SCRYING
Scrying is a basic divinatory technique which is useful for exploring liminal perception. It can be performed using any reflective surface, such as a mirror, preferably a shiny black surface, or a bowl filled with dark fluid. Scrying requires that you be able to enter a light trance state where images arise in your mind, rather like day-dream visions, or the pictures that you see before falling asleep. The ‘trick’ of scrying is to try and relax, and let any images appear before you, gazing steadily into the medium that you are using, without staring too hard or intensely concentrating. This only comes with practice. At first it should be enough to let random images well up, and later on to try and answer specific questions. The area in which you are practicing should be dimly lit, and lights (candles are excellent, being less harsh than electric lights) placed so that they do not reflect in the medium you are using. Incense can also be a useful aid, particularly those resins and oils which act as relaxants. You may find it useful to perform a meditation or relaxation exercise prior to attempting to scry. Divinatory techniques such as these help develop the intuitive and psychic faculties, and the trick of relaxing and letting images arise in your mind is also a key to other talents such as psychometry and aura reading. Once you have tried the basic method, then regular practice will help you develop it. Mirror and crystal gazing is a strong magickal tradition, occurring in shamanic cultures from the Americas to Africa, medieval Europe and ancient Greece. Not only have mirrors and crystals been used to divine the future, but also to communicate with ancestral spirits. Occasionally people experience scenes or entities leaving the reflective surface and merge with the surrounding environment. excerpted from “Condensed Chaos” by Phil Hine.
