Anyone use a crystal ball?

a reply to: Aelfrede

Hi. I have some opinions from experience I can share...I will try to make this short and sweet but I do have trouble keeping posts to a minimum.

In my experience, the crystal ball its self has no special abilities. As another poster says, its a way to get your eye's to unfocus...you can use any reflective surface...a glass of water, a window that reflects...it's all about the way you focus, or for me, unfocus on the surface.

A Crystal ball gives you the ability to choose staring at the surface of the ball, at fractures or spaces inside the ball, the backside exterior of the ball as well as what is sitting directly behind the ball (table cloth, chair etc...) ALL AT THE SAME TIME, if you practice. Trying looking at all of those areas at the same time...the only way to do it, imo, is to go peripheral in your vision and hold it there.

In my opinion, what happens is that when you are staring at such a thing, after a minute or two your eye's get unfocused or confused as to which surface it's actually trying to focus on and if you relax your gaze while doing so it can put you into an altered state.

I feel it's much like the whole 3rd eye meditation thing...which I do a lot. I can stare with my eye's open at a fixed object across the room, and if I get in the right "zone" a blueish static starts to appear, like a transparent overlay, which then starts spinning in a vortex type wormhole thing....which quite a few times have resulted in actually seeing random scenes or people at the end of the wormhole when it finally opens up...all while my eye's are open.

In my opinion it's my third eye that I have trained and focused to be able to access even with my eye's open. I also do this meditation with my eye's closed, except I stare at the back of my eye lids, as if I'm in a big, dark theatre...and I pretend I'm searching/looking for the back of the wall...eventually, in the blackness the same colored vortex starts...sometimes green or red or gold...and with some luck I can focus on that until I see flashes or visions...only for 10 or 20 seconds, but I'm working on how to extend the times when I achieve that mental state.

So, IMO, the crystal ball is more like a 'crutch' or a tool that some people can use to get their focus softened and to get their mind settled into a singular point...bringing their 3rd eye manifestations into a wide awake awareness.

There's an Indian term for meditating by 'gazing' or staring...it's weird so I don't remember the name. But staring, gazing, forced focus etc is just another form of meditation...and as such, some are better than others. It was said that this type of meditation, where you 'see without looking" is easier for some people to still their minds because if you can get your eye's to not 'look' or stop seeing, you also still the mind at the same time. (Think going total peripheral vision, seeing the room as a whole and not focusing on one thing...) Try staring straight ahead but putting your attention on the extreme peripheral of right and left eye at the same time...with practice you realize you just need to relax and suddenly your vision will see the whole room peripherally...and THEN at that point, with focus on the empty space in front of you, you can pull up that vortex, energy thing and practice meditating that way...if successful, the results are very cool. The carrot in front of the horse is the glimpses or visions that appear, if you get it just right.

If nothing else, for the heck of it...just stare at something, without blinking or moving your eyes, as after a while you'll see the room start moving and solid things appear more fluid. If you do it long enough you might start seeing dark patches or colored patches in your vision...Good! Keep pressing on past that and you can see that you have more abilities that you realize, it just takes practice. I'm not a pro by any means and I normally wouldn't respond like this but of all the threads I read about this kind of thing I've never read where anyone as approached the practice like me...anyone else have a similar point of view?

Works for me and I could write more and describe my experiences but I think this is too long already. I'm not nearly a adept in it as I want to be but, hey, the trial and error are just part of the journey. Hope this gives someone something more to consider.

a reply to: BigBrotherDarkness

Great answer! It's 3:33am, so my eyes have fallen out of my head, so excuse my brief response.

It's kind of sad in a way that virgin chucking is not the sport it once was! But slowly, very slowly, our shared knowledge and understandings teach us about plate tectonics, and magma chambers and it may take a few centuries for the new explanations to be accepted - but eventually the virgins start breathing a sigh of relief at keeping their virginity a 'secret'. And suddenly appeasing the gods falls out of flavour and quite a few chiefs sheepishly look down at their feet and kick the dust a little and perhaps feel they may have slightly over-reacted.

