January 11, Carmentalia, Day of Prophecy

Romans observed this day of Carmenta, beloved for her prophetic powers and for her protection of motherhood. One of Rome’s famed gates, the Porta Carmentalis, is dedicated to her. A fascinating detail of her lore is that the priests to this goddess never sacrificed animals because Carmenta forbade any kind of butchering. The ancient oracles always gave their prediction in verse, and this Arcadian deity did so as well. Her name comes from the same root as Carmen, which means “song,” and indicates a spell as well as a prophecy. One legend tells that Carmenta was the mother of Evander, who brought the humanities with him, both the arts and the foundation of the Latin alphabet; another suggests that she was the mother of the alphabet. Only the priests of Carmenta were permitted to enter her innermost shrines. Roman women made sure they visited Carmenta’s shrine during their pregnancies, especially on January 11, to hear the song spell sung for their new babies. This is a wonderful ritual for women to share so that they can know what to predict for the year to come.

Ritual for Carmentalia—Prophecies for the New Year

On January 11, gather a group of women together. Ask them to bring pens, paper, and offerings of fruit, flowers, or vegetables to Carmenta. Use these to build an altar, with the bounty placed around a black bowl filled with water that is used as the scrying mirror. Place candles around the room and turn down the lights.

Form a circle around the bowl and altar, and as each woman places her offering beside the bowl, she says aloud the name of her offering: 

Pomegranate [or orange or lily, etc.], Goddess’s herb,

Perform for me enchantment superb.

You give us grain and bread.

Foretell for me the year ahead.

After placing the offering to Carmenta on the altar, each woman should kneel over the mirror and look upon the water. Some people may see images, but oftentimes the information comes as an impression, thought, or meditative reflection. People should only share their visions if they feel the need to do so.

After everyone has had a turn, everyone should chant and sing together:

Daughters under this sun

Sisters under this moon

Tonight we receive your blessings 

Carmenta, goddess great and good— 

We thank you for the year to come.

Now open the circle and sit in silence for at least ten minutes, so that everyone present can record her impressions and visions from Carmenta in a journal. In years to come, if you and your circle of women decide to observe the Feast of Carmentalia annually, as I recommend, you can share and compare notes from prior years. This is a wonderful way to process the passages of your lives. Afterward, a feast is called for. The fruit and veggies from the altar should be consumed, and the flowers should decorate the dining table. Make sure to smudge very well with sage at the end of the evening, as remaining energies should scatter and not stay in the home. Water from the scrying bowl should be poured into the earth outside. 

Making the Tools of the Magical Trade Part III

 

Scrying Tools

Scrying, the art of divining by looking into a reflective surface and receiving visions, has been used by witches, magicians, and others since pre-biblical times. The word “scry” forms the root for the English word “descry,” which means reveal or discover.

The ancients had special prophets and priestesses who engaged in foretelling the future, and it is certain they used scrying tools from various crystals. Perhaps a chunk of black obsidian was the first scrying mirror used by a Stone Age shaman. All these centuries later, we still use crystal balls made from quartz and obsidian.

It is known that Queen Elizabeth I employed Dr. John Dee, a mathematician and metaphysician, in all matters of the heavens and unseen. Dee’s assistants used a mirror of polished black obsidian, which led the next generation of magicians and psychics to prefer black mirrors. Dee and his assistants used scrying to call upon certain angels and reported hearing knocking, and even voices that sounded like an owl screeching, during sessions. The legacy of alchemist and metaphysician John Dee lives on, and modern seers such as Edgar Cayce have built on his foundation.

In addition to divining the past, present, and future, you can use scrying to contact spirit guides or to improve your skills of creative visualization. Some practitioners of scrying even use it as a gateway to the astral plane.

Although scrying tools usually have shiny surfaces, you can scry with nearly anything. Water, a mirror on the wall, a crystal sphere, a slab of rock, flames of fire, ink in a bowl, or the bottom of a teacup all serve as scrying tools. You may find that smooth, neutral surfaces are less distracting and images will come through to you with less distortion. The ritual you follow when cleansing your scrying tools can be as elaborate or as simple as you like. My ritual involves cleansing my scrying tools before and after each use with rainwater that has sat through at least one day of sun and one night of moonlight. Just like with crystal balls and other sacred tools, you should polish any scrying mirrors or surfaces with a clean cotton cloth and store them in a special protective bag.

Crystal Balls

For thousands of years, highly polished, glasslike spheres of beryl and quartz crystals have been in use by healers, shamans, witch doctors, and medicine men for divination. Beryl, long reputed as a stone of power, was favored by the Druids. Crystals were used to see the future throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The mythical wizard Merlin kept his crystal ball with him at all times. At the height of the Renaissance, Paracelsus, a great philosopher and physician, claimed that conjuring crystals should be used in “observing everything rightly, earning and understanding what was.” They still appear in fairy tales and Disney movies, too. This proves how ingrained the notion of a crystal ball is to our culture. From these examples, we can see that crystal balls have been an integral part of our folklore, myth, magic, and metaphysics for a long time. When even mainstream people are familiar with the power of crystal balls, you can be sure their popularity has not declined in the slightest! The reputation and the power of crystal balls have not dampened, either. We still use them today for the same purposes they were used ages ago.

When selecting a crystal ball, your choice should not be taken lightly. This is a very personal tool that will become instilled with your energy. Crystal balls have their own authority and they can strongly influence the development of our psychic abilities. You should think of the crystal as a container that houses your energy and make sure it feels right for you. The crystal should feel comfortable to hold—not too heavy and not too light. You should not allow anyone else to touch your crystal ball. If someone does touch it, place the ball in a bowl of sea salt overnight to cleanse it of outside energy and influence. Because quartz crystal balls have an inherent power, you have to practice working with them first. Pure quartz crystal balls can be quite expensive, but the price is worthwhile if you are serious about harnessing your intuition and using it for good. Don’t expect your experiences to be like the movies. Most of the people I know who use crystal balls, including many healers and teachers, see cloudy and smoky images.

Work with a partner to sharpen your psychic skills. Sit directly across from your partner with the crystal ball between you. Close your eyes halfway and look at the ball and into the ball while harnessing your entire mind. Empty out all other thoughts and focus as hard as you can. You will sense your third eye, the traditional seat of psychic awareness, begin to open and project into the crystal ball. By practicing this way, you will train your mind. The patterns you see will become clearer and your impressions more definite. You should trust that what you are seeing is real and find a place of knowing, as I do with my stomach. Verbalize to your partner what you see, and then listen to your partner as she reveals her visions to you. After at least three rounds of individual reading and revealing, share visions at the same time to learn whether you are seeing the same things!

You should also do crystal ball meditations on your own. In a darkened room, sit and hold your crystal ball in the palms of both hands. Touch it to your heart and then gently touch it to the center of your forehead, where your third eye is located. Then hold the ball in front of your physical eyes and, sitting very still, gaze into it for at least three minutes. Envision pure white light in the ball and hold on to that image. Practice the white-light visualization for up to a half hour and then rest your mind, your eyes, and your crystal ball. If you do this every day, within a month you should start to become an adept at crystal ball gazing.

When we gaze into a crystal ball, it is possible to see into the fabric of time, both the past and the future. At first you may be able to see a flickering, wispy, suggestive image. Some of you may be able to see clearly defined visions on your first try. Most of us have to practice and hone our attunement with the energy of the ball. You must establish clearly your interpretation of what you see. Many psychics use a crystal ball in their readings, and some report seeing images of clients’ auras in the ball. Projecting information about people’s lives is a huge responsibility, so you need to feel sure about what you are reading. Learn to trust your body’s center of intuition. For me and for many other people, it’s a gut feeling—literally in my stomach. If I don’t get a feeling of confidence, of knowing in my gut, I simply explain that I don’t know what I’m reading or I’m not really “getting anything.” Be wary: It is far better to say you don’t know than to fake it.