Gaze into My
Crystal Ball
Scrying, Channeling,
and Crystalomancy
Everyone has seen gypsies and fortunetellers in movies or on television gazing into their crystal balls and making astounding predictions and pronouncements.
While we all wish we could peek into a crystal ball and catch a glimpse of the future, that’s not quite how it works in real life. Sadly, you may never be able to wave your hand and see a photographic image of the tall dark stranger that’s headed your way.
However, you can use crystal orbs and spheres for both meditation and divination. The process is called scrying or crystalomancy.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a big crystal ball on the center of your table. For one thing, real crystal balls carved from a solid piece of crystal can be prohibitively expensive. While less expensive versions are available, they are usually glass or lead crystal, made from melted, ground-up quartz.
For crystal gazing, you simply need a genuine, natural crystal that’s at least two inches (or about 50 millimeters) in diameter, which would also be about six inches (or 160 millimeters) in circumference. That’s just slightly bigger than a golf ball.
You don’t need a perfectly round crystal ball. Instead, you might prefer to work with an egg-shaped crystal, a large oval, a pyramid, or even a mirrorlike crystal slab.
You don’t need a perfectly clear crystal ball, either. In fact, a crystal with veils, rainbows, and inclusions could actually work better than a clear crystal because you’ll have more of a starting point for your visions.
Believe it or not, you don’t even need a quartz crystal. Any type of crystal will help you focus your awareness and slip into a meditative state.
Ultimately, choosing a crystal ball may be the most difficult part of scrying. Once you have the right tool, the rest is easy.
First, cleanse and charge your crystal ball as you would any other crystal in your collection.
Then clear a space where you can work in peace and in privacy, uninterrupted by ringing telephones or curious passersby. Make sure the area is neat and clean, too, so you won’t be distracted by clutter or the reminder of work you need to do.
Dim the lights. If direct sunlight is coming in through the windows, pull the shade or close the drapes. Your goal should be to eliminate any bright reflections in your ball.
Light a white candle to draw pure and protective energy into the room, but don’t put it so close to the crystal that you can see its reflection.
Sit with both feet firmly on the floor. Take several deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth.
You may hold your crystal ball in your hands, if you like, or position it on a cushion or a table stand.
Imagine the space around you and the crystal ball filling with clear, white light.
Gaze steadily into the ball. Let your eyes go slightly out of focus, as if you were daydreaming; don’t squint or strain to see into the crystal. Simply look at the ball, relaxing deeper and deeper with each breath, and let the visions come to you.
At first, a cloudy mist might seem to fill the crystal, or some parts of the ball might seem to shimmer and fill with light. If the crystal has inclusions, they might seem to move, just a little, or shift in size and shape. You might even start to see visions and images, as if you were paging through a photo album or watching a movie on a metaphysical screen.
Don’t be discouraged, however, if the experience is something less than earth-shaking—especially at first. In fact, it’s very likely that your first few efforts at crystal gazing will result in a series of more subdued psychic impressions. You might not see anything in the crystal, for example, but you might see an image in your mind’s eye. A word, a sentence, a phrase, or a snippet of song might pop into your head, seemingly out of nowhere. You might sense a change in temperature, or feel a breeze move softly across your skin. You might smell flowers, or fruit, or perfume. You might even get a flash of insight or understanding into a problem or situation you have been dealing with for some time.
Just as you experience the physical world through a wide range of senses and experiences, you can experience the psychic world through an entire host of occurrences, too. Crystals and crystal balls can help you tap into and develop your psychic abilities, no matter what form they take.
If you are just starting to learn crystalomancy, spend only five or ten minutes on your first few sessions, and gradually build up your focus and concentration. After each session, record the date and a few notes about your experience in your crystals journal, and then put your crystal ball away for safekeeping.
According to tradition, crystal balls should never be exposed to direct sunlight, and they should be covered with black velvet or black silk when they’re not in use. Sunlight, some people say, will drain a crystal ball of its power—but the real reason for keeping a crystal ball covered could simply be pragmatic. When the sun’s rays pass through a clear crystal ball, they could easily start a fire. You can choose for yourself whether you want to keep your crystal ball covered, but don’t store it on a stack of old newspapers, and don’t keep it next to the kindling in your fireplace.
