Scrying is using a focus like a crystal ball, fire, clouds, or bowl of water to gain information and insight. It has been used by many of the great magicians, psychics, and prophets to gain information and inspiration from the other side. One of the ways it can be used is to converse and get messages from spirits. Samhain is a time where the veil is thin and it is easier to communicate with the other side. For many years I used scrying to just gain visions to help me answer questions. Now I use it more to communicate with spirits. I have whole rituals devoted to its use to speak with angels and all manner of spirits.

I bought a scrying basin from the proprietors of Ancient Star Herbals at our Samhain Psychic Fair and my challenge of the #13daysofmagic made for a great time to try it out! My basin is made from spectralite, which is like labradorite but from outside of Labrador. It has a different vibration that is more calming to me than that of Labradorite. That relaxing feel is great for assisting in scrying.

I anointed two white candles with my Calling the Spirits oil and put them on the table far enough so they didn’t reflect directly in the basin. To much light can make the process harder, at least for me. I let my eyes unfocus and counted myself down to a meditative state. For me the scrying device helps me relax and then I see the interaction more in my mind. I find the surface will seem to fog up before I begin to have results.  You can do a prayer to gain communion with your ancestors, which is what I did or just let the communication come. I find that if I am seeking vision about a question that it is more symbolic then when I focus on speaking with a spirit. With spirits I get a sense of place first and then seem to be able to talk with the spirit — like we were on Skype.

When you are done, count up to a normal level of consciousness and do a sweeping gesture of the front of your body to banish anything you may have picked up in the conversation and to signal its end. Put out the candles and clean up. After scrying I like to do something practical, like cleaning or eating, in order to ground.