So I guess the moral is at least I can rest easy knowing that one day crystal ball gazing will one day burn itself out? Maybe another thousand years though I'm guessing and I hope Tarot cards go with it. Goodnight all.

a reply to: Aelfrede

I use a keek-stane which is similar in concept. The methods are also similar meaning you use it as a foci for your work and inquiry. The ball is something that had too many distractions for me and it was sometimes difficult to discern what was intended for me and what was simply a trick of the light. The keek-stane is pure black (kinda) until the vision comes so there is no mistake.

Normally, I see what I'm supposed to and it is obviously ethereal in the sense that it is apparent there is no object there. There were two occasions, however, where I actually saw a physically-manifested image that was definitely not solely a product of my craft work nor mind; it was really there in our realm, to be seen with my physical eyes.

Those two occasions led me to spectacular decisions that I would never have made otherwise.

My experience comes as a person who uses it as a tool to supplement other parts of craft work. Using it outside of that context is something I'm not familiar with. Is there a particular method you are following or are you just using it intuitively?

originally posted by: Qumulys
a reply to: Hecate666

Sounds to me like you imagined it and then the power of suggestion made the others believe it to, and in the state you were all in it's no wonder surely?
It was also at night, so you may have had on different lights, perhaps some random things on the coffee table were reflected to sort of produce the image, either way it's hardly proof of anything in my eyes, and bordering on t&c issues.

It wasn't meant to be proof of anything, it was an interesting anecdote that happened exactly as I said. You weren't there and I was honest enough about or state for a reason. The presence of mind altering substances is always seen by non users as an immediate turn off, however I see it more that our state could have opened a door to another dimension. Nobody knows for sure, not even you. Why so hostile, what T&C issues ?!?!

ETA: Oh, I get it, the state of our minds irked the T&C comment. Well, alcohol is a mindaltering substance and so are my prescribed SSRIs and my valerian tea, just saying.

a reply to: Aelfrede

Saddest thing these days is that most crystal balls are fakes made in china. They're damn good fakes too and fool many of the gullible people looking to fool gullible people.

he he.

originally posted by: nerbot
a reply to: Aelfrede

Saddest thing these days is that most crystal balls are fakes made in china. They're damn good fakes too and fool many of the gullible people looking to fool gullible people.

he he.

People don't even need crystal balls they can use water in a dish.

Water is actually a better way to look withing ourselves. How many times as children did we stare for long periods of time into a pond, lake, or water in a bucket?

Looking into water is very soothing, and puts us into a meditative state.

And it doesn't cost very much either.

I'm not trying to be funny, I use a crystal bowl to amplify my phones speakers. It works and I'm sure there are many other applications for mangnifying and amplifying...and there is no time and space for all my thoughts on any of these

a reply to: Aelfrede

When I first learned to meditate(courtesy School of Metaphysics in Webster Groves), they taught us to use a candle and observe how many thoughts go through your mind. It is a good test to see how distracted you are and to focus your energy. But the key thing is to learn to focus on your Third Eye which gives you Inner Sight. When you can learn to still the chaotic thoughts of the mental body and focus on the Third Eye, you may have an experience. The other thing is to imagine a tiny pinprick of white light in the center of the forehead, and then to expand and expand it till it fills your auric forcefield, then expand it further and further. You can get to where it is almost automatic that you can see the ball of white light. The light is Universal energy and you can imprint your alchemical matrix on to it.

a reply to: Qumulys

Well, hoping such practices as scrying and tarot going away forever, sounds a bit personally idealistic. These things fulfill something in the individual practicing it, who is that choice bothering other than those saying hogwash? If the people practicing such things, find it enriches their lives then why take issue with it?

If staring at something did not produce an effect? Then no one would do it. It does create an effect, though the cause however is left to conjecture and left to the one having the experiences own interpretation. I'm sure this thread's intent is simply to ask... So hey, anyone else stare at something and have an effect? If so, what was it?

