Creating a Shadow Mirror

Everyone who has ever seen or read any version of Snow White knows the famous line, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all."  The idea of magick mirrors goes all the way back to ancient Egypt, with the goddess Hathor possessing the most famous magick mirror of them all.  Magick mirrors have been used throughout the ages, with contemporary witches most commonly using the black mirror.  Your typical black mirror is used for scrying - a type of divination that involves gazing into the mirror to induce visions or a sort.  In his book, Shadow Magick Compendium, Raven Digitalis introduces the idea of creating a special black mirror for use in shadow magick.

Recently I've been working with the idea of mirrors and looking deeply into oneself, so I figured it was about time for me to make a Shadow Mirror.  Here's how I did it :)

You'll need:
A plain black frame, at least 5x7
Black acrylic spray paint that works on glass
A small container of acrylic black paint
Herbs
A paint brush
A silver leaf pen

The most important item is your picture frame.  It should be relatively plain and it must have a sheet of glass in it (no broken or chipped glass).  If it has one of those little stand up legs in the back, so much the better.  Otherwise you'll need to get a stand.  I happened to have an old 8x12 frame in my closet from when the local frame shop was having a 2 for 1 sale, so that bit was easy.  The herbs I needed I had in my kit, as well as a silver leaf pen.  The rest of the items were easily found in my local Fred Meyers.

The first thing I did was gather my herbs and grind them into a powder in my mortar and pestle.  I used mugwort, wormwood, damiana, sandalwood, mandrake, and a little dark goddess incense.  

Then I headed out into my garage to start painting.  I took the back off the frame so that the inside of the glass was exposed.  I then applied two coats of spray paint to the back of the glass.  I did this so that I'd have a nice smooth surface to look at when I worked with the mirror.

Once the spray paint was reasonably dry (I gave it an hour per coat), I mixed my crushed herbs with the liquid acrylic paint.  Depending on your herb to paint ratio this should end up about the consistency of tempera paint (the gloopy stuff you used in elementary school to paint banners).  

I used a small foam brush to apply my paint/herb goo to the back of the glass.  I applied a pretty darn thick layer (I'm pretty sure that glass is never coming out of that frame again, which is fine for my purposes).  I then set it in a cool, dark place to fully dry for 48 hours.

When it was done drying I had me a shiny new black mirror.  All that was left was to clean off the fingerprints and consecrate it.  

To consecrate it I cast a circle, burned a little incense, and called on my deity.  Then I wrote a sigilized version of my mirror incantation around the rim of the mirror with my silver leaf pen, in Theban.  The full incantation is: Mirror, mirror on the wall, show the shadows of us all.  Show me truth sharp as a lance; take me to the shadow's dance.

Once it was fully consecrated I thanked my deity and dispelled the circle.  I'll be keeping it in the closet with my other tools, careful to keep it out of direct sunlight.  I've got some New Moon Rituals that are just begging for a Shadow Mirror, so I look forward to using it very soon.