| The history of mirrors goes way back to a much | | | | instructed me that he should keep that thing |
| earlier time when we were fortunate enough to see | | | | wrapped up in a black cloth, which had the dual |
| ourselves in a body of water and we thought it was | | | | purpose of absorbing any possible negativity and |
| mysteriously enchanting. Those reflections continue | | | | shielding the living from those, "on the other side of |
| to hold our fascination today, even if that fascination | | | | the mirror." The friend eventually threw it away as it |
| is merely our face, right there. It's similar to a baby in | | | | had never worked anyway. My prompt for writing |
| an echo-filled art gallery making noises to hear its | | | | this article is the movie Mirrors. It stunk, the actors |
| own voice. That's all we're doing when we look into a | | | | whispered too much, and it was way too boring for |
| mirror - and look and look. In Dixie Dennis' book | | | | me to watch in its entirety, but I gleaned enough to |
| Living, Dying, Grieving, Dennis says part of perceiving | | | | gather the power of mirrors. I also want to get in a |
| an object as having magical powers is to be afraid of | | | | whine for that gory bathtub scene. Gross! I hate it |
| the object and its perceived power. In China, for | | | | when I feel the compulsion to pull my jaws asunder |
| example, it is customary to remove all mirrors from | | | | until I'm a bloody mass. The movie was not good; in |
| the house of the recently deceased, in order that | | | | fact it was bad and bloody in an unpleasant way! I |
| the grieving will not look into one of those mirrors | | | | won't give away anymore, should you care to see it |
| and see the coffin in the reflection, as this would | | | | for yourself, but the premise of the movie was good |
| indicate another death in the family. When I was a | | | | - that you cannot escape your reflection. It's |
| kid, a group of us young girls would head to the | | | | everywhere, just waiting to be snagged by evil |
| crapper, turn off the light, and chant "Bloody Mary" | | | | spirits. As though my soul was grabbable. Hmph! |
| until one of us was scratched across the face or saw | | | | Personally, I've always been intrigued with mirrors, |
| a bloody figure in the mirror. Nice. This is wrong to do | | | | though I ignore them if, from afar, they appear to |
| for so many reasons, yet it's still a popular sleepover | | | | be dirty. I just don't like that. I like antique mirrors. |
| game even now. A film along the same lines, the | | | | When I come upon one, I normally will dissociate as I |
| 2005 Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, sounds like a | | | | wonder what that mirror has captured. I think of |
| stinker of a movie. It was nominated for a Golden | | | | Amy Grant's, "If These Walls Could Speak." As a |
| Trailer Award in the Trashiest category. Sounds | | | | sensate, I feel what it must have been like so many |
| classy. | | | | thousands of years ago to discover your reflection |
| This leads us to scrying (fortune telling using certain | | | | for the first time. ("There's a gap between my two |
| objects). When I was younger, I had a friend who | | | | first teef!") I feel the pain of having to cover every |
| bought a scrying mirror on eBay. It had a grayish to | | | | mirror in the house, I remember playing with the dark |
| black tint, was in a metal frame and had been | | | | side at sleepovers, and certainly I will not scry, watch |
| blessed by a white witch. It never worked for him. A | | | | Bloody Mary, or see Mirrors again. |
| friend/Wiccan/psychic/lab worker/co-worker of mine | | | | |