Friends in High Places
While channeling—the act of connecting with the spiritual realm—might sound a little spooky at first, most people have had channeling experiences without even realizing it. You may have been asleep, but you woke suddenly with the solution to a problem that had been nagging you for days. You may have written a story or a poem without much conscious thought or effort—words simply seemed to flow from the tip of your pen. Someone may have asked you
a difficult question, and you blurted the correct response without even thinking.
Ultimately, channeling simply describes the act of making contact or communicating with spirit, whether you perceive that spirit in the form of guides, guardian angels, the holy spirit, God, or simply your own higher self.
Crystals can help you slip into a meditative state where you can channel information quickly, easily, and readily, from any source. One type of crystal—a channeling crystal—is said to be especially good for helping people connect with outside sources of information.
Channeling crystals are clear quartz crystals that typically have at least one large seven-sided face on one side of their tip, and a triangular, three-sided face on the other. Some channeling crystals are also ordinary pieces of clear quartz wrapped in copper wire.
If you want to try channeling with your crystal, start by cleansing and clearing it.
Then clear a space where you can work in peace and in privacy, uninterrupted by ringing telephones or curious passersby. Make sure the area is neat and clean, too, so you won’t be distracted.
Dim the lights, and sit in a comfortable chair with both of your feet planted firmly on the floor, for grounding.
Hold your channeling crystal in your hands and breathe deeply. As you look at the crystal, envision the space around you filling with a spiral-shaped column of bright, white light, energizing and uplifting you as it swirls in a clockwise direction around you.
Then imagine that the spirit guide you wish to talk with is in that light, and that he or she will slowly materialize before your very eyes.
The spirit might not be what you expect. It could come to you in the form of a man or a woman, but it could just as easily manifest as a small spirit animal, a devalike elf or fairy, a cluster of sparkling lights, a swirl of color, a wisp of smoke, or simply an invisible presence and a still, small voice inside your head. It could materialize in front of you, or you might see it only within the confines of the crystal itself. When you work with a channeling crystal, you should try to remain open to any possibility.
If you have trouble envisioning such a development in your own home, try to set the stage by imagining yourself in the spirit world instead. As you breathe deeply and gaze into your channeling crystal, picture yourself sitting with the crystal in a quiet park, in a peaceful meadow, or on a tropical beach at sunset—anywhere you would feel calm, comfortable, and relaxed. In the garden of your mind’s eye, you might have an easier time allowing your channeled experiences to unfold.
Feel free to ask direct questions, and expect to receive straight answers in response. You can ask them aloud, or just pose them silently in your thoughts. You could even prepare one main inquiry in advance of your channeling session, and write it down on a piece of paper.
The information you receive could come in the form of images, symbols, thoughts, or feelings. It could be as clear as crystal, or cloudy and confusing. Either way, don’t try to second-guess or rationalize the information you receive during a channeling session. Simply acknowledge it, thank the source, and conclude the session by visualizing all of the white light flowing down into your crystal.
Record your experiences in your crystals journal so you can refer back to it as events unfold. Then ground yourself with a few deep breaths, get up, and resume your day.
Even if you think the information you received actually comes from your subconscious mind, you will still be channeling energy from a higher source.
You shouldn’t feel tired or drained after a channeling session. If you do, spend more time grounding yourself, and picture white light coming from the space around you, not your own body.
Like any metaphysical practice, your channeling sessions will get easier and more interesting with time. Experiment as often as you like.
Crystals and Psychic Readings
You can use crystals alone to conduct psychic readings, or you can use crystals to augment other types of divination. Here are some practical tips to incorporate them into a larger metaphysical practice:
• Use crystals to cleanse and clear your tarot cards: simply store your cards with the crystal of your choice.
• When you give tarot readings or astrological reports to other people, give them a crystal to hold. Some people are a little nervous during a reading; holding a crystal will help ground them. Some people are also a little scattered; a crystal can help them focus and listen to the information you present.
• When you finish your sessions with other people, give them a small crystal or a tumbled stone to keep, to help them remember the experience.