Pulchura Durmiens


 Oriental stories of magic mirrors have been current from the middle ages, most of them wholly childish and absurd. "I am spinning, my pretty child," said the old woman, who did not know who she was. 

When one places one of these mirrors facing the sun, and causes it to reflect, upon a very near wall, the image of its disk, one sees distinctly appear therein the ornaments or characters which exist in relief upon the back. But along with these there have existed accounts, of a more reliable character, of mirrors which are capable of reflecting, in a beam of light that falls on their face, the pattern which they carry on their back. The Mirror of Pythagoras, in or on which he is said to have written in blood the things which he wished to signify, and which, when turned to the moon, displayed upon the disk of the moon, visibly to one standing behind, the things so inscribed. 

Students of the occult use mirrors to look into the world of spirits. Gazing into one supposedly reveals visions of spirit guides and helps one gain auric sight, the ability to see the aura. Some believe that the face changes seen by staring into a mirror are images of past lives. Mirrors painted black on the convex side are considered an excellent tool for developing clairvoyance. However humble the ambition may be, no one can be more keenly alive than the writer to the inadequacy of his attempt; and it is only from a profound sense of the necessity which exists for some beginning to be made, that he has had the courage to air his views on matters about which there are probably hundreds or thousands of people whose knowledge is superior to his own.

Nostradamus practiced scrying; he would stare into a bowl of water or a "magic mirror" to see the future while he was in trance. He has seen marvels, and he has told of them in a marvelous way. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn taught their own version of scrying or scrying that could be done individually or as a group. It emphasized three levels: 1) "Scrying in the Spirit Vision" with an emphasis on inner seeing by focusing on a symbol or mirror, 2) "Traveling in the Spirit Vision" involves going to the place seen and interacting with what is found there, 3) "Rising on the Planes" focuses on a spiritual process (involving scrying via the Tree of Life) that has the potential to elevate consciousness to the level of the Divine.

This brings another point into view. Before all things the means indicated must be definite and reliable. It is for this reason that the writer has practically confined himself to matters lying within his own immediate experience, and has never recommended any process (with one or two minor exceptions, which he has noted) which he has not actually and personally carried through to a successful issue. The media most commonly used in scrying are reflective, refractive, translucent, or luminescent surfaces or objects such as crystals, stones, or glass in various shapes such as crystal balls, mirrors, reflective black surfaces such as obsidian, water surfaces, fire, or smoke, but there is no special limitation on the preferences or prejudices of the scryer; some may stare into pitch dark, clear sky, clouds, shadows, or light patterns against walls, ceilings, or pond beds. Some prefer glowing coals or shimmering mirages. Some simply close their eyes, notionally staring at the insides of their own eyelids, and speak of "eyelid scrying."

There were formerly a king and a queen, who were so sorry that they had no children; so sorry that it cannot be expressed. No one is wise enough to forecast the results of such a conflict upon the civilization of the world. Travellers in that land of strange arts and quaint customs tell us of mirror-worship as one of its forms of primitive religion. The best one can do is to estimate, as intelligently as possible, the national characteristics of the peoples engaged, basing one's hopes and fears upon the psychology of the two races rather than upon purely political and statistical studies of the complicated questions involved in the present war. They went to all the waters in the world; vows, pilgrimages, all ways were tried, and all to no purpose. However, at last they led her into the gallery of mirrors that she might assure herself that nothing was lacking in her appearance, and then she mounted her throne of gold, ebony, and ivory, while her ladies took their guitars and began to sing softly. 

But this queen died; and the king soon married another wife, who was very beautiful, but so proud that she could not bear to think that any one could surpass her. She had a magical looking-glass, to which she used to go and gaze upon herself in it.

Beauty saw herself reflected on every side, and thought she had never seen such a charming room. Having by strange divinations satisfied themselves that their preparations were likely to come to a successful issue, the gods began their campaign. So walking up to a great mirror, she said to it, "Trusty counsellor, let me see what I can do to make myself agreeable to the charming Fairy of the Desert; for I can think of nothing but how to please her."