I have done this myself, and nothing I experienced could not be dismissed out of logic and rationality... so I gave a warning about taking the experience too seriously, to the point that it could cause themselves/others possible harm, as such esoteric practices are apt to do, when one fixates on a singular subject, or in this case object long enough.

The best remedy to self induced malady is moderation, avoiding extremes that form, beliefs and ideals that surround human activity, causing the common delusion that the ideal in question is absolute truth, instead of just a personal belief from some random experience, that is only significant to oneself or others involved in the same activity.

Again, nothing wrong with scrying or anything else, when placed in it's proper perspective, which it can be a tool of understanding or destruction... not just one or the other. Reality is absolute, human experience is not.

The "crystal ball" used in scrying is nothing more than a symbol of receiving divine knowledge - it is only a mere symbol and nothing more.

Since antiquity the orb symbol is known as the Globus Crusiger and means receiving divine knowledge. The symbol is used in works of arts well into modern times. More in depth, it means that the male part of your soul is a receptacle of divine knowledge. In more modern time the meaning of the orb symbol became obfuscated with the sun and dominion over all (the masses) - however, the correct interpretation is the male part of your soul being a receptacle of divine knowledge.


Virgin Mary with an orb


Statue of Jupiter holding the scepter and orb

Globus Crusiger of glass/crystal symbolizes the undefinable Holy Spirit - that brings in the divine knowledge to the male part of the soul - is undefinable.


Painting of Leonardo da Vinci showing Jesus with a Globus Crusiger of glass symbolizing the undefinable Holy Spirit - that brings in the divine knowledge to the male part of the soul - is undefinable.


Andrea Previtali showing Jesus with a Globus Crusiger of glass

So, I conclude that the crystal ball is just a symbol for the male part of the spirit receiving divine knowledge from the undefinable divine. To make sense of the divine knowledge the female part (the mind) of the spirit is the required, she is the one that is needed to materialize (give birth) of the divine as the male part of the spirit has access to the divine knowledge but cannot comprehend it by himself.

If you are truly interested in divine knowledge you must look past the symbols where most people get stuck and dig into what is hidden behind them - the occult knowledge - otherwise you will never know the true truth but you will rather get stuck in dogmatic ritualistic repetition like so many before you.

-MM

Hi,

thanks for the advice reminding to keep discernment, which is something I always try to do.

Aelf

originally posted by: BigBrotherDarkness
If you use the specialized word scrying for researching this activity, then you will find a wealth of information on the topic. Supposedly, black surfaces with a mirror like polish are the best for this Aleister Crowley preferred the black "mirror" for scrying. Just like anything else esoteric in nature, make sure you are very mentally well prepared. Many people with a weak will are apt to believe every bit of knowledge that spontaneously arises from self entrained altered states, whether the revelations root is in wisdom or delusion must be very thoroughly scrutinized with logic and rationally.

If one is apt to believe delusion, it is easy for them to fracture their psyche and lose their grip on commonly perceived reality, under the delusion that they hold some special knowledge that others may want or do not have access to. Once that happens the wisdom or delusion experienced has a strong likely hood to develop into full blown paranoia. If the person is lucky they get carted off to the mental ward, if unlucky... they will probably be shot by the responding officer which seems to be a growing trend.

My personal advice is thus for anyone dabbling in esoteric practices: If you have any bizarre thoughts that you react to, then you need to strengthen your bond with reality and be very well grounded in one's will to maintain your own personal status quo so to speak, so you do not get carried off into a one way ticket for a flight of fancy no one else understands logically or perceives as rational.

a reply to: Aelfrede

No worries, it's just a matter of myself not liking people to suffer, and a lot of times they do from self inflicted wounds, even when not intentionally setting out to be wounded, just from being curious and exploring new things, it happens, it's life, but no reason to make life even more complicated for oneself... hence the warning. Whatever it is you are seeking, I hope it brings you happiness and fulfillment.

