Psychomantium Mirrors - Past, Present, Future?

[Persej]

I finally found a study where they experimented with the height of the enclosure.

A further increase in the tube height results in the oscillation of the candle flame which is explained as follows. When the flame is at its peak, there is insufficient incoming ambient air (and hence oxygen) to burn, and its length is reduced. A smaller flame allows more ambient air which causes the flame height to increase. This pattern keeps repeating itself and hence the observed oscillations in the flame size.

Conclusion

The behaviour of a candle flame, with the candle placed in a tube open at the top and closed at the bottom, was studied with varying tube heights. The novelty of the current configuration is that the air required for combustion can only enter the tube from the top since the tube bottom is sealed. It was observed that when the tube height was increased, the flame changed its behaviour from fluttering to steady state burning, to oscillation, and finally to it being extinguished rapidly.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329040653_Burning_Fluttering_and_Extinguishing_of_a_Candle_Flame_in_a_Tube

 

[Persej]

Moody says that he painted the walls in black and black velvet was used only in one part of the room. He didn't use a candle but a dim lightbulb.

Moody gives full instructions on how he created his psychomanteum in his book (1993 Ballantine Books New York by Raymond Moody with Paul Perry):

He set aside a special room in an old building.
At one end of the room a mirror four feet tall and three-and-a-half feet wide was mounted on the wall. The bottom edge of the mirror was three feet above the floor.
A comfortable chair was prepared by removing its legs so that the top of the headrest was about three feet above the floor.
The chair was placed about three feet from the mirror and inclined slightly backward. This was done to so the person looking into the mirror does not see their own reflection.
A black velvet curtain was hung behind the chair from the ceiling on a curved curtain rod.
Directly behind the chair was placed a small stained glass lamp with a fifteen watt bulb. This was the only source of light in the room.

Evidence for the Afterlife-Psychomanteums

Can a specially built room help a person enter an altered state of consciousness and make contact with someone in the afterlife?

www.victorzammit.com

Another person wanted to repeat the experiment but got much worse results:

In the attempt to facilitate visions of the departed, Raymond Moody (1992; Moody and Perry, 1993) created a modern form of the psychomanteum, the "oracle of the dead," where the ancient Greeks used to evoke the deceased. Moody has taught the method, which involves mirror-gazing in a darkened room, to others, including me. Moody reported that approximately 50 percent of the individuals he had taken through the procedure experience apparitions. He has found that these are mostly people who report hypnagogic images. I therefore used the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI), devised by Sheryl Wilson and Theodore Barber (1983), to identify people with a rich imagination, whom Wilson and Barber called "fantasy-prone" individuals, a label that conceals the fact that psychic impressions often take the form of mental images. According to Wilson and Barber (1983), 4 percent of the population may be fantasy-prone. (...)

The hours were from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The rooms were usually illuminated by natural light and artificial white light. In the last eight workshops, I attempted to reduce waking-state mentation and to facilitate the alpha brainwave pattern by using 25-watt red light bulbs for illumination and by conducting the workshops later in the day, from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. A white noise generator by the reclining chair masked extraneous sounds. (...)

In terms of my first objective, to elicit apparitions of deceased loved ones and other striking reunion experiences, I did not succeed nearly as well as did Moody. Only nine of my 41 participants (22 percent) reported significant experiences, as contrasted to 50 percent of Moody's.

The best predictor of a reunion experience in the psychomanteum consisted of reports by the workshop participants of having had such experiences previously.

Psychomanteum Research: A Pilot Study

Study of 57 persons who participated in 31 workshops seeking visionary and other reunion experiences with departed loved ones by means of a mirror-gazing procedure developed by Raymond Moody. The study was an attempt to repeat Moody's findings, to alleviate the grief of the participants, and to...

digital.library.unt.edu

It sounds like Moody is either not telling us the full story, or have purposefully chosen the people who have a natural inclination towards hypnagogic images.

You can see one example of psychomantium setup in this video:

 

[Persej]

On the other hand, perhaps Moody is right. Perhaps his conversations with the people before the session were important. That reminds me of Steven Vasquez who claims that in his therapy where people watch a color screen a very important factor is a verbal guidance of a therapist. Perhaps the same approach should be applied to the work with psychomantium. Perhaps something happens in a human brain/mind when they have a conversation with another human being which induces an emotional/psychic opening of some sort. Perhaps this is how we should approach psychomantium.

So, one person should be viewing the mirror, while another person should be acting as a guide and asking questions. This person could be in the same room as a viewer, or perhaps on the other side of the curtain, or perhaps even in the other room, communicating with the viewer through some kind of audio device.

