The Crystal Ball

The idea behind scrying is to peer into a shiny stone, a looking glass, reflective water, or fire and see a face, an event, or some other image to catch sight of see something distant or unclear. 

The act of scrying is associated with clairvoyance, a word derived from the French word "clair" (clear) and "voyance" (vision). Clairvoyance is the ability to scry a person, place, thing, or event through extrasensory perception. The technique of scrying with a crystal ball is known as crystallomancy. 

The information received is often used to decide a matter of importance in your life. For example, in the movie Cold Mountain, Nicole Kidman, playing the part of Ada Monroe, leans backward over a well holding a mirror over her face. She moves the mirror slightly to her left and sees a vision in the water below her of her lover, Inman (played by Jude Law), walking back to her from the war. He is trudging through deep snow in a forest as crows circle overhead. Once Ada saw Inman walking back to her, she was prepared to wait as long as it took for him to return to her arms. This type of scrying has taken place for many centuries.

One of the first mentions of a crystal ball used for scrying was noted by Pliny the Elder, a Roman philosopher in the 1st century, who describes the use of crystal spheres, referred to as Crystallum Orbis, by soothsayers. Soothsayers are people who were thought to be able to foresee the future. Much later, medieval scribes called the crystal ball an orbuculum.

What We Know About the Crystal Ball Throughout History

Scrying was extremely popular with the Romans in the 5th century. Even though Christianity was spreading throughout Europe, many people, even converts, continued to use crystal balls to gain hidden information thought to be sent from heaven. During this time frame, St. Augustine wrote in The City of God (a book of Christian philosophy against pagans) that using crystal balls leads one to be “entangled in the deceptive rites of demons who masquerade under the names of angels” (En.Wikipedia.com). It later came to be that the early Christian church condemned using crystal balls for scrying as heretical.

Again, according to the historical accounts of Pliny the Elder and Julius Caesar, the first use of crystals for scrying dates back to the Iron Age and the ancient Celtic Druids of Britain, Ireland, and Gaul. They performed magical rituals in oak forests dating back to 2000 BC. Druids were often religious leaders, medical advisors, legal authorities (counselors to the Kings), political advisors, and storytellers (lore-keepers). The Druids believed Beryl could be used to read the past and the future. Crystal gazing was also practiced by the Chinese, Egyptians, Incas, Mayans, Persians, and Native American tribes, such as the Pawnee.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, John Dee, an astrologer, astronomer, geographer, and mathematician to the queen, was known to use a crystal ball in association with his studies of Hermetic philosophy, alchemy, and divination. Dee believed the crystal placed him in contact with angels and, sometimes, demons. One of John Dee's crystal quartz spheres is on display at the British Museum.

Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, the Roma people, called Romany or Gypsies (considered a derogatory term), migrated from India to Europe. The Roma had a reputation for fortune-telling. They were cast out by the Catholic Church as heretics but welcomed by those seeking their services. The crystal ball was adopted as a divination tool when it became popularly acceptable to Europeans to support family and community when traditional jobs were not available. The Romany people were nomads and, as such, found the crystal ball easy to travel with. Over the years, the Roma became widely known for their fortune-telling skills.

During the Renaissance, an Arabic writer, Picatrix, viewed scrying with a crystal ball as a logical, scientific practice. Even though it was considered mysticism, he felt it should be seen as such. Due to his writings, many European academics decided to take a second look at the issue. Because of this, the crystal ball found new popularity.

In the Victorian era, crystal gazing and other divinatory practices, such as the Tarot, were popular pastimes. The Victorians believed the crystal ball worked best when the sun was in its most Northern position.

In the early twentieth century, magicians often used crystal balls as stage props in mentalism acts. Mentalism is a performing art focusing on imagination and the mind involving predicting the future and mindreading. The magician answers the audience's questions by gazing into the crystal ball and deriving answers from the visions he sees there. Clause Alexander, Alexander the Crystal Seer (June 30, 1880 – August 5, 1954), was one of the most famous of these magicians.

Famous Crystal Balls & Readers

• A crystal ball that is said to be possessed by ancient druids lies in The Sceptre of Scotland.

• Merlin, the Arthurian mythical magician, was said to have carried a Beryl ball around just in case the King wanted a reading.

• A crystal ball weighing forty-nine pounds, belonging to Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) from the Qing Dynasty, is displayed at The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. It is reported that no one knows its exact origin.

