#hydromancy

Hello beautiful souls ✨

You stare into a black mirror, a bowl of water, a candle flame. You're waiting for visions. Images. Messages from beyond.

Instead, you see: Your own reflection. Random light patterns. Maybe a vague shape that could be anything.

You try harder. You focus more. You want to see something.

And that's exactly the problem.

Scrying isn't about making visions appear. It's about getting out of the way so they can.

Today we're diving into one of the most misunderstood divination practices: scrying—gazing into reflective surfaces or natural phenomena to receive visions, symbols, or information.

We'll cover:

What scrying actually is (beyond crystal balls and fortune tellers)

The neuroscience of how it works

Why most people fail (they're projecting, not receiving)

How to train your mind to enter receptive state

Different scrying methods and what they're good for

How to distinguish real visions from imagination

This isn't fortune-telling. It's learning to quiet your conscious mind enough that your subconscious (or something beyond it) can speak through images.

Let's get into it.

WHAT IS SCRYING?

Scrying (from "descry" = to make out dimly, to reveal) is the practice of gazing at or into a medium to induce visions, symbols, or intuitive information.

TRADITIONAL MEDIUMS:

Reflective surfaces:

Crystal balls (catoptromancy)

Black mirrors/obsidian (scrying mirrors)

Water in bowls (hydromancy)

Regular mirrors (especially old/tarnished ones)

Polished metal surfaces

Natural phenomena:

Fire/flames (pyromancy)

Smoke (capnomancy)

Clouds (aeromancy)

Ink or oil dropped in water (lecanomancy)

Tea leaves (tasseomancy)

Wax patterns from melted candles (ceromancy)

The principle is the same: Stare at something until your normal perception shifts and images/information arise.

WHAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY DOING:

Physiologically: Inducing a light trance state through sustained, unfocused gazing.

Psychologically: Bypassing conscious thought to access subconscious imagery.

Energetically (if you believe this): Opening a channel between your awareness and non-ordinary information sources.

The medium itself isn't magical—it's a focal point that helps your brain shift gears.

THE NEUROSCIENCE: HOW SCRYING WORKS

Your brain has different states of consciousness:

Beta (13-30 Hz): Normal waking consciousness. Active thinking, problem-solving, analyzing.

Alpha (8-13 Hz): Relaxed awareness. Daydreaming, light meditation, the state between waking and sleeping.

Theta (4-8 Hz): Deep meditation, light sleep, REM dreaming. Subconscious access. Hypnagogic imagery.

Scrying aims to shift you from beta to alpha/theta—where visions naturally occur.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING SCRYING:

1. SUSTAINED GAZING RELAXES THE VISUAL CORTEX

Staring at one point without shifting focus triggers something called neural adaptation—your visual system stops actively processing because there's no new information.

This is similar to what happens when you stare at a word until it stops looking like a word (semantic satiation).

Your brain essentially gets bored and stops trying so hard.

2. THE GANZFELD EFFECT

When your visual field is filled with uniform stimulation (blank surface, flickering flame, still water), your brain starts generating its own imagery to compensate for the lack of input.

It's literally creating something to see because there's "nothing" there.

This is the same mechanism behind hallucinations in sensory deprivation tanks.

3. PAREIDOLIA

Your brain is wired to find patterns—especially faces—in random visual noise.

You see faces in clouds, figures in wood grain, shapes in fire. This isn't a bug; it's a feature.

Scrying leverages this tendency. You're not "making up" the images—your pattern-recognition system is doing what it's designed to do.

4. ACCESS TO SUBCONSCIOUS IMAGERY

In alpha/theta states, the barrier between conscious and subconscious thins.

Images, symbols, memories, and intuitive information that your conscious mind can't access directly start bubbling up—often in visual form.

This is why dreams are so symbolic and surreal. Scrying taps into the same state while you're still partially awake.

THE CORE PROBLEM: PROJECTION VS. RECEPTION

Most beginners fail at scrying because they're trying to make something happen.

PROJECTION (What Most People Do):

You stare into the mirror and think:

"I want to see my spirit guide"

"Show me my future husband"

"I need to see something or this isn't working"

"Maybe if I imagine harder, it will appear"

This is active mental effort. You're pushing images into the medium with your conscious mind.

It feels forced. Exhausting. Nothing feels real.

RECEPTION (What Actually Works):

You stare into the mirror and:

Empty your mind (as much as possible)

Let go of expectations

Notice what arises without forcing

Allow images to come to you

Stay passive, curious, open

Images appear from the medium, not from your conscious will.

It feels effortless. Surprising. Images show up you didn't expect.

THE DIFFERENCE:

Projection: You're the artist painting on a canvas.

Reception: You're the gallery viewer noticing what's already there.

Most people spend years projecting and call it scrying. Real scrying is receptive, not active.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MIND TO RECEIVE

STEP 1: LEARN TO DEFOCUS

Your eyes have two modes:

Focused gaze: Sharp, clear, directed. This is normal vision. This activates your conscious, analytical mind.

Soft/unfocused gaze: Blurry, peripheral-aware, relaxed. This induces trance states.

Practice:

Hold your hand in front of your face

Focus sharply on your fingertips

Now let your eyes go slightly out of focus—see your hand blurry

Notice the difference in your mental state

In scrying, you maintain soft gaze. You're looking at the surface, not into it sharply.

STEP 2: SURRENDER EXPECTATION

The more you want to see something specific, the harder it is to receive anything real.

Before scrying, say aloud: "I release all expectations. I am open to whatever arises. I trust what I receive."

Then actually mean it.

If you're desperate for visions of your soulmate, you'll project your fantasy. If you're open to "whatever wants to be seen," you might actually receive something.

STEP 3: PRACTICE STILLNESS

Scrying requires mental and physical stillness.

Before scrying:

Ground and center

Take 10 slow breaths

Let thoughts settle like snow in a snow globe

Body relaxed, mind alert but quiet

If you're anxious, angry, or manic, you can't receive. You're too loud internally.

STEP 4: RECOGNIZE THE SHIFT

You'll know you've entered scrying state when:

The surface seems to shimmer, pulse, or become three-dimensional

Your peripheral vision becomes more prominent than central

Time feels distorted (minutes feel like seconds or vice versa)

Your body feels heavy or distant

Thoughts slow down significantly

You're not trying anymore—you're just there

This is alpha/theta. This is where visions happen.

If you haven't felt this shift, you're not in scrying state yet—you're just staring.

STEP 5: NOTICE, DON'T INTERPRET (YET)

When images begin to form:

Don't immediately analyze. Don't jump to "that's my grandmother!" or "this means I'll travel!"

Just notice:

Colors

Shapes

Movement

Emotion the image evokes

Where in the surface it appears

Record what you see. Interpret later.

Active interpretation pulls you back into analytical mind, which breaks the trance.

STEP 6: DISTINGUISH SIGNAL FROM NOISE

Not every image is meaningful. Some are just visual static.

How to tell the difference:

Meaningful visions:

Feel significant, even if you don't know why yet

Come with emotional weight or bodily sensation

Repeat or persist

Feel like they "arrived" rather than "appeared"

Often surprising (not what you expected)

Visual noise:

Random, fleeting

No emotional resonance

Disappear immediately

Feel like pareidolia (seeing faces in clouds)

Match what you were already thinking about

Not every scrying session produces visions. Sometimes you're just looking at a bowl of water. That's okay.

DIFFERENT SCRYING METHODS & WHAT THEY'RE GOOD FOR

BLACK MIRROR / OBSIDIAN SCRYING

What it is: Gazing into a black, reflective surface (mirror painted black, polished obsidian, bowl of ink).

Best for:

Deep subconscious work

Shadow work and facing difficult truths

Seeing past lives or ancestral information

Intense, serious divination

Why it works: The darkness eliminates visual distractions. Your brain has almost nothing to process, so it generates imagery more readily.

Difficulty: Advanced. The darkness can be psychologically intense. Not recommended for beginners.

