How to Use a Scrying Mirror: A Practitioner's Guide

Scrying is one of the oldest contemplative practices we have: the deliberate use of a dark, reflective surface to quiet the analytical mind and let images, impressions, and intuition surface. An obsidian mirror is the traditional tool for it — a black volcanic glass with a depth that a household mirror simply doesn’t have. This guide walks through how to actually work with one, from preparing the space to the gazing technique itself.

If this is your first time, read The First Sitting alongside this — it covers what the experience is genuinely like rather than what people imagine it will be.

What a scrying mirror actually is

An obsidian scrying mirror is not a mirror in the everyday sense. It reflects, but darkly — you see the room and yourself only faintly, and that faintness is the point. The surface gives the eye almost nothing to fix on, which is precisely the condition that lets the mind loosen its grip.

[FIRSTHAND: describe your mirror specifically — the obsidian from the Itz-Yollotzin workshop near Teotihuacán, its sheen, any natural banding, how a hand-worked piece reads differently from a machine-polished import. Include a close-up photo here. This paragraph is where the E-E-A-T moat lives — a competitor writing from a prompt cannot produce it.]

Preparing your space

You want low, warm light — a single candle is traditional and works well, placed slightly behind you or to the side so its flame never reflects directly in the surface. The room should be quiet and dim, but not pitch black; you’re aiming for shadow, not blindness.

Sit comfortably with the mirror roughly an arm’s length away, angled so you see darkness rather than your own face straight-on.
Prop it at a slight tilt. [FIRSTHAND: note here that the Yacotli case doubles as an adjustable easel/altar stand — tie the product benefit to the practice naturally, not as an ad.]
Remove distractions. Phone off, not merely silent.

Settling the mind

Before you gaze, spend a few minutes doing nothing. Breathe slowly. Let the day’s residue settle. Scrying rewards a calm, unhurried state — the practice is closer to meditation than to “trying to see something.”

The gazing technique

This is the part most people get wrong by trying too hard.

Soften your focus. Don’t stare at the surface — look through it, letting your eyes relax as though gazing at something far behind the glass. Your vision should go slightly soft, almost unfocused.
Let the surface change. After a few minutes, the obsidian often appears to cloud, mist, or darken further. This is a normal visual and perceptual effect, and it’s usually the threshold where impressions begin.
Receive rather than search. Images, symbols, feelings, or half-formed impressions may arise — sometimes visually, more often as a kind of inner knowing. Don’t grab at them. Note them and let the next thing come.
Don’t force duration. Ten to twenty minutes is plenty, especially early on. Straining your eyes or your attention produces nothing but strain.

Closing the session

When you’re done, look away, blink, and let your ordinary vision return. Many practitioners like to record what surfaced — a small journal kept beside the mirror — because impressions fade quickly and patterns only become visible across many sittings. Then cover or put away the mirror. Caring for it properly →

A note on expectations

Scrying is a divinatory and contemplative practice, not a parlor trick. What surfaces is best understood as material from your own intuition and subconscious, given a still enough surface to become visible. Approached that way — patiently, without demand — it’s a genuinely rich practice. Approached as a demand for spectacle, it disappoints.

The obsidian mirror carries a long lineage here: the Aztec deity Tezcatlipoca, whose name means smoking mirror, was depicted with exactly this tool. More on that history →

Frequently asked

Do I need any particular ability to scry? No. It’s a learnable practice of attention. Consistency matters far more than talent.

How often should I practice? Short, regular sittings beat rare long ones. A few times a week builds the skill.

Why obsidian rather than a black bowl of water or a glass mirror? [FIRSTHAND: answer from your own experience with the material — the depth of natural obsidian, why the workshop’s hand-finishing matters. Keep it honest.]

Ready to begin? Meet the Yacotli mirror →