• In medieval times, crystal sphere fastenings set in wires were worn as symbols of class and power, much like wire jewelry is today. They may also have been worn as talismans to ward off evil. Stones were often used for this purpose during this period.

• Crystal amulets were found during excavations of medieval graves in Kent (a county in Southeast England). The grave's inhabitants were primarily wealthy women with round crystals placed between their knees and other artifacts. It is thought this might be associated with pagan traditions.

• Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was said to have used a "seer stone" to translate an ancient form of the Egyptian language into the Book of Mormon.

• An ancient Egyptian crystal ball was stolen from The Penn Museum in 1988. It was found later in good condition and restored to the museum.

• In the movie, The Wizard of Oz, the wicked witch of the west used a crystal ball that was actually hand-blown glass. It was not perfectly round but sold in 2001 at $129,000.

• A flawless, quartz crystal Japanese ball from Japan, more than 11 inches in diameter, is on display at The Crow Collection in Dallas, Texas.

So, How Does the Crystal Ball Work?

There has always been some debate about how the crystal ball works or whether it works at all. Some think the belief in crystal gazing comes down to pseudoscience, "A collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on a scientific method (Lexico.com)." In contrast, others are convinced it works spiritually in various ways. However, only an actual crystal ball can provide a genuine glimpse into the past, present, or future.

The mistake many make is in choosing a crystal ball made of glass. Even though authentic crystal balls are mostly made from Quartz Crystal, legend has it that the first crystal ball may have been made from Beryl (Scorpio's stone). Beryl is a mineral available in various colors that could be polished to a mirroring sheen. The gemstones, aquamarine, emerald, and heliodor, are multiple types of beryl. Pure beryl is clear and colorless.

Of course, even with a genuine crystal ball, visions also depend on the seeker's ability to do so. Just as someone who doesn't understand Tarot can't be expected to divine a Tarot reading with some practice, the crystal ball also requires preparation. However, it is safe to say not as much. You could spend your whole life studying Tarot and never know everything about it.

Some say visions play out inside the crystal ball, like a story playing out in a dream. The seeker sees a glimpse of the truth or the future, contacts other realms, or communicates with the dead. Others say the crystal ball lets the seeker simultaneously see what is happening to his or her soul elsewhere. Still, others say the crystal ball does nothing more than help to place the seeker in a meditative state, which allows an individual to experience insights, which may be no more than a form of self-hypnosis that causes memories or imaginings to surface from the subconscious.

All people who use crystal balls agree that it never fails to communicate something to the seeker, regardless of the science behind it, even if thecommunication is nothing more than a meaningful symbol, providing valuable insight. Regardless of how the "answers" arrive, the crystal ball helps them to make a wise decision for their future.

In choosing a crystal ball for divination, it is best to select one made of crystal quartz, roughly the size of a baseball and highly reflective, meaning no faults and highly polished. A sphere free of bubbles is preferable unless it is made of colored glass. If so, bubbles are acceptable. However, a glass sphere will lack a genuine crystal's metaphysical properties. When shopping for a crystal ball, it may seem challenging, at first glance, to determine whether a crystal ball is made of crystal or glass. It is helpful to know that crystal spheres are transparent with some distortion, while glass has no distortion. So you know, larger and more expensive spheres work no better than smaller ones.

To begin the practice of divination, one should sit in a quiet place where the light is relatively dim, which helps to produce shadows in the reflection of the crystal ball. Next, it is helpful to quiet your mind and relax your eyes for a moment. Then, place both hands on the sphere, ask a question, remove your hands, and look deeply into the globe without staring. Some report that the crystal ball will mist up from within immediately before a symbol or vision appears. With an open mind and receptive heart, wait for a message. Below are some meanings of various colors of mist.

• Blue: Success
• White or Gold: Good luck
• Dark: Bad luck or misfortune
• Green: Happiness and health
• Orange: Troubled emotions
• Red: Danger or caution
• Yellow: Obstacles

Lately, crystal balls are being used in a new way, as "lensballs" in a type of photography that has become popular. As it turns out, a crystal ball is an excellent tool for seeing a possible view of the unforeseeable future and of wide-angle photography. Either way, the crystal ball will offer a broader view of whatever one tries to capture.

While the uses of crystal balls wax and wane, one can only surmise they will continue to be used as they always have been by those intrigued with divination.