By this means the princess had all the perfections imaginable. This mirror was fashioned by the Vulcan of the Shinto Olympus to imitate the sun, being in shape a disk with eight rays. The old fairy's turn coming next, with a head shaking more with spite than age, she said that the princess should have her hand pierced with a spindle and die of the wound. 

Another form of the tale, involving the same actions of gazing into a mirror in a darkened room, is used as a supernatural dare in the tale of "Bloody Mary." Its origin is related in the famous myth of the sun-goddess, Amaterasu oho-mi-kami, who, on one occasion, withdrew offended to a rocky cavern, leaving the world in darkness. From this retreat she was enticed by the other gods, after many curious artifices had been tried, by their successful making of a mirror, in which seeing her face reflected, she was impelled by jealousy and curiosity to venture forth. Here, the motive is usually to test the adolescent gazers' mettle against a malevolent witch or ghost, in a ritual designed to allow the scryers' easy escape if the visions summoned prove too frightening.

"How prettily that little thing turns round!" said the princess, and took the spindle and began to spin. But scarcely had she touched it before the prophecy was fulfilled, and she fell down, as if lifeless, on the ground. So they cried out, "The prophecy!"

"The King's daughter shall in her fifteenth year be wounded by a spindle, and fall down dead." However, she was not dead, but had only fallen into a deep sleep; and the king and queen, who just then came home, and all their court, fell asleep too, and the horses slept in the stables, and the dogs in the court, the pigeons on the house-top, and the flies on the walls. Even the fire on the hearth left off blazing, and went to sleep; and the meat that was roasting stood still; and the cook, who was at that moment pulling the kitchen-boy by the hair to give him a box on the ear for something he had done amiss, let him go, and both fell asleep; and so everything stood still, and slept soundly. He then crossed a court paved with marble, went up the stairs and came into the guard chamber, where guards were standing in their ranks, with their muskets upon their shoulders, and snoring as loud as they could.

When a hundred years were gone and passed the son of the King then reigning, and who was of another family from that of the sleeping Princess, being gone a-hunting on that side of the country, asked:

What those towers were which he saw in the middle of a great thick wood?

Everyone answered according as they had heard. Some said:

That it was a ruinous old castle, haunted by spirits.

Others, That all the sorcerers and witches of the country kept there their sabbath or night's meeting.

He came into a spacious outward court, where everything he saw might have frozen the most fearless person with horror. There reigned all over a most frightful silence; the image of death everywhere showed itself, and there was nothing to be seen but stretched-out bodies of men and animals, all seeming to be dead. Then he went on still further, and all was so quiet that he could hear every breath he drew; till at last he came to the old tower and opened the door of the little room in which Briar Rose was, and there she lay fast asleep, and looked so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But the moment he kissed her she opened her eyes and awoke, and smiled upon him. For the spell was broken.

Another version of the story has a different flavor. At last a prince came and called at the dwarfs' house; and he saw Snow-White, and read what was written in gold letters. Then he offered the dwarfs money, and earnestly prayed them to let him take her away; but they said, "We will not part with her for all the gold in the world." At last, however, they had pity on him, and gave him the coffin; but the moment he lifted it up to carry it home with him, the piece of apple fell from between her lips, and Snow-White awoke, and said, "Where am I?" 

In the morning Snow-White told them all her story; and they pitied her, and said if she would keep all things in order, and cook and wash, and knit and spin for them, she might stay where she was, and they would take good care of her. Then they went out all day long to their work, seeking for gold and silver in the mountains; and Snow-White remained at home: and they warned her, and said, "The queen will soon find out where you are, so take care and let no one in." But the queen, now that she thought Snow-White was dead, believed that she was certainly the handsomest lady in the land.

While he was still writing he heard a voice which attracted his attention in spite of himself. A hundred thoughts suggested by the book might be written down, but most of them would begin and end with this fact of strangeness. To read the very names in the table of contents is like listening to a Buddhist bell, struck somewhere far away. Some of his tales are of the long ago, and yet they seem to illumine the very souls and minds of the little men who are at this hour crowding the decks of armored cruisers. Seeing that the waves were rolling in higher than ever, he looked all round, and presently saw a lovely lady floating gently toward him upon the crest of a huge billow, her long hair spread all about her; in one hand she held a mirror, and in the other a comb, and instead of feet she had a beautiful tail like a fish, with which she swam.

