The Art of Seeing Pt 2: Mirrors, Omens & the Unseen

What happens when we look at the world and ask it to answer us?In Part II of The Art of Seeing, we leave the Oracle of Delphi behind and follow the quieter, stranger history of divination through bowls of water, dark mirrors, birds in flight, marked lots and ancient oracle bones.We step into the candlelit world of John Dee and Edward Kelley, explore Dee’s mysterious obsidian scrying mirror and its connection to the Mexica god Tezcatlipoca, before following mirror magic into folklore, superstition and the childhood terror of Bloody Mary.From Roman augury and Germanic divination to scrying, omens and ghost stories, this is an episode about our very old desire to notice patterns, search for signs and glimpse something just beyond ordinary sight.And at the end, we’ll try a little scrying ritual of our own.Further Reading & ReferencesClucas, Stephen, ed. John Dee: Interdisciplinary Studies in English Renaissance Thought. Springer, 2006.Dee, John. John Dee’s Five Books of Mystery: Original Sourcebook of Enochian Magic. Edited by Joseph H. Peterson. Weiser Books, 2003.Dundes, Alan. “Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Ritual Reflection of Pre-Pubescent Anxiety.” Western Folklore, vol. 57, no. 2/3, 1998, pp. 119–135.Olivier, Guilhem. Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God: Tezcatlipoca, “Lord of the Smoking Mirror.” University Press of Colorado, 2003.Campbell, Stuart, Elizabeth Healey, Yvette Balbaligo and Caroline Cartwright. “The Mirror, the Magus and More: Reflections on John Dee’s Obsidian Mirror.” Antiquity, vol. 95, no. 384, 2021, pp. 1547–1564.Tacitus. Germania, Chapter 10. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. In The Complete Works of Tacitus. Random House, 1942.Keightley, David N. Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. University of California Press, 1978.British Museum. Dr Dee’s Magical Mirror / Magical Speculum. Museum no. 1966,1001.1. British Museum Collection.British Library. Oracle Bone Collection 甲骨. Or 7694/1506–2125. British Library Asian and African Collections.Hex & Muse is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my deepest respects to their Elders past and present - and to all First Nations people, whose stories and spirits continue to shape this land.Follow along for more folklore, magic, and mythic musings:Instagram: @hexandmuse Website: www.hexandmuse.comHex & Muse is a spellbound journal of folklore, magic, art, and the sacred feminine - told through cinematic storytelling and whispered histories.From my altar to yours… thank you for listening.