[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Oh, very good Tirned Tinnu! You know, I've really appreciated your mystical-historical lore from both this and the "Dead Marshes" thread. First the history of the various English legends of the Will O' the Wisp and corpse lights, now Circe. It seems likely Tolkien would draw on such classic sources (not being much of a magic buff).

I admit, my sense that Galadriel was using a divination method that was not dependent on the Mirror itself being magical, comes from my own experience with divination. The precautions of not contaminating the object used for divination, of breathing on the surface after some prayer etc., are all very simliar to what is in use today. Standard practice you might say. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] I use a traditional Tibetan Buddhist method called 'Mo' involving counting beads on a mala (rosary), and one involving a translated text. Surprisingly accurate. Did one concerning a sick co-worker, which not only showed me the seriousness of his illness (no one had told me what it was, but I was given a picture of a hooded person holding a sickle - yipe - he had a kind of brain tumor that was inoperable), the fact he was going to be okay, and quick successive rich images of a catholic church, censers and brocade robes, money being given, a general attitude of benevolence towards others. As it worked out he was a big donor to the Catholic church, and many people relied on him for his advice. Two years later, he is fine; his son was born just a year ago.

-Maril