{"id":11195,"date":"2015-06-01T01:10:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T06:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=11745"},"modified":"2015-05-31T14:13:36","modified_gmt":"2015-05-31T19:13:36","slug":"seeing-the-signs-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2015\/06\/01\/seeing-the-signs-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing the Signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diving by Crystal Ball, Part 1<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Our esteemed editor, Jennifer Wright, sent me a crystal ball to examine and review for Pagan Pages. It arrived within days of my birthday, which was just fabulous! It came in a royal blue box entitled \u201cTitania\u2019s Crystal Ball\u201d and along the side of the box was written: \u201cNOW YOU CAN \u2018SEE\u2019 YOUR FUTURE\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ball\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Inside the box was the crystal ball in a plastic cup to keep it from rolling around inside the box; a ring to place the ball upon when in use; a booklet to teach you how to use the crystal ball; a card entitled \u201cThe Image Key\u201d with the most basic scenes you might see within the ball while in use; and a fold-up paper \u201ctable cloth\u201d to set everything on. Everything in a lovely shade of royal blue which almost looks purple in some lights. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know anything about crystal balls and I am certainly one of those people, you would think that a crystal ball is large, like the one in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d that the Wicked Witch of the West uses so effectively. I am sure large crystal balls like that can be found in occult stores and on the internet. But this one is much smaller. It fits quite snugly in the palm of my hand. It is maybe the size of a billiard ball, perhaps a bit larger. It is marvelously cool and smooth. The morning light shines through it onto the skin of my fingers. It promises secrets. It promises poetry. <\/span><\/p>\n

Titania Hardie, whom the bottom of the box says is a \u201cthird generation White Witch and best-selling author\u201d recommends washing the crystal ball in a \u201cmild solution of triple-milled rose soap and warm water.\u201d (Hardie, 26) Of course, I didn\u2019t have rose soap, triple-milled or any other kind but since she says that \u201cyou may prefer to follow the tradition of using vinegar and water\u201d (Hardie, 27), this is what I did, since I always have a variety of vinegars on hand. I washed it carefully in a solution of white vinegar and water, asking it to be my friend and help me learn what I wanted to learn. Then I gently wiped it clean with a soft cloth.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, just this morning, I read in Tasha Fenton\u2019s <\/span>The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook<\/span><\/span> an interview with a clairvoyant named Barbara Ellen who says the \u201cfirst thing you must do is immerse it for 12 hours in salt water. Some Readers use a solution of vinegar and water. Wash the crystal under <\/span>running<\/i><\/span> water, ideally from some natural source, such as a waterfall or stream.\u201d (Fenton, 58) If you don\u2019t have a stream nearby, she says to collect rainwater. <\/span><\/p>\n

So with that in mind, I have some prep work before I can start to use my new crystal ball. And I plan to read more about divination using crystal balls; there are numerous websites dedicated to the subject. So stayed tuned; I\u2019ll be back with my report of what I am able to see in this lovely round crystal!<\/span><\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/span><\/p>\n

Fenton, Sasha. <\/span>The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook: A Practical Introduction to the World of divination<\/span><\/span>. Wellingborough: The Aquarian Press, 1988.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hardie, Titania. <\/span>Titania\u2019s Crystal Ball<\/span><\/span>. New York: Shelter Harbor Press, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diving by Crystal Ball, Part 1 Our esteemed editor, Jennifer Wright, sent me a crystal ball to examine and review for Pagan Pages. It arrived within days of my birthday, which was just fabulous! It came in a royal blue box entitled \u201cTitania\u2019s Crystal Ball\u201d and along the side of the box was written: \u201cNOW YOU CAN \u2018SEE\u2019 YOUR FUTURE\u201d. Inside the box was the crystal ball in a plastic cup to keep it from rolling around inside the box; a ring to place the ball upon when in use; a booklet to teach you how to use the crystal ball; a card entitled \u201cThe Image Key\u201d with the most basic scenes you might see within the ball while in use; and a fold-up paper \u201ctable cloth\u201d to set everything on. Everything in a lovely shade of royal blue which almost looks purple in some lights. If you don\u2019t know anything about crystal balls and I am certainly one of those people, you would think that a crystal ball is large, like the one in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d that the Wicked Witch of the West uses so effectively. I am sure large crystal balls like that can be found in occult stores and on the internet. But this one is much smaller. It fits quite snugly in the palm of my hand. It is maybe the size of a billiard ball, perhaps a bit larger. It is marvelously cool and smooth. The morning light shines through it onto the skin of my fingers. It promises secrets. It promises poetry. Titania Hardie, whom the bottom of the box says is a \u201cthird generation White Witch and best-selling author\u201d recommends washing the crystal ball in a \u201cmild solution of triple-milled rose soap and warm water.\u201d (Hardie, 26) Of course, I didn\u2019t have rose soap, triple-milled or any other kind but since she says that \u201cyou may prefer to follow the tradition of using vinegar and water\u201d (Hardie, 27), this is what I did, since I always have a variety of vinegars on hand. I washed it carefully in a solution of white vinegar and water, asking it to be my friend and help me learn what I wanted to learn. Then I gently wiped it clean with a soft cloth. However, just this morning, I read in Tasha Fenton\u2019s The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook an interview with a clairvoyant named Barbara Ellen who says the \u201cfirst thing you must do is immerse it for 12 hours in salt water. Some Readers use a solution of vinegar and water. Wash the crystal under running water, ideally from some natural source, such as a waterfall or stream.\u201d (Fenton, 58) If you don\u2019t have a stream nearby, she says to collect rainwater. So with that in mind, I have some prep work before I can start to use my new crystal ball. And I plan to read more about divination using crystal balls; there are numerous websites dedicated to the subject. So stayed tuned; I\u2019ll be back with my report of what I am able to see in this lovely round crystal! Works Cited Fenton, Sasha. The Fortune-Teller\u2019s Workbook: A Practical Introduction to the World of divination. Wellingborough: The Aquarian Press, 1988. Hardie, Titania. Titania\u2019s Crystal Ball. New York: Shelter Harbor Press, 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10801,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195\/revisions\/10801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}