Scrying the other

 

Scrying #1: Julie Clarke 2011

Entered into a little scrying this morning. Yes scrying - but not as in the magic practice of trying to see into the future, but a kind of mirror-gazing in which you relax, look deeply into your own eyes and see what  is revealed. The theory is,  if you keeping looking into your own eyes you enter a state of unconsciousness that reveals all your masks and perhaps even the faces you had in another incarnation. But this so-called state of unconsciousness has got to be a little suspect because you  always remain conscious of something. Since I'm in the practice of meditating at least once per day I'm more adept at scrying and within about 4 seconds I see the mirror image of my face disappear before my eyes. I become faceless. Longer staring produces a myriad of faces, all mine, distorted into strange mutations that include one eye being closer to the other, my nose elongating, flattening or becoming porcine like, and the furrows in my brow deepening and lengthening. The sometimes disconcerting facial images that appear and then recede into other faces are animated, even though I know I am not moving any part of my face. Sometimes I see a pale yellow aura around my head, sometimes my mouth disappears or my image jumps out at me in a 3D effect. Always I see aspects of myself. Of course, its all an illusion, and according to Giovanni Caputo is caused by Troxler fading that occurs in the periphery while staring at a central fixation. Troxler fading is a phenomenon of visual perception and was discovered by Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler in 1804. I find it an interesting exercise to undertake. It reminds me of the fluidity of identity and the various faces we present to others. Indeed the 'other' faces of oneself and other are pronounced and prominent when we stare long enough in the mirror.