it is true that some visions come through so clearly that they need little interpretation, most of the time you need to meditate on your visions for a while to absorb their true meanings.
  • If you are familiar with another method of divination (Ruins, Tarot, Pendulum, etc.) you can use their help with interpreting the information you get from scrying. Simple one card/one ruin spreads are the best to give you an overview of your vision’s meaning. Or if you are familiar with a dream interpretation spread, you can use that to help you figure it out.
  • Often at the beginning of a scrying session, you will start to see clouds of colors in your scrying tool. Some scryers never get past this stage. If you find this to be the case, you can interpret the colors using traditional color symbolism.

Mirror Scrying

Mirror Scrying

Mirror scrying is an evolved form of water scrying. When it became possible to build mirrors they were regarded as being like water that was fixed into one place.

The early mirrors were made of polished copper, brass, marcasite, tin foil or mercury behind glass, polished silver and obsidian. All types of mirrors may be used for scrying and the size is not important.

Because mirrors are linked to the moon mirrors should be backed with silver. Try and use a round or oval mirror instead of a square mirror.

For the frame try and use a mirror that has a silver frame. Old mirrors also seem to work better than new mirrors.

Most seers prefer to use a black mirror. Because this is difficult to buy you may have to make one.

Just simply take out the glass and paint it black. You may have to give it a few coats of paint though. When you put it back in the frame make sure the glass part is to the front.

The use of black mirrors may be traced back over the centuries. John Dee used a black mirror of obsidian.

When using the black mirror for scrying you do not want to see your reflexion. The best is to leave the mirror on a table and look at it from an angle.

Look into the depths of the mirror as though you were looking into a bowl of water. At first it may appear grey than colours will come and go.

With time and practise you will be able to see scried images like still photographs or moving film images. Spirits may sometimes look at the scryer, talk to the scryer or even touch the scryer.

The visions may even exist outside the mirror and surround the scryer on all sides.

Introduction To Scrying – PROBLEMS

Introduction To Scrying – PROBLEMS

The most common problem people encounter in this part of the work is maintaining a consistent shape for their body. They find that even after long practice their head and arms will remain reasonably well-defined, but the rest of their imaginary body has a tendency to blur into amorphousness. This is a reflection of the relative density of nerves in the physical body. Eighty percent of our sensory and kinesthetic nerves are in the head and hands; half of the remainder are in the upper chest, shoulders and arms. Our perception of the rest of the body is substantially more vague, and depends as much on sight as on direct sensory connections. When one tries to build an astral body, the mind tends give each part of it a size proportional to the relative nerve densities.

This is really not so bad. You don’t need legs in the magickal space, since you are moving yourself around by your volition rather than by pushing yourself with muscles. You _do_ need arms and hands to do the gestures of magickal rituals, and lips and jaws to speak the words. If you find that after some practice you can’t maintain a full body image, don’t worry about it; just get by with what you do have, and imagine the rest of your body concealed by a robe or other loose garment.

The second problem people have is that their physical body twitches or moves when they try to move their magickal body. They unconsciously tense up the physical body, trying to “lock” it so that it won’t follow along with the magickal body. This is a matter of lifelong habit, of associating the sensations of movement with the volitional act of moving your muscles. One has to disassociate the sensations from the volition, and another simple exercise will help.

In your magickal space, imagine you are standing with your arms held out in front of you, palms facing downwards. Now imagine that you are turning them so that the palms face upwards, but that you are turning them _entirely with your eyes_. That is, you see them turning over, and feel the sensations of the changed position, but you don’t involve the part of your mind that moves the muscles. You should _see_ your arms move without willing them to move. (In fact, you are directing your will through your visual centers instead of your muscles, but it should not seem like you are willing it, at first.)

The first few times you do this, your physical arms are almost certain to tense up into rigidity. When you notice this happening, stop and do the relaxation exercises until your body is loose again, and then go back to trying to move your magickal hands again.

Once you succeed in turning your astral hands over without tensing your physical hands, you should try moving the fingers individually. Curl each one over onto the palm, and straighten it out again. Again, do the relaxation exercise whenever your physical body tenses up. When you succeed in moving the individual fingers without tensing up, try various coordinated movements: clenching your fists, grasping objects, karate chops, Vulcan greeting-gestures, and so on.

