SCRYING: MAPS, MIRRORS, AND METROPOLITAN LIFE
Diviniation 101
Scrying is one of the most common forms of divination across traditions. The act goes by different names in different languages and even within English, so let’s start with defining what we mean with “scrying”.
“Divination has two major functions: predicting the future and communicating with the Other. ”
Whether using tea leaves or the random mix of people on the bus, the practitioner uses a seemingly random arrangement of symbols or the appearance of synchronicities within a non-material presentation of reality to discern the answer to a particular question or otherwise reflect communication. John Dee developed a complex scrying method to commune with the Enochian angels while medieval Europeans used tea leaves (the fancy name is tasseography) to discern the future. One of the oldest forms of magic we have on record involves Shang dynasty magicians casting tortoise carapaces (earlier forms used other bones and ox bones were still used by Shang practitioners) into the fire and discerning the future from the way cracks spread, a mirror of the word itself which was said to be on the back of a giant tortoise. As you’ll notice throughout these different techniques, the mirroring of the world to create a “third” space is essential to all scrying.
Divination is a broad category of magic, encompassing a variety of techniques with plenty of overlap between many. The most common form of magic in most people’s lives, divination has largely been viewed as a psychoanalytic technique in recent times, using tarot or astrology to discern inner truths and ways to act on them. That is certainly a good way to apply them, but by no means their origin nor most useful form in my opinion. Divination has two major functions: predicting the future and communicating with the Other. Different methods are more or less useful in different situations, but the central premise remains the same: the present contains within it the future and therefore the future can be discerned from within the present.
I do not believe in a deterministic universe. There is no guiding power that decides all of fate and destiny, no omnipotent god who governs, no absolute marching orders from on high. Rather, there are many powers and authorities in the universe and outside it, all working in their way and within their reach to shift it to suit themselves. Chaos is the order of all things. The future can be determined by a measure of probability, a lesson applied to the natural sciences a few centuries ago that produced the body of knowledge upon which our modern world is based. What the haughty academics of the 19th and 20th centuries must again reckon with is the inherently chaotic nature of the Universe; look closely enough and you see the Abyss in all things.
There is a type of magic which shapes the future directly: the Miracle of Prophecy. A Miracle because it sets the chaotic future as a fixed inevitability, Prophecy does not look at the present to determine the future, but treats the future as if it were the present, imposing their Will into the universe in such a way that all of existence bends to force those circumstances into existence. This disruption of Reality is so significant that even the caster themselves is caught up in the Prophecy. I use the term “Primal Magic” for this particular tier of Miracle, as other forms of magic and miracles are derived from the more fundamental exercise of raw Will. While Prophecy can be achieved through a variety of means, I suspect it (like most other Primal Magics) requires a particular affinity with it to intentionally exercise.
Fortunately for the rest of us, divination exists and we can discern not only what is most likely to happen, but what is possible within the scope of things to come. In my magical upbringing, divination was a must before any working: why bother slinging spells willy nilly when you can first hone in on the various likely scenarios and pinpoint your intervention point? Magical “price” works on a principle of complexity: the more significant the shift in reality required to produce the outcome desired, the more energy and authority required to make the magic work. By using divination to become aware of the targets, you can work magic that has a clear direction and sharper focus. Working in the dark may be thematically coherent, but it isn’t advisable in practice.
Basic methods of divination like scrying utilize the churning chaos of reality and its response to our focused consciousness to predict what’s coming. Where tarot or astrology operate with a fixed set of symbols made chaotic (shuffling the tarot) or unaffected by human agency (motion of the planets) to interpret the Flow, scrying leans fully into the chaos. With both random symbols and randomness generating them, scrying is a highly adaptable approach to divination magic. Advanced forms of divination open with scrying and then use a sort of “second casting”, layering the initial interpretation of chaotic motion upon a set of symbols and casting it again. Think of it like using a telescoping lens to zoom into sights far away: geomancy or the I Ching are two such double-layered divinatory practices.
READYING YOURSELF
I will outline three approaches to scrying that are both great magical exercises and immediately practical. The basic theory behind each approach and the general methodology will be described in a way that encourages customized adaptation. How you choose to apply it is up to you: there’s plenty of options to choose from! Central to all three techniques is one fundamental to all forms of divination: emptying the mind. We start there –
Taking lessons from our psychoanalytical friends, we know our subconscious operates primarily on symbols and projects them into our conscious mind. When we are feeling insecure, we see our insecurities in everything. Generally, you aren’t predicting the future because things are going super well and you have no vested interest in the outcome. Because we are using Consciousness’s influence on reality to produce magic here, any unresolved knots in the back of your mind will come forward and distort your ability to correctly interpret the chaos. In the worst case scenario, your projection manifests a lesser form of Prophecy, that “self-fulfilling” kind.
