Editing Crystal gazing

{{Short description|Method for seeing visions by gazing at a crystal}}
{{for|the mirrored lawn ornament|Gazing ball}}
[[File:Pauline Frederick - Potiphar's wife LCCN2014692516 (cropped).tif|thumb|Actress [[Pauline Frederick]] portraying a crystal gazer in the 1906 play ''[[Joseph and His Brethren (play)|Joseph and His Brethren]]'']]

'''Crystal gazing''' or '''crystallomancy''' is a method for seeing [[vision (spirituality)|visions]] achieved through [[trance]] induction by means of gazing at a [[crystal]]<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Crystal-gazing |volume=7 |pages=566–568 |first=Andrew |last=Lang |author-link=Andrew Lang}}</ref>, commonly in the form of a [[crystal ball]]. Traditionally, it has been seen as a form of [[divination]] or [[scrying]], with visions of the future and of the divine, though research into the content of crystal-visions suggest the visions are related to the expectations and thoughts of the [[Seeress (Germanic)|seer]].

==Methods and materials==
[[File:Glaskugel CrystalBall.jpg|thumb|upright|A crystal ball]]

The term crystal gazing denotes several different forms of a variety of objects, and there are several schools of thought as to the sources of the visions seen in the crystal gazing trance. Crystal gazing may be used by practitioners&mdash;sometimes called "readers" or "seers"&mdash;for a variety of purposes, including to predict distant or future events, to give character analyses, to [[fortune telling|tell fortunes]], or to help a client make choices about current situations and problems.

With respect to the tool or object used to induce the crystal-gazer's trance, this can be achieved with any shiny object, including a [[crystalline]] [[gemstone]] or a convex [[mirror]]&mdash;but in common practice, a [[crystal ball]] is most often used. The size of ball preferred varies greatly among those who practice crystallomancy. Some gazers use a "palm ball" of a few inches in diameter that is held in the hand; others prefer a larger ball mounted on a stand. The stereotypical image of a [[Romani people|Romani]] woman wearing a headscarf and telling fortunes for her clients by means of a very large crystal ball is widely depicted in the [[Mass media|media]] and can be found in hundreds of popular books, advertising pages, and films of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The pervasiveness of this image may have led to the increased use of fairly large crystal balls by those who can afford them.

Books of instruction in the art of crystal gazing often suggest that the ball used should be perfectly spherical (that is, without a flat bottom) and should be supported in a wooden or metal stand. If made of glass (e.g. [[lead crystal]]), it should be free from air bubbles but may be colored. If carved from natural crystalline stone (such as [[quartz]], [[beryl]], [[calcite]], [[obsidian]], or [[amethyst]]), it may display the natural coloring and structure of the mineral from which it was fashioned. Some authors advise students to place a [[seal (emblem)|sigil]], seal, or [[talisman]]ic emblem beneath a clear sphere, but most do not. Most authors suggest that the work of crystal gazing should be undertaken in a dimly-lit and quiet room, so as to foster visions and more easily allow the onset of a trance state.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}<!--which books tell this?-->

Some practitioners claim that crystal gazing engenders [[visionary]] experiences and [[preternatural]] and/or [[supernatural]] [[insight]], while other practitioners and researchers assert that the visions arise from the [[subconscious]] mind of the crystal gazer. Some authors note that the two positions are not mutually incompatible, and that the possibility of showing the gazer's subconscious mind does not preclude the possibility of seeing the future or other supernatural insight.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://backpackerverse.com/crystal-gazing/|title=Crystal Gazing|date=7 January 2016|website=Backpackerverse|last1=Vazquez|first1=Sol|access-date=18 May 2016}}</ref>

== Research ==

Crystal gazing has been an active topic of research. Organisations like the [[Society for Psychical Research]] has published research on the topic.<ref name=EB1911/> While there is no doubt that many people see visions in crystal balls, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that visions have any [[Clairvoyance|clairvoyant]] content.<ref>[[Lyon Sprague De Camp|De Camp, Lyon Sprague]]. (1980). ''[[The Ragged Edge of Science]]''. Owlswick Press. pp. 101-102. {{ISBN|0-913896-06-3}}</ref><ref>Rawcliffe, D. H. (1987). ''Occult and Supernatural Phenomena''. Dover. pp. 128-133</ref> The psychologists [[Leonard Zusne]], Warren H. Jones in their book ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking'' (1989) have written:

{{quote|Morton Prince (1898, 1922) was an early investigator of crystal gazing and one of the few to ever subject it to scientific scrutiny. He found that the images may be forgotten memory images, that with susceptible subjects the crystal ball could be dispensed with, and that scrying seemed to occur against a background of psychopathology.<ref>Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. p. 116. {{ISBN|978-0-805-80507-9}}</ref>}}