The hands are the hardest part of the magickal body to separate from the physical, because a major portion of our nervous systems go into controlling their movement. Once you have managed to dissociate movement of your magickal and physical hands, the rest of your body will be very easy, and can be done with similar exercises, if necessary.

Introduction To Scrying – Pathworking

Introduction To Scrying

Pathworking

The term “pathworking” is used for several different practices, ranging from simple meditations through programmed visualizations to visions and astral travel. What they all have in common is the use of symbols traditionally associated with the “paths” of the Tree of Life, e.g., the Tarot trumps. These symbols have been in use for long enough that stable regions reflecting their power have been established in the inner planes. By using the symbols in these practices the person connects to those regions and can learn something of the realities behind the symbols.

Preliminary Steps

1. Pick a visual symbol for the path you want to explore. Tarot cards are good starting points. The cartoon-like images of the Rider or Wang decks are preferable to detailed images like Crowley’s deck; the bright, flat colors of these cards encourage your imagination to fill in the blanks. We’ll use the Rider deck’s “Fool” card as an example.

2. Review what you know about the correspondences of the card. Read what your available sources have to say about the card. Then go on to some unconnected activity for a while and let your unconscious absorb the information; let it make its own connections and conclusions without any effort by your conscious self.

Using the example card, what comes immediately to my mind: The Fool is generally attributed to the element of Air and the path of Aleph. In the Golden Dawn version of the Tree, the path of Aleph connects Kether with Chokmah. In Achad’s version of the Tree, it connects Malkuth with Yesod. The Fool is a primal form of Air, more cosmic and less “earthy” than the Tarot suit of Swords. In the cabala, it represents both the “mind” or “intellect” aspect of being, and the Yetziratic, “formative”, or “Son” aspect of the IHVH sequence. In the Enochian elemental sequence it represents the creative Ideal manifested by the divine, which is the basis for further development and full manifestation through the other elements. In the structure of the planet Earth, it is the atmosphere which lies between the spirit-aspect of the planet’s magnetosphere and the water-aspect of the oceans. And so on.

3. Study the card and note the details, and also note any connections that come to mind. Consider the figure in the card; what does his/her posture, gestures, expression, etc. say about his attitude and emotional state? Where does his attention seem focused? Try to get some idea of the type of personality being expressed.

Ex: The cliff on which the Fools stands seems to be colored using three of the Malkuth colors: black, olive, and russet. The Fool’s boots are citrine, completing the foursome. The mountains in the background are in a Yesodic violet, with snowy tops reflecting the light of the Sun, which is colored in Kether’s white. The sky, dominant in the picture, is an Airy yellow, slightly darker than the citrine of his boots.

The Fool’s outer garment is green with ivy patterns, reminding me of the Green Man of Celtic mythology and Malkuth again. The lining is red, reminiscent of both Fire and the sexual energy of Mars. There are wheels embroidered on the garment, which brings to mind another card, The Wheel of Fortune, attributed to Jupiter, who is Lord of the Air. There are also Fleur-de-Lys on the garment, which are either Lilies (Malkuth, according to Crowley) or Irises (Yesodic by color and shape).

His inner garment is white, again suggesting Kether. A feather is mounted at the front of his hat, and its shape suggests the Uraeus serpent of Egyptian costume, or the feather of Maat. He carries a rose in his left hand and a staff with a bag at the end (rather phallic) in his right.

The Fool’s head is bent back, his eyes focused on something in the distance that only he can see. His posture is somewhat pretentiously “sensitive”, the sort that you would see the French Sun-King use in one of his dances. Overall he reminds me of a Galliard poet of the 13th century, a noble’s over-educated younger son, wandering and pretending to be a minstrel while eschewing mundane tasks. He is about to walk over a cliff. The dog at his heels seems either playful or trying to call his attention to his immediate danger.

You don’t have to go into such detail as in the example; if you are just starting out in magick, you probably won’t have the resources to do it. The important thing is to note the details, and try and interpret the figure’s expression and posture, and the acts in which he seems to be engaged.

These first three steps are preparatory, and should be done before beginning the main part of the practices. Once you have done them, let the information float in your unconscious for a few hours or a day while you do other things. The idea is to gently focus the unconscious on the subject matter, and to let it absorb the information and ideas without your conscious interference. This makes it more willing to participate in the practices, and enhances its ability to make connections with the magickal region behind the card.

