In the garden of memory, in the palace of dreams…that is where you and I shall meet.
– The Mad Hatter, Alice Through the Looking Glass
I have believed, since I was very small, that mirrors contain whole worlds within their depths. Their magic not in showing us what others could see, but instead what we alone could perceive.
Anyone could see a reflection of my room – but only I could see the magic dancing.
Anyone could see a reflection of my eyes – but only I could see the fire dancing.
You see, what mirrors truly reflect, is perception – what we see within them goes much farther than what appears to us on the surface. They contain wild depths, entire worlds of emotion & memory, awareness & unconsciousness. To look into a mirror is to risk vulnerability, to open a doorway to the Soul, a gateway to every aspect of ourselves, shadows & otherwise.
There is an old witchcraft trick that involves placing small mirrors in windows, facing outwards, to “reflect” any ill will sent one’s way back to its sender. Sometimes I wonder if there are roots here of my love for surrounding myself with mirrors. Something about having only myself and my world reflected back at me feels safe, comforting somehow. By surrounding myself with windows that only show what is familiar, what is known to me, I find a calm. The outside world falls away; falls silent. They cannot reach me here, not in this world of my own.
But the more wisdom the years bring me, the more the worlds in the looking glasses change. Things shift, draw into sight and out of it. Shadows appear and disappear. Sometimes I look in them and don’t see me at all. Other times, I am overwhelmed by the closeness of my own breath & lashes.
One day, I started staring longer, looking deeper. I stopped trying to see and I let the mirror show. I let it reveal.
And it told me what there was to see.
Mirror Work
Mirrors are powerful tools. Portals to deep awakening & self exploration. There may be more of you within a mirror than standing before it.
And yet, most teachings of mirror work seem confined to speaking softly to ourselves, speaking kindly to ourselves, reciting affirmations, deciding to love what we see. If we do it enough we’ll believe it and our world will change.
Maybe.
But there is so much more to mirror work, so much more to their depths, so much more to their power. So much more to see.
Try not speaking. Don’t say a word to your reflection. Just look. Don’t judge. Don’t cringe. Don’t hesitate. Just look. What do you see? This is not about what you look like – this is about what you see. And I promise you, they are very different things.
Maybe, you see exhaustion. Maybe, you see uneasiness. Remember, don’t judge. You are not under a microscope. You are reflected. All that you are in this moment is being shown to you. Anyone can tell you what you look like. Mirrors do not tell; they show.
Instead of lines, see laughter. Instead of darkness, see strength. If you look exhausted, see a Soul deserving of rest.
They may show you years, they may show you a child, they may show you shadows, they may show you light. They may show adventure, or quiet, or fantasy. Lightning in a looking glass. Love in the curve of a smile. An ocean in an iris.
Mirrors can show you in an instant where your power lies, where it is suffocating, where there is room for it to grow. They can show you the expanse of your being like you’ve never seen it before.
But it asks you to be brave. It asks you to be vulnerable. To remove all masks, all cloaks of disguise, all preconceived notions. Leave all that you carry at the feet of all that you are. Be afraid, and do it anyway. Meet yourself exactly where you are, exactly as you are.
For you are more beautiful than all the riches of all the fantasies of all the worlds.
You will see, there is nothing to fear in the mirror. There is only you…and You.
Magick Mirrors
There are mirrors all around us, reflecting our perceptions back to us in all moments. Not just those made of glass. Some are hidden in plain sight, others are invisible to us & can only be seen from within.
Mirrors will appear whenever we have need of their magick – whether we asked for them or not.
The Goddess, in all her unyielding love for us, her wild, Lost Children, will often speak to us through mirrors, saying without words what She knows we need to hear, in order for us to heal, to grow, to flourish.
Her mirrors are many, but my favourites (besides the looking glass) are the Tarot, art, and music.
(And if the Goddess does not appear to you as such, feel Her as Universal Love, Great Spirit, Blessed Mother, God… Whomever & however the magick of your Soul outside of yourself may manifest.)
The Mirror of Tarot
The Tarot reflects what our unconscious already knows to be true, drawing it to the surface & spreading it out before us so we can see, clearly, where we stand in our own way, or where we need to honour our boundaries, or our growth. It shows us where we are afraid, and where we are loved.