WATER SCRYING

What it is: Gazing into still water in a dark bowl.

Best for:

Emotional insight

Relationship questions

Intuitive guidance

Gentle, flowing visions

Why it works: Water is reflective but softer than mirrors. The slight movement (even still water moves slightly) helps induce trance without being too active.

Difficulty: Beginner-friendly. Less intense than black mirrors.

Tip: Add a drop of oil or ink to the water's surface to create subtle visual interest.

CRYSTAL BALL SCRYING

What it is: Gazing into a clear or cloudy crystal sphere.

Best for:

Traditional fortune-telling aesthetic

Future-oriented questions

Symbolic visions (less literal than other methods)

Why it works: The reflections, refractions, and internal inclusions in the crystal create subtle visual complexity—enough to hold focus without overwhelming.

Difficulty: Medium. Real crystal balls are expensive. Glass works but is less "alive" energetically (if that matters to you).

Tip: Cloudier crystals (like cloudy quartz) work better than perfectly clear ones.

FIRE SCRYING

What it is: Gazing into candle flames, bonfires, or hearth fires.

Best for:

Transformation questions

Passion/creativity/action inquiries

Quick, spontaneous divination

Active, energetic visions

Why it works: Fire is constantly moving, which keeps your visual system engaged without letting it settle into boredom. The flicker induces trance quickly.

Difficulty: Beginner to medium. Easier to enter trance, harder to hold it (fire is stimulating).

Danger: Don't stare so long you burn your retinas. Blink. Look away occasionally.

SMOKE SCRYING

What it is: Watching smoke rise from incense, smudge, or fire.

Best for:

Air element questions (communication, thought, change)

Watching patterns unfold (how situations will develop)

Short sessions (smoke doesn't last long)

Why it works: Smoke forms ever-changing shapes. Your brain naturally finds patterns (dragons, faces, symbols) in the movement.

Difficulty: Medium. Smoke dissipates quickly, so visions are fleeting. Requires fast recognition and memory.

CANDLE WAX SCRYING

What it is: Melting a candle and reading the shapes the wax forms (in water or as it hardens).

Best for:

One-time questions (the wax shape is permanent)

Symbolic interpretation (like reading tea leaves)

Physical record you can return to

Why it works: The randomness of melting wax creates shapes your subconscious can interpret symbolically.

Difficulty: Easy. More like symbol-reading than trance-visions.

Not technically "scrying" in the gazing sense, but related practice.

A BEGINNER'S SCRYING SESSION (STEP-BY-STEP)

You'll need:

A dark bowl filled with water

A quiet, dimly lit space

A candle (optional, for mood/focus)

20-30 minutes of uninterrupted time

THE PROCESS:

1. SET UP (5 minutes)

Fill bowl with water, place on stable surface at comfortable eye level

Dim lights or wait for dusk/evening

Light a candle nearby (not reflecting directly in water)

Sit comfortably, spine straight but relaxed

2. GROUND & CENTER (5 minutes)

Close your eyes

Breathe slowly—4 counts in, 6 counts out

Feel your body settle

Set intention: "I am open to receive whatever wants to be seen"

Release expectations

3. BEGIN GAZING (10-15 minutes)

Open eyes, soft focus on water's surface

Don't stare hard—let your gaze rest gently

Breathe naturally

When thoughts arise, notice them and return to gazing

Notice when the shift happens (surface shimmers, time distorts, mind quiets)

4. RECEIVE IMAGES (5-10 minutes)

Don't force

Notice what appears: colors, shapes, symbols, scenes

If nothing appears, that's okay—stay present

If images arise, observe without analyzing

5. CLOSE THE SESSION

Blink, shift your gaze away slowly

Stretch your body

Write down everything you saw immediately (you'll forget quickly)

Dispose of water (outside, not down the drain—release the energy)

6. INTERPRET (later)

Review your notes after at least an hour (or next day)

What felt significant?

What connects to your question?

What surprised you?