"In times past the Philosophers spake afters diuers and sundrie manners throughout their writings, sith that as it were in a riddle and cloudie voyce, they haue left vnto vs a certaine most excellent and noble science, but altogither obscure, and without all hope vtterly denied, and that not without good cause." The Prince, charmed with these words, and much more with the manner in which they were spoken, knew not how to show his joy and gratitude. He assured her that he loved her better than he did himself; their discourse was not well connected, they did weep more than talk little eloquence, a great deal of love. He was more at a loss than she, and we need not wonder at it; she had time to think on what to say to him; for it is very probable (though history mentions nothing of it) that the good Fairy, during so long a sleep, had given her very agreeable dreams. In short, they talked four hours together, and yet they said not half what they had to say. That ultimate knowledge of materials and of processes which by long experience becomes intuitive in the mind of a great inventor of course cannot be acquired from books or from any set course of instruction.

"May it please your royal highness, it is now about fifty years since I heard from my father, who heard my grandfather say, that there was then in this castle a princess, the most beautiful was ever seen; that she must sleep there a hundred years, and should be waked by a king's son, for whom she was reserved."

After supper they went into another room, which was fitted up as a theatre, and the cats acted and danced for their amusement, and then the White Cat said good-night to him, and the hands conducted him into a room he had not seen before, hung with tapestry worked with butterfly wings of every color; there were mirrors that reached from the ceiling to the floor, and a little white bed with curtains of gauze tied up with ribbons. When first seen, the phenomenon is so startling that it seems almost incredible. It will reflect back the beam, and cast an illuminated patch on the wall or floor, just as any other mirror will do. One would have taken her for a little angel, she was so very beautiful; for her swooning away had not diminished one bit of her complexion; her cheeks were carnation, and her lips were coral; indeed, her eyes were shut, but she was heard to breathe softly, which satisfied those about her that she was not dead. The King commanded that they should not disturb her, but let her sleep quietly till her hour of awaking was come. 

Some of these failed to show any magical properties whatever. Others showed the property very well. Others again, which showed nothing at first, were found capable of being converted into magic mirrors by a course of treatment subsequently discovered. And we but dreamers in a world of dreams.

Recall, the first hall she entered was lined with mirrors, and Beauty saw herself reflected on every side, and thought she had never seen such a charming room. As soon as he caught sight of the three from far off he took his shining shield from his shoulders, and held it up like a mirror, so that she saw the Dreadful Women reflected in it, and did not see the Terrible Head itself. This, however, was not necessary, for in a quarter of an hour's time there grew up all round about the park such a vast number of trees, great and small, bushes and brambles, twining one within another, that neither man nor beast could pass through; so that nothing could be seen but the very top of the towers of the palace; and that, too, not unless it was a good way off. Nobody; doubted but the Fairy gave herein a very extraordinary sample of her art, that the Princess, while she continued sleeping, might have nothing to fear from any curious people.

"What are you doing there, goody?" said the Princess.

"I am spinning, my pretty child," said the old woman, who did not know who she was.

"Ha!" said the Princess, "this is very pretty; how do you do it? Give it to me, that I may see if I can do so."

She had no sooner taken it into her hand than, whether being very hasty at it, somewhat unhandy, or that the decree of the Fairy had so ordained it, it ran into her hand, and she fell down in a swoon. The cup was said to contain an elixir of immortality, but without cogent explanation for any relevance of the elixir to the scrying function.

And the horses got up and shook themselves, and the dogs jumped about and barked; the pigeons took their heads from under their wings, and looked around and flew into the fields; the flies on the walls buzzed; the fire in the kitchen blazed up and cooked the dinner, and the roast meat turned round again; the cook gave the boy the box on his ear so that he cried out, and the maid went to milk the cows. It is true, i have no power to undo entirely what my elder has done. After that he went through several rooms full of gentlemen and ladies, all asleep, some standing, others sitting. 

