The House of Velvet and Glass (60 page)

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, particularly my parents, George and Katherine S. Howe, for their unflagging confidence, love, and support, and to Charles and Mouth, for being themselves. And finally, my deepest thanks go to my husband, Louis Hyman, whose book this is, for without him I could never find the plot.

The Armchair Medium’s Guide to Scrying

Most of us at one time or another have wished that we had the ability to see something that was hidden from us, or to learn some tidbit of information that is impossible to know. Maybe we played with a Ouija board at a slumber party when we were kids, or made a paper fortune teller to guess what would happen to us when we grew up. In this way we are no different from people living one hundred years ago, many of whom experimented with different means to see the future or the past. The techniques that they used were fairly simple, and are easy enough to try at home. All it takes to try scrying for yourself are a few specific tools, a quiet evening, an open mind, and a sense of humor.

To scry really just means to see. But scrying is a specific kind of seeing. When we watch a movie, we are seeing still frames of light projected in quick succession on a screen, which our minds then interpret as moving images with references in the real world. Scrying is much the same, except that the images we might see come from within our own minds. We gaze on a reflective surface, which provides a blank screen over which images from our mind’s eye can play. Then we interpret those images in whatever way makes the most sense to us.

What You Will Need

1. A dark, quiet room, preferably with a table and chair. The chair should be comfortable enough that you can sit in it for a while, but not so comfortable that you get sleepy.

2. A candle, scented or not, according to your preference. If an aroma will help you to create a setting that is special and different from everyday life, then give it a try. If it will distract you, then go with unscented.

3. A small, reflective object. If you’re feeling lavish, try a clear rock crystal ball, about an inch in diameter. Crystal can be expensive, though. The next choice is a blown-glass orb. In a pinch, you can use a mirror, even a small pocket mirror will do. Some writers have suggested that objects used for scrying have associations with the moon, with coolness, darkness, and reflectiveness. For this reason, and because it helps to be in darkness, it’s best to try your scrying experiment at night.

4. Black cloth. A square of velvet is best, but any dark material will do, even a soft black sweater. The idea is for the material to absorb excess light.

5. Like aromas, music is optional. If it will help you to step out of your everyday life for an hour or so and put your everyday worries to the side, then give it a try. If it will distract you, then go without. If you choose to play music in the background, it should be soft and repetitive, so that it won’t take away your attention.

6. Also optional, but potentially more fun, are some like-minded friends who might wish to join you.

What to Do

Light the candle at the edge of your table, and turn off the other lights in the room. Have your scrying object nearby, resting on top of whatever black material you have handy. Settle yourself in your seat and enjoy a minute of quiet.

Concentrate on your breath.

Feel your breath moving in and out of your nose. You may wish to breathe more slowly, maybe counting to five on each inhalation and exhalation. While you are doing so, feel the top of your head grow warm and tingly. Allow the tingling sensation to travel slowly down the back of your neck, into your shoulders, down your arms, along your body, all the way down to your feet.

Allow your gaze to come to rest on your scrying object. If you are using a crystal or glass ball, let your eye settle on the interior of the ball, rather than on its surface. If you are using a mirror, have it lie flat on the table so that you can’t see yourself reflected in it. Try to look through the mirror, as if you were gazing into a pond looking for fish, rather than at the surface. The candlelight might sparkle a little on the surface of your scrying object, but let that happen at the edge of your consciousness, without looking at it.

Allow your mind to soften. Just rest, and don’t look with your eyes. Let your mind drift wherever it feels like going. Take your time. There is no hurry. You have nowhere to be.

Some nineteenth-century writers on scrying say that you might first see clouds or mist, which will contain different changing colors. They suggest that after a few practice sessions, those mists will part to reveal images. Theories differ on how to get the best results. One optional technique is to focus your attention on an object in the room where you are sitting, then turn your gaze to the glass and try to picture the object inside the glass. Most writers agree, however, that looking too closely with your eyes will cause the images to disappear. Relax, smile, and see what happens. It’s quite possible that nothing will happen, and you and your friends will burst out laughing. But at the very least, you will have spent an evening feeling what it was like at the beginning of the twentieth century.

There are many contemporary books about scrying, but my favorite is a book published in London in 1910 called
Crystal-Gazing and the Wonders of Clairvoyance, Embracing Practical Instructions in the Art, History, and Philosophy of This Ancient Science
, by John Melville. It provides a window on how people in England and America during the 1910s thought about scrying, and what it meant to them.

Boston Daily Globe
Article on the
Titanic

Boston Daily Globe, April 15, 1912

GLOBE EXTRA!

TITANIC SINKING AT SEA AFTER CRASH WITH BERG

Steamers Racing for the Scene in Answer to “C.Q.D.” by Wireless.

Women Take To Boats.

Carries 1300 Passengers.

Mr and Mrs John Jacob Astor, Maj Archie Butt, William T. Stead, Henry B. Harris, C. H. Hays Among Passengers.

CAPE RACE, NF, April 15 – At 10:25 last night the steamship Titanic called “C. Q. D.,” and reported having struck an iceberg. The steamer said that immediate assistance was required.