Don't expect Hollywood-level visions your first time. This is a skill. It builds over weeks/months of practice.

COMMON CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS

CHALLENGE 1: "I see nothing."

Possible causes:

You're trying too hard (tension blocks reception)

You haven't entered trance state yet (still in beta/analytical mind)

Your medium isn't working for you (try a different one)

You need more practice (this skill takes time)

Solution: Practice entering trance state without scrying first. Meditate daily. Get familiar with alpha/theta. Then return to scrying.

CHALLENGE 2: "Everything I see is obviously just my imagination."

This is the hardest distinction to make.

Questions to ask:

Did the image surprise you, or was it what you expected?

Does it have emotional weight, or is it flat/meaningless?

Does it connect to your question in ways you didn't consciously think of?

Remember: Even if it's "just imagination," your subconscious is using imagery to communicate. The source matters less than the information.

CHALLENGE 3: "I see scary/disturbing things."

This happens, especially with black mirror scrying.

What to do:

Close the session immediately (you're not obligated to continue)

Ground yourself thoroughly (eat, touch earth, physical activity)

Cleanse your space and tools

Consider whether you're ready for this level of shadow work

Work with lighter mediums (water, fire) before returning to mirrors

Not every vision is a message. Some are your fears manifesting. Discernment required.

CHALLENGE 4: "I can't hold focus for more than 2 minutes."

Your attention span is weak. That's fixable.

Practice:

Start with 3-minute sessions

Gradually increase to 5, then 10, then 15

Meditation builds this muscle

Don't force 30-minute sessions before you're ready

CHALLENGE 5: "My eyes hurt/dry out."

You're staring too hard.

Solutions:

Blink naturally (you don't need to hold eyes open the whole time)

Maintain soft focus, not hard stare

Use dim lighting (bright light strains eyes)

Limit sessions to 15-20 minutes maximum

INTERPRETING VISIONS

Scrying produces symbolic, impressionistic imagery—not literal photographs of the future.

TYPES OF VISIONS:

SYMBOLIC: You see an owl. This might mean wisdom, death, transition, night, solitude—depending on context.

Not literal: You won't necessarily encounter a physical owl.

EMOTIONAL: You see a color (red) or feeling (heaviness). The vision is conveying mood or energy, not specific events.

LITERAL: Sometimes, rarely, you see actual future events or past scenes. This is less common than movies suggest.

FRAGMENTED: Most visions are brief, partial, unclear. You see a hand, a doorway, a face—not full narratives.

This is normal. Your job is to piece together meaning.

INTERPRETATION TIPS:

1. Write everything immediately. Visions fade fast.

2. Note emotions and body sensations. Often more informative than the images themselves.

3. Look for patterns over multiple sessions. One vision might be noise. The same symbol appearing three times is signal.

4. Trust your first instinct. If you saw a snake and immediately felt "betrayal," that's probably the message—not a literal snake.

5. Give it time. Some visions only make sense days or weeks later when events unfold.

6. Don't force meaning. Not every session produces profound revelation. Some are just practice.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

TECHNIQUE 1: TARGET SCRYING

Choose a specific question before you begin.

Example: "Show me what I need to know about this job opportunity."

Then release the question and enter receptive state. See what arises.

More focused than general scrying, but requires discipline not to project your desired answer.

TECHNIQUE 2: SEQUENTIAL SCRYING

Ask a question. Scry. Note visions.

Ask a follow-up based on what you saw. Scry again.

Build a narrative through multiple sessions.

Example: Session 1: "What's blocking me?" → Vision of closed door Session 2: "What's behind the door?" → Vision of light Session 3: "How do I open the door?" → Vision of key

TECHNIQUE 3: COLLABORATIVE SCRYING

Two people scry the same medium simultaneously.

Compare notes afterward. What did both see? What was unique to each?

Shared visions suggest external/objective information. Unique visions reflect individual subconscious.

TECHNIQUE 4: SCRYING FOR OTHERS

Use their question/energy as focus.

Best if they're present (their energy influences what appears).