As it was quite the nicest time of the year when spring arrived in this delightful land, the only palace she saw was a long row of orange trees, jasmines, honeysuckles, and musk-roses, and their interlacing branches made the prettiest rooms possible, which were hung with gold and silver gauze, and had great mirrors and candlesticks, and most beautiful pictures. Exceedingly was she delighted with her cruelty, and she had invented a story to tell the king, at his return, how the mad wolves had eaten up the queen his wife and her two children. But the queen, now that she thought Snow-White was dead, believed that she was certainly the handsomest lady in the land; and she went to her glass, and the glass answered,

"Thou, Queen, thou art fairest in all this land;

But over the hills, in the greenwood shade.

Where the seven dwarfs their dwelling have made.

There Snow-White is hiding her head; and she

Is lovelier far, O Queen, than thee."

In the meanwhile all the fairies began to give their gifts to the Princess, for mirrors of first quality. There they have been deposited as votive offerings by women who had perhaps nought else so precious to offer. The youngest gave her for gift that she should be the most beautiful person in the world; the next, that she should have the wit of an angel; the third, that she should have a wonderful grace in everything she did; the fourth, that she should dance perfectly well; the fifth, that she should sing like a nightingale; and the sixth, that she should play all kinds of music to the utmost perfection. Innumerable mirrors, some of them of old date, but mostly of modern manufacture, are to be found hung upon the walls of the Shinto temples. There they hang in thousands, swords and mirrors, side by side, thank-offerings to the gods. 

"Oh Meta Mirror, Magic Mirror, Divination Mirror, Mirror Divination, Mirror Gazing, Mirror Magic, Divining with mirrors, Scrying, Gazing mirror, Crystalomancy, Catoptromancy, Mirror, Magic Mirror, Divination Mirror, Mirror Divination, Mirror Gazing, Mirror Magic, Divining with mirrors, Scrying, Gazing mirror, Crystalomancy, Catoptromancy, Mirror, Magic Mirror, Divination Mirror, Mirror Divination, Mirror Gazing, Mirror Magic, Divining with mirrors, Scrying, Gazing mirror, Crystalomancy, Catoptromancy, Mirror, Magic Mirror, Magic Mirror..."

The magic effect is certainly not produced in this way. This terrible gift made the whole company tremble, and everybody fell a-crying. Fairies are not long in doing their business. The king handed her out of the chariot, and she approved everything he had done, but as she had very great foresight, she thought when the princess should awake she might not know what to do with herself, being all alone in this old palace; and this was what she did: she touched with her wand everything in the palace (except the king and queen)--governesses, maids of honor, ladies of the bedchamber, gentlemen, officers, stewards, cooks, undercooks, scullions, guards, with their beefeaters, pages, footmen; she likewise touched all the horses which were in the stables, pads as well as others, the great dogs in the outward court and pretty little mopsey too, the princess's little spaniel, which lay by her on the bed. 

This they could never do; for the thorns and bushes laid hold of them as it were with hands, and there they stuck fast and died miserably. Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who had no children; and this they lamented very much. But one day, as the queen was walking by the side of the river, a little fish lifted its head out of the water, and said, "your wish shall be fulfilled, and you shall soon have a daughter." what the little fish had foretold soon came to pass; and the queen had a little girl who was so very beautiful that the king could not cease looking on her for joy, and determined to hold a great feast. 

The youngest gave her for gift that she should be the most beautiful person in the world; the next, that she should have the wit of an angel; the third, that she should have a wonderful grace in everything she did; the fourth, that she should dance perfectly well; the fifth, that she should sing like a nightingale; and the sixth, that she should play all kinds of music to the utmost perfection. 

Everyone answered according as they had heard. After that he went through several rooms full of gentlemen and ladies, all asleep, some standing, others sitting. "Why, how now, good mother," said the princess, "what are you doing there?" 

"Spinning," said the old lady, and nodded her head. 


SOURCES: The Blue Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang; My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales, by Edric Vredenburg; Book of Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn; The Mirror of Alchimy, by Roger Bacon; On Laboratory Arts by Richard Threlfall; Ye Magick Mirrour of Old Japan, by Silvanus P. Thompson; and Wikipedia.

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