Main Practice

4. Sit down and do the relaxation exercises, as described in the earlier section.

5. Place the card in front of you so that you can look at it without straining your eyes or changing your relaxed position. Look at the card without deliberately focusing on any one point; let your eyes move from point to point within the picture in their normal scanning motion.

6. Now enter your magickal space and get your awareness firmly established there. Go to the place where your magick mirror is located and stand where you can view it head-on. Imagine the image from the Tarot card in the mirror, so that it completely fills the frame. Then look at the landscape in the picture; think of what it would look like if it were real and not just a cartoon image. Try to see the image as a three-dimensional world behind the glass of the mirror. Think about the parts of the landscape that are hidden beyond the window frame and fill them in. Keep the colors more or less the same, but fill in the details; build up a picture as if that world were a real place that you can see. Feel free to incorporate details of real places you have seen in your life. (But DON’T use real people as models for the figures.)

Ex: The mountains in the Fool card remind me of the Swiss Alps, violet-tinted rock with permanent snow-cover at their summits. I fill in the picture with the appropriate details of ravines, rockslides, etc. The cliff on which the fool stands looks to me as if it is some sort of moss-covered granite, and the sharpness of the drop suggests that it was carved out by a glacier. The same glacier would have carved a deep, rounded valley below, and I imagine it being there, with fields of grass and copses of pine and fir trees, perhaps with the rooftops of a village small in the distance.

The Fool is walking towards the window, so there must be a trail down into the valley hidden behind the outcrop. I imagine a trail following a curve upwards around the end of the valley to end at the outcrop. I imagine this outcrop is on the side of a mountain the summit of which is somewhere to the right of the visible area.

7. Next, imagine that you have jumped through the window frame and are standing in the world you have been looking at, but at some moment in time just before the living figures of the card appeared on the scene. Don’t try to move through the mirror, just make an instant transition to the place you just imagined. If you have to, build the landscape up again from scratch, but with you inside it.

Turn around and look at the surroundings from your new viewpoint; get a 360-degree view, and fill in the parts of the landscape that were behind your original view through the window. (The window, incidentally, should not be visible.) Imagine what your other senses would tell you if you were in a similar physical location, and add those in to your impressions of this place.

Ex: Looking back towards the window’s position I note that the mountains get lower in that direction, and gradually fall off into rolling farmlands in the far distance. A large lake (like Lake Lucern or Geneva) can be seen just at the edge of visibility. I can see the mountain on whose side I stand, and can see directly the path I had previously imagined behind the outcrop. This path comes up to my current position, then curves around the mountain and up to a pass in the middle distance. Looking down into the valley below, I see that there are light clouds between me and the village, giving the impression that I am in a world above the normal world. I can feel and hear the wind blowing around me, and there are faint scents of pine, grass, and flinty rock in the air, as well as an ozone freshness. Faint sounds of human activity come from the village.

8. Spend some time getting the scene and your viewpoint firmly in your imagination. Don’t worry if details change or shift, and don’t expend any effort trying to change them back. Just get the major outlines and positions firm and let the small detail change as it will. Think of how places look in your regular daydreams; often there is very little detail, and what detail there is is more often understood to be there rather than actually seen. As you continue the practice over weeks or months, your unconscious will gradually learn to fill them in and keep them steady without conscious effort.

9. The next step is in some ways the most difficult, and in some ways the easiest. We have all had daydreams in which we invented face-saving dialogs for some embarrassing past occurrence in our life, and others in which we imagined the events and interactions we would like to see happen in some future meeting, or in some situation we would like to be in but cannot attain in the mundane world. What you do in this step is basically the same. The only difference is that you shouldn’t have any particular desire to control what the other characters say, but instead want to see what they say of themselves.

What you want to do is imagine a scenario by which the Tarot card’s person arrives at the location where you are standing, and begins to converse with you. Using our example, you could think that you hear someone singing in the distance behind you. You turn and look down the trail, and see the fool climbing it, followed by his dog. He sings a cheery tune as he walks. As he comes close enough to hear you, you call out and wave to him; he looks up and waves back. He comes closer and steps onto the escarpment where you stand. He smiles and walks to the edge of the cliff, looking outwards. He stretches his arms and takes a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, and for a moment he is posed in exactly the way he is shown on the Tarot card. Then he turns to you and asks, “Where away, traveller?”

