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37-669: The terminology and methods of scrying are diverse and lack a standardized structure. Practitioners coin terms such as "crystallomancy," "spheromancy," or " catoptromancy ," naming practices based on the medium or technique employed. These practices have been reinvented throughout history, spanning cultures and regions. Scrying media encompass reflective, refractive, or luminescent surfaces like crystals, mirrors, water, fire, or smoke. Some practitioners even close their eyes, engaging in "eyelid scrying." Methods of scrying often induce self-induced trances , using media like crystal balls or even modern technology like smartphones . Practitioners enter

74-504: A magic mirror , which she asks "Magic mirror on the wall / Who is the fairest of them all?", to which the mirror always replies "You, my queen, are fairest of all." But when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as beautiful as the day, and when the queen asks her mirror, it responds: "Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you." There is no uniformity among believers, in how seriously they prefer to take such tales and superstitions. The Hermetic Order of

111-512: A bowl of water or a magic mirror to see the future while he was in trance. Divination is briefly mentioned in chapter 44 of the Book of Genesis . A silver chalice or cup is deliberately planted in Benjamin's sack when he leaves Egypt, later to be used as evidence of theft. It is revealed the cup belongs to Joseph, the vizier of Egypt, whose steward said it was used for drinking and divination during

148-482: A focused state that reduces mental clutter, enabling the emergence of visual images. These initial images, however trivial, are amplified during the trance. Some scryers report that they hear their voice affirming what they see, creating a mental feedback loop. Throughout history, various traditions and cultures have practiced scrying as a means of revealing the past, present, or future. The practice involves diverse media, from reflective surfaces to shimmering mirages, and

185-400: A mental feedback loop. Practitioners apply the process until they achieve a satisfactory state of perception in which rich visual images and dramatic stories seem to be projected within the medium itself, or in the mind's eye of the scryer. They report that the technique allows them to see relevant events or images within the chosen medium. Nostradamus practiced scrying; he would stare into

222-440: A mirror could be used by the recently deceased to unite with their mortal soul by looking at their own reflection in the afterlife. Catoptromancy was also practiced in ancient China . The Chinese believed that mirrors could be used to see into the soul and to predict the future . They would often use mirrors to perform rituals to cleanse the soul and to improve one's luck . For example, one popular ritual involved gazing into

259-406: A mirror in a dark room and trying to see the reflection of one's future spouse. Catoptromancy was also practiced in ancient India . The Indians believed that mirrors could be used to see into the past, present, and future. They would often use mirrors to perform rituals to gain knowledge and power. The Indian belief that mirrors could be used to see into the past, present, and future is supported by

296-404: A mirror in a darkened room (often on Halloween ) could catch a glimpse of their future husband's face in the mirror — or a skull personifying Death if their fate was to die before they married. Another form of the tale, involving the same actions of gazing into a mirror in a darkened room, is used as a supernatural dare in the tale of " Bloody Mary ". Here, the motive is usually to test

333-498: A more remote antiquity. Here is an example: I translate literally : 'the Christian , it is said, who believes that there is a witch (lamia or striga) in a mirror, will be anathema , anyone who launches this insult against a person ; and he cannot be received into the church before having personally retracted the accusation he has made and thus having done penance with all desirable zeal'. The absence of connection, in

370-434: Is divination using a mirror . There are many different methods of catoptromancy. Some practitioners use a single mirror, while others use multiple mirrors or even crystal balls. Some people look into the mirror in a dark room, while others prefer to do it in natural light. Some practitioners focus on their own reflection, while others look for visions of other people or events. There is no one definitive interpretation of

407-408: Is no clear limit to the coining and application of such terms and media. Scrying has been practiced in many cultures in the belief that it can reveal the past, present, or future. Some practitioners assert that visions that come when one stares into the media are from the subconscious or imagination , while others say that they come from gods , spirits, devils , or the psychic mind, depending on

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444-498: Is no special limitation on the preferences or prejudices of the scryer; some may stare into pitch dark, clear sky, clouds, shadows, or light patterns against walls, ceilings, or pond beds. Some prefer glowing coals or shimmering mirages . Some simply close their eyes, notionally staring at the insides of their own eyelids, and speak of "eyelid scrying". Scrying media generally either suggest images directly (such as figures in fire, fluid eddies, or clouds), or else they distort or reflect

481-419: Is often accompanied by rituals inducing altered states of consciousness . Despite its popularity in occult circles and its portrayal in media, scrying lacks empirical support and is met with skepticism from the scientific community. There is no definitive distinction between scrying and other aids to clairvoyance , augury , or divination , but roughly speaking, scrying depends on impressions of visions in

