Mirrors.

[Karyan]

First of all I'd like to state that mirrors both fascinate me and creep me out. Any of you feel the same way?

Second,I did a search for the word mirror and it returned NOTHING. Which I think is a little odd. lol. I'd like to ask how mirrors can be used for magical or ritual purposes and if any one in here uses them for purposes other than the usual everyday stuff.

[mtpathy]

yes i use mirrors and shadow scrying for posession and conjuring.

[angelmikayla]

I've never actually used one, but I've read that you can use black mirrors for divination.

[Teresa]

I have a black mirror which is used for divination and scrying.

[Agaliha]

I did a simple search and found these:

Mirror, Mirror... (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geupmdJX1EIdUAiHRXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2MWc1Zm9xBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDNwRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZANGNTYzX zc0/SIG=1259spq63/EXP=1149138717/**http%3a//www.obsidianmagazine.com/Pages/mirror.html)
The Use of Magic Mirrors (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuuPQJX1E8w8AMk1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3MmExaWp0BGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMTMEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDRjU2M 183NA--/SIG=12m81qm71/EXP=1149138768/**http%3a//www.iit.edu/%7ephillips/personal/grammary/magic_mirror.html)
Magick Mirror1 (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geutDwJX1EXRkAGdBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2MWc1Zm9xBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDNwRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZANGNTYzX zc0/SIG=12b65jafk/EXP=1149138800/**http%3a//www.members.tripod.com/%7eonespiritx/craft19.htm)
The CRAFT .. Mirror Magick (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geusENJn1EaYYBkgJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3ZzZmcWpvBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMTIEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDRjU2M 183NA--/SIG=12370157u/EXP=1149138829/**http%3a//www.anycities.com/zakimba/afhmirror.html)
25. Mirror Magick (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geusENJn1EaYYBpwJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3cjljMmVrBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMTUEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDRjU2M 183NA--/SIG=1204ntc3c/EXP=1149138829/**http%3a//www.denelder.com/ram-notes/ram25.html)
Making a Magick Mirror (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuokpJn1ERSoBHX9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3MzA3NWtvBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMjEEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDRjU2M 183NA--/SIG=12bhmjc0l/EXP=1149138857/**http%3a//www.circleamaurot.com/Crafts-html/magickmir.html)
How to scry with a scrying mirror (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuokpJn1ERSoBK39XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3Y290NmM3BGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMjMEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDRjU2M 183NA--/SIG=12aki5rh1/EXP=1149138857/**http%3a//www.homestead.com/crystalforest1/howtoscry.html)
Mirror Scrying (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geusTEJn1EwHIBjsZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2YWs1ZDE3BGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDNgRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZANGNTYzX zc0/SIG=11nuldd0p/EXP=1149139012/**http%3a//www.paralumun.com/mirror.htm)
Full Moon Paradise (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geusTEJn1EwHIBlcZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2MWc1Zm9xBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDNwRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZANGNTYzX zc0/SIG=12cmu5m2b/EXP=1149139012/**http%3a//groups.msn.com/FullMoonParadise/magicmirrors.msnw)
Mirror (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geus_hJn1EHFYAo3VXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3MmhzcTEyBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMjAEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDRjU2M 183NA--/SIG=11sri0r5g/EXP=1149139041/**http%3a//www.occultopedia.com/m/mirror.htm)

Did you search for it on MW? Cause the search is broken right now. Heh.

[Karyan]

Hahahahaha! Yeah. I did search MW. I had NO idea that the search was broken. Thanks for letting me know. lol

[cheddarsox]

I think it is really weird how a mirror can "see" things that seem to be beyond its scope. Like if you get really close, and look down into a mirror, it can see the floor...but how?

I also really liked to have two mirrors facing each other and get that endless repitition of images going. it is amazing!

cheddar

[~Elise~]

Mirrors have a myriad of uses. For example:

Use mirrors to reflect back negativity

Scrying, as mentioned (shameless plug here for my mate: http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=17225 )

In some formulas for Holy Water, you are using a mirror to reflect the light of the full moon into the water.

and that is just off the top of my head... there are more.

