About the books; structure, routine and practise are important aspects of any artistic expression or divination method, especially in the beginning. A book can help you set up those routines and stay with your project, hold your hand through the first phases of the process. But you don´t need it. Along the same lines that some people claim that you really don´t need tarot cards, or crystal balls or any other tool of divination, since it is all inside you.
I think everybody needs to find their own way of reading crystal balls, and that we all have to keep an open mind about what readings should be like, before we find our own particular style. In my experience, different reading styles depend a lot on what qualities and strengths the reader already has. If you are emotionally sensitive to other people, you might go into an emotional trance while reading. If you are visual you might see inner films, inside your head or in the crystal ball. If you respond well to sound you might hear melodies or voices. Or if you work well with associations, you might find the inclusions and formations useful as door-openers. Etcetera. And you might also surprise yourself, opening up new channels, possibilities for information coming in, or becoming conscious for you.
The point is, we need the structure and routine to turn the flow of information on and off, to not turn ourself into a constantly switched on radio-receivers of information. I think the crystal ball, as any other form of divination only serves as a protective excuse and trigger to channel all the things that are already available around us and inside us. I don´t think we need the crystal ball or the tarot deck to pick up on that information, but I think those tools provide us with structure and a deciphered language that makes the information accessible to us, and protects us from being switched on radios all the time.
Some tools work better for us than others, because we connect with different tools in different ways.
What I would be surprised to see work for anyone, would be a totally intellectual approach. I think we need the dual attention of both the left and the right hemisphere of the brain to connect the emotional/intuitive material with the conscious side of the brain that allows us to create sense and meaning from what we perceive.
In my opinion, spending time with your crystal ball, learning by doing, is what is important.
Having said that, I still think that Uma Silbey´s book is the best how-to book available, if written assistance is what you are looking for.
LB, I agree with you that crystal ball gazing is perhaps more demanding than other divination methods, because it challenges us to keep an open mind and be honest with ourselves and what we perceive, ultimately without the guidelines of written guide-books or encyclopedias. I cannot tell you whether or not you will eventually see visual imagery in your crystal ball, or whether it was a name for your crystal ball or not that popped into your head, but from my perspective the process that took place looked like a doorway opening up in your relationship with the crystal ball, for your particular reading style. And while it was not a reading in itself, it very well could have been the first initial steps of a reading.
And by the way Pumpkin the doorknob-stand is fantastic! Great lateral thinking on your part! And symbolic too, a doorknob opening up doors, ha ha...
