Saturday, October 25, 2014

A Month of Witches & Magick- What I Learned About Transmutation Circles Day 25

When I was laying in bed thinking of posts to write and vaguely slipping into dreamland, the answer appeared brightly. I couldn't believe I didn't think of it before, especially since it's a magickal practice I'm very familiar with. Mirrors.

I only have one round mirror, and it's currently tied up with darker work. Mirrors will easily trap negativity. I decided I should buy fresh ones. Off to Hobby Lobby I went.
I stood in the store for a long time weighing my options. There was a pack of five mirrors for the same price as these two mirrors, but they were much smaller. I liked the idea of being able to easily hold the mirror in my hand, but if I chose to set the mirror on my altar I need enough room to draw symbols, place crystals, or burn a candle. I also liked the idea of 7" mirrors because that would give me plenty of room to work. But a bigger mirror means it's harder to hold, thus easier to drop, and more surface area means my circles need to be bigger. That makes good sense if I'm drawing many symbols, but I intend to keep things simple. I may get the bigger mirrors later. Or I might get the smaller mirrors. Or both. I got to the store as soon as they opened. I was one of three customers. A girl restocking shelves stared at me staring at mirrors. I almost told her I had very important magick to do. I love buying spell supplies in a store owned by fundamentalist Xians. I decided to behave and keep my mouth shut. Then at the check out counter I was asked if I found everything I was looking for. It was a struggle not to say yes, I believe the Pagan ritual will go well. One day I'll be unable to control my smart mouth and I'll get kicked out of Hobby Lobby. Which is okay, there's two in my area.
Step two is to cleanse the mirrors. First I left them in sunlight. The sun will burn away any thing negative attached to the mirror. I believe these mirrors are fine but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Haunted mirrors feel eerie, are generally cold to the touch, and all sorts of awful emotions surface when you look into them. After laying in the sun for several hours, I'll smudge them with incense. This is mainly because I smudge all my tools. Smudging cements in my mind the idea of an item being magickal. Last, I will physically clean the mirrors with vinegar. Sometimes incense smoke can cloud the glass.

The next step is to figure out what kind of spell to do. I use mirrors a lot. Most magickal practitioners that I know use mirrors. I was very sure that if I Googled mirror spells or mirror magic or Witch's mirror that I would immediately get results very similar to what I am planning to do. To my surprise, none of the results gave me a magick circle drawn on a mirror. I found quite a few scrying mirrors, but none of them showed any kind of writing or symbols drawn onto the mirror. Words were inscribed around the frame. This shocked me. I can't believe I'm the only one thinking of this.
This mysterious lady came up in the first search results. She looks brooding and haunting. I believe this is why we humans have a fascination with mirrors- they show us ourselves but it's a reversed view of what everyone else sees. I read that if a person met someone who was identical to themselves, they would not recognize that person as being like them.
Most of the mirror spells I found were for protection or turning back negative energy. Here we have mirror shards in a box. This spell is sometimes used to cause insanity.
I kept playing with the wording of my search, and when I searched magick circles on mirrors I got this. I was happy because it's a transmutation circle. But it's not on a mirror. I can't figure out why it came up as the picture doesn't show a mirror, nor were there any mirrors on the site. Maybe this is the Universe telling me never mind what others are doing, go do your own thing.
This is simply showing how to create a kaleidoscope design. I thought the symbols all looked very magickal. If you want to try it you need two mirrors set at a right angle.
This is the same idea but the image was made with found objects rather than drawn on paper. This might be useful for 'building' or manifesting. I would add a little bit each day until I reached my goal.

This has been interesting, but I think I need to heed the Universe's advice. Tomorrow I'll have a spell to show you.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mirrors are so versatile magically. I know you will come up with something just right for you. I love the image you found online of the transmutation circle. My first thought was: that would look beautiful on a wine glass or tea mug. I've never shopped in a hobby lobby, but it sounds like they have just about everything. Mirrors always scared me as a child. I used to cover mine with a towel.

Aine O'Brien said...

I really like the idea of using mirrors. I always have a mirror around the place I do magic. I use it for protection. Would it work in the center of a mandala?

I wonder if you could use a small round magnifying glass as well? (to boost the energy?)

PS: I use our local dollar store for a lot of these supplies too :)