Hope this helps

Elise

[Meadhbh]

I'm not a fan of mirrors myself. Of course one of my bed room walls has to be nearly all full lenght mirrors, sigh. Anyway they can be used to capture images that carry an emotion and store it for future use. I've also heard that mirrors can be used as a threshold and a good stepping off place.

[MoonDragn]

This is only remotely related, since you brought up mirrors. There is a really wonderful piece of fiction that involves mirrors:

The Mirror of Her Dreams
A Man rides through

By Stephen R. Donaldson

[coeur]

I use mirrors for scrying, especially for exorcism/evokation purposes. Mirrors are commonly percieved as a window into the other world. During the civil war era, mirrors were covered when there was a death in the house for fear that the soul would be trapped in the mirror. There was also an old superstition that mirrors should not reflect glass (windows, etc).

[Amythyst]

I also really liked to have two mirrors facing each other and get that endless repitition of images going. it is amazing!

cheddar

I like that too. And I have mirrors throughout my house that look into each other. I did read somewhere that you are not suppose to have opposing mirrors facing each other. I don't recall why.

Is it just an old wive's tale? Anybody know?

[MoonDragn]

was just thinking... if a particle of photon was sent directly into the mirror perpendicular to the surface, will it bounce forever back and forth between the mirror?

[Agaliha]

Hahahahaha! Yeah. I did search MW. I had NO idea that the search was broken. Thanks for letting me know. lol

keyword search threads (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=131009) Mol has to reindex the whole board of something. :fpcsucks

[Silvan]

First of all I'd like to state that mirrors both fascinate me and creep me out. Any of you feel the same way?Very much so.

[coeur]

was just thinking... if a particle of photon was sent directly into the mirror perpendicular to the surface, will it bounce forever back and forth between the mirror?

The first lasers were the result of light bouncing back and forth between two mirrors. The result was a very fast and concentrated light beam.

[Agaliha]

Originally Posted by Karyan
First of all I'd like to state that mirrors both fascinate me and creep me out. Any of you feel the same way?


Once I was doing some past life meditation where you look in a mirror by candlelight...well I did and I got a tad creeped out. I have really really bad vision without my glasses so I don't know what I saw. I sort of looked Asian or something. Something about it creeped me out. So I can relate.

Though normally mirriors don't bother me. I rely on them to do my make-up, hair and belly dancing (gotta make sure I'm doing it right) and various other things.

[StephanieAine]

Mirrors are CREEPY.

Try this: hold an object in your right hand. A glass of water, a pencil, whatever; it doesn't matter, just hold it in your right hand and go into your bathroom.

Standing in front of your mirror, holding the object, take a good look at your reflection. The "reflected-version of You" will be holding the object in their **left** hand. Now, how exactly does that work? And, if you happen to have a mole on one side of your body, your reflection will have it on the opposite side of their body.

Really think about that for a minute while you're still looking at your reflection. Double-check the reality of this by imagining that the reflected You "steps out" of the mirror and stands beside you so that you can be sure that "they" are really holding the object in the opposite hand. Yep, it's true.

That is just WRONG! The more you study it, the creepier it gets.

[Morrigan_Wolfwind]

Mirrors freak me out when it's dark. You know, that sort of dark where it's very dim, but you can still see. It unnerves me.

There's a mirror in my aunt and uncle's apartment that faces RIGHT at their living room, so whenever I walk past it I think that my twin's next to me, and I have to keep squelching the urge to ask her why she's following me. It's very annoying, and I STILL haven't managed to break the habit.

I would like a black mirror for scrying, though. They seem handy.

[mtpathy]

does anyone aside from myself actually work with mirrors in spells or
in doing certain spells?

[AussiePagan]

Standing in front of your mirror, holding the object, take a good look at your reflection. The "reflected-version of You" will be holding the object in their **left** hand. Now, how exactly does that work? And, if you happen to have a mole on one side of your body, your reflection will have it on the opposite side of their body.

It's not that creepy. Do another experiment. Ask a mate to hold something in their right hand, and you do the same. When you face each other the object will be held in the hand on the left hand side of your body (ie their right, your left).

Now if mirrors reflect magical energy you might get some intresting effects going if you use mirrors in your rituals. Never tried it myself, but hey it could be intresting.

