The Power of Occult ‘Seeing’

There is a long tradition and history of individuals who have utilized a variety of methods for the purpose of obtaining ‘visions’ of events, past, present or future. The action generally takes place through creation of a state of trance that allows the surface mental consciousness to recede and the wider subliminal consciousness to emerge. Some individuals have been able to achieve this state of what may be considered to be a ‘light trance’ through practice of meditation, while others use the aid of a technique, such as staring at a candle, or use of a crystal ball, mirror or a basin of water. The actuality of this power of occult seeing is described in a considerable body of fiction. For this reason, many consider it to be purely fictional.

J.R.R. Tolkien in his widely respected telling of The Lord of the Rings, has a sequence where the elf-queen Galadriel introduces the ‘hero’ of the tale, Frodo, the hobbit, to what she calls the ‘mirror of Galadriel’, in this case, a basin of water with a mirrored effect. As Frodo gazed into the water, he had various visions. Galadriel noted that he might see things from the past, the present, the future, or even things that were possibilities but might not come to pass if appropriate actions were taken.

Nostradamus, perhaps the most famous Western prognosticator of future events, claimed to use a form of meditation to enter into the trance state required for his visions. The ancient Greek tradition has numerous references to the Oracle of Delphi. Individuals went to consult the oracle to obtain guidance and illumination of various dreams, events or circumstances they were facing.

Tibetan practitioners also had an oracle who entered into a state of trance to prognosticate. First nations’ people in North America had the tradition of the vision quest where they went out to an isolated location and fasted in order to obtain their vision. South American Shaman in some cases enlisted the aid of various herbal medicines to enter an altered state of awareness and thus see things that their normal mental sight could not see.

Popular literature is rampant with tales of what is known as ‘scrying’ using a variety of means. If we analyze the methods, they all lead towards development of a state of awareness that suppresses the active surface mentality and allows a wider action to emerge that appears to allow the individual to enter into the ‘akashic record’ and bring back transcriptions, either more or less legible, of things seen there.

What we do not always understand is that many instances of such occult seeing are simply not recognised as such due to the rather mundane nature of the events foreseen. Yet many people will relate tales of how they ‘saw’ their future spouse, or some future event, or opportunity. Occult seeing is not always dramatic or tied to earth-shaking events.

What takes more effort and patience is turning the occasional insight into something that is consistent and part of one’s active life experience as a normal occurrence.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “The power of occult seeing is there in everyone, mostly latent, often near the surface sometimes but much more rarely already on the surface. If one practices tratak, it is pretty certain to come out sooner or later, — though some have a difficulty and with them it takes time; those in whom it comes out at once have had all the time this power of occult vision near the surface and it emerges at the first pressure.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter XIX Occult Powers of the Subliminal, pg. 150