This past Christmas my wonderful then-fiancée (now wife) gifted to me a huge selenite scrying orb.
I’ve done very little scrying before. Many of the other orbs in my collection are much too small to actually use in that fashion, though I do have a black obsidian one and two clear glass crystal ones which are sized for gazing into. The black one I’ve used once before, when trying to communicate with a spirit, but with no visual results. The glass one’s I’ve not given a try yet.
Last night I decided to give the new selenite crystal a try and see what I could see. Debating for a little about what would be a good target, I thought of the hermetic practice of astrally traveling to planes or realms associated with each of the four specific elements. (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water) The magician leaves his body and goes to these places to gain better control and understanding of them, and to converse with the denizens therein.
So, rather than astrally finding my way there, I decided that it would be a good target for scrying. Leaving the decision of which up to my wife, we chose to scry a place associated with the element of earth.
I set up the crystal on its stand on the table. We lit some incense and a candle behind it, and my wife added some items to represent the element of earth next to the stand. I got into a comfortable sitting position and she began to describe the journey I was going to undertake.
She told me I was standing at the entrance to a cave. I looked deep into the crystal waiting for any sort of images to appear. Slowly something took shape.
It was out of focus, but I began to see what appeared to be the silhouette of a cave. Mostly I was seeing a glowing orange light, but within that a dark spot came into view and took the shape of a large hole in the light. This image persisted for a few moments, and then dissipated as she described me moving further into the cave.
The images I was viewing took a quality someone like a film negative at this point. I was seeing the walls and floor of the cave as illuminated. However, the dark areas that I couldn’t see were still dark. At some points it was like I was slowly moving forward, the images gently panning around and moving. At others, it was like I was seeing a slideshow. I’d be presented with a picture, and it would dissolve into the next. However, the continuity of motion was preserved, such that I understood I was moving forward to the next point in the cave.
As I rounded a corner, a being confronted me. The entirety of what I was seeing filled with a strange face. Not quite a wolf, not quite a cat, not quite a small goblin creature, but somehow a mix of all of them. It was looking directly at me, and it took me a moment to realize it had four eyes, two on each side. Slit pupils, like those of a snake. The image was motionless. I tried speaking out loud to it, but with no response. I tried mentally calling out to it, but again no response.
What struck me about this vision was the incredible amount of detail I was seeing. Its entire face was wrinkled and I could see light glinting off each of the ridges. On top of that, I was seeing it with my physical eyes, which was an entirely different experience than any other sort of guided visionary journey or astral travel. I even realized that I could look away from the crystal for a few moments and then look back, and the same image would still be there. This allowed me to make quick sketches of what I was viewing.
My wonderful wife has taken a few of my sketches, and with some additional description, elaborated on them for me. My sketch will be first, followed by her interpretation of it.
The image of the being confronting me faded away, and I continued on through the cave. I was now moving along a cliffside pathway. To my right, the cliff rose up and met the ceiling of this cavern, to my left there was a chasm descending into darkness. It slowly panned me forward along this narrow path until the entire cave opened up.
What I was looking at now was a thin path with an abyss on either side. Stone pillars climbed from the blackness below to flank it. At the far end was something I described as “Temple of Doom”-ish. An entrance to yet another cavern. Rectangular, with a clear border carved around it. Above it were three depressions in the rockface, giving it a skull-like appearance. There were more carvings above the “face”, framing it and making it look like it was wearing some sort of elaborate headdress.
At this point, and for the rest of the vision, everything was in a sort of sepia-tone. Like an old photograph from the 1800s. The amount of detail in the images continued to be striking, and the style of the carvings reminded me of paintings by HR Giger or Zdzisław Beksiński.
I progressed forward and was greeting with a cityscape of strange buildings. It was like I was in a truly enormous cavern, looking downward from an elevated position. The structures were made of stone, one or two stories tall, and looking like they were carved directly out of the floor or walls. They were very geometric, rectangular, and somewhat reminded me of Pueblo architecture. Beyond them, out of focus in the distance, was a gigantic pyramid that stretched high enough that it almost met the ceiling of this cave.
