Have you ever been in a place where you just aren’t getting the answers you need from your tarot or oracle cards? Have your Runes stopped speaking to you in a meaningful way? Have the crystals been humming too loudly or are your palms refusing to provide the answers to what you seek?
Perhaps, under the light of a full moon or the soft glow of a candle, what you are looking for is within the depths of a bowl of dark water.
I Come, On a Full Moon Night
In December of 2024, I was in a pretty dark place because of where I saw my country going after the November elections here in the US. My mental and emotional health took a turn for the worse and my physical health also suffered.
Outwardly, my online presence looked my usual happy/supportive/defiant self, but inwardly things were not so great. My Tarot/Oracle decks (Crow Tarot/Urban Crow Oracle by MJ Cullinane) were telling me to keep steady and carry on – that all would be well and good – but I wasn’t getting the “how” of it. I put them both away for a while, thinking the answer just wasn’t there for me at that time. I hoped there would be a way out for myself – for our country – but in those days I just couldn’t see how.
I am grateful to be part of an online Full Moon Circle with different themes each month, and the subject of Divination in all of its forms was scheduled for the January 2025 gathering. As I was thinking about what I could contribute for it, I knew that Tarot and Oracle cards would be covered by others. I’ve never been any good with Runes or I Ching, and using Crystals or Fire scrying were too noisy in my head. I knew there would be others there that has much more experience in those forms of Divination than I do, as well as those with Astrology, Palmistry, etc. experience, so I researched the different ways one could divine the answers being sought, and I came across Dark Water Divination.
Dark Water Reflects the Light
In my research I found out that the practice of water scrying itself is an ancient form of divination, inviting us to a place where the surface of the water becomes a portal to visions, answers and possibilities.
Simply put, water scrying involves gazing into a body of water—be it a bowl, a pond, or even a cup—to glean the symbolic messages therein. It not only can answer our questions, but it is a deeply personal experience that encourages introspection and spiritual connection clarifying thoughts and emotions, bringing subconscious knowledge to the surface and serving as a mirror to the soul.
I’m Here, With an Open Heart
After reading a few different yet similar sources on the internet, this is what I did for my journey into dark water divination – perhaps it is what you can do, too:
I went to my home office after everyone had gone to bed so that I wouldn’t be disturbed, and I brought with me a bowl that we had with a dark inner surface. In it was fresh water that I had let run from the tap for a little while before filling the bowl enough to have a nice surface to gaze into.
I placed the bowl on my desk in a spot where I could comfortably look at the surface of the water, then I lit a small jar candle and set it behind me on a shelf so that it reflected into the water, but not directly. Trying to clear my mind of everything but my question – “how do I move forward from this place of mental and emotional distress?” – I settled into a comfortable position in my chair and softly gazed at the candle’s reflection in that inky pool.
I’m Gazing at a Mirrored Moon
I’ve never been very good at meditation. I just can’t keep the stray thoughts of the day or my life at bay long enough to get into a space where I just AM. So I tend to hum whatever comes through my heart, letting the notes go where they will in an effort to give body something to do while mind waits for what is to come.
The first few times that I softly gazed into the gently candle-lit water of that dark bowl, I didn’t really receive anything that I could consider a direct answer to my query. I did get a sense of calm and openness while I hummed, and after each session I wrote in my diary about what I saw in the water (mostly suggestions of candlelight) and how I felt.
Allowing myself to drift into a trance-like state I at least gave myself some respite from the noise that my distress caused, and that brought me back again to the bowl for several more sessions.
Slowly, From Within the Deep
I got into a habit of bringing my dark bowl of water and a candle into my office in the very late or very early hours of the day, when I knew most everyone would be sleeping. (Cats will do what they do, though – I almost always had a quiet observer). I would set the bowl in its place, light the candle and relax into my chair, slowly humming the tune that had now become the usual hum when I came to see what would be within the dark water. Watching the reflected light within the pool I could “see” the moon, golden on certain nights, the surface of the water now and then disturbed by the fan above me, creating golden smoke within the water, and I began to hear a harmony to my hummed melody, interweaving itself upon my mind’s ear and into the reflected light.
In the Dark of a Path Unknown
I was so uncertain when I started this divinatory practice, but as I continued exploring what the dark water brought to me I came to realize that my way forward was as it ever has been, and that my cards and oracle were right all along – keep steady and carry on with what you do best. I saw that the tune that was growing on me to the point where I was hearing or humming it quiet often, and the thoughts on the practice of dark water divination itself that often accompanied it, could be a way forward that not only was a guide for myself as I sought enlightenment, but could be a pathway for others who may choose this method of gleaning their possibly journeys through seemingly dark days ahead.
My music is what would pull me up and out of the sadness and anxiety that filled me at the thought of our future, and perhaps it will help you to find your own pathway forward, too.
Mirrored Moon
Here is the finished song that I shared with the January circle, and now I share it with you. Mirrored Moon is on Of Dragons and Moonlight, released 2025, and is available on bandcamp.
I come, on a full moon night
Dark water, reflects the light
I wait, in a place of calm,
To see
I’m here, with an open heart
A question, held in deep regard
For the ones, who come to share
What is seen
(Visions of what could be)
I’m gazing, at a mirrored moon
My mind’s eye, open and attuned
To the gift of the lucid dream
Soon to be
(Patience, what will be will be)
Slowly, from within the deep / Slowly…..forming
The shadows of what I seek / Shadows…..gather
Become that which I know / Showing
To be true / The way
(Answers and Possibilities)
The Full Moon in a calm black pool / Full moon…..shining
A gleaning of what could be true / Gleaning…true
In the dark of a path unknown / Dark… unknown
Light is seen / Light’s seen
(Guiding us all along)
I come, on a full moon night / Come……night
Dark water, reflects the light / Water…..light
Waiting, in a place of calm / Wait…..be calm
I see / and see
(Waiting, I finally see)
Lyrics from Meren King’s “Mirrored Moon”Blessed Be
For more information about Meren King, including her collected articles here on Pagan Song, her bio, and links to Meren’s sites on the web, check out Meren’s page on Pagan Song.
Feature photo Moonlit Lake Reflection from StockCake
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