see also Dicyanin Dye
One of the least known stories about H Spencer Lewis was his use of black mirrors for mystical work. His personal sanctum incorporated one. See photos below.
What are these mirrors? Back in the old days of
AMORC
when H. Spencer Lewis was Imperator he designed and had made
about two dozen special mirrors for experimental use by
members of the higher degrees. He wrote up special
experiments and exercises for them to try and report back to
him PERSONALLY the results.
Before long these members were reporting back wide-eyed tales
of incredible sanctum experiences that if summed up could
best be described as "intensely Cabalistic". When the
experiment cycle was over HSL requested rather insistently
that all mirrors be returned to him right away. Most were
returned but I suspect there may be a few out there other
than the one I have.
Back in the 1970's I interviewed 4 old members of AMORC and
according to the consensus HSL was looking for a specialized
mirror design for official RC sanctum use and it's only
purpose was for metaphysical work, unlike the regular dresser
mirrors that were commonly recommended for use in sanctums.
These mirrors were however, very expensive to produce and
beyond the reach of what most people could afford.
These experiments with the colored mirrors and their use of
color in meditation coincided with HSL's own research on the
subject that later became a part of the 12th Degree.
These mirrors were made of thick glass and measure 18" by
12". One side is treated with a flat coating of a very
dark
purple-black
dye.
I've had it analyzed by scientists at U of Chicago and
Stanford U here in California and the results are that
it's a type of
coal tar dye
commonly used in those days for a lot of industrial
application but also metaphysical optical instruments by
occult experimenters. Plus there were trace amount of
silver and other substances. The color is unlike
anything I've seen. Very very dark purple, or black with a
tiny touch of purple. Similar to the color you get if you
sandwich several Kodak Wratten #36 color photography filters
together and hold them to the light. Close but not exact.
Color does produce an effect as we all know. These mirrors
were really keyed into some color harmonic that was
especially conducive to initiating mystical experiences in
those who were already familiar with the practical use of
regular mirrors in their sanctum.
Take a look around where Rosicrucians gather and ask your
senior citizen AMORC friends. Maybe there's one of these
black mirrors laying about and no one knows what it is. My
description should help to identify it.
How did I get one? When I was working at RC Park in
1974 they were cleaning out an old storeroom to make way for
a new set of offices. Among the "junk" was a wooden
crate with a dozen black mirrors! When I saw them I
knew exactly what they were and confirmed it with my boss
there who was himself an old-timer and knew HSL and RML quite
well. In fact it was he who first told me the story of these
mirrors and even he didn't know any still existed. For the
princely sum of a $2 contribution to AMORC I was allowed to
take one home along with a receipt for "1 pane of colored
glass". Later I went back to try to buy the rest but they had
already been taken to the garbage dump!
The
best way to describe the black mirror is to compare it
to the regular reflective sanctum mirror. If the
regular mirror is like a general purpose radio receiver
with a somewhat unidirectional whip antenna then the
black mirror is like a military spy radio that can home
in on one frequency and cancel out all side-channel
crosstalk with a highly directional antenna.
In other words it's useful for meditating on one very
specific idea, concept or symbol and amplifying and
magnifying in on it to an exceptional degree.
It does have a downside however. It requires the use of
tight focused concentration but if you should use it and just
go into a general unfocused meditative state you'll get some
bizarre and even unpleasant results. Remember that scene from
Star Wars during Luke's Jedi training where Yoda sends him
into a dark cave. Luke asks Yoda what's in the cave and Yoda
replies "Only that which you bring with you".
If you want to read more on this fascinating subject or even
build a black mirror yourself I want to refer you to a book
on the subject called "How to Make and Use a Magic
Mirror" by Donald Tyson. It costs only $9 and can be
ordered from Amazon and most metaphysical bookstores can
order you a copy.
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