As I was looking over this landscape the crystal became filled with light. An angelic figured appeared out of it, glowing in a radiant gold color. Human in shape, but with huge wings shining behind it, like a classic artistic depiction of an angel. I spoke out loud to it, but got no response, so I tried speaking mentally again. This time, I got an answer. It is a guardian of this place in which I’ve arrived. I asked if I was allowed to enter, and the response was along the lines of “you’re already here”. It didn’t seem to be there to stop my progress, or really do anything, other than to show me it knew what I was doing. After this short exchange it’s form changed to that of a bird, somewhat like a seagull but with a head more like a dove, and flew away.
I was getting better at moving around now, and I was able to will the images I was seeing to descend toward the city. There was still not movement visually, but one image shifting into another. As I got to the ground level I realized that what I had thought were many small buildings was actually a city full of incredibly tall structures. I was just very far away previously. It was hard to judge scale, because the depth-of-field of the images was not consistent.
Here, among the streets, I found more creatures. Things which seemed to be made out of the same sort of grey-sepia stone that the rest of this place was constructed from. One was like a small owl, but without wings. A rectangular head with a strange large nose, oval body, and stubby little legs and feet. No arms to be seen. Another, similar in shape, but with a head like a turtle. I realized that there were uncountably many of these beings around.
I tried to reach out and speak to them the way I did with the angelic figure. I got a response, but not from them. Its as if, rather than speaking with them directly, I was asking questions and then pulling what might be their answers from some sort of other external source.
They were identified as gnomes. They were not interested in showing me around this place or helping me in any way. They lived there because the place was secret. Not that there was danger elsewhere, or that they were hiding from something, just that that city being secret was a point unto itself. I asked if I could go to the distant pyramid and they said no, because it was too far away.
Moving onward from these gnomes, I found a corner of an alley with a frog-like creature in it. I could only see its head, not its full body, as it was standing behind a rock and did not come out.
Behind it on the wall was a strange design. Similarly, I was able to pull information (from somewhere) about it. The design was there because it drew it there. It drew it there because it could. It did not wish to tell me anything about the meaning of the design.
I willed the vision to progress forward. I was again confronted with a Temple-of-Doom style passage, this time with a metal bell beside it. Moving past this the cavern opened up somewhat. I was beyond the city and looking at a great stone staircase flanked by cliffs rising on either side. At the top was a strange building that I somehow recognized as a type of temple. It was like a large oval stone standing tall, with other oval stones stacked on top of it. There was a small (or distant) door at its base.
Close to me though was a strange statue. I somehow knew that this was a statue instead of a living being. It was seated, with a head like an elephant, a long trunk draped over its legs. The trunk had a piercing like two tusks that extended on each side and then pointed back toward the face. Its right eye was covered in a black square, like an eyepatch. It wore a headdress that extended past its shoulders, with a triangular portion meeting on its forehead between its eyes. The headdress was very ancient Egyptian in style.
(My wife has lovingly pointed out to me that something I missed while describing this, as she’s drawing the images for this post, is that the divided downward pointing triangle is the elemental symbol for earth)
Trying to move past this statue I was presented with a vision of a face somewhat like that of a baboon. Sharp teeth bared towards me. Moving past that, another came into focus, looking like the face of a snake ready to strike.
Rather than go toward the temple, I saw another open cave to the left and went through its opening. I now found myself flying over mountains, slowly watching them pass under me. The angelic figure reappeared, its light filling up my vision yet again. It is now half bird, half man. I see it from somewhat behind and above. It’s head is now like that of a crow, with long wings instead of arms, but its back portion becoming human legs.
I asked why it was here, and it responded that it is because this is the far border of the land I was just traveling through. Its not trying to stop me, just the fact that this is a border means that it is present. However, if I continue, I will be leaving this place.
I took that as a good time to stop for this session, and it had been over an hour of scrying at this point. More sessions with this crystal, and with the others, will hopefully follow soon!