I'm not 'sort of' picturing anything. What I end up seeing when the effects of gazing properly kick in is a projected image - something I can examine and explore in front of me, just like you would look at a moving image on a tv. I have tried moon gazing and this projected moving image effect happened on the face of the moon but the problem was it's so distant I had trouble working out the details LOL! E.g. I would see what looked like a woman's face and her mouth was moving and her head turning round, and could just make out something going on behind her but couldn't work out what.

What I've noticed so far from using the crystal ball is it's a great way to examine these images close up in more detail. I'm not talking about pareidolia (although that's not to say nothing valuable can come from such images). I'm talking about a real scene, that can be moving or static, like what you see on tv or a photograph.

The reason I initially opted for a crystal ball is the potential that real crystal can magnify results and enhance third eye communication. Also combined with the fact that it is an ideal reflective surface for the purposes of gazing.

You mentioned about how do I know it's not just random stuff I'm making up. I believe that we can link in to a greater awareness, perhaps like Carl Jung's idea of the collective unconscious. I believe we can do this when awake and when in dreams. I have been having lucid dreams and out of body experiences for many years and have found information that turned out quite accurate, or had experiences that led to effects that definitely seem beyond coincidence.

Actually, while on the topic of dreaming. When in the state between sleeping and being fully awake I can see an image projected into the darkness (usually a scene of some sort, e.g. a room or a country road or fields etc.) I believe this is related to the same process that I experience when gazing when awake.

I appreciate this sort of topic can be hard for those who are sceptical of such matters. But to be truly scientific means keeping ones mind open to all possibilities. It does not mean already making up your mind and then perceiving through that biased opinion. I would imagine that is quite a difficult state for us humans to achieve and that there are not many scientists who are truly scientific. They are often looking for any evidence of a preconceived theory and often don't notice the effects of their own biases when attempting to discern results.

Many years ago before this current technological age, I'm sure many things considered today as well known science were seen as far fetched or unbelievable. Such as radio waves, electricity, computer technology. The problem with science is it wants to explain the world through its 'current mode of the times'. According to those caught up in that mind set, nothing can possibly exist that cannot be explained through the current modern day scientific understanding. The truth is this method of attempting to understand our world has been shown to be wrong time and time again throughout history. (E.g. At one time your life would have been in great danger if you maintained a heliocentric view).

There are things we don't currently understand properly about our existence. Just because we can't explain something with our current scientific 'syntax' does not make that thing we are attempting to explain 'hogwash'. As far as I know there is no rule in science that says if you can't currently explain something then that means it has to be labelled ridiculous, or that people who experience a particular phenomena should be explained away as 'sad' or 'confused' just because science does not understand what is happening in this present moment. In fact, and correct me if I am wrong, it would actually go against the definition of science itself to adopt such an attitude.

To answer your medical related questions - I do not have any unusual health problems. Eye tests are all fine, blood pressure fine.

originally posted by: Qumulys
a reply to: Aelfrede

Hmmm, I'm still having trouble understanding.
Is not "seeing images projected onto things" just, like artistic imagination? I mean, I can look at a wall and imagine whatever, let's say a wild phage sitting on a rock, and I can sort of picture him there. But, that is just in my head. Inside my minds eye, trying to think what it will look like on the wall. Like, how an artist thinks about how the image will look before they put pen to paper.

So, are you seeing this in your head? If so, why do you need a silly magic crystal ball? You might as well just use your fridge and save money. I'm still struggling to understand your mindset here. All you've said really is you see things. Why the need for a ball?
What makes you think it is anything other than just you thinking up random stuff like every other human does when they get sick of work and start to day-dream.

*I remain puzzled and unconvinced of anything other than hogwash so far, but I'm open to trying to understand you. Sorry if this is a challenge for you to explain, but I am trying to understand your ball gazing and what is the actual mental process you are going through. Have you suffered any mental illnesses in the past (you don't need to answer that if it makes you uncomfortable), or unusual medical problems such as fainting, low blood pressure, migraines, etc. ?