To combat this, I use an adapted form of Buddhist meditation to keep an inventory of what all is churning inside my mind before trying to take stock of the churning outside it. I’ve never been one who can truly still their mind. I’m diagnosably creative and enthusiastic, so the truly solid spirit thing isn’t for me. Instead, I was taught to “greet” my various emotions, motivations, and gently investigate them. By emptying my subconscious and dragging it into the conscious mind as much as possible, the question I pose when scrying is more focused around my own Will and the symbols I see are freer from my biased perspective. The emptier the subconscious, the more room for the Flow to fill in the symbolic knowledge I’m searching for with scrying. Making friends of your feelings is wise for magic, however you “empty” your backlog.
WATER SCRYING
This technique uses a simple incantation and visualization exercise to turn a glass/crystal bowl of water into an extension of the eye itself, your literal “third eye” in which your vision goes beyond the physical and extends into the symbolic. This is the most “active” of the three methods, requiring both some degree of ritual setup and the use of an incantation. There are many ways to use this particular form of scrying, but they all generally use the same three concepts at their core. Feel free to play around with the particular structure and adapt it to your strengths and weaknesses!
The first element is the water. Experiment with different kinds of water: your tap is most certainly fine, filtered water has its advantages, but the murkier water of a nearby river or lake is worth thinking about as well. For our purposes here, we’re going to use a little bit of saltwater (should be much less salt than ever seawater would have!). I would recommend you fill the bowl first with warm water, stir it vigorously counterclockwise, then add a little sea salt to the swirl. This is more to purify the water and help protect us from any unintentional connections forged while looking through the water. Too much salt will have an inhibiting effect, especially if you’re attempting to use this method to communicate with spirits. As other methods detailed here will focus on spirits, we’re using this method to get direct information about the future or attain knowledge of the present, physical world.
The second is the vessel. Crystal, glass, and stone will all produce slightly different outcomes and you may want to experiment here as well. In this example, use a clear glass or crystal bowl. Your standard Pyrex will work just fine. The object should be as clean as you can get it, washed thoroughly with water to remove any soap or other residue. If you’ve got time, set the vessel out under a Full Moon (inside but near a window with significant exposure would be acceptable if necessary). Charging it with lunar energy will help given the approach detailed here. It may be worth charging the water under the Sun if you’re aiming to do some serious work: the combination of energies in inverse roles will be helpful given the “creative” approach I recommend.
The third and final element is the reflection. While moving water or cloudy surfaces that don’t reflect well are certainly possible mediums for the technique, the absence of clear reflection is a sort of reflection in and of itself. The surface of water, like the surface of a mirror or any other reflective surface, is not what we see. No matter what you see in the mirror, you are not seeing the mirror itself. The mirror’s true surface will never appear as it is to an outside observer, who only ever sees the reflection cast back. By understanding the deeper truth – that all we see is a reflection of some sort and not its real form – we are able to use the surface of the water (the material, magical element) to give our “sight” a new form that is free from the limitations of our physical eyes. Just like the little balls of liquid and transparent lenses blur and refine light to give us sight, so the bowl of water and its reflected surface gives us sight beyond sight.
In a charged space (and more importantly, one you feel secure in!) draw a simple circle with white chalk or salt (table salt is fine) and put the bowl in the middle. However you enter “the zone”, get yourself ready and put your hands on either side of the bowl, along the edges of the circle you drew earlier. When you’re ready, close your eyes and slowly draw your hands to the water’s surface as you speak the following incantation:
“Liquids, lenses, and light
Expand my simple eyes
Knowledge, Perspective, and Sight
Make my vision wise.”
Imagine the water and the fluids inside your eye as same. Recognize the decorations, lack thereof, curves, imperfections, and edges in the bowl as the same as the surface of your eye. Understand that light is what we see and more, present in darkness and visible even with our eyes closed. As your hands touch the surface at the end of the incantation, allow your physical eyes and the bowl connect, ask your question, and look into the water. Whatever you see in the ripples from your hands, the distortions in what’s reflected, how the light moves, and whatever else feels significant will give you your answer. It’s become your own vision so your own interpretation will almost certainly be the most correct, whatever those symbols might mean to others. Water is the element of Will and reflects our deeper Truth, regardless of our Mind and its Knowledge. Trust your gut and practice over time: you’ll learn your own habits.
CRYSTAL SCRYING
A more familiar approach to fans of pop culture magic, a crystal fashioned into some sort of pendulum and a map of any kind will do. The two elements will serve different but similar purposes. Just as the map is not the actual terrain it describes, the crystal becomes an extension of your spiritual consciousness. This is a highly adaptable formula, built on the particular map you use. I will describe two approaches, one with a “map” that isn’t a map and a map more familiar. The type of crystal you use will also matter, but I won’t detail all the options here. Consider Scott Cunningham’s encyclopedias (Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic) as your general go-to when looking for correspondences. I’ve found his reference material easy to use and effective in my own practice. Feel free to consider other materials as well – the adaptability is the advantage!
