A mirror is a doorway laid flat, and on the full moon its silver runs deep as any well. Look long enough, and it will show you the road between here and the one you miss.
This working turns the glass into a lantern seen from far away, casting the image of home into the dreams and idle glances of the wanderer. It reaches across every mile to lay their own threshold before their eyes, until the wanting of it turns them and walks them back.
The Working
- On the night of the full moon, set a mirror flat and place a shallow bowl of water beside it to catch the moon.
- Ring the mirror with a fine line of salt to keep the working true and turn away any false road.
- Light a single candle so its flame falls upon the glass, but your own face does not.
- Breathe the wanderer’s name onto the mirror until it fogs, then let it clear.
- Gaze into the moonlit silver and hold in your mind the image of