The psychologist [[Millais Culpin]] wrote that crystal gazing allows a form of [[self-hypnosis]] with fantasies and memories from the unconscious of the subject appearing as visions in the crystal.<ref>[[Millais Culpin|Culpin, Millais]]. (1920). ''Spiritualism and the New Psychology: An Explanation of Spiritualist Phenomena and Beliefs in Terms of Modern Knowledge''. Edward Arnold, London. pp. 97-98</ref> Analysis of the content suggest they are a kind of [[hallucination]] that visualizes things in memory or of expectations, for example, a subject who was told to expect to see soldiers, saw exactly this when gazing in a crystal ball. The subject had previously experienced hallucinations when looking at reflective surfaces, something which tends to be true of most people who experience visions when gazing at crystals.<ref name=essays>{{cite book|last=Goodrich-Freer|first=Ada|title=Essays in Psychical Research|year=1899|publisher=George Redway|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/essaysinpsychic00goodgoog/page/n123 103]–141|url=https://archive.org/details/essaysinpsychic00goodgoog}}</ref>

Researcher [[Edmund Parish]] believed that crystal-visions were experienced in a state of full consciousness while others think it requires a trance-like state.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of Hallucations |location=Oradell, NJ. |publisher=Springer |year=2010|pages=102}}</ref>

==Stage magic==
[[File:Alexander sees your life from the cradle to the grave LCCN2014636876.jpg|thumb|upright|Poster for the stage magician Alexander]]
Some [[magic (illusion)|stage magicians]] use a crystal ball as a prop and crystallomancy as a line of patter in the performance of [[mentalism]] effects. This type of presentation is sometimes referred to as a "C.G. act"—"C.G." standing for "crystal gazing".<ref>Nelson, Robert A. ''Nelson Enterprises 25th Anniversary Catalogue No. 21''. Columbus, Ohio. 1946</ref>

Perhaps the most famous expositor of the C.G. act during the 20th century was [[Alexander (magician)|Alexander The Crystal Seer]], billed as "The Man Who Knows".<ref name="beckmann">Beckmann, Darryl, ''The Life And Times of Alexander, The Man Who Knows, A Personal Scrapbook,'' Rolling Bay, Washington, Rolling Bay Press, 1994.</ref><ref name=charvet>Charvet, David. ''Alexander - The Man Who Knows''. 2nd revised and enlarged edition, September 2006.</ref> Another stage magician and mentalist who was also a crystal gazer was [[The Zancigs|Julius Zancig]], but he did not perform a C.G. act in public—rather, he used the [[crystal ball]] in his work as a spiritual counsellor for private clients.

==See also==
*[[Campbell–Stokes recorder]]
*[[Catoptromancy]]
*[[Hydromancy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

*[[William Walker Atkinson|Atkinson, William Walker]] and [[L. W. de Laurence]]. ''Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing''.
*[[Theodore Besterman|Besterman, Theodore]]. ''Crystal Gazing: A Study in the History, Distribution, Theory and Practice of Scrying.''
*[[Charles Stansfeld Jones|Jones, Charles Stansfeld, as "Frater Achad"]]. ''Crystal Vision through Crystal Gazing or, the Crystal as a Stepping-Stone to Clear Vision.'' 1923. Yogi Publication Society.
*Melville, John. ''Crystal Gazing and the Wonders of Clairvoyance.'' c. 1915. W. Foulsham & Co.
*Nelson, Robert A., as "Dr. Korda Ra Mayne". ''Six lessons in Crystal Gazing.'' 1928. Psychic Science Publishing Co.
*Northcote, W. Thomas. ''Crystal Gazing: Its History and Practice, with a Discussion on the Evidence for Telepathic Scrying''.
*[[Morton Prince|Prince, Morton]]. (1898). ''An Experimental Study of Visions''. Brain 21: 528-546.
*[[Morton Prince|Prince, Morton]]. (1922). ''An Experimental Study of the Mechanism of Hallucinations''. British Journal of Medical Psychology 2: 165-208.
*[[The Zancigs|Zancig, Julius]]. ''Crystal Gazing, the Unseen World: a Treatise on Concentration.'' 1926. I. and M. Ottenheimer.
*Saint Germain, Jon. ''Crystal Magic: Divination, Healing, and Spellcraft with Gems and Minerals.'' Missionary Independent Spiritual Church (2016).
*[[Alexander (magician)|Conlin, Claude Alexander]]. ''Secrets of the Crystal Silence League.''  Missionary Independent Spiritual Church (2019).
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[[Category:Divination]]
[[Category:Romani culture]]