[Amythyst]

does anyone aside from myself actually work with mirrors in spells or
in doing certain spells?

Yes. I've used a mirror for a spell called "Circle of Salt" to contain something or someone who needs containing.

[Teresa]

does anyone aside from myself actually work with mirrors in spells or
in doing certain spells?
Why, yes I have on several occasions.

[Cerulean_damselfly]

The magical water mirror of Lady Galadriel from the written and now, movie description of Lord of the Rings always seemed beautiful to me. That was an imagined instance, but perhaps it drew inspiration from what people might do.

Someone explained in real life, one can see things such as cloud skrying. For imaginative purposes--that is, creative inspiration--have you ever looked at clouds in the sky and notice their shapes and how they float on an ocean of air?

In a similar way, more in real life--I've looked at miso clouds with ginger and spices in it--floating in clear hot water. The trick is to have a dark bowl-red or black or dark blue works--with lighter broth. Stirring it, the lighter colored fog forms shapes and it's supposed to be reflective of things, similar to a 'dark mirror'

A rather beautiful, interesting tarot called the Via Tarot from a Thoth-influenced artist is said to have arrived from her dark magical mirror or skrying. After looking at the artist's picture in her bio and studying her images, I saw a distinct resemblance between her image and to many of the characters in her tarot. I thought a dark mirror would be interesting for expressive art projects. Drawing a self-portrait using a mirror is a recommended step in learning to draw (from a book).

I do think regular round and octagonal mirrors are exceptionally lovely and culturally cheerful from personal experience. In some instances, looking in such mirrors daily and growing to feel that the spirit behind the face reflected back to you in a mirror also holds a shared spark of divinity...it can bring a gentler approach to how one views other humans.

I thought this was a wonderful topic and it took me some time to think of what I wanted to say. Hopefully my expression also relates to the topic at hand!

Cerulean_Damselfly

[mtpathy]

imo scrying mirrors have been pidgeon holed into this narrow practice of
being used for divination purposes.
when a scrying mirror can be used for much more then that.
scryings a great practice for shapeshifting,remote viewing,conjuring,
posession,exploring yourself...anyone that has practiced any form of
zazen or meditaiton can understand the value of this.
but most seem to know it as nothing more then a way of divining the
future for novely and money..
imo thats a very sad thing indeed.
not only scrying mirrors,or black mirrors but regular mirrors can show
you things that you wouldn't normaly be able to experience,matter of
fact my methods of posession and conjuring are worked by sitting in
front of a full length mirror.
there doesn't seem to be alot of documentation on these things,maybe
thats something that can be changed..
salutations

[StephanieAine]

Aussie Pagan wrote, "It's not that creepy. Do another experiment. Ask a mate to hold something in their right hand, and you do the same. When you face each other the object will be held in the hand on the left hand side of your body (ie their right, your left)."


You're misunderstanding my point, I think.
What you wrote describes exactly the reason why the mirror test is creepy.

Stick with me on this for a second...

If you stand face to face with another person, with both of you holding objects in your right hands... then *your* "right side" will be on their left and so forth. Similarly, when we shake hands with someone, each person will use the right hand (usually), basically reaching out to each other at an angle (kind of diagonally) rather than straight across (because to reach out straight across would require one person to reach using their left and the other to use their right).

In the mirror test, imagining that your reflection is "another person" - if "both of you" are holding objects in your right hands, then "the other person" should be holding an object on the other side of your body. But of course, it's not another person, it's you... and so if you're holding a coffee cup in your right hand, then it would seem reasonable for your reflection to *also* be holding a cup in "their" right hand.

So, looking into a mirror and seeing that your reflection is using their left hand *instead*... well, that doesn't seem logical at all! After all, you're holding the cup in your right hand... so how can you be looking at a moving image of yourself, reflected, holding the object *in your left hand* when the cup *isn't in* your left hand?

It's almost... <cue the spooky music!> ... almost... as if the person you see in the mirror... isn't you after all...


... mwha ha ha ha ha!

*Seriously* - as funny/creepy as it is, it doesn't make sense, and honestly it flips me out. My reflected image *shouldn't* be doing something that I am most definitely not doing. If I hold something in my right hand, then I shouldn't be seeing myself using the OTHER hand. That's just wrong.

[Cerulean_damselfly]

Left right reversal seems to be interesting to others...

http://psycprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00000161/

I accept it's a strangeness that we might--that is myself--just
do not think about too much when we glance at ourselves in the mirror. I think Alice's Through the Looking Glass was seen as an 'otherworldly' mixture of existance.

There's probably other works of imaginative writers that address the oddness of mirrors and reflections.

Given that there's some fascinating historic cultural myths of reflections and magic mirror...hmm just in what I recall offhand...Narcissus' falling-in-love enchantment with his own reflection in clear water--or the grandeaur of some Japanese myths with a magic mirror...oh, and the classical wicked one who asks a magic mirror on whose the fairest of all in the land and tries to do away with their rivals...

Maybe they express a bit of the mystery, romance or suspicion of the mirror image...oh, yes, isn't the term "doppelganger" in some stories derived from a myth of seeing the mirror image in real life? I seem to remember such a story somewhere...(or am I thinking of the terrible story triteness of an evil twin--sorry that I wandered off to where the plot thickens)...

[mtpathy]

imo the thing that scares people the most about mirrors,is that they
relate the existence of themselves as being the center of reality.
seeing yourself in the mirror is a double edged sword,it both lets you
fall into the sense of comfort that you are the center of reality,as well
as it hints at the sense that there is no self,and no control of the reality
you think your the center of..
this is imo the greatest reason to study and practice with mirrors,to see
and experience how deep the rabbit hole of "self",or "reality" goes.
and im loving this topic,as this is the exact thing i was aiming my Y group
towards.
:)

[Agaliha]

Found this site: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/500284.html

On the left side (yellow) if you scoll down there are articles about various mirror lore and such.

Here's another site: Mirror Magic (http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuulrDZdEhG0BRQ9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3c3VmaWRmBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMjEEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDREZYN V8zMA--/SIG=12av234lo/EXP=1150836459/**http%3a//www.sacredspiral.com/Database/love/mirrors.html)

[Harmony Aurore]

does anyone aside from myself actually work with mirrors in spells or
in doing certain spells?

yeah, i have a couple of times. mostly for charms and protection spells

[Ben Gruagach]

Here's a link (http://www.witchgrotto.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=28) to an article I wrote about using mirrors in magickal practice.

Mirrors can be very powerful magickal tools.

[mtpathy]

for those that have a genuine intrest in exploring the ways of using
mirrors,as well as the ways of using scrying,then please take a few
moments and join my group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ReflectingPond/
thanks

[Sage Rainsong]

I have used mirrors in spells. Mostly for protection. I did a spell to help a court case involving a mirror. I have also used them for certain beauty spells. Mirrors are very powerful tool IMHO.

[Cerulean_damselfly]

http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/091001/depgall.html

Interesting link. I'll be thinking of looking for beautiful obsidian to check for something like this.

Related to another discussion that I read here as well...beautiful old work, I think.

Regards,

Cerulean_Damselfly

[RainInanna]

Funny, I'm not the only one who is totally creeped out by mirrors :) I thought I was. I've seen stuff in them and I'm always concerned something's going to use them as a doorway. I flat out refuse to leave an open mirror in my bedroom especially when I'm sleeping. When we moved into this apartment the first thing I noticed was a big wall mirror glued to the wall in the bedroom, I had to rip it off immediately!

That said, I've used a mirror in an spell to deflect nasty energy. You can bet I never look directly at that one! It works really well though. Basically I consecrated it with a bunch of protection herbs and for protection and deflection. It is hidden away in the dark somewhere in my magic stuff.

[mtpathy]

Funny, I'm not the only one who is totally creeped out by mirrors :) I thought I was. I've seen stuff in them and I'm always concerned something's going to use them as a doorway. I flat out refuse to leave an open mirror in my bedroom especially when I'm sleeping. When we moved into this apartment the first thing I noticed was a big wall mirror glued to the wall in the bedroom, I had to rip it off immediately!

