Contacting the Dead Through Psychomanteum Mirror Gazing
Is it possible to connect with loved ones after they’ve moved on from this lifetime? Many people have reported apparitions or felt the presence of an otherworldly spirit at some point in their lives, but those experiences are often spontaneous or fleeting.
While séances and psychic sessions claim to produce connections with the departed, there is another lesser-known method that dates back to ancient Greece: the psychomanteum experience. This modernized practice of mirror gazing has been developed by Dr. Raymond Moody, a man who has devoted his life to studying near-death experiences and, through this process, has had some profound results.
The Ancient Greek Psychomanteum: A Portal to the Dead
In ancient Greece, people would go to a Necromanteion, a ziggurat-like temple that was devoted to Hades, Persephone, and the dead, in order to contact the spirits of their departed relatives. The word Necromanteion translates to “oracle of the dead,” and it was believed that these locations served as gateways between the worlds of the living and the deceased. The most famous of these temples was the Necromanteion of Ephyra, where visitors attempted to communicate with spirits.
Rituals at the Greek Necromanteion
To prepare for these encounters, visitors underwent elaborate rituals that included:
- A ceremonial meal – consisting of barley bread, broad beans, pork, and oysters.
- A cleansing process – involving purification ceremonies
- Animal sacrifices – offered to the Gods of the Underworld
- A mirrored hallway – created by filling a bronze cauldron with water, which was polished frequently to ensure a highly reflective surface.
Under dim lighting, with flickering lamps casting eerie reflections, participants gazed into the water, awaiting visions of their deceased loved ones. Temple priests guided the ritual, chanting invocations to summon spirits. If contact was made, apparitions appeared in the water, whispers echoed through the chamber, or messages came through the priests. To close the ritual, a banishing ceremony ensured no spirits lingered, allowing the living to return unharmed.
Dr. Raymond Moody’s Mirror Gazing
Dr. Raymond Moody, a philosopher, psychiatrist, physician, and author of Life After Life (1975) and Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones (1993) is best known for coining the term near-death experience and for his research on consciousness and the afterlife. Inspired by theater of the mind techniques found in ancient texts, Moody revived the concept of the psychomanteum as a method for making contact with spirits. He has dedicated his life to exploring NDEs and contact with the spirit world.
Dr. Moody’s psychomanteum approach differs from the Greek tradition by eliminating animal sacrifice and ritual meals, instead focusing on a structured and meditative environment designed to induce an altered state of consciousness. This process mirrors traditional scrying, also known as catoptromancy, where individuals use reflective surfaces to receive visions.
How to Contact the Dead Through Mirror Gazing
Dr. Moody has developed a technique for easily recreating a personal psychomanteum at home, or wherever one may desire, with the necessary tools. The following are his recommended steps for a successful mirror-gazing session to contact the dead.
Preparing for the Experience
- Dietary Adjustments: Avoid caffeine and dairy 24 hours before the session. Eat simple meals like fruits and vegetables to maintain a calm state of mind.
- Select a Quiet Location: Choose the quietest room in your home (or wherever you may be) where you won’t be disturbed. Unplug all clocks and phones in that room.
- Wear Comfortable Clothing: Remove jewelry and watches, and wear loose-fitting clothing.
- Mirror Placement: Place a large mirror in front of a comfy chair, and place it so you can gaze at it comfortably. It’s best if you cannot see your own reflection.
- Seating Arrangements: Sit in a comfortable chair with your head supported.
- Awareness: Ease into your transition to an altered state of awareness.
- Posture: Ensure a relaxed posture while seated.
- Set the Right Mood: Soothe yourself with aesthetically pleasing material for about 15 minutes by looking at works of art or listening to soft music, in order to stimulate awareness.
- Gather Personal Items: Gather photographs and personal items of the loved one you wish to contact. Touch them and remember your loved one. Imprint your loved one firmly in your mind. Family films and videos can help, or anything else that you associate with them.
- Dim the Lights: At twilight, light a candle and place it behind you. A dim light from behind you is ideal but experiment with the light for proper adjustment. Twilight is best because it typically stimulates altered states, especially for first-timers.
Entering the Trance State
After following the preparation steps, sit quietly and gaze into the mirror. Over time, you should start to notice:
- Your arms feeling heavy and fingers starting to tingle.
- A cloudy or mostly appearance forming on the mirror’s surface as you start to go into a trance-like, meditative state.
- The sensation of being drawn into the mirror or seeing movement within it.
Moody says it is important to stay passive at this point, as any attempt to guide the experience will remove you from your hypnagogic state and create interference. It can also be good to have a question in your mind before going into your mirror-gazing session, but not to develop and actively ask the question mid-session as this will, again, interrupt the experience.
Reported Experiences in the Psychomanteum
Experiences typically last for only about a minute, according to Moody, but experiences can last longer for more advanced practitioners. Experiences from mirror-gazing sessions can range from seeing the spirits of loved ones to entering the mirror or even seeing future events. In fact, Nostradamus’ visions for his prophecies are said to have come from using a psychomanteum like the Greeks used.
Interestingly, some do not experience contact immediately but instead have delayed visions, or “take-out experiences,” occurring hours or days later. Moody notes that these encounters can happen in dreams, reflections, or unexpected moments of deep thought.
Moody stresses that preparation is key to successful mirror-gazing. He reports an 85 percent success rate among those who carefully follow his methods. For those who initially struggle, Moody suggests keeping a vision journal and practicing regularly. Ironically, he has observed that those who completely let go of expectation often have the most vivid and unexpected encounters.
Notable Cases of Spirit Communication
According to Moody’s study, some individuals had unexpected encounters with spirits. One man, for instance, went into the room expecting to meet his father, but instead a longtime business associate who had passed away from a heart attack paid him a visit. The participant received unexpected closure from the spirit’s message on outstanding problems.
In another instance, when a woman tried to get in touch with her late husband, she was met by several generations of family members who all seemed youthful and healthy and appeared to be wishing her well from the afterlife.
The Science & Skepticism Behind Mirror Gazing
While many report profound spiritual encounters, skeptics argue that psychomanteum experiences are the result of psychological processes such as:
- Hypnagogic Hallucinations: Dream-like visions that occur in altered states of consciousness.
- Sensory Deprivation Effects: The dim lighting and limited stimuli can trick the brain into filling in gaps with imagined images.
- Confirmation Bias: People may interpret vague images as meaningful due to emotional expectations.
Through the measurement of brain activity, temperature changes, and electromagnetic field alterations during mirror-gazing sessions, scientific investigations have investigated the psychomanteum experience. Although the results are still unclear, some researchers contend that even if the images are subconscious, psychomanteums could be useful aids for grieving processing.
Psychomanteum: A Gateway to the Spirit World or Window Into the Subconscious?
The psychomanteum experience continues to intrigue and transform those who try it. Dr. Raymond Moody’s work has revived this ancient practice, offering a unique way to seek closure, guidance, or self-discovery. While skeptics remain, many who have used a mirrored room for spirit contact report deeply moving encounters.
About the Author
How a Near Death Experience Enhanced My Consciousness
There’s no doubt that consciousness is rapidly expanding throughout the human race. My coffee cup is about to start talking to me. A lot of what was once considered ridiculously paranormal has now been empirically-proven and popularly embraced. In fact, the human race is clearly now a race between the realization of how expanded consciousness plays in the creation of our world and the destructive consequences that ignoring it has caused and continues to cause every day.
Consciousness as an Elemental Force
So what does that have to do with near-death experiences (NDEs)? Well, now it seems even science is converging on the ancient—but currently revolutionary—concept that consciousness itself may be an elemental force: a field, like gravity. It might be an eternal quantum field of being, necessary for the formation of material life – rather than the other way around (this idea is nicely, and controversially, proposed by Dr. Robert Lanza, of Wake Forest University). And what are NDEs but further testimonies of the continuation of consciousness beyond physical life?
Co-Creating our Reality
The rapidly growing Near-Death Movement, based on thousands of testimonies of people who have experienced consciousness beyond the limitations of our physical life, is yet another example of humanity’s spiritual potential. It’s additional evidence of our ability to co-create whatever reality we participate in, be it on the earth right here, or in that sweet hereafter.
I’d never given any of it much thought until the power and meaning of my own three NDEs arose and compelled me to write a book that put me into the hub of the hubbub. I’ve since discovered that the community of near-death experiencers ranges somewhere from five to fifteen percent of the general population globally. Now that’s a whole lot of non-ordinary reality!
Consciousness – and Individuals – Are Unique
Naturally, I have less reason than the average Joe to doubt the veracity of all that testimony; but I have found plenty of reason to ask this question: why is it that near-death experiences are all so different? If we’re all governed by eternal, invisible machinery, why do we see such a range of afterlife options, all tailored to the individual participant? Shouldn’t we all go down that identical tunnel into the light and meet Grandpa in the shimmering fields of Elysium?
Some near-death returnees report celestial extravaganzas. Some tell of organizations of elders and angels, structured in an elaborate cosmic framework. For others, it’s a hellish nightmare, complete with every infernal cliché. The reason for all these differences can be simply explained if we consider the way we’re always participating in the field of consciousness, how we are always creating our own individual realities.
The Continuum of Consciousness
My own NDEs were humble by comparison, but they all had one glorious factor in common; that I did not lose consciousness when I lost consciousness. In fact, all three times, I experienced an enhanced consciousness, seamlessly uninterrupted from this life to the next.
Skeptics suggest this sense of continuity is the result of a still-active mind – a mind not yet fully “dead.” And they’re right. Since consciousness is a field we eternally participate in, our minds never do die, they simply join a greater mind. The Hindu Vedas suggested that thousands of years ago. Dear old Dr. Jung described it too, way back in the 20th century. The mind continues working.
“Memory ensures that nature creates individual forms that are copies of the primal universal forms.”
The Hermetica
And as for the differences, well, imagine someone dying, and awakening in this world. What would they experience? The war in Syria? A recital by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Perhaps a high-powered business lunch, or that visit to Grandpa’s? In this elemental context, we all imagine the life we are living and live it. We all enter into the life we need to experience. This is the mystery of any incarnation, and it will continue to be the mystery from this life to the next (although NDEs do generally suggest that things are better explained over there).
The Unharnessed Power of the Mind
And what if all bets were off when it comes to our greatest potential imaginable – the unharnessed power of mind? What if our imaginations were released from the obvious limitations of this physical form? Almost anything is possible here and now––how about a world where your imagination is set free to manifest reality without material limit?
In “the next world,” as in this one, our imagination is like the clay; consciousness is like the ever-spinning potter’s wheel, and the source of power is like, well, The Source of Power. Welcome to every life (and afterlife) you will ever live – and remember, whatever life you’re living, always look for the love!
Article originally published Oct. 4, 2014
