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keiliss
{Take the 100 Things challenge!}
Scrying is the art of looking into a polished or shimmering surface and seeing images or symbols offering clues about the future. Crystal balls are most often associated with this art, though a variety of surfaces can be involved, most of them easier to find (and cheaper) than a crystal ball. Some choices are water, mirrors, ink, oil, hematite, even steel. Different names apply to the various choices of speculum (scrying tool), but the techniques are all similar and the results the same.
Catoptromancy uses mirrors, both regular or darkened as a scrying tool. In the old days, mirrors would be made of bronze or silver. Aztec priests used obsidian mirrors to find out what was happening in remote outposts of the empire while the Oracle of Tibet used a polished steel mirror to predict the future for governing ministers.
Crystalomancy refers to crystals or crystal balls. The practice has been documented in many parts of the world, from ancient Egypt to the Americas and became popular in Europe from medieval times. More about this in a following post.
Hydromancy involves spying into the still surface of water, sometimes lit by candlelight or the moon. Nostradamus used bowls of water or black ink for scrying. Water can be clear, cloudy or darkened with ink, it can be spring, pond or sea water. Bowls are really a matter of personal choice, though traditionally a dark bowl would be used for clear water and a light one for dark. The bowl can be made of anything from clay to metal, it can even be a stone bowl in a forest setting - hello, Galadriel. Lecanomancy is a division of hydromancy that uses stones dropped into liquid and then interprets the patterns, ripples or even sounds created.
These are just a few examples, the mediums people have used over time are as wide ranging as human ingenuity. Next post I'll look at the art of using a crystal ball or a mirror.
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Date: 2012-04-24 23:13 (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-04-25 00:31 (UTC)The theory behind scrying really would be an interesting read.
*runs to avoid being smacked*
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Date: 2012-04-25 21:06 (UTC)How it's done and if it works? Hmm. That'd either be a very short or a very long post :D. I want to say more about crystals and mirrors, so - see where it goes.
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Date: 2012-04-25 03:03 (UTC)*hugs*
And ditto what Nienna said. Galadriel. Yup.
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Date: 2012-04-25 21:18 (UTC)*hugs*
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Date: 2012-04-25 15:52 (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2012-04-25 22:34 (UTC)So hard to condense such a big subject, but I may as well get in the habit otherwise next I know I'll be writing about every rune, each tarot card... I have to write one more piece about balls and mirrors though, they're too central to the concept of 'seeing the future' to be glossed off in a general post.
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Date: 2012-04-25 23:20 (UTC)I look forward to your work with runes. I've never done a lot with casting the runes or the bones, although I have done a fair amount with astrology and the tarot.
- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2012-04-26 19:21 (UTC)I love amethyst, obsidian, orange river quartz... This set me thinking maybe it'd be fun to do one of those lists - you know: aquamarine for courage, calm and tolerance, apatite for inspiration, motivation and energy -- and then I realised I was getting a bit carried away and that was probably outside of the scope of these posts, LOL.
Really thought I'd have trouble finding enough to write about before I started, too.
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Date: 2012-04-25 19:57 (UTC)Have you read Peter Ackroyd's factional book 'The House of Doctor Dee'?
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Date: 2012-04-25 21:31 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-26 16:28 (UTC)The book is out of print at the moment and not available on the Kindle; however, it can be bought second hand. If I do come by the kindle version it I will send it to you.
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Date: 2012-04-25 23:24 (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2012-04-26 16:27 (UTC)The book is by Peter Ackroyd. Here are a couple of links about the book, which links past and present.
http://www.smallbytes.net/~bobkat/dee.html
http://thierstein.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=43
The book is out of print at the moment and not available on the Kindle; however, if I do come by the ebook version I will send it to you.
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Date: 2012-04-26 19:17 (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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