In studying game design, reading fantasy fiction, and designing RPG settings, I often find myself researching lots of real-world history in order to understand how to create verisimilitude in my creations. In particular, I often research traditional, real-life magic, the vast majority of which is just varying forms of divination. It seems, no matter what aspect of game design I explore, I always find myself bumping into divination in various forms. My most detailed knowledge regards cartomancy as part of my research on the history of card games. Since I don't believe in any of this crap, I play around with it often to try and grasp how people understood it in the past, mostly as a curiosity.
This article is about the one type of divination that doesn't contact game design: divination by vision scrying. In particular, I will cover crystal ball gazing.
Much of this article is not accepted by traditionalists in the profession, whom I consider to be living jokes. Rather, it is an explanation of my understanding of these things based on my knowledge of mythology and history. There are no written documents to support any real claim about most of my statements, so take it all with the heaviest grain of salt you can carry: This is pure fiction supplemented with history-inspired conjecture.
That said, I have scried an orbuculum several times and, whaddayaknow, I had visions! It's... interesting to intentionally invoke such a thing. It's also mildly frightening.
"Crystal ball gazing" is the layman's term for scrying. The correct term for a "crystal ball" is orbuculum. The following is a generic guide to the art of crystallomancy.
First, a bit of history on what we are talking about. Crystallomancy is one of many forms of necromancy. All necromancy is the contacting of spirits via any given means, and then communicating with them. The standard format of necromancy is for a person born with a unique soul to allow spirits to inhabit their body and communicate directly with the living. This person is referred to as a "medium" because they are acting as a material that is being shaped by the spirit that has been contacted. Most peoples' souls are not near enough to the material state to allow this to happen, they are far and away, safe from the manipulations of the dead.
In order for a non-medium to communicate with the dead, they must evoke conditions under which either they can channel a spirit to some extent, or to allow a spirit to be channeled through some alternative medium.
Theoretically, it may be possible to contact angels, demons, and possibly even gods through these techniques, so the more abstract umbrella term "divination" has been applied to all of these arts. That said, all divination is ultimately the vestigial surviving traditions of ancient ancestor worshiping cultures that were absorbed, misunderstood, and then misappropriated. All divination is a primeval religious tradition of forgotten origin.
The most fundamental form of scrying is that of gazing water, also known as hydromancy. The reflectiveness of the water was used as a combined concentration point and sensory deprivation system. Lecanomancy is a form of hydromancy in which a reflective dish of water is used, while Scyphomancy uses a reflective cup. Eventually, the water was done away with, giving rise to catoptromancy, scrying a mirror. This was innovated into scrying basically any shiny object, but knives were the particular interest of macharomancy. Crystallomancy is simply yet another variation of this tradition.
Although it seems anyone can scry, it is definitely influenced by your elemental alignment. Almost nobody outside of Hermeticism mentions this. Those of an earth alignment will find it easier to connect with a crystal. The farther removed from earth you are, (fire being the farthest removed) the more difficult it will be.
Get the details of your birth and build an accurate synastry chart for yourself. (Or have one made for you if you lack the technical knowhow) Knowing where you stand in this endeavor will help you prepare for the journey. (You may have a longer road than you expected)
It can also help to be aware of your eastern zodiac as supplemental details- be sure to use the correct calendar.
The correct stone is clear beryl. The clearer the better. The size of the stone doesn't matter, but the larger it is, the more easily it can fill your vision from a comfortable distance. (In this regard, consider the difference between a theater screen, a TV screen, and your cell phone screen.) At least 4 inches diameter and otherwise within your budget seems to be the industry standard.
You will see many glass and quartz orbucula. These will also work, but the practice began 4,000 years ago with beryl, switching over to quartz and glass only out of necessity due to scarcity. Using the most precise equipment will ease the practice.
Clarity is essential. Many people feel that it is harder to scry a clear stone because it lacks anything to concentrate upon; this is precisely the intent. Scrying anything is a meditative art, requiring the emptying of the conscious mind, concentrating on something impedes that state. One must practice meditation long before they begin attempting to use the trance state in a practical way.
You want your orbuculum to be as spherical and round as possible, so that its reflective and refractive properties are as even and consistent as possible.
The above is my orbuculum. It is a home-made object. My element is water, so I am more inclined to hydromancy. To ease the technique for myself, instead of using crystal, I constructed a spherical ampoule of distilled water. Despite my best efforts, some bubbles still manage to form at room temperature, and can only be removed by refrigerating it for a while. Le sigh.
 |
This one's safe.
If you do this and see the beam concentrated to a single tiny point,
you've purchased a monster. |
You will hear talk about storing your orbuculum in darkness, and never exposing it to sunlight. People claim the sun has energies that will contaminate the sphere. This is untrue. The real reason is actually much more pragmatic: a nearly perfect sphere of high clarity beryl is a genuine fire hazard.
The light will concentrate directly on the opposing surface of the stone, and anything flammable touching that spot will burn. The brighter the light, the hotter the stone will get. So, if you put the money into a really pure scrying stone, do the safe thing: store it in a dark box, and allow it to only be exposed to ambient light, never to a direct light source.
Lesser orbucula, such as quartz or glass, do not have the clarity to be hazardous in this manner, and are perfectly safe to store in direct sunlight. (Usually. Some get close though, and can start fires on objects near the surface.)
