Crystal gazing (Scrying) is the occult practice of using a medium, most commonly a reflective surface or translucent body, to aid supposed psychic abilities for example, clairvoyance. The media often used in this practice are water, polished precious stones, crystal balls, or mirrors. Scrying has been used in many cultures through out the world as a means of seeing the past, present, or future; in this sense scrying constitutes a form of divination or fortune-telling.
When the person with the ability stares into the media for long periods of time, they may receive visions of various natures. Some believe that scrying is a form of divination, while others believe that the visions merely come from the persons subconscious.
Scrying is actively used by many cultures and belief systems and is not limited to one tradition or ideology. However, like other aspects of divination and parapsychology, it is not recognized by scientists as a method of predicting the future or otherwise seeing events that are not physically visible.
Ancient Europe
0Around 2,000 BC, Greece, as well as Britain and its subsequent Celtic population, practiced many different forms of scrying. The media often used were beryl, crystal, black glass, polished quartz, water, and other transparent or light catching objects.
Celtic tribes, known to be in existence in Britain as early as 2,000 B.C., were unified by a priesthood known as Druids. Druids are one of the earliest known groups of people to have used crystals in divination. It is interesting to note that Druid religion had some similarities to the megalithic religion of an earlier Britain; there fore, it is possible that the first use of crystal divination might have come from them.
Pausanias, 2nd century AD Greek traveler, described catoptromancy (the use of mirrors) as follows:
Before the Temple of Ceres at Patras, there was a fountain, separated from the temple by a wall, and there was an oracle, very truthful, not for all events, but only for the sick. The sick person let down a mirror, suspended by a thread till it’s based touched the surface of the water, having first prayed to the goddess and offered incense. Then looking in the mirror, he saw the presage of death or recovery, according as the face appeared fresh and healthy, or of an ill nature.
Medieval central Europe
In later years during central Europe's Medieval Period diviners used crystals to look into the past, present, or future. Due to its transparent nature, a natural gemstone called Beryllium Aluminum Silicate (Beryl) was often used in the divination process.
16th century central Europe
Nostradamus is believed to have employed a small bowl of water as a scrying aid.
Dr John Dee (1527–1608, dates vary) was a noted British mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. Dee and his assistant Edward Kelley employed crystal ball. The crystal ball and wax tablets used by Dee and Kelley are on display at the British Museum of London.