518-536: Is regarded as amounting in essence to extrasensory perception . Scrying is neither a single, clearly defined, nor formal discipline and there is no uniformity in the procedures, which repeatedly and independently have been reinvented or elaborated in many ages and regions. Furthermore, practitioners and writers coin terminology so arbitrarily, and often artificially, that no one system of nomenclature can be taken as authoritative and definitive. Commonly terms in use are Latinisations or Hellenisations of descriptions of

555-530: Is said to date back to the Ancient Egyptians . They believed that mirrors could be used as portals guiding them into the afterlife, or used as a tool to see into the future. Mirrors have been found inside Egyptian burial tombs, and were used in ceremonial practices attempting to contact the dead. For example, a collection of funerary manuscripts known as the Book of the Dead describes a ritual in which

592-623: The Golden Dawn (1888-c.1902 in its original form) taught their own version of scrying that could be done individually or as a group. It emphasized three levels: Scrying is not supported by science as a method of predicting the future or obtaining information unavailable to empirical investigation. Some critics consider it to be a pseudoscience . Skeptics consider scrying to be the result of delusion or wishful thinking . Psychologist Leonard Zusne suggested that scrying images are hallucinations or hypnagogic experiences. A 2010 paper in

629-422: The adolescent gazers' mettle against a malevolent witch or ghost , in a ritual designed to allow the scryers' easy escape if the visions summoned prove too frightening. Folklore superstitions such as those just mentioned, are not to be distinguished clearly from traditional tales, within which the reality of such media are taken for granted. In the fairytale of Snow White for example, the jealous queen consults

666-495: The course of his accusation. This is mentioned to reinforce his disguise as an Egyptian nobleman. Nothing in the book of Genesis indicates that Joseph actually used the cup for divination. The Shahnameh , a 10th-century epic work narrating historical and mythological past of Persia , gives a description of what was called the Cup of Jamshid ( Jaam-e Jam ), which was used by the ancient (mythological) Persian kings for observing all of

703-518: The culture and practice. There is neither any systematic body of empirical support for any such views in general however, nor for their respective rival merits; individual preferences in such matters are arbitrary. The media most commonly used in scrying are reflective, refractive, translucent, or luminescent surfaces or objects such as crystals , stones , or glass in various shapes such as crystal balls, mirrors , reflective black surfaces such as obsidian, water surfaces, fire , or smoke , but there

740-594: The evil neighbor who bewitched the cattle'. Here we encounter for the first time an example of those combinations of lecanomancy with crystallomancy or catoptromancy to which I alluded previously. The text of the Irish canon therefore seems to me to target a particular use of divination by the mirror, one of those which was considered more dangerous by the Church of the first centuries, because it favored belief in magic. Smoke Too Many Requests If you report this error to

777-572: The fact that mirrors are often mentioned in Hindu mythology . For example, in the Mahabharata , a Hindu epic poem , the hero Yudhishthira uses a mirror to see into the future and learn about his upcoming battle . A French book named La catoptromancie grecque et ses dérivés (which translates in English to "Greek catoptromancy and its derivatives") by Armand Delatte from 1932 details

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814-408: The first sentence, between the two relative clauses, as well as the mention of a single measure of reparation and penance, which consists of the retraction of an insult, clearly shows, despite the clumsiness of the editorial, that we cannot dissociate the two faults referred to in this canon: it is the same person who claims to see a witch in a mirror and who, in relation to this first error (as shown by

851-504: The history of catoptromancy in the context of early European history. Dellate wrote that, in the Middle Ages , mentions of the divinatory mirror appear, "obscure and also uncertain", in the canon of an Irish council "whose convocation is reported by tradition ". Historical criticism shows that the collection of these texts cannot go back further than the beginning of the 6th [-] 11th century , although certain canons can claim to

888-572: The images seen in catoptromancy. Some people believe that they are literal representations of the future, while others believe that they are symbolic or metaphorical. Ultimately, the meaning of the visions is up to the individual practitioner to decide. Catoptromancy continues to be practiced today, although it is not as widespread as it once was. There are a number of websites and books that offer instructions on how to perform catoptromancy, and there are even some practitioners who offer professional readings. Pausanias , an ancient Greek traveler, described

