Hydromancy, Water Scrying, Crystal Balls and The Gazing of the Waters

Some years ago, when I was doing research for my first Paranormal Urban Fantasy novel, I read something about using a still body of water like a crystal ball to see things clairvoyantly.   This is perfect, I thought: a way of supernatural or psychic remote viewing without using the common crystal ball.   In my books, the method is described as using a bowl or basin in a dimly-lit room, sprinkle in some coloured powder while speaking words of incantation, then watch the surface of the water swirl with colours until it reveals a vision of a person or place far away.   I called it the Gazing of the Waters – a standard form of communication and remote viewing among the highly advanced, intellectual Atlans who live in an idyllic, utopian society (based on Atlantis).

Back then, I had no idea that what I created for my novels is actually a reasonably well-known method of divination called either water scrying or Hydromancy.  According to several websites specializing in the general subject of Metaphysics, the practice of seeking supernatural communication or knowledge using a surface of water goes back thousands of years.   There are very few written records that go back that far, but Esoteric Wisdom, like all things occult (meaning ‘hidden’ or ‘knowledge kept secret among only a certain few’) has retained this knowledge for our New Age.

Medieval texts often refer to different methods of water divination, but by this time (several centuries ago) the special knowledge of the Ancients had gone underground, and only an empty shell of the original practice remained.  The medieval texts in question list a variety of methods for gaining psychic insight, such as counting ripples in the water - like reading tea leaves, I imagine!

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

However, Hydromancy’s ‘cousin’, the crystal ball, has come down to us through the centuries, preserving the ancient technique of ‘gazing’ into a smooth, reflective surface with the intention of seeing something.  For this reason, the ability to see visions in water or a crystal ball is often called The Second Sight, and the act of looking into a crystal ball is often referred to as crystal gazing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_gazing

Nostradamus, the famous medieval apothecary and psychic, apparently used this method of water scrying to receive his vision of the future which he wrote down and published in the mid-1500s.  He preferred to use a bowl of clean water rather than a crystal ball.  

A very interesting blog article by psychic Richard Lee Van Der Voort, describes his own experience gazing into a crystal ball, and I was particularly struck by the process, namely that the ball becomes ‘cloudy’ before clearing and revealing a vision.  This is exactly how I describe the process of summoning visions by means of The Gazing of the Waters in my Rhuna novels and short stories!

http://psychicmindvandervoort231.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/nostradamus-and-ancient-art-of-scrying.html

Another aspect of scrying - be it with water, pendulums, tea leaves or what have you – is the required trance-like mental state the one must first have in order for any scrying to be successful.   I’ve also emphasized this in my books, and have called the deep meditation to calm the mind and reach a trance-like state ‘Inside Focussing’.   

Here is an excellent website that describes the techniques you and I can apply to learn the ancient art of Hydromancy or ‘scrying’ in general.  

https://lonerwolf.com/scrying/

When we meditate or focus all our senses on our inner mind (Inside Focussing), we access our subconscious minds, which can already reveal a great deal of information. Forgotten memories may surface, or we may gain better understanding of ourselves in general. 

Where visions are concerned, a common theory is that our subconscious minds in a deep meditative or trance state can access the Hall of Records also known as the Akashic Records.  This is an intangible ‘database’ of everything that has ever happened (and perhaps could and will happen?), which I have also used in my novels, starting from book 3 in the series (Rhuna, The Star Child) and which I have named The Infinite.

Another theory is that a vision or message received in a trance can come from a sentient being of some sort: gods, angels, perhaps another person projecting strong mental energy…  Decide for yourself!