Scrying is the deliberate act of perceiving events that lie beyond the range
of the physical senses by using the agents of the unconscious mind.
The scryer is separated from the things scried by distance, by time, or by
levels of consciousness. Usually visual images are scried, but it is
possible to scry sounds, scents, sensations and flavors. Any impression you
can pick up with the senses of your body can also be received at a distance
by your mind alone through scrying.
When you watch a television program you are not scrying because the image on
the screen is actually there directly in front of you, even though it may
have been filmed months or years ago in a distant country. The same is true
when you listen to the radio or use the telephone. The sound comes out of
the speaker and goes into your physical ear, even though the original source
of the sound is many miles away.
Neither are you scrying during your ordinary dreams. The images in a common
dream come unsought, and the dreamer has no conscious intention to observe
them. Similarly, an unconscious seer or prophet is not a scryer because the
visions received by a prophet are sent without warning, and the prophet has
no control over them. Clairvoyance, because it is automatic and comes
unsought, is a form of prophetic vision, not a type of scrying.
On the other hand, psychometry, which seeks to perceive by touch details
about a person or place from some object that has been in contact with that
person or place, is a form of scrying because it is a deliberate technique
of perception at a distance that transcends the limitations of the ordinary
senses.
Telepathy is a form of scrying when it is consciously used to read the
thoughts or emotions of another human being, because this information is not
available through the senses. It exists on a level of awareness separate
from the consciousness of the scryer. The scryer is able to bridge the
distance between his or her own mind and the mind of the subject by a
deliberate act of will.
Dowsing is a type of scrying, because the movements of the dowsing rod are
messages sent from the deep mind through the nerves and muscles of the body
to the consciousness. The same is true of the Ouija board, the pendulum,
automatic writing, and automatic speaking.
Divination is not scrying. In divination we interpret the "Occult" meaning
of physical objects or events observed by our physical senses according to a
set of established rules. It is not necessary during divination to receive
data from our unconscious mind, although this sometimes happens. When it
does divination becomes a scrying. Palm reading and Tarot are examples of
divination.
How scrying works
The word "Scry" literally means to see. Most forms of scrying involve the
use of sight. It is important to understand that the images seen during
scrying are not transmitted through the eyes. They are like images we see in
dreams. Even through they appear to be right in front of us, and we seem to
be looking at them through our eyes, when we wake up we realize this was
only an illusion. Our eyes were closed and the room in which we slept was
dark. We could not have seen anything.
In scrying we see only with the mind. But the mind needs some way to convey
the information to our conscious awareness. It must take the information we
gain during a scrying session and translate that information into terms we
can understand. It does this by turning the scried data into a sense
impression.
Usually the mind translates the information into a still image or moving
vision. Sometimes is translates it into sounds or voices. Both of these
forms of sense impression are very valuable because they are able to convey
a large amount of specific meaning that is easy to interpret. Sometimes
during scrying the mind translates its data into tactile sensations or
odors. On rare occasions it even conveys information in the form of a taste
in the mouth. These types of sensory impressions are not nearly as useful as
sight and hearing because the data they convey is much more difficult to
interpret. How do we know what the scent of violets means, or the touch of a
hand upon our cheek?
Sometimes the information picked up by the deep mind during scrying cannot
be accurately translated into sensory forms. When this happens the mind
conveys it to our conscious as best it can. We may suddenly feel a sense of
danger, or become afraid for no reason, or burst out laughing, or grow
dizzy. This sort of experience during scrying indicates that the deep mind
is struggling to communicate some bit of information that cannot be
translated into impressions of sight, sound, touch, smell, or taste.
In dowsing the unconscious conveys the information we seek--the presence of
water, or oil, or some mineral beneath the surface of the ground--by causing
the muscles of our hands to relax and allow the dowsing wand, which is held
under tension, to rotate over the correct spot. This is the minds way of
saying "dig here." Similarly, when we seek information through an Ouija
board, our unconscious mind communicates it to us by controlling the
movement of our hands and arms so that the planchette spells out meaningful
words. Dowsing and the use of the Ouija board may not seems like forms of
scrying, but the psychological mechanism is essentially the same.
What Happens When We Scry?
In scrying, we enter a receptive state of consciousness that is very similar
to the mental state of a hypnotized subject. The difference is that while we
scry there is no other person in the room to give us specific suggestions.
Our mind remains open and waiting to receive impressions. To some extent we
can set the parameters of this receptive state by fixing our concentration
on the purpose for which we are conduting the scrying session.
For example, we may hold in our mind that the reason for the scrying is to
learn the whereabouts of a certain person or thing. This acts in the same
way as the suggestion of a hypnotist that we will receive a certain sensory
impression. Our unconscious mind is keyed by our need to seek only
information concerning the location of this person or object, and will
gather that information in nonsensory ways, translate it into sensory forms
that our awareness can understand, and deliver the information to our
consciousness as sounds, images, and so on.
The Moon In Scrying
In ancient times scrying was closely connected with the magick of the Moon.
The lunar sphere is the lowest of the spheres of the planets, and for this
reason the Moon was regarded as a kind of gateway between our ordinary,
physical world and the mysterious realm of spirits. The Moon rules dreams,
visions, hallucinations, fantasies, and memories -- all functions of the
astral plane, which exsits one level removed from the physical plane.
The astral plane is not a place in space but another dimension of reality.
It exists and penetrates our ordinary physical world the way music can
vibrate on the air at the same time a human voice is speaking, or white
light can simutaneously hold many separate different colors. The visions we
perceive during scrying form upon the astral plane. This is also true of the
images of our dreams, but when we dream we usually make no conscious
inspection of our astral landscape. During scrying we remain consciously
aware of what we see astrally, and we are able to record our impressions.
Most of the substances used to aid scrying have historically been lunar
materials. These include crystals, mirrors, water and other liquids, silver
rings, lunar herbs, and hazel wands.
