Scrying

Origin

The earliest written description of scrying appears in Egyptian magical papyri of the third and fourth centuries CE, though the practice is far older. The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden gives detailed instructions for boy-mediums to gaze into a bowl of oil and report what they see, a technique called lecanomancy. Mesopotamian liver-divination, called extispicy, had a related form using oil floating on water, called lecanomancy after the Greek lekane (bowl). Pliny the Elder, in the first century CE, describes hydromancy (water-gazing) as widespread in the Roman Empire. The Greek and Roman oracles often involved gazing into chasms, springs, or polished surfaces.

In medieval Arabic and European magic, scrying expanded to include mirrors of polished metal, glass, ink in the hand, and rock crystal. The Picatrix, an eleventh-century Arabic magical text, prescribes scrying for advanced practitioners. The Renaissance saw the practice systematised within the Hermetic-Christian magical tradition. Cornelius Agrippa in 1531, Heinrich Khunrath in 1595, and Robert Fludd in the early seventeenth century all discuss scrying methods. John Dee's sessions with Edward Kelley between 1583 and 1587, using a black obsidian mirror and a crystal sphere, are the most famous European scrying records and produced the Enochian magical system. The nineteenth-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn integrated scrying into its formal magical curriculum.

Meaning and method

The principal scrying media each have a tradition. Crystal scrying, called crystallomancy or beryllomancy, uses a sphere of rock crystal, glass, or other transparent stone. Mirror scrying, called catoptromancy, uses a black or silvered mirror; the black mirror, often of obsidian or smoke-blackened glass, is preferred for its absence of reflection. Water scrying, called hydromancy, uses a dark bowl of still water, often with a few drops of oil to break the surface. Ink scrying, of Egyptian and Arabic origin, uses a pool of black ink in the palm or in a shallow dish. Fire scrying, called pyromancy, uses a candle flame or a fire. Smoke scrying uses incense smoke against a dark background.

The technique across media is similar. The scryer prepares the space (low light, silence, an appropriate medium), formulates a question, and gazes softly at the medium without focusing the eyes sharply. After a period of several minutes the medium typically begins to appear clouded or shifting, then specific imagery emerges. The Golden Dawn curriculum identifies three stages: clouding (the medium becomes hazy), symbols (geometric forms or simple shapes appear), and skrying proper (complex imagery, sometimes moving). Each stage takes practice to attain, and most beginners spend many sessions in the clouding stage before progressing.

In practice

You can begin with a simple practice using whatever medium is available. A black ceramic bowl filled with water makes an effective starter. Set it on a dark cloth, light a single candle behind or beside you, sit comfortably, and gaze softly at the centre of the bowl. Begin with twenty minutes, three times a week. Do not strain. Allow your eyes to relax until the surface of the water becomes indistinct. Note any colours, shapes, faces, or impressions that arise. Keep a journal. Use the crystal ball oracle for digital practice.

Traditional advice suggests scrying at twilight or at night, on the new or full moon, after a period of fasting or meditation, with a clear and specific question. Avoid scrying when tired, ill, or emotionally agitated, as the results in such states are usually projections of the disturbance rather than genuine visions. Combine scrying with I Ching by casting a hexagram first and using the scrying session to explore its imagery, or with tarot by drawing a card and scrying its scene. The discipline is patient and slow. Months of practice usually precede reliable results.

Symbolic depth

Scrying is the oldest form of vision because the reflective surface is the simplest mirror of the mind. The bowl of water, the polished stone, the black mirror are all images of the perceiving consciousness itself: still, receptive, capable of holding any image. To gaze into a scrying medium is to gaze at one's own perceptive faculty as if it were external, and to allow images to arise from sources deeper than ordinary thought. The medium is the screen for the psyche's own production.

In Hermetic and Neoplatonic philosophy, the scryer is thought to gain access to the imaginal realm called the mundus imaginalis by the Persian philosopher Suhrawardi and the French scholar Henry Corbin. This realm lies between the physical world and the world of pure intellect, and is the natural home of dreams, visions, archetypes, and angelic encounters. Scrying is therefore not a hallucination but a perception of a different order of reality. Modern depth psychology, especially the active imagination of Carl Gustav Jung, offers a parallel description in psychological terms. Continue with Crystal Ball, Alchemy, and Rosicrucianism. Visit the oracle hub.

Also known as

• Gazing
• Crystallomancy
• Catoptromancy
• Hydromancy
• Mirror Divination