Crystal Ball

A crystal ball is used as part of attempts to view images, usually from the future. This act of gazing into a crystal ball or other shiny object, such as a mirror, in order to see things that are not present is called scrying. The user, or scryer, stares into the crystal ball, focusing the mind on the object as a way to eliminate all thoughts. Once this focus is total, images supposedly appear within the ball. Scryers typically say that these images are the result of their own psychic powers, though some say they are sent by deities.

Sceptics dismiss both claims, believing that anyone who seriously claims to see an image in a crystal ball is hallucinating. In most cases, however, skeptics think that the scryer is only pretending to see images in order to dupe people into paying money to hear what these images are and how they might relate to future events. Believers in divination—the ability to predict the future—consider crystal balls, which have been used for centuries, to be a valid tool for activating psychic powers, though other divination tools, such as tarot cards, are currently far more popular than crystal balls.

SEE ALSO:

• Crystals
• Scrying

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning