CRYSTAL BALLS AND CRYSTAL GAZING 177
from
the brain centres. It is almost invariably stated that, prior to the
appearance of the desired visions, the crystal seems to disappear and a
mist rises before the gazer's eye.
The
Achaians, as Pausanius relates, frequently used a mirror to divine
diseases or to learn whether there was danger of sudden death. Of the
Temple of Demeter, or Ceres, at Patras, he writes:x
In
front of the temple of Demeter there is a well. A stone wall separates
this well from the temple, but steps lead down to it from the outside.
Here there is an infallible oracle, although it does not answer all
questions, but only those touching diseases. They attach a slender cord
to a mirror and let it down into the well, balancing it carefully so
that the water does not cover the face, but only touches the rim. Then,
after making a prayer to the goddess and burning incense to her, they
look into the mirror, and it shows whether the sick person will die or
recover. Such is the power of truth in this water.
This
sacred well with its oracle of the magic mirror must have been in
Lucian's mind when, in his descripÂtion of the palace of the Moon-King,
he says:2
Another
wonderful thing I saw in the palace. Suspended over a rather shallow
well there is a large mirror, and anyone who goes down into this- well
will hear every word that is spoken on earth, while, if he gazes on the
mirror, he will see there every city and every nation just as clearly
as though he were looking down upon them from a slight elevation. At
the time I was there, I saw my native country and its inhabitants.
Whether I myself was seen by them in turn, I am not sure.
Lucian
adds, with a fine touch of irony, "Anyone who doubts this assertion
needs only to go there himself and he will find out that I speak the
truth." As no one has
1 Pausaniae, "Descriptio Graeciae," ed. Schubart, vol. ii, Lipsise, 1883, pp. 54, 55, lib. ii, cap, 21, 12.
3 Luciani, " Vera Historia," lib. i, 26. 12