That said, I've used a mirror in an spell to deflect nasty energy. You can bet I never look directly at that one! It works really well though. Basically I consecrated it with a bunch of protection herbs and for protection and deflection. It is hidden away in the dark somewhere in my magic stuff.

the thing that you seem to fear from the mirror seems to be the exact same
reason i use one,they are a doorway into yourself,into the parts of yourself
that arent readily seen.

[PantherBaebe]

I'm sorry... I don't see how that is creepy or weird... It's a REFLECTION. The glass is reflecting what is directly in front of it... If you hold something on the right side, of course it's going to be on the right side of the mirror, in the reflections left hand. If it were in it's right hand, I would be creeped out! How could something I'm holding on the right, show up on the left side?

At any rate, I do find mirrors creepy anyway. They are kind of like gateways and things can come through them. I'm just beginning to work with mirrors, so I don't really have much else to add.

Mirrors are CREEPY.

Try this: hold an object in your right hand. A glass of water, a pencil, whatever; it doesn't matter, just hold it in your right hand and go into your bathroom.

Standing in front of your mirror, holding the object, take a good look at your reflection. The "reflected-version of You" will be holding the object in their **left** hand. Now, how exactly does that work? And, if you happen to have a mole on one side of your body, your reflection will have it on the opposite side of their body.

Really think about that for a minute while you're still looking at your reflection. Double-check the reality of this by imagining that the reflected You "steps out" of the mirror and stands beside you so that you can be sure that "they" are really holding the object in the opposite hand. Yep, it's true.

That is just WRONG! The more you study it, the creepier it gets.

[stella01904]

If it hasn't been mentioned or linked to yet, (I never have as much time as I'd like, lol) you can gaze into a mirror by candlelight until you trance out and get a glimpse of a past life. I think I got this from one of Raven Grimassi's books. But before I read that, I liked to do it anyway and watch my face change. I just didn't know it wassupposed to be past lives.

[Darbla]

I'm currently reading Konstantinos' (wish he was one of the authors with a forum here!) 'Nocturnal Witchcraft' in which he states to have a black mirror that is round. He doesn't give any further explanation as to why it must be round, or if you can use a square/rectangular one, which is what I already have. Would any of you know if there's a valid reason it has to be round?

Darbla

[Ben Gruagach]

I'm currently reading Konstantinos' (wish he was one of the authors with a forum here!) 'Nocturnal Witchcraft' in which he states to have a black mirror that is round. He doesn't give any further explanation as to why it must be round, or if you can use a square/rectangular one, which is what I already have. Would any of you know if there's a valid reason it has to be round?

Darbla

I'm sure we could come up with all sorts of symbolic explanations why certain shape mirrors might be used. However, in my own work with mirrors the shape doesn't seem to make much difference. The most dramatic effects I've experienced personally were in my regular old rectangular bathroom mirror, which I was looking into with the lights out and only a candle lit and placed on the floor behind me to provide light.

[MagickalHack]

Mirrors can be used for divination, scrying, and as a doorway to other planes. They can also be used for trapping unwanted spirits to get them out of your house, or other more nefarious purposes.

[Cerulean_damselfly]

In a Western context, this suggestion was it was a 'lunar' resemblance, so round was recommended.

http://www.crystalinks.com/mirrorscrying.html

I don't quite know why, but I always thought the Shinto mirror was round, so it seemed natural to me. Here's a note from a general link describing a reanactment of a Shinto story and a round mirror...

http://skydancers.com/japan/03togakushi1.html

Those are the only two instances that I know of offhand...in terms of round mirrors...

Cerulean_Damselfly

[Cerulean_damselfly]

Hathor's Mirror and Western modern round mirror...

1. Shows handheld mirror...

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~toxmetal/TXSHcu.shtml

In a class I recently went to I had asked if the scrying mirror was traditionally round -- it seemed whatever the user wished that worked with their imaginative sensation of a 'window'/'portal'--if you had an affinity to a rectangle or a square as a doorway, then that works as well.

2. Cassandra Eason's books on magical things seems to be popular as of April 2007 and generally interesting 'encyclopedia' or 'anthology' style collections of lore...her website has a small section on 'magic mirror' scrying she associates with Hathor...

http://www.cassandraeason.co.uk/mirror_scrying.htm

Hope this helpful if you are browsing around...

Cerulean_Damselfly