Crystal Balls

 

Crystal balls are spheres of crystal, almost always artificially made. We usually think of them as clear, but in fact they come in all colours, depending upon the crystal used. The famous Elizabethan alchemist, Dr John Dee, used a black obsidian ball.

 

Some people buy crystal balls and are then disappointed because they don’t seem to “work”. They expect it to be like it is in the movies. The heroine goes to see the mysterious gypsy fortune-teller. She passes her hand over her crystal ball, the ball clouds over, and pictures appear within it like a psychic television set.

 

According to the famous medium Edgar Cayce, that is not what crystal balls are meant to do. He says that by meditating while gazing into a crystal ball the psychic abilities are focussed and enhanced. I have tested this and found it to be true. So use your crystal ball as a meditation tool, and unless you are genuinely clairvoyant, don’t expect a psychic television show! (A true clairvoyant is one who receives psychic information in the form of “mental pictures” – “clairvoyant” mean “clear seeing’).

 

A couple of warnings about crystal balls. A cheap crystal ball is almost certainly made of "Austrian crystal", which is a type of glass. The clearer the ball, the more likely it is that it is made of glass, as natural crystals contain impurities. You get what you pay for.

 

You will also read warnings that you must cover your crystal ball with a velvet cloth when not in use. There is a very good reason for this, and it has nothing to do with "negative energies." Crystal balls act as very efficient magnifying lenses. Remember burning paper with a magnifying glass when you were a kid? Well, that's what they do. I scorched a table top that way, not to mention nearly setting the house on fire! Cover it or keep it out of the sun.