Half an hour afterward another message came reporting that they were sinking by the head and that women were being put off in the life boats.

The weather was calm and clear, the Titanic’s wireless operator reported, and gave the position of the vessel 41.46 North latitude and 50.14 West longitude.

The Marconi station at Cape Race notified the Allan liner Virginian, the captain of which immediately advised that he was proceeding for the scene of the disaster.

The Virginian at midnight was about 170 miles distant from the Titanic and expected to reach that vessel about 1 a m Monday.

The Olympic at an early hour Monday morning was in latitude 40.32 North and longitude 61.18 West. She was in direct communication with the Titanic and is now making all haste toward her.

The steamship Baltic also reported herself as about 200 miles east of the Titanic and was making all possible speed toward her.

The last signals from the Titanic were heard by the Virginian at 12:27 a m. The wireless operator on the Virginian says these signals were blurred and ended abruptly.

NEWS BY WIRELESS

Word Received in Montreal of the Mishap to the Titanic – Help on the Way to Her.

MONTREAL, April 14 – The White Star Liner Titanic is reported in advices received here late tonight to have struck an iceberg.

The news was received at the Allan Line Offices here in a wireless message from the captain of the steamer Virginian of that line.

It was stated that the Virginian had been in wireless communication with the Titanic, she had reported being in collision with an iceberg and asked for assistance.

The Virginian reported that she was on her way to the Titanic.

The Virginian sailed from Halifax this morning and at the time the wireless was sent she is reckoned to have been about abeam of Cape Race. She has 900 passengers on board, but can accommodate 900 more of the Titanic’s passengers should their removal be necessary.

The message from the Virginian’s captain was sent by wireless to Cape Race and from thence by cable to Halifax, and then by wire to Montreal. The Allan Line officials here expect to hear further news at any moment.

The White Star liner Titanic, the largest vessel afloat, left Southampton April 10 on her maiden voyage for New York. She is a vessel of 46,328 tons, is 882 feet 6 inches long and displaces 66,000 tons.

The Titanic when she left Southampton had about 1300 passengers on board, of whom 350 were in the first cabin.

Among these latter are F. D. Millet, the artist and president of the Consolidated American Academy at Rome, Maj Archibald Butt, military aid to President Taft; C. M. Hayes, president of the Grand Trunk Railway, J Brace Ismay, chairman and managing director of the White Star Line, Henry B Harris, the American theatrical manager, W T Stead, Mrs. Isador Straus, Mr and Mrs John Jacob Astor, Mr and Mrs G D Widener, Benjamin Guggenheim and Mr and Mrs Harry Widener.

Capt C J Smith is in command of the Titanic.

The last communication with the Titanic was a wireless message received by the Marconi station at Cape Race reporting her 1284 miles east of Sandy Hook at 2 15 o’clock Sunday morning.

On leaving Southampton last Wednesday the Titanic had a rather exciting moment while proceeding down Southampton water.

Passing the White Star liner Oceanic and the American liner New York, which were berthed alongside one another, the suction of the Titanic’s triple screws dragged the New York from her moorings and seven of that vessel’s stern ropes parted.

The stern of the New York swing into midstream and narrowly escaped striking the Titanic, which had to stop until the New York was towed to a safer berth.

The Titanic is a luxuriously fitted-out vessel. One may get an idea as to the immensity of the vessel when it is known that in length she will stretch more than four city blocks and would be considerably more than 100 feet longer, standing on her end, than the highest building in New York.

The vessel has accommodations for 3500 passengers and carries a crew of 860. She was built in the River Laffan, at Belfast, and was launched May 31, 1911. Among those who saw her take the water was J Pierpont Morgan.

Capt Smith, the commander of the Titanic, was in command of the Titanic’s sister ship Olympic, at the time of her collision with the cruiser Hawke in the Solent last September.

That icebergs are prevalent in the Atlantic just now was made known today, when the liners Carmania and Niagara had adventures with them last week.

The Niagara had several plates stove off the Grand Banks last Thursday, and the Carmania herself had an exciting day threading her way through floes.

White Star Line Officials in New York Receive It in Message From Montreal.

NEW YORK, April 14 – The White Star Line officers here had received no information tonight of any accident to the Titanic until notified of the dispatches from Montreal.

The last wireless message from the liner was received at 11 o’clock this morning giving her position as 500 miles southeast of Cape Race at 2 a m today.

MANY STEAMERS NEARBY.

Mauretania, Cincinnati, Prinz Adelbert, Amerika and Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Among Them.

NEW YORK, April 15 – One reassuring feature of the accident to the Titanic is that a large number of ships appear to be within the big liner’s call.

Besides the Virginian, which appears to be the first to have heard of the Titanic’s distress and Baltic and Olympic, both of which were reported on the way to the scene, there is also the Cincinnati, the Mauretania, the Prinz Adelbert and the Amerika, and the Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm, bound from this port to Plymouth, all of which and many smaller liners are shown on today’s steamship chart as in the vicinity of Cape Race.

About the Author

Katherine Howe
is the author of
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
. She lives in Massachusetts and upstate New York with her husband.

www.katherinehowe.com