To test the focus of a stone, place it in a fire-safe bowl on some appropriate tinder, then place a UV lamp directly over it. If you have a hazard, it won't take long to see smoke.
 |
It's actually a native American thing,
and part of their traditional religious ceremonies. |
Many people discuss "cleansing" the orbuculum. Some people take this literally, and wash it with soap. (Which, I suppose, is a pretty reasonable thing to do with just about any object you have purchased) A few people interpret this symbolically, and discuss various meditative ceremonies to eliminate any perceived negativity associated with the sphere. (Eh. Couldn't hurt, I suppose, though I'm skeptical of any mention of abstract "energies" in absence of explanation for their nature) Nearly all promote "smudging" the orbuculum, the room to be scried in, and yourself
Smudging is the exposure of a noun to the smoke of burnt sage grass. It must be actual sage grass, not just some cheap sage scented candle or something. The three can not be smudged together, there should be a separate smudging for each.
This is a spiritual act, though the exact function is nolonger fully understood. It seems to be a sort of expulsion or eviction of unwanted spirits- possibly even all spirits- from a noun, hence its universal role as the foundation of the cleansing. There may be other effects as well however, as I said the full meaning is lost to us.
This is where the first hints of spiritual danger in scrying begin: we do not truly understand the full impact of what we are doing any more. Early Christianity condemned crystallomancy outright very early on, with the ban occurring before the first texts written. There is likely a reason for that.
 |
| This. Whatever this is. Please don't. Just. Don't. |
You want to eliminate as many distractions as possible. You need to clear your mind. This is the purpose of the orbuculum. To make it work, you need to set up an environment in which your orbuculum affects your senses in a deprivatory manner. This setup, the room in which the scrying will occur, is called a psychomanteum.
Traditionally, a psychomanteum refers specifically to catoptromancy, (scrying a mirror) all scrying methods are effectively altrnatives to that traditional format, with various reflective/refractive materials acting as the stand-in for the mirror. All the scrying object must achieve is an optical effect conducive of the trance state. A psychomanteum provides the object with the lighting to do that.
Start by relaxing yourself, body and mind. Take care of yourself. Meditate.
Next, set up the room. It should be dim, but not utterly dark as that would put you to sleep and introduce tripping hazards. The light source should be low, ambient, indirect. Sunlight peeking in from the edges of blackout curtains works just as well as candles.
Try to eliminate unnecessary reflections from the orbuculum. Placing it directly on a matte black surface (such as black velvet) helps with that. (Yet more reason to keep the expensive ones out of the sun) Placing yourself between the light source and sphere will eliminate reflected glare from the light source as well.
Some people like music and scents. Again, as distractions I would recommend against both.
If scrying for another, it'd be best done with them present but separate.
And finally, the scrying itself. Sit in a comfortable chair- REALLY comfortable- and gaze, unblinking, unmoving, at the orbuculum. Your gaze should be at the horizon of the orb, along its edge, not the center of the object itself. Meditate in this condition. Eventually, your trance like state will begin (with standard mist/cloud of phosphenes, a known biological effect caused by your eyes staying still. Your brain finds differences by subtly vibrating the eyes. When you enter a trance, this reflexive behavior stops, and your visual cortex loses context for information processing) and your visions will follow.
The visions are your dreams evoked while awake. The visions occur in the mind, not the stone. This is a form of lucid dreaming, though inverted to bring about subconsciousness while awake, rather than ego while unconscious.
 |
They are people.
They were people. |
Ok, time for the scary part. By inducing this state, you are exposing yourself to material spirits in the presence of the event, in much the same way as dreaming does. This is why dictionaries of dream interpretation are equally relevant to the interpretation of any visionary system: they are all variant methods of acting as the medium upon which spirits my imprint their influence.
This is done by bringing your personal spirit in as close to the material level as possible without actually dying.
The danger here is that, overall, we have lost the knowledge of controlling who exactly will be present at such an event. The old ways are practiced, but without understanding or context, there is neither rhyme nor reason to their application. Should dousing of salts be used? Before or after? Is smudging necessary after a reading? How about before each one? Do other things need smudging? Are there practices which invite certain types of spirits? How would we know?
We don't. Nobody does. Maybe it was written once in some tome lost to dust or ash. More likely, it was part of a verbal tradition, lost with the culture it was formed from. Whatever the case, there is no known way to truly control the presence of spirits at a reading. They might help you. They might be useless. They might attack you. You just can't know.
On the topic of an attack, understand that spirits can not ever hurt your body. They have passed, completely and utterly, and can not return. However, they can attack your soul if it is near enough to their material state, such as when we are dreaming.
These attacks are commonly called nightmares, but can also happen when you are awake. That weird feeling of dread that came out of nowhere and lingered for hours for no apparent reason? That was an attack.
The dead can use you as a material (a medium) upon which they can impress themselves, thus influencing your experience. This is how those visions are generated.
Cruel spirits will seek to impress themselves upon you to evoke a harmful experience. While this may be as simple as frightening visions, there is genuine reason to fear for your very safety regarding any act of mediumship.
Spirits can influence your beliefs, your attitude, even your memories. They can manipulate you into acting in self destructive ways, thus enacting an incredibly indirect and very real attack on your physical being. They can manipulate you into lashing out at loved ones, or losing a job by making bad decisions. They can foment mental disorder and encourage addiction or suicide. They can manifest themselves fully in your psyche, parasitically feeding off of your fear and attention to persist in your mind, as close to alive as they can get. They can haunt you for the rest of your life.
... That is, of course, only if you believe in ghost stories...
 |
| ... and you're far too old for that. |