In the first approach, the crystal serves more like a fishing rod cast into the Flow of Fate, the coursing of probability, wills, and the chaos of the universe. On a piece of white paper, draw a circle. At the northern point of the circle, draw an arrow pointing north. Add three points opposite and square the arrow, all on the outside of the circle representing the cardinal directions. Then write “yes” at the northern and southern points, “no” on the western and eastern points. Finally, draw a five-pointed star using the northern point as the base of the top point.
This “map” is a particular favorite of mine, layering on the Chinese/Sinosphere understanding of the pentacle with the modern Western cardinal elements. In “Wu Xing” (or its syncretic forms elsewhere in Asia) the five points of the pentacle represent the 5 elements and their relationship with one another. The destructive, creative, and lesser interactions between them help inform an understanding of reality, the elements themselves, and how one can transform the different states of energy, matter, and spirit. The western use of the four elements and the pentacle in magic centers reality around its composition: the ‘fifth’ element in some interpretations. By layering two energetic maps of the universe upon one another, we open a “hole” in the Veil and put the crystal in motion to measure the Flow of the universe below.
Spin the crystal pendulum gently in a clockwise (generative/solar) fashion over the map and extend yourself into the twirling pendulum. In this mixing of the Solar energy (motion of the crystal) and the Lunar form (map) through a compass and the needle, we add in the Mercurial energy necessary for divination and have our “map”. Next, connect your spiritual consciousness into the crystal, a focus for energies that helps to amplify your own awareness of the Flow. To do so, feel the point where your fingers layer upon each other like links in the chain. Recognize your arm and fingers are the same as the chain holding the pendulum, both connecting you to the crystal. As you pour yourself into the crystal, close your eyes and let loose your image of the map and crystal, instead imagining the question you have in your mind. The questions should be “yes” or “no”, with “maybe” being a still-spinning or diagonal result. When you feel the crystal moving in a steady direction, open your eyes and read the result. Up and down is yes, left and right is no, otherwise is a maybe.
Close the circle by spinning the crystal three times counterclockwise (the destructive cycle/neutralizing the energies). You can then restart with a new question or rather than closing the circle, ask a follow-up or related question to the first. You do not want to use the same “window”/circle for different questions: like cooking different dishes with the same pans. Unless that layering of flavoring will help improve the next result, make sure you keep your space clean!
For locating objects, people, or potential events, a more traditional map will work. You can use a digital display if you can lay it flat but otherwise would want a printed map. You can also sketch one yourself if need be and you’re familiar enough with the area. Here again, extend yourself into the crystal and cast a clockwise (generative) circle to tap into the Flow. Rather than a bobber floating in the currents below, imagine the crystal instead as a homing beacon seeking clarity in the chaos. Within the space you’ve drawn, tell the crystal what to find and hold the image as clearly in your mind as you can. Continue to spin the crystal until you feel it “drawn” to a particular point. If you don’t feel any draw, that usually means the object/event/possibility does not exist within the space. Otherwise, open your eyes and see where the crystal pulls. Usually it will either physically pull toward the paper itself (and thus stop moving) or swing in a particularly oblong circle, jutting out toward where one should look. Dismiss the energies with a counterclockwise circle three times and you’re good to go!
MIRROR SCRYING
Another approach which can take two very different forms based on the same kind of theory, mirror scrying is the foundation of John Dee’s magical system and exists in many different styles across cultures and traditions. For our purposes here, we will take two approaches: one in which the surface of the mirror is used to see omens and another in which it’s used as a doorway to see beyond the material world with the assistance of a spirit. There are many, many ways to approach this and as always, experimentation is encouraged. “Mirror” can also be interpreted fairly broadly: anything which has a reflective surface works. One of my ongoing projects is to get a piece of lapis lazuli polished sufficiently to be a mirror – all things in good time!
This first approach to mirror scrying is one I would encourage you to practice more as a spiritual exercise than a ritual one. While you certainly can enter a trance state and use the distortion of reflections to discern omens, this is a little more “at your day job” style magic. I would use this before tests or when lost to find my way. I find it’s particularly effective in populated or liminal spaces. You might have heard that word a few times, but it’s worth explaining it a little more clearly before we delve into the how-to here. “Liminality” is a quality of being between states as a state of being. The threshold is a part of both rooms yet apart from both rooms. An intersection is made of both roads and yet can be identified apart from both. These spaces are magically important for two reasons: 1) they are governed by Mercury, one of the two planetary powers that govern magic; and 2) they are ‘generative’ spaces in the psychic plane, where two physical structures and their corresponding ‘psychic’/abstract existence are overlaid, producing three things instead of two. Liminality doesn’t occur in all transitions: remember, it is something that is a stable point of instability – a fixed contradiction.
