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.
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.
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.
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.
You may work with the same object several days in a row in order to visualize it with the greatest possible clarity, but before you become tired of it, change to some other object. Keep the objects simple. Remember, these is no success or failure here. It is an exercise not a test.
Visualize the face and head of someone you know quite well. It may be the face of a family member or a realitive or a friend. Stick with those individuals you see on a regular basis. Examine the head from all angles, including the back. Study the ears, the way the hair hangs and curls, the lines above the eyes and around the mouth, the color of the eyes, the texture of the skin.
After you have a firm visual construction of the face, animate it in your mind. Visualize the person talking to someone as thorugh you were watching a silent movie. Cause the face to smile, laugh, purse its lips, frown, scowl, become angry, look sad, and weep. Focus only on the image.
This exercise is similar to the one above. Close your eyes and visualize your own face as you see it in the mirror every day. Study each of your features in turn until you have built up a solid composite pictures of yourself in you own mind. Begin with the shape of your head, then move on to the postition of you ears, the thickness of your neck, your hair, your eyes, nose, mouth. When one of your features becomes vague in your mental imagine, return your awareness to it and make it clearer.
You will be surprised how much more difficult it will be to hold your own face that one of someone else.
Remember the sound of a familiar voice in your mind. It is best to begin with someone who speaks to you every day, but after you have practiced with familiar voices for a few weeks, you may begine to evoke the voices of more distant friends and relatives--individuals you may not have seen for months or years. The voice of a relative who has died possibly.
You should cause these familiar voices to actually say the kinds of things that these people usually say to you. Have them use slang expressions that they commonly use and recall the rhythm of thier speech and thier inflections. Recreate their tone, pauses, characterisitic emphasis, and accent. Cause the remembered voices to laugh. You can make them say anything you wish , but it is more useful to stick to the tyes of things that their owners would normally say.
Remember in rabid succession the sound of a breeze in the trees, the furgle of a rocky stream, the whine of a mosquito next to your ear, the crack of a twig beneath your feet, the splash of a frog jumping into a pond, the rustle ofyour feet as you walk through tall, dry grass, the chirp of birds in the trees around you, the breathless whir of a govering dragonfly.
You can vary these sounds from day to day if you wish, but try to connect them together into a single aural scene. You may want to recreate the sounds of a beach, or of a kitchen when dinner is being prepared, or of downtown traffic. Imagine the sounds alone as through you were present but blind, and forced to rely solely upon your ears to inform you about your surroundings.
Imagine that you are bline, and that several small objects rest upon the table or desk in front of you. Mentally reach out and feel around for these objects. In succession you discover a tennis ball, a flat, polished beach stone, a coffee mug, a paperback book, a sharpened pencil, a paperclip, and a single leather driving glove with a snap at the wrist.
Pick up each object and mentally turn it over in your hands. Feel the fuzzy texture of the tennis ball, the smoothness of the mug, the smallness of the paper lip, the softness of the leather glove. Riffle through the pages of hte paperback. Feel the the sharp point of the pencil. Lift the beachstone and estimate its weight. Spend a dozen seconds or so on each item before moving on to the next. Remember , you are blind, so you must feel for each item in turn and set it aside so you know where it is.
Imagine in succession the smell of a rose, garlic, frying bacon, newly polished leather, a freshly cut orange, a cigarette, gasoline, vanilla, and burning hardwood.
You may change or vary this list as much as you want when these same scents become too familiar. It is not necessary to spend more that a few seconds recreating each smell, but you must be certain that you have actaully evoked it in your mind. With practice each odor will become distinct as it would be if it were in the room with you.
In succession, imagine that you are tasting a fresh slice of lemon, a spoonful of white sugar, a block of chocolate, a peppermint, a stick of licorice, a piece of apple, a potato chip, and an asprin.
When these substances become too familiar, vary them with different tastes of your choosing. You can return to them anytime you wish to strengthen them in your mind and make them more real.