This is, after all, the only way that Laura was able to see something in the mirror, although I am not sure if the hypnotic techniques would be necessary if the flickering light could be used as a hypnotic inducer.

Of course, just like not everybody can be a talented viewer, not everybody can be a talented guide, so a good matchup of two talented persons could be a key to success.

 

[Persej]

I found this explanation of mirror gazing in the book Spiritual Alchemy by Jenny Tyson:

How To Scry

Step One: Angle Mirror

I will describe the scrying procedure as an orderly exercise for a practitioner of the art.

This exercise must be done in a sitting position. Even though I’m severely nearsighted, I remove my glasses. The mirror should reflect only the ceiling. I find the white ceiling in our library to be good to work with.

Step Two: Trance and Open

Enter the meditative trance state and open your heart. Once you are well opened, gaze into the mirror. It is important not to blink while watching the mirror. Blinking will destroy the delicate visions that appear. The ability to control the reflexes of the eyes by focusing totally on the mirror is key to being able to scry well. It is irritating to the eyes to do this. The eyes must not only be still while doing this but the mind and heart must also be trained to be perfectly steady when working. The ideal state is one of mental and spiritual passivity and absolute physical quietness.

I would relax my body. I would sit in a comfortable chair, which was usually the recliner. Sometimes a firmer and more upright chair is better for scrying because the angle of viewing is better. Breathe slowly, deeply, and regularly. Close your eyes for a minute while you open your heart to the visions you will see. Clear your mind of any preconceived notions of what you want to see. It is very important to have an open mind and heart during the session.

Once you’ve attained a moderate trance state without moving, open your eyes and study the speculum. Focus all your attention on the mirror. As you do this you may notice sensations in your body. I personally feel numbness.

Step Three: Steady Focus

The visions do not start instantly—at least, in my case they didn’t. It usually took a few minutes. Then I would see a tunnel, and then images would emerge as if through smoke. Steady, unwavering focus on the speculum must be maintained. Blinking and eye movement should be minimal.

Ignore all physical sensations and continue to study the speculum with unwavering focus. Keep your vision steady. As you do this you will notice a change in the appearance of the mirror. The changes will look shadowy at first, and in a few minutes you will be able to make out shapes. Describe what you see as you see it. Learn to observe the details in the vision. Keep very steady as you’re doing this or the vision will disappear.

The appearance of the vision will be like faint clouds moving across the mirror at first. With practice the vision will improve in clarity. Stay open and connected to Universe and the Cosmic Father at this time, and allow them to guide you through. Once you master gaining the vision, you can begin to control it. You will start to notice that the vision is following stray thoughts that pop into your head (yes, we all have these while trying to trance). Continue to focus on the mirror and maintain the connection with the divine energies. This will help prevent shadows.

The visions should be regarded as shadows until you have some experience and can tell the difference between the visions that come from outside your spiritual sphere and ones that are internally generated. To help you learn to discern internally generated scrying visions from true sight, it is best to work with information that can be verified after scrying.

Step Four: Describe and Record

It is a good idea to learn to describe your vision as you see it, without breaking trance. It is difficult to maintain a trance while doing this at first, but with some practice it can be mastered. Record your sessions on a voice recorder and transcribe them after you have completed the session. It’s very important to transcribe as soon as possible after a session has ended. Do not rely on your ability to remember what the visions were. Spirit visions tend to be difficult to remember after the fact.

Details are important in the visions, so make your descriptions as detailed as possible. Describe everything. Do not filter out things that seem irrelevant. Sometimes small things that do not seem to apply to the inquiry at the time are very important and symbolic in nature. It’s unlikely that you will notice this as you are working. These symbols tend to become apparent after the recording is transcribed and studied.

One way of opening the heart could be the conversations that Moody had with his participants prior to mirror gazing.

Blinking is known to affect the brainwaves. So it seems that maintaining the proper brainwaves is an important factor. Hence, the suggestion to use the flickering light by the C's. Noise also affects brainwaves, hence the white noise which is used in some experiments. Curtains are also good for noise insulation. In modern times, nose canceling headphones could also be utilized.

Jenny says that she also used other forms of scrying, one of them is using the P-SB7 Spirit Box. She claims that using that device, the spirit of Edward Kelley taught her how to use a mirror for scrying and other things. She was using the spirit board at the beginning, but was not happy with the results. Perhaps she didn't persevere enough, or she didn't know how to use it properly. Or perhaps her husband was not a good partner for such activity.