What an amazing experience! The fact that your husband picked up the ball and examined it helps rule out the possibility something was reflecting onto it and your friend explaining the image in great detail which matched up with what you were seeing must have been wonderful confirmation!

originally posted by: Hecate666
I need to add this very odd story that happened to my husband, a friend and myself back in 1993. I will be honest and say that we were pretty high as kites at the time, all 3 of us.
The friend had a good sized crystal ball sitting on the table. It was real cear crystal and not glass, so there were imperfections inside.
Every now and then one of us stared stupidly into it and then kept chatting more.

At some point I looked, and blow me away, there was a perfect image of a japanese robot in there. The 80-90s kind, with strange backward ears and large joints. It was perfect, not pareidolia, where you see stuff in patterns.
No this was a perfect holographic image, with all the details clearly visible.

So I told the others and my husband looked first. I expected him to make a joke or pretend to see something [and he said he was going to] but he was amazed when he actually saw the same thing.
He looked for a while and turned to orb around [always trying to find a rational explanation].

The our mate looked and she was just as shocked to see it too. She described it, from colour to all extreme details.

What if it was a factory made hologram? Well for one it was real crystal and she got it from one of those 'serious' new age places instead of a manga shop.

Next morning we remembered and tried to find it again, but it was gone and no light condition could bring it back. So if it was our minds making it up, then the amazing thing would that all 3 had the same vision. Either way, we still talk about it today.

a reply to: MerkabaMeditation


Loved your post and all of the pics. Also your understanding of "the male part of the spirit".... that each of us has the alpha and the omega energy....the kundalini rises from the base to the crown.

a reply to: Qumulys

You may see an unpleasant bio of Crawley, but I see a positive one. Not everyone is allied with the Christian church and there are positive forces outside its mindset.

He was a very thorough and clear writer, I enjoy his earlier works. Being called wicked by the establishment could be considered a badge of honor.

I heard in his later life he went off the deep end.

Looking up a scrying sounds like a good idea as someone else suggested. I heard crystal balls were used as parlor tricks - someone would slip a photo beneath one before doing a reading.

originally posted by: ThirdEyeofHorus
a reply to: MerkabaMeditation


Loved your post and all of the pics. Also your understanding of "the male part of the spirit".... that each of us has the alpha and the omega energy....the kundalini rises from the base to the crown.

The paintings are lovely, but there is much more symbology there for those that are interested in such details:

1. The trinitarian hand gesture in both paintings symbolizes that the male and female part of the spirit (the two fingers) is under a covenant made with the divine (pointing upwards).
   
2. In da Vincis painting Jesus is wearing the Virgins blue color, this signifies the union of the male and female spirit.
   
3. Jesus is painted very androgynous in da Vincis painting, this again signifies the union of the male and female spirit
   
4. The painting by A. Previtali has Jesus in the correct red color that symbolizes the male part of the spirit.
   
5. Notice that the leather pattern matches the Kabbalah Tree of life where the heart gem is the sephiroth that symbolizes the unification between the male and the female (se picture below).
   

-MM

If you leave one exposed to daylight you may get to see burning-hell ...


wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell–Stokes_recorder

Have you ever been setting in a room and relaxed, mind wandering staring into space...... and all of a sudden where you are looking happens to be a person who suddenly breaks your stare, and you feel embarrassed? That mentality in your moments while in the stare.... eyes wide open...... but seeing nothing... your mind living out a drama all it's own, miles away... part stare, part lucid dream, your mind partly at rest.

I guess the last part might indicate it's not an extreme focus that manifests your dream/vision, but a calming of internal dialogue and a thought... An evolving thought.

a reply to: Qumulys

You simply have no clue. Scrying is ancient and venerated practice that dates thousands of years through many world cultures. It's not for the unbeliever or the neophyte, it would never work for you. Because this forum has de-evolved ever so in the past few years I will never share too much of what my experience has been but I can only tell the OP that they (crystal balls) do work in the right time and place and with the right people. As with anything that taps into the "other side" be careful and make sure your intention is pure.