Scrying is the ancient art of looking into a surface or structure, then receiving messages or images. The imgage can be either literal images or symbols, which must then be interpreted. The word scrying itself means "seeing."

Scrying in History

The great French Prophet Michel de Nostradame, known as simply Nostradamus, used scrying for his famed quatrains in the 1500s. Gifted with prophecy,. Nostradamus was a highly educated doctor and healer, and he was extensively studied and skilled in the occult arts and astrology. His intensive study led to use a fourth century method of scrying for his prophecies and divination. Nostradamus recorded this method, which includes privacy, evening time and gazing into a bowl of water with candlelight reflected into its depths. Nostradamus would touch the water with a wand and then the hem of his robe, acknowledge the presence of a deity and gaze into the bowl until the prophesies came to him.

In the Villa of Mysteries at Pompeii, one of the scenes depicted in the frescoes around the walls of the Initiation Room shows the neophyte scrying. Vittorio Macchiora, in The Villa of Mysteries, says: "The neophyte is born again the Zagreus; she has begun to live the life of the god, but terrible tests await her. Silenus seated on a double plinth shows her a hemispherical silver case on which a youth gazes in ecstasy while his companion hold on high behind him a Dionysiac mask...The hemispherical case at which the youth gazes ecstatically is a magickal mirror; [he is seeing] in the mirror a series of visions that have their center and starting point in the mask and life of Dionysus...he gazes on the mirror as Dionysus did, so as to become one with him."

Mediums for Scrying

The Mayans used a variety of polished, coloured stones. Native American Cherokee and Apache use crystals, as do the tribes of Borneo and New Guinea, and the Australian Aborigines.

Some of the old books of Ceremonial Magick, or Grimoires, give detailed instructions for the stand that should hold a crystal used for scrying. They prescribe intricate sigils and words of power to be engraved on the stand. Some even suggest periods of fasting, prayer and the summoning of particular spirits. Today, however, a simple form of water scrying is one of the most popular forms of scrying among Wiccans, and many Pagans.

Water Scrying

You will need a dark-coloured bowl or small cauldron; water to fill the vessel; mugwort; a candle; blessing oil; a purple cord or ribbon (approximately 50 inches long), large enough to form a circle around the bowl of water and the candle; three crystals that have only one point each; and a match.

Create a circle on a table with the purple cord or ribbon. Take the mugwort in your left hand, covering it with your right, and bless it. To bless the mugwort, close your eyes and visualise white light moving from the universe of the Goddess through your head, down your arm, and into the mugwort. Visualise that are inhaling this white, purifying light, and sending the newly received energy into the mugwort. Bless the mugwort with words similar to: "I do bless this sacred mugwort and thank it for its use in empowering my scrying. This be done with the power of the Lord and of the Lady, harming none, and for the good of all." Sprinkle the mugwort within the circle.

Anoint and bless the candle with oil that is beneficial to scrying to psychic awareness. Use words such as: "I do bless this candle to illuminate the way to the future. This be done with the power of the Lord and of the Lady..." Place the candle within the circle on the table toward the back edge doge of the circle.

Bless the water and crystals in the same way you blessed the oil and mugwort.

Close your eyes and move within yourself to a meditative state. Inhale and become aware of your breath filling your lungs. As you exhale, allow the muscles in your body to relax. When you have achieved a deep level of relaxation, visualise a deep blue light growing within yourself. Allow the blue light to move outside yourself, escaping through your pores. Encompass yourself and the table within a great protective bubble of the blue light. It is a perfect sphere. Take several breaths, seeing the protective light becoming stronger and stronger. At this time, focus on the Goddess or God energy. Invite this energy to fill the protected area. Now, begin to concentrate on the purpose for your scrying work. Is it for your future?, Is it for a friend's future?, etc. Allow yourself to go more deeply within yourself until you know you will achieve results. When you have reached that deep level of focus, open your eyes and light the candle.

Touch a finger into the water, and then dab your forehead in the sixth chakra or third eye area, As you do this mentally note that you are joining your psychic center with spiritual waters that can tell you what you wish to know.

With your eyes open, move again to that deep state of relaxation, empty your mind, and use your breathing to move yourself to that meditative place. Gaze into the water that you have blessed. Expect no outcome. Divest yourself of any results. It is time to simply let go, forget about time, and become receptive to the visions or symbols or even disassociated thoughts you will see in the water.