Finding such a spot (I like the lobby of an office building or a busy street corner) position yourself somewhere comfortable and first consciously assess the space. Make note of anything unusual or interesting, whatever catches your eye or intentionally draws attention to itself. With a sort of map formed, close your eyes and extend your spiritual consciousness outward, like a dolphin or bat sends out clicks to echolocate. As you open your eyes and they begin to focus your vision, look into a reflective surface and note any distortions or changes. Direct images might come as well, but generally this form of scrying is more subtle. Once your full range of vision has returned, note any significant changes or symbolic shifts you noticed. Perhaps a light’s color looked different, a loud person was silent in the reflection, or maybe a few words came into focus among the signs reflected before the rest. As with all magics that rely on synchronicities, you’ll have to struggle a bit with “am I making this up or is this meaningful?” if you’re the sort who likes to torture yourself. As I prefer to answer: “it’s both.”
The second approach is a bit more advanced, requiring some kind of contract with a spirit or the confidence to command and bind elementals. You could also consider a servitor, somewhat of a halfway point between an existing entity and one of your own creation. Either way, the premise is largely the same as the more basic form of mirror scrying except instead of a “ping” check of the Flow, you’re using a spirit’s perspective to ‘see’ into the Flow and draw out any significant information related to your particular question or inquiry. With either form of mirror scrying, specific questions or a search for general input are both acceptable. Remember that regardless, you are receiving information about the world as it exists now unless the spirit you have contracted is capable and instructed to look into the future more directly. While all of these divination approaches could be used to tell the future, they work better in the immediate or near-immediate future. Long-term predictions are better suited to other methods.
A few times I’ve used scrying to help –
When I first moved to Japan, I got lost pretty badly at night. If you don’t know, Japanese cities aren’t laid out like modern Western ones. No block grids or clear organization of which streets will go where. Add to that a general lack of Japanese ability and it being only my second day and you can understand why my evening walk quickly turned into trouble. I didn’t know anyone’s phone number to call and so I did what any witch would do: I scried for which direction to go in. Without any crystals handy, I used the reflection of vending machines in a closed storefront’s windows as my mirror and followed the direction of whichever machine’s lights blinked as I opened my eyes. Each time I came to an intersection, I followed a similar pattern. Unfortunately, this didn’t end up leading me home. Fortunately, it did lead me to a friend who happened to be out for a nightly bike ride and just-so-happened to run into me and lead me home.
When I was a young university student and not at my most diligent, I’d forgotten about a test. I overslept and arrived 30 minutes late. The professor let me take it, but without that extra half hour of writing time. Confident in the subject matter, I breezed through the first two short essays but the third one had been something covered entirely in lectures, lectures I had not attended. A blank look of horror overtook my face and I’m certain the professor noticed and smirked, catching the skippers without overtly casting a net for us. Having taught myself now, I empathize. Back then, the professor may as well have been a supervillain. Using the metal backs of the lecture hall chairs, I conjured up as many images as I could and strung them together into as coherent of an argument as I could muster. Whether I scried right or just am an expert bullshitter is up for debate, but as I tell the story, I magicked my way into that A I didn’t probably deserve.
The pendulum method is my go-to for yes/no questions and general inquiries into the present. I use it so often that it feels trivial despite how profound of a magic it can be. You can also use it like a less two-way form of the spirit board, using crystal as a communication device that can be directed by the other intelligence to answer simple questions. If you use it with familiar spirits, you won’t even need the answers from the map. More complex communications and interactions will begin to take place in the simple act of casting the clockwise circle and dismissing it. I like the pendulum or mirror spirit methods for discerning the validity of other spirits’ communications.
For example, let’s say I’m trying to communicate with a local nature spirit that seems to be upset. It might be a true and proper entity of the Wood, but it could also be an annoying elemental that’s taken on that form or some other kind of spirit that knows I’m a sucker for a sad power of the Breathing Earth. To help me balance out my own perceptions, I have a trusted spirit tasked to discern the truthfulness of what I’m getting from the other entity: yes being truthful responses, no being untruthful responses. I’ve used this method less as I’ve trained my own perceptions, but it’s still my tried and true verification method for divination results I’m unsure of or when using my own psychic abilities and wanting to validate them with a less personal method.
Here again at the end, I want to emphasize this is in no way the end all be all description of scrying. The particular approaches above aren’t even the only ways you can do those types of scrying and no doubt your own tradition has its rules, directions, and prohibitions around some of these ideas. As always, I draw from my own practice to direct others but adaptability is the strength of this simple approach to magic. I will always fear the jack of trades over the master of any one art when it comes to magic. This is the domain of Mercury afterall!