Ethics: Get permission. Be honest about accuracy limitations. Don't give medical/legal advice.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Scrying is training your mind to shift from doing to being. From projecting to receiving.

It works because:

Sustained gazing induces trance states (alpha/theta brainwaves)

Visual monotony triggers the brain to generate its own imagery

Subconscious information surfaces as symbols and visions

Pattern recognition finds meaning in randomness

Or maybe it works because:

You're opening a channel to non-ordinary information

The medium acts as a portal between worlds

Spirits, guides, or universal consciousness communicates through imagery

Or both.

How to practice:

Choose a medium that resonates

Learn soft, unfocused gaze

Practice entering trance/receptive state

Release expectations

Record what you see, interpret later

Build the skill over weeks/months, not one session

Scrying isn't about trying harder. It's about trying less—and allowing more.

The visions were always there. You just had to get quiet enough to see them.

YOUR TURN

Do you scry? What medium do you use?

What's the clearest vision you've ever received?

How do you distinguish projection from genuine reception?

Let's talk. Scrying is deeply personal—every practitioner's experience is unique.

Blessed be 🔮

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Let’s talk about working with the Water Element; divination, magical waters, workings and cultivating a relationship with it and its spirits.

🎶Sharing my experiences and thoughts, don’t rely on just this make your own experiences and thoughts.🎶

In this blog, we will be discussing the various kinds of items used in divination spells. There’s a large range of them, from tarot cards to dowsing rods, to even tasseaography (tea leaf readings) and we will be looking through and exploring a lot of them!

So I tried scrying for the first time a few nights ago. My experience was compelling (????) so I am going to share it.

The first time I was introduced to scrying (outside of fiction) was last year when I read The Witch of the Forest's Guide to Natural Magick by Lindsay Squire. She introduces scrying as an exercise that, like other methods of divination, assists in revealing or seeing hidden information. I don't believe in supernatural scrying, like seeing the future or talking to spirits, but I firmly believe that divination can bring things to the surface of your mind from your subconscious. Many methods of scrying involve meditation upon a reflective surface, but Squire also discusses things like pyromancy and bibliomancy.

Instructions for scrying, as stated in her book, promote passive observance of the subject of divination (fire, water, deck of cards, flock of birds, etc). With scrying, as the images come and go in our mind we should attempt to interpret them.

Hydromancy, where the reflective surface for scrying is water, seemed the most appealing to me--but it took me a long time to find a scrying bowl that worked. It ended up being a shallow, circular, matte black ceramic bowl. At night, I lit a candle, turned all the lights off, bent my head over the bowl, and observed the water. Afterward, I wrote down my experience:

"I am in a dark room--spherical and all black with traces of white and blue creating hints of shadow and depth, solid but blurry in the water.

There seems to be a rodent to my right (or something like a rodent) looking over a wooden desk at me, talking. He's got a man's voice and he speaks English. He's very wise, but he's small. He's very blunt, too--not rude, but he doesn't waste time on sentimentality or getting too emotional about things. He's generally not very emotional, but he's smart and kind. He knows what he's talking about, and he's generally right about things.

To my left, light is shining through two separate doorways, one big and one small. They are doorways to other places but I don't know where they go. I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should focus on the wise rodent, or the other doorways. I decide that the doorways and the rodent are equally important.

Then my cat distracts me, and I decide that this was more than enough for a first scrying session. I blow the candle out."

I think I'll be chewing on this one for a while, honestly. What an interesting first-time experience. I'll say it's possible the animal that was speaking to me is some aspect of my higher self, or an aspect of myself that I am looking to for guidance right now. I felt extremely comforted by him, like I knew him very well. Y'all, I literally just imagined a rodent in a scrying bowl lit by a candle in the dark, but he feels like a very real aspect of myself that I want to get to know better.

New in the Spiral House Shop!

Wisht Waters - The Cult & Magic of Water by Gemma Gary

Inspired by @will-o-the-witch of posting our most social-media-ready #aesthetic post of our craft next to our everyday practice.

Left, scrying in some fancy black water.