At the stroke of midnight one day dies and another is born, and for a single breath the door between them stands unguarded. A mirror at that hour is not glass but a gate, and the one who looks may call something through.
This working reaches toward a turning of fortune’s wheel, a deliberate summoning of luck from the far side of the threshold into the year ahead. The salt line marks where one world ends and another begins; the bell announces you at the crossing. What answers the bell, you invite over by name.
The Working
- Just before midnight, set a mirror upright and place a single candle before it so two flames burn, one real and one reflected.
- Lay a line of salt on the floor between yourself and the mirror — the threshold you will not cross.
- As the hour turns, ring the bell three times into the glass to open the way.
- Meet your own reflected eyes and speak the charm without looking away, calling fortune to cross toward you.
- Watch the twin flames; when they bow or brighten together, know the wheel has turned.
- Ring the bell three times more to close the door before the last stroke of midnight has faded.
- Sweep the salt away at dawn and scatter it outdoors, sending off whatever tried to follow uninvited.
The Incantation
Midnight mirror, midnight gate,
turn the wheel and turn my fate.
Across the salt I call you near —
good fortune, cross into my year.
By bell and flame the way is wide,
come luck, come luck, and stand inside.
The hour turns, the door swings free;
what I have called now comes to me.
The spell is sealed with the bell’s final three strokes as midnight ends, and released at dawn when the salt is cast outdoors and the mirror is veiled once more.