The idea behind this is to give your unconscious mind a credible reason for believing you to be in a situation where you can talk to the card’s character. The part of your unconscious that touches the imagination doesn’t believe in hypothetical situations; to it, things are either real or they aren’t, but anything that is reasonably consistent will be accepted as real. This part of your unconscious mind plays the character’s part while your conscious mind plays yourself. This same part reaches out into other parts of your minds and into the magickal realms and pulls in information to use in building it’s characterization.

9. Now that the character is present, you can ask him questions about himself, the various symbols of his clothing and appurtenances, and about the environment in which you find yourselves. Always act as if the character were a real person, independent of yourself. Treat him with the respect of equals; never act superior to him, and never, ever threaten. If he doesn’t want to answer a particular question, don’t press. Answer any questions he poses honestly, to the best of your ability. But at the same time don’t allow yourself to be threatened or cowed; demand that your interactions be on a basis of equality and nothing else.

Another thing to remember is that in this phase of the exercise there are no wrong results, only results you don’t understand. If something seems out of place with the nature of the card, don’t reject it. Simply admit that you don’t understand and file it away for later consideration. Generally you should follow along with whatever happens; there is no way you can be hurt, so there is no reason not to do so.

10. When you start to tire, or the character indicates he has had enough, it is time to end the exercise. Say goodbye to the character, turn and walk away until he is out of sight. Then “jump” back through your magick mirror and turn around; see the point you just jumped from through the mirror, even if this is not the same point that was there at the start. Then imagine closing the mirror so that it only shows its usual deep blackness.

After leaving your magickal space again, spend a few moments focusing your attention on various objects in your physical environment. Get up and walk around, stretch yourself, get a drink or go to the bathroom, or some other mundane task. Then sit down again and write down what happened during the exercise, in as much detail as you can. Note what was said, any ideas that happened to pop into your mind, any changes in the scenery or movements into other scenes.

It sometimes happens that unexpected things occur during this exercise. For instance, the character might come up behind you and say hello while you are still working on the landscape. Usually it’s best to go along with these happenings rather than insist on following the various stages in order.

Once the character appears, then the rule is to allow whatever wants to happen, as in the “mystery tour” exercise. You should not worry much about keeping the environs steady. The character might change the landscape to make a point, or introduce creatures or objects. Other things might appear and disappear spontaneously. You sometimes find yourself and the character transported to an entirely different scene. All these things are acceptable, and should be taken in a spirit of non-judgmental interest. Remember that the logic of visions is the logic of dreams, where such events are not at all unusual.

After you have worked with this method for a week or two using various Tarot images, try again to invoke a force using a ceremony and getting a response through your mirror. The practice of creating landscapes in the mirror should have overcome any difficulty in that regard. If you still have trouble, try combining the invocation with an appropriate Tarot image.

Introduction To Scrying – The Magick Mirror

Introduction To Scrying

The Magick Mirror

The next method is very close to a “classical” scrying method, save that the appurtenances are astral rather than physical. The method is capable of endless variations, of which only a few will be described.

Pick a convenient location within your magickal space. If you intend to scry in conjunction with invocations of magickal forces, a temple or magickal workroom would be the best place; otherwise, any place where you feel most comfortable and secure.

In that place, imagine a frame, as for a large mirror. This should be at least your own height, and of a width such that all of it can be in your field of vision at the same time. Now imagine that this frame contains a sheet of glass. But rather than being a silvered mirror the glass appears to contain a deep, transparent blackness; as if behind the glass were a void of indefinite extent.

You can get an idea of the correct appearance — and construct a physical magick mirror at the same time — by taking a piece of half-silvered or quarter-silvered glass (from a scientific supply house) and laying it on a piece of good-quality black velvet. Look into this under very low illumination and it will seem to have an indefinite depth; that is, it will seem to have depth, but you will be unable to tell exactly how deep it is.

You should at the same time imagine, and _feel_ a total confidence, that the answer to anything you look for will appear to you in this mirror. Don’t get bogged down in _how_ the mirror does this, simply generate an emotional confidence that it works.

The basic use of this mirror is fairly simple. You hold the thought of what you want to know about in your mind, and then you imagine that the mirror is “tuning in” to that thought, using the thought to make a connection to some place where the answer can be found. Once you feel that the mirror is tuned, release the thought and wait in mental silence for images to arise out of the darkness of the mirror. And as with the “mystery tour” technique, the images will be accompanied by meanings that you will be able to “hear” or sense in your mind.

There are several variations on the basic method for different purposes. Once you get accustomed to the basic method, you can make use of those described or invent your own. As you come to be familiar with the method, your own intuition will become a better guide to its use than any “official” technique; do not be afraid to experiment.

For psychometry, hold an object in your (physical) hand, and imagine that there is a link between it and the mirror. Then look to the mirror to reflect the “impressions” contained in the object. If it is an object that is connected by use to some person, you must specify that it is impressions of the person that you want, not impressions of the object itself; otherwise you may get some odd results. For example, I once tried to psychometrize a flint knife-blade, and got a geological history of the stratum from which the flint had come. It’s connections to its rocky origins were stronger than its connections to the persons who had made and used it, and these came across most intensely.

You can also “psychometrize” a person — give them a “life reading” or answer specific questions — by holding their hands and looking to your magickal mirror to reflect impressions you get from their spirit. This is more difficult, takes more practice, and works best when you have no personal relationship with the person in question. It should _never_ be done with people with whom you have an emotional entanglement of any sort.

To get basic ideas and meanings related to visual symbols, imagine the symbol drawn on the face of the mirror in glowing lines. Then imagine that you are pushing the symbol into the mirror, so that it recedes in the distance and eventually vanishes from sight. Sending the symbol into the mirror “tunes it in”; wait in mental silence for images to arise, and these will bear in some way on the symbol.

Magickal invocations can be used to enhance the power of the mirror. As an example, you might want to explore the nature of the element of Fire. You could begin by performing the Lesser Pentagram ritual to banish extraneous influences, directing that the banishing include the mirror. Then you could use the Greater Pentagram ritual to invoke the element of Fire. When you have a strong sense of the element’s force being present, direct that force into the mirror, simultaneously imagining that the force is not only tuning the mirror to the element, but is also charging it up and clearing the channels so that the mirror works with its best effect. Or alternately, you could request that the archangel or angel of the element appear to you in the mirror and answer your questions.

With any of these methods, the images you get will at first be vague and static. But with practice the images will sharpen, expand and become active, presenting whole landscapes and long storylines that dramatically present the answers you are seeking. The mirror will seem to become a window opening on the part of the astral plane that relates to your search.

Once you achieve this, the mirror can be used as a “gate”, an opening through which you can travel directly to the plane being viewed, to experience events there first-hand. From the standpoint of initiatory magick, this is the preferred mode of operation, since it immerses your consciousness in the power you are exploring. Immersion increases the potential for real and lasting changes in awareness and enhances your power to achieve insights and realizations from the power.

To convert the mirror to a gate, imagine that the image in the mirror becomes three-dimensional, as if you were actually looking through a window at a real place instead of just seeing a picture of it. Then imagine that the glass of the mirror dissolves and vanishes while the image in the mirror remains in place. Or if it is easier for your mind, imagine that the glass is in fact a hinged window in a frame, and open the window.

You will usually find that unless your being is totally in tune with the force you have invoked, you will have some difficulty passing through the frame and into the world on the other side. The Golden Dawn’s “Sign of the Enterer” will help to overcome the resistance. Stand just short of arm’s length from the gate; raise your arms directly above your head, and then bring them down and forward with the fingers straight, while at the same time taking a step forward. Alternately, pull your hands back so that they are close to your body at shoulder level, and then extend your arms sharply forward while taking the step. Imagine that these gestures are punching a hole in whatever is resisting your entry, and that the momentum of your forward movement is carrying you through the gate and into the world beyond. If you still feel resistance once you are through the gate, repeat the gestures again.

Once you are though the gate, look around and make note of everything you see. Start with the major features of the landscape, then focus in on the details. If you have invoked the power correctly, you should see objects and events that reflect parts of the power’s nature.

It is good practice to test the world you enter, and any beings you encounter, to ensure that they are in fact related to the power you invoked, and are of a good nature. The means of testing will be discussed in detail in the next installment of this series.

If you find that you have difficulty turning the mirror into a gate, or that the mirror won’t give you images of complete landscapes and storylines, a variation on the magickal practice of “pathworking” will help. The practice as described below is halfway between scrying a simple symbol and doing a freeform exploration of an invoked force, and will thus assist in the transition between them.