Merry meet everyone, As witches we all know what crystal balls are used for and why we use them but do we really know the history behind them? I took a deep dive into the history of crystal balls to find all the information I will be sharing with you all today! I found this really interesting and I actually learn more about crystal balls then I knew which is always a bonus when creating theses posts. Now most pop culture use crystal balls for fortune telling which can annoy some witches because crystal balls are such a special divination tool that many witches have the skill in using. If you don't know what crystal balls are used for and you have just started out on your path then crystal balls are used as a tool for scrying. You basically focus your intention into the crystal ball and through your third eye you will see the answers you seek. Personally I haven't successfully learnt this skill because it can take years for someone to really learn this skill and down side is I will most likely be one of those. That being said you could have the natural talent in getting the answers you wish quite quickly with little to no practice and if that sounds like you then I am well jealous! Now scrying isn't just for crystal balls you can use any reflective surface like a mirror or a bowl of water but that being said today's post is all about crystal balls so I will stick to that topic for now. This kind of practice has been around for as long as witches and druids have been around. These skills have always made appearances in the mystical and religious traditions of many different ancient civilisations. Now the most note worthy people who use these skills were the Druids which were well known for being well educated, highly respected citizens that lived between the British Isles and France during the Iron age. Now Druids were always sought out for their skills with medicine but that was not the only skills druids were known for. They loved collecting knowledge of the world which came in all different forms back then such as poetry, law and of course religious rituals. The great downside for druids was Christianity, when that religion came to be they nearly wiped out all of the druids and their knowledge stating it was workings of the devil which we all know were lies to build that religion up. Now even with that happening druids knowledge has survived through the years and one notable account of this is in the Romans. When Julius Caesar was about, he spoke highly about their religious practices. Another Roman was Pliny the Elder who actually devoted one chapter of his book 'The natural history' to the druids of the Gallic provinces. The following chapter in his book he describes and dismisses many forms of magic which included the uses with water and with balls which we can see today as early accounts of scrying. Now we are unknown if he was using druid magic or other forms to come up with theses terms because there were many branches of magic about like there is still today. While Christianity was taking over and dominating the Western Europe throughout the middle ages, the form of scrying become a divisive practice. Christians were split in half about this magical practice because many thought it was divine intervention what they saw in theses tools like the crystal ball but others believed it was the work of the devil and was pure evil workings. Another great book to note about this subject was written back in the fifth century called 'The city of god' written by St.Augustine which denounced scrying and claiming all magical practices as 'deceptive rites of demons who masquerade under the names of angels'. This effected a lot of practices because people then started to believe it was devil workings. A great note in the history of crystal balls and scrying as a whole is that many unlikely scholars actually defended the practice and this is later found out in the book Mark pendergrast explains in 'Mirror Mirror: A history of the human love affair with reflection'. He proves that back in the Renaissance age a increasing popularity of translated workings from the Arabic mentioned scrying in a scientific way. One important text that was translated was called Picatrix and in his workings out considered mysticism as a branch of science. That meant the practice of scrying was elevated to something noble and even rational. Many welcomed these ideas from the doom and gloom the Christianity was spreading around at that time. Because of this scrying became popular between scientists who were regarded as the educated elite. Another great way to prove this is in the museum of the history of science which boasts a 17th century crystal ball in its collection with the explanation "The literature of magic itself recalls a time when natural and supernatural knowledge shared a common language. Sixteenth-Century records of seances at which spirits were conjured typically went under the title of books of experiments". The crystal ball still was banished by the church and was continued to be called devil workings but within the scientific world it was still in a relatively good standing. That being said the crystal ball made its way to the royal English court and was introduced by John Dee, who was an alchemist and mathematician with a great interest in the magical. He was a close adviser to Queen Elizabeth 1st. She also relied on Dee's counsel in the scheduling of important events and matter of astrology. Dee also had a partner whom the Queen respected called Edward Kelley. It has been reported that Kelley was a much more successful medium and some believe he was duping Dee all along. Many accounts show that Dee held regular scrying sessions along with Kelley that would consisted of them staring into an obsidian mirror for hours in hopes to communicate with the angles to gain otherworldly wisdom that could help Queen Elizabeth 1st. There has been other crystal ball gazers in the political world other than Dee and Kelley. A few centuries later Jeane Dixon was also considered a crystal gazer and even collected fame for her political predictions. Dixon was best known for predicting the assassination of John F. Kennedy, though the legitimacy of her predictions is doubted by many who don't believe. Many skeptics nicknamed the term 'the Jeane Dixon effect' to describe the phenomenon of psychics being remembered favourably despite how inaccurate many predictions were. Now the classic pop culture references of the crystal ball being used by people wearing turbans can be blamed on the Romani people which many refer them as Gypsies. Now this hits close to home for myself because I actually have Romani gypsies in my family bloodline and they were magical workers. I personally believe its why I am drawn to the magical and why my mother and Nan was too. This reference to fortune telling was because Romani Gypsies would travel to different villages and towns to read the crystal balls to earn money for food and supplies for themselves. Since then many people have dressed up as such when trying to sell fortune readings and today's day and age many are fake or using the history to gain quick cash. Now that is the history of crystal balls and why the pop culture has used it in many different cases. I hope you found today's post really interesting because I sure did while researching this topic. As always you can follow me on instagram @paganvibesonly. I post daily about aspects of my life that wouldn't normally come on my blog. If you just wanted to keep updated or even have a quick chat then you can catch me there when I am away from the blog. I hope to see you all in the next post and as always please stay safe we are living is strange times at the moment. Blessed be x PaganVibesOnly x
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