Scrying.
A divinatory practice of gazing into a reflective or translucent surface to receive impressions, images, or insight.
Scrying is the old practice of gazing into a reflective surface (a polished stone, a bowl of water, a black mirror, or the famous crystal ball) and waiting for impressions to surface. The word comes from the Middle English descry, "to perceive at a distance." Versions of it appear across many cultures: obsidian mirrors in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, dark bowls of water in classical Greece, polished hematite in the Roman world, and the rock-crystal spheres associated with Renaissance and Victorian occultism.
The technique itself is simple. The eyes settle on the surface in a soft, slightly out-of-focus gaze. The mind is asked to hold a question without grasping for an answer. After a few minutes the surface often appears to cloud, brighten, or shift, and images, words, or feelings rise up. Most experienced scryers describe the result less as seeing pictures and more as accessing a quieter layer of intuition.
In modern crystal practice scrying is treated as a contemplative tool rather than a literal forecasting method. It is closer to a visual meditation that gives the unconscious a chance to be heard.