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A crystal ball is a crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
 or glass
Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
 ball
Ball

A ball is a round object with various uses. It is usually sphere but can be ovoid. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players....
 believed by some people to aid clairvoyance
Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is the apparent ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception....
. It is sometimes known as a shew stone. A body of water, either in a container or on the ground, used for this purpose, is called a scrying pool
Scrying pool

A Scrying pool is a pool of water, as small as a bowl, or as large as any other body of water, which operates, in fiction, in a manner similar to a crystal ball....
.


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Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic tribes, known to exist in Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
 as early as 2,000 BC, were unified by a priesthood known as Druid
Druid

A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celts societies of Western Europe, Great Britain and Ireland. They were suppressed by the Ancient Rome and disappeared from the written record by the second century CE....
s.






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Encyclopedia


Quartz Crystal
A crystal ball is a crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
 or glass
Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
 ball
Ball

A ball is a round object with various uses. It is usually sphere but can be ovoid. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players....
 believed by some people to aid clairvoyance
Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is the apparent ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception....
. It is sometimes known as a shew stone. A body of water, either in a container or on the ground, used for this purpose, is called a scrying pool
Scrying pool

A Scrying pool is a pool of water, as small as a bowl, or as large as any other body of water, which operates, in fiction, in a manner similar to a crystal ball....
.

Glaskugel Crystalball

History

Celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic tribes, known to exist in Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
 as early as 2,000 BC, were unified by a priesthood known as Druid
Druid

A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celts societies of Western Europe, Great Britain and Ireland. They were suppressed by the Ancient Rome and disappeared from the written record by the second century CE....
s. Druids are one of the earliest known peoples to have used crystals in divination. It is interesting to note that Druid religion had similarities to megalithic religion of an "earlier" Britain, thus it is possible the first use of crystal divination might have come from them.

Later, during central Europe's Medieval Period (AD 500
500

Events...
–1500), seers, wizards
Magic (illusion)

Magic is a performing art that entertains an audience by creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats, using purely natural means....
, sorcerers, psychics, gypsies
Roma people

The Romani are an ethnic group of Europe tracing their Origins of the Romani people to middle kingdoms of India.The Romani are Romani diaspora with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe, with more recent diaspora populations in the Americas and, to a lesser extent, in other par...
, fortune tellers, and all other types of diviners also used crystals to "see" into the past, present, or future.

Due to its transparent nature, a natural gemstone called beryllium aluminum silicate (beryl
Beryl

The mineral beryl is a beryllium aluminium Silicate minerals#Cyclosilicates with the chemical formula Be3Al26. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size....
) was often used for divination. Scottish Highlanders termed these objects "stones of power." Though early crystal balls were made from beryl, they were later replaced by rock crystal, an even more transparent rock.

Art of scrying


John William Waterhouse the Crystal Ball
The art or process of "seeing" is known as "scrying
Scrying

Scrying is a magic practice that involves clairvoyance in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and more rarely for purposes of divination or fortune-telling....
," whereby images are seen in crystals, or other mediums such as water, and are interpreted as meaningful information. The "information" gleaned then is used to make important decisions in one's life (i.e. love, marriage, finances, travel, business, etc).

When the technique of scrying is used with crystals, or any transparent body, it is known as crystallomancy or crystal gazing
Crystal gazing

Crystal gazing is a form of divination or scrying achieved through trance induction by means of gazing at a crystal. It is also known as crystallomancy, gastromancy, and spheromancy....
.

In protoscience


Dr John Dee
John Dee (mathematician)

John Dee was a noted England mathematics, astronomy, astrology, geography, Occultism, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I of England. He also devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermeticism....
 (July 13, 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was a noted British mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He also devoted much of his life to alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. He was known for his use of crystal balls in his work.

In stage magic


Crystal balls are popular props used in mentalism
Mentalism

Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, use mental acuity, cold reading, warm reading, hot reading, principles of stage magic, and/or suggestion to present the illusion of mind reading, psychokinesis, extra-sensory perception, precognition, clairvoyance or mind control....
 acts by stage magicians
Magic (illusion)

Magic is a performing art that entertains an audience by creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats, using purely natural means....
. Such routines, in which the performer answers audience questions by means of various ruses, are known as "C. G." (Crystal Gazing) acts. One of the most famous C. G. performers of the 20th century, Claude Alexander
Alexander (magician)

Claude Alexander Conlin , also known as Alexander, C. Alexander, Alexander the Crystal Seer, and Alexander the Man Who Knows, was a Magician who specialized in mentalism and psychic reading acts, dressed in Orientalism style robes and a feathered turban, and often used a crystal ball as a prop....
, was often billed as "Alexander the Crystal Seer."

External links

  • Andrew Lang, , The Making of Religion, Chapter V, Longmans, Green, and C°, London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 83-104.


See also

  • Seer stone
    Seer stone

    In early Latter Day Saint history, seer stones were stones used, primarily by Joseph Smith, Jr., to receive revelations from God. Smith owned at least two seer stones, which he had earlier employed for treasure seeking before he founded the church....
  • Crystal gazing
    Crystal gazing

    Crystal gazing is a form of divination or scrying achieved through trance induction by means of gazing at a crystal. It is also known as crystallomancy, gastromancy, and spheromancy....
  • The Cup of Jamshid
  • Palantír
    Palantír

    A 'palant?r' is a magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy Tolkien's legendarium....
    i