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Mirror
Any smooth
or polished object whose surface reflects light and images; a polished surface made of
glass backed with silver or mercury, which reflects light, therefore allowing images to be
seen.
Since ancient times,
mirrors — as well as all smooth, reflective surfaces — have been used for divination, magic,
and repelling evil; they also have been greatly
feared for their power to steal the soul. In recent times, mirrors have been used as tools
in psychic development to increase clairvoyance and gain knowledge of
so-called past lives.
Divination with mirrors is
called
crystalomancy,
catoptromancy, and scrying. In the West, magic mirrors were particularly popular from the Middle
Ages to the nineteenth century. They were use by all classes of society, but especially by
magicians, witches,
sorcerers, and cunning men and women.
Catherine de Medici and Henry IV often consulted their magic mirrors. Dr. John Dee, the royal magician to Queen Elizabeth I, used a
crystal egg and a black obsidian mirror.
In more recent times,
mirrors as magic tools have fallen out of widespread popular fashion, but are still used
by diviners, psychics, and students of psychism. Mirrors are more commonly used for
divination in the East than in the West. In parts of India, preparation for mirror
divination involves rituals of fasting, prayer, and perfuming of the mirrors. In many
tribal societies, the reflection is believed to be the soul. Exposing the soul in a mirror
or a reflecting surface makes it vulnerable to danger and death. A common belief in many
cultures holds that a person who sees his or her reflection will soon die. This is the
basis for the Greek myth of Narcissus, who
looked upon his reflection in the water and pined and died. The ancient Greeks also
believed that dreaming of seeing one's reflection was an omen of death. A worldwide
folklore custom is the removal of mirrors from sick rooms, lest the mirror draw out the
soul of weakened persons, and the turning or removal of mirrors upon a death in the house.
According to superstition whoever looks into a mirror following a death will also die.
Mirrors are associated with evil. In Russian folklore they are the invention of the Devil
and will draw souls out of bodies.
In other superstitions, if
one looks into the mirror long enough at night or by candlelight, one will see the Devil; thus it is advisable, to cover up mirrors
in the bedroom at night. The candlelight is not advisable because fire is the element of
spirit, and attracts the unseen. Witches and vampires
cast no reflections in mirrors. The look of the evil eye
will shatter a mirror or poison its surface.
Conversely, mirrors may be
used to protect against evil. They can reflect the evil eye; in the seventeenth century,
it was fashionable in Europe to wear small mirrors in hats. Numerous superstitions
surround mirrors. Breaking one means bad luck for seven years, or disaster or death; a
mirror that falls and breaks of its own accord is an omen of impending death in the house.
A girl who gazes at the moon's reflection in a
mirror will learn her wedding day; if performed on Halloween, the ritual will reveal a
vision of her future husband.
Students of the occult use
mirrors to look into the world of spirit. Gazing into one supposedly reveals visions of
spirit guides and helps one gain auric sight, the ability to see the aura. Some believe
that the face changes seen by staring into a mirror are images of past lives. Mirrors
painted black on the convex side are considered an excellent tool for developing
clairvoyance.
Related
software,
videos
and
books.
Further info:
Divination.
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