925-541: The journal Perception identified one specific method of reliably reproducing a scrying illusion in a mirror and hypothesized that it "might be caused by low level fluctuations in the stability of edges, shading and outlines affecting the perceived definition of the face, which gets over-interpreted as ‘someone else’ by the face recognition system ." Catoptromancy Catoptromancy (from Ancient Greek κάτοπτρον katoptron , "mirror," and μαντεία manteia , "divination"), also known as captromancy or enoptromancy ,

962-505: The media or activities. Examples of names coined for crystal gazing include 'crystallomancy', 'spheromancy', and ' catoptromancy '. As an example of the looseness of such terms, catoptromancy should refer more specifically to scrying by use of mirrors or other reflective objects rather than by crystal gazing. Other names that have been coined for the use of various scrying media include anthracomancy for glowing coals, turifumy for scrying into smoke, and hydromancy for scrying into water. There

999-440: The medium might reduce visual stimuli to thresholds below which any clear impressions could interfere with fancied visions or free association. Examples include darkened reflections of night sky, or plain shadow or darkness. One class of methods of scrying involves a self-induced trance , with or without the aid of a medium such as a crystal ball or, even via modern technology such as a smartphone among other things. Some say that

1036-479: The medium of choice. Ideally in this respect it differs from augury, which relies on interpretations of objectively observable objects or events (such as flight of birds); from divination, which depends on standardized processes or rituals; from oneiromancy , which depends on the interpretation of dreams; from the physiological effects of psychoactive drugs ; and from clairvoyance, which notionally does not depend on objective sensory stimuli. Clairvoyance in other words,

1073-459: The observers' vision confusingly, in the manner to be seen in crystals or transparent balls. Such fancies have long been satirised by sceptics, for example in Hamlet III.ii: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. Methinks it is like a weasel. It is backed like a weasel. Or like a whale? Very like a whale. Alternatively

1110-464: The power to make witches and evil people appear, either in an ordinary mirror or in a mirror specially consecrated by magical rites, as well as the author of a theft or any other secret thing. Frazer reports, according to Miss Gordon Cumming, that a family of Nairn in Scotland possessed in the last century 'a crystal ball which, immersed in a bucket of water, becomes a magic mirror reflecting the face of

1147-463: The practice as follows: Before the Temple of Ceres at Patras , there was a fountain, separated from the temple by a wall, and there was an oracle, very truthful, not for all events, but for the sick only. The sick person let down a mirror, suspended by a thread till its base touched the surface of the water, having first prayed to the goddess and offered incense. Then; looking into the mirror, he saw

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1184-417: The presage of death or recovery, according as the face appeared fresh and healthy, or of a ghastly aspect. In Ancient Rome , the priests who used catoptromancy were called specularii . They would use polished metal mirrors to gaze into the future and seek guidance from the gods. Catoptromancy was also popular in medieval Europe, and was practiced by pagans and Christians alike. The practice of catoptromancy

1221-425: The relaxation response , or possibly by hypnosis . Once this stage is achieved, the scryer may begin free association with the perceived images. The technique of deliberately looking for and declaring these initial images aloud, however trivial or irrelevant they may seem to the conscious mind, attempts to deepen the trance state. In this state some scryers hear their own disassociated voices affirming what they see, in

1258-410: The sensation is drug-like, some that various drugs can potentiate the experience; others categorically exclude any connection with drug usage, believing that it invalidates any images observed. Many practitioners say that the scrying medium initially serves to focus attention, removing unwanted thoughts from the mind in much the same way as repetition of a mantra , concentration on a mandala , inducing

1295-609: The seven layers of the universe. The cup was said to contain an elixir of immortality, but without cogent explanation for any relevance of the elixir to the scrying function. In the late 1820s, Joseph Smith founded the Latter Day Saint movement based in part on insights gained from the reflections of seer stones . Smith had at least three separate stones which he used initially in treasure-hunting expeditions. Subsequently, he took to placing his favorite stone inside his hat to read what he said were miraculous reflections from

1332-491: The stone. Smith also said he possessed a pair of spectacles manufactured from seer stones, which he called the Urim and Thummim and which he said enabled him to translate the golden plates that are the stated source of the Book of Mormon . Rituals that involve many acts similar to scrying in ceremonial magic are retained in the form of folklore and superstition. A formerly widespread tradition held that young women gazing into

1369-459: The words this insult), launches against others an accusation of witchcraft. To express our thoughts clearly, sin consists, according to us, of trying to recognize a witch with the help of a magic mirror. Certain modern superstitions and customs can be cited in support of this interpretation. In Thuringia , in Scotland and in the country of Cornwall , we encountered, not long ago, diviners who had

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