Also called crystallomancy, crystal gazing, shew-stone scrying
Gazing into a clear sphere of glass or quartz until images seem to form, then reading what you see. Famous from John Dee's angel sessions and the Victorian parlor, it is a form of scrying.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Never leave a crystal or glass ball in sunlight; it acts like a lens and can start a fire. Keep candles away from cloth, and stop if gazing brings on a headache or dizziness.
John Dee did not scry himself. Edward Kelley gazed into a crystal or polished stone while Dee wrote down what he reported, in long sessions they believed were conversations with angels. Objects linked to Dee, including a crystal and a black mirror, survive in London museum collections.
Researchers linked to the Society for Psychical Research tested crystal gazing as a way to surface hidden memories and impressions. Thomas's book, with an introduction by Andrew Lang, surveyed classical and medieval methods and collected modern accounts. Meanwhile fortune tellers at fairs made the crystal ball the symbol of the trade.
Before glass balls were common, gazers used bowls of water, ink pools, polished metal and mirrors. The method is the same: a dark, shining surface and a soft, steady gaze.
Gazing into shining surfaces is ancient, but the crystal ball's fame in English comes from John Dee, adviser to Elizabeth I. From 1582 Dee worked with Edward Kelley, who looked into a shew-stone while Dee recorded the angelic messages Kelley described. Their sessions continued in England and central Europe for years, and many people then and since have suspected Kelley of invention. A crystal and a black mirror associated with Dee are now held in London collections.
In the late nineteenth century crystal gazing became both a parlor pastime and a subject for psychical researchers. Northcote W. Thomas's 1905 book Crystal Gazing gathered its history and reported experiments. Psychologists such as Morton Prince found that the pictures often came from forgotten memories, and others described the practice as a light self-hypnosis. There is no scientific evidence that the visions carry knowledge of the future, but the method remains a calm way to let the mind's images surface.
Gazing into a dark, still surface, a black mirror or a bowl of water, until images or impressions rise. Used to ask questions and to quiet the mind.
Moon water is water left out overnight under the moon, usually the full moon, and then used for cleansing, blessing tools, watering plants or adding to baths. It is a modern pagan practice, though it echoes older customs of exposing food and water to moonlight.
Mirror magic uses a reflective surface either to turn harm back outward, to look inward or into the unseen, or to work on yourself. It ranges from the Chinese bagua mirror over a door to the dark scrying mirror and the modern self-love mirror spell.
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