The origins of the Tarot are as mystifying as its messages, but whether it was as a game or as a way to craft stories, somewhere along the way, someone looked into the eyes of the Fool and saw more.
The meanings of the cards offer stepping stones to start us, but it is our perception of the story they weave that reflects what our unconscious already knows, in a way that our conscious can perceive & understand.
It is often said that Tarot doesn’t hold back. Neither do mirrors. You cannot look into a mirror and switch out your appearance. That is what filters are for. Tarot is not a filter. It will not take the base and make it more acceptable to the appetite of a wider audience’s preferences. It is a mirror – it will show you exactly what is, as it is, so that there is only truth to work from.
Now I know that Tarot can be confusing, the messages sometimes an absolute conundrum of, “Well what the fuck does that mean?!” and it is not my intent to downplay that. But remember that mirrors do not tell, they show. And just as you must look deeper into the mirror, so you must look deeper into the Tarot and see for yourself what messages are there.
How else would you learn otherwise?
The Mirror of Art
Art has been one of my favourite lovers for as long as I can possibly remember.
I saw fantastic tales in the imagery of storybooks before I could read them. I was painting & drawing before I ever wrote, envisioning my adventures before I knew how to describe them. I still, to this day, have storybooks from my childhood whose gentle landscapes take me back to places I cannot forget.
I remember once, a friend of my mother’s, well into the philosophical realms of deep red wine, looking at my own art and telling me that I always drew people with their hair covering one eye because I always kept a part of myself hidden, always showing that I can see but will only reveal myself in pieces.
Interesting.
I always loved art, but sometime in high school, something changed; something in me cracked open and the ground beneath me fell away, dropping me into worlds I had never seen. I met Caravaggio, Velasquez, Dali & Goya. I was swept away by Botticelli, Monet & the impossible beauty of Waterhouse. I felt the coiling caress of Collier, and danced wildly with Tomanek.
Inside me, something gentle whispered: There you are.
The first time I realised I was standing in the same room as Klimt, staring up into the eyes of Hope I, the world fell still.
Art gives us pause & is open to our interpretation. Our perception of its offering is coloured by our subconscious & whatever emotions we’re holding in our body as our eyes take in the story before us. What we see, is a reflection of a part of ourselves seeking recognition.
When art awakens a reaction within us, we mustn’t turn away if the feeling isn’t immediately appealing. We must look deeper, allow the feeling in, be open to what it’s showing us.
And if the reaction is powerful, moving, and ecstatic…we must surrender to it with poetic abandon.
The Mirror of Music
Fly by Florian Christl began just as I typed those words. How exquisitely fitting.
Music was my first love. Before Tarot, before words, before art…music sang to me, danced with me; music held me.
Music is the invisible mirror; the truth we cannot see, but only feel from within.
Music offers life to the feelings we cannot name. When a melody or lyric just hits differently, and something inside us cracks, or blazes to life, or shatters apart entirely, that alchemy of sound meeting emotion & moving energy is absolute magick.
And it is a mirror, of where we are feeling deeper than we realise.
Music is magick. I have known that from my first awareness of it, and I know it more each time music & I meet. I could write all day about my love of music, my overwhelming gratitude for it, and all the worlds it has shown me; all the worlds it has brought to life in me.
Music speaks without words. It dances without form. It shows, while remaining entirely unseen.
Music can empower, uplift, hold space, make us feel seen, make us feel heard, give us safe space to grieve, move aside our hands and take the burden of cracking us open, all of our emotions flooding out in a torrent, a tidal wave of agony that will eventually give way to ecstasy.
Allow music to move you. This is how it shows you. Pay attention. Give in. Surrender.
And see.
The Magick of Mirrors
When was the last time you met yourself in the mirror? Without judgement, or expectation, or distaste, or hesitancy? Anxiety?
When was the last time you met your own gaze and thought, Yes.
Meet yourself where you are, right now. Meet yourself with strength, patience & gentleness. With compassion & unshakable Love.
Meet yourself, perhaps, for the very first time.
And know your power.
From an evil queen who knows, the mirror is not to blame – it only bears the truth we asked for.
Look deeper.
🪞 What do you see? 🪞
Blessings to you,
Wildlings, Darklings & Corvidae.
Love,
S xo