AUTHOR’S NOTE: In the past, all of my self-initiated involvement with the Astral Plane (formally called “scrying” as distinct from involuntary “dreaming” and out-of-body “astral travel”) was done using a tarot trump card as a prompt to incite creative visualization when entering the “spirit vision,” a technique known as “path-working” on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. To be honest, I’ve never been particularly adept at it because, even though I’m a trained graphic designer who has created numerous mystical works of art, I had trouble holding a predetermined image in my mind’s eye long enough to activate it.

But a few years ago I bought a reconstituted 6″ crystal ball, a manufactured artifact created by melting flawed natural crystals at an extremely high temperature and then reforming them under controlled conditions. Their commercial purpose is decorative, but their perfection makes them an ideal scrying tool since they contain no distracting ripples, seams, cracks, bubbles or other undesirable inclusions that are always present in affordable rock crystal. My understanding is that their mercantile value does not disqualify them for my purpose any more than it invalidates leaded glass crystal, which also has an organic origin in silica. (Although scrying is a function of elemental Water and the Moon, the “grounding” quality of Earth is still relevant.)

I tried to use it for summoning visions but found that any light in the room produced annoying reflections that defeated me, while total darkness meant that I could see nothing in the globe, so I was at an impasse. Right before we left for our midwinter Florida vacation this year, I decided I would try an old-time photographer’s hood or similar dark cloth to manage light intrusion. While in Daytona Beach, we visited a metaphysical bookstore, where I found a copy of Donald Tyson’s 1997 book, Scrying for Beginners. The author (who is highly regarded in metaphysical circles) made a few observations that I believe will set me on the right track.

He mentioned that people who have a prominent emphasis on the Moon and the sign of Cancer in their natal horoscope are strongly predisposed toward scrying. I was born on the Summer Solstice and have a Sun-Mercury-Venus conjunction within four degrees of exactness on the cusp of Cancer, intercepted in the Eighth House, all closely opposed to the Full Moon (also intercepted) in Capricorn in the Second House. The Eighth House is the domain of deep delving into arcane matters (it’s the “house of death”), and the interception turns its focus even further inward while the opposing Moon in the house of physical security and the most material sign acts as a tether or anchor. Tyson also mentioned that his grandfather was a crystal-ball scryer who placed a black velvet cloth over his head while working, something I had intuitively envisioned but have yet to attempt.

Another idea involves training one’s visualization skills by concentrating intently on a simple object for a few minutes, then closing the eyes and imagining that the item is still present in the subliminal vision or “second sight.” If it is, the next step is to mentally transfer it to the “shewstone,” as the Victorian occultists called it. I had been planning to do this with tattwa cards and their “flashing colors” for several years and had even located a suitable deck before I read Tyson’s description. Now I have a reason to accelerate that practice.

Where I part ways with Tyson is on the subject of preparatory prayers, blessings, invocations and other incantations as a way to stimulate the imagination and ideally attract the desired spirits. I’m a “devoutly non-religious” person who wants no part of such ritual trappings, so I will pursue my objectives in a literal rather than mystical fashion, one that employs inspired, self-generated mental landscapes against which the astral drama can unfold. I have no illusions about how well this is going to work, but it aligns well with the rest of my esoteric methodology. It also agrees with Tyson’s “self-determination” premise when engaging in astral activities, it is just less “magical” in approach.

As far as self-protection, I have enough experience with the Astral Plane to know that its denizens don’t have much interest in our physical affairs unless we aggressively get “in their space and in their face.” (In The Discarded Image, C.S. Lewis discusses Medieval cosmology and its assumption that the “sublunar region” is populated by lesser angels, “daemons,” disembodied spirits, and protean “elementals.”) If we are respectful, stick to our honorable intentions and don’t simply indulge in “spiritual tourism,” I don’t believe we have a lot to fear from the contact as long as we remain alert for potentially manipulative entities and avoid engaging with them. Although I’m not a fan of its “New Age” slant, Edwin Steinbrecher’s Inner Guide Meditation has a lot to say on this subject. I haven’t read it, but I’ve been led to believe that Dion Fortune’s Sane Occultism (since re-titled) does as well.