A crystal ball (which can be clear crystal, or any other kind, amethyst being particularly good for opening up the psychic mind) is simply a tool to focus awareness and concentration in order to allow intuitive images to appear. Witches call this scrying. Scrying involves relaxing yourself, emptying your mind, and focusing your attention on the crystal ball in front of you. Maintaining a state of relaxation, you focus on your question (or your client's question) and allow an image to appear in your mind or within the crystal.
You can do this with any kind of large stone, and it does not need to be perfect or round (despite the Hollywood images!) If you can lose yourself in it and see images within it or within your mind while looking at it, you can use it as a tool of divination.
Crystal balls are particularly useful in helping you develop your clairvoyant abilities.
How to Scry With A Crystal Ball
I find that using a stone 2-5 inches in diameter on a night of the full moon produces the best results. (As an aside, this technique will work perfectly well with a bowl of water that has a Quartz Crystal Cluster at the bottom. True Quartz Crystal balls are very expensive, but don't substitute a resin or glass ball - the resonances just don't work well.)
Light a candle or two in otherwise a darkened, quiet, room. You can hold the crystal if the tactile contact aids your focus, or place it on a stand. Make sure that there is a dark (blue or black) cloth underneath it. Make sure that there are no reflections showing in the ball. Burn incense if you wish.
Center yourself and gaze into the ball, but do not stare. Try not to blink that much. While you are gazing, breathe in and out slowly and deeply. Just relax and gaze. You will feel a sense of limitless time. Enjoy the peacefulness and simply gaze.
Do this for at least 15 minutes, and increase your time by 5 minutes with each succeeding session.
Usually around the second or third session, you will notice a small cloudy glow in the center of the crystal. This is your focusing area where your visions will appear. You may get a vision on your first try, but it may be several times before you see anything. Don't fret, go at your own pace.
There are different forms that visions come in: actual visual images of places and people, symbolic pictures, color clouds, scents, auditory information, perhaps even tactile sensations.
~ from Maat's Book of Shadows
HOW TO USE A CRYSTAL BALL
Steps to Reading/Scrying with a Crystal Ball
By Lady Wolfen Mists (c) 1991
Just a quick note, a crystal ball is a sacred tool and should be treated as one. It should be used by only one person and be placed in a special place of honor when not in use. It should have a name, it will usually tell you this as you work with it, and it should be called by that name. It should have limited handling by other people, and should be carried in a special bag or box when transported from one place to another. It should also be cleansed regularly. I like to do mine on the full moon, not only cause that's when the moon is at its peak of power, but cause its easy to remember when I last cleaned it completely.
With all that said here we go:
1. Choose your crystal ball that you intend to use; be sure to cleanse it first.
2. In a darkened room, sit quietly with the crystal in front of you. Allow for a low light source, so that the crystal is somewhat 'back lit" yet the rest of the room should remain dark. A candle works well be sure to follow safety rules when working with an open burning flame. The color of the candle should be something that reflects Higher Purpose like Purple for Higher self, White for God/dess and Soul purity or orange for attraction (but be sure you say aloud that you wish to only attract positive energies or you could get any energy just floating by, I caution you on using orange if you are only beginning.)
3. Next close your eyes, concentrate and ground yourself. Allow your third eye to activate and open. The use of Lemuria Oil tm is recommended here as it clears mis-aligned energies and protects the user (you) from negative energies trying to control the session and such. (You can get Lemuria Oil tm exclusive from Silver Hoofs Inc.) Place a dab on the 3rd eye area, located between your eyes and up just a smig. Now be sure to set up a deep breathing pattern at your own rhythm. Allowing all the stress and negative energies to flow completely out of your body as you exhale, and positive energies to enter as you inhale. "See" those positive energies replacing the exhaled negative energies, visualize all the positive energies completely centering your body and your intuition and focus becoming the central points of your thoughts.
4. Now open your eyes, and pick a spot on the ball you feel "drawn" to. Focus on the spot and allow your eyes to fixate (like when your eyes get stuck looking at something but your mind (subconscious) is elsewhere) gazes past that spot. The crystal may begin to darken and smoke up. Allow this to happen, don't snap back to a conscious state, if you can help it. Don't worry if you do, fact is most of us do the first couple of times cause we are so excited its working. Snapping back to the conscious state makes you leave the trance like state and thus breaks the psychic connection. If this happens just re-enter the trance like state once more as best you can. Allow the ball to darken and smoke without breaking your trance like state. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF THE IMAGES YOU "SEE, FEEL OR HEAR" BEFORE YOU! Just go with the flow!
5. You may feel yourself start to tingle or vibrate, you may feel heat, cold or just detached from yourself. This is the crystal raising or lowering your vibratory level so that you may both be one in harmony and make the needed psychic connection.
6. Next you will begin to speak (a voice activated recorder is nice at this point) or write about what you see. You have entered the Astral plane at this point and may have some memory recall problems when you break the trance like state. This may occur until you have training and can work on both the Astral and physical plane at the same time, and not to lie to you, this could take years of concentration, practice, and many sessions! So don't give up and I advise using a tape recorder as it doesn't interfere with your focus, concentration, or gazing/scrying.
7. Finally when you feel you have seen enough, or the crystals images fade out, allow your mind to return to the present (physical plane). Feel your vibratory rate change once again as the crystal separates from one to two separate beings again. Refocus your eyes; blink as you need and breathe deeply, as you ground yourself once more. Finally returning to the physical plane, with your mind cleared and energized. In Grounding yourself ,a drink of water/juice and a snack can help, as you pull the earth's energies up into your body once more
Remember it takes practice so dont be upset if it doesn't work right away. Take your time, allow the crystal and your energies to match, it will work!
(I get so often asked for this by others that I have taken off the No Right Click. So you may take it and use it but please remember that it comes from the Wolfen Wicca (r) Tradition. Also please leave my copyright on it and don't change anything. Otherwise happy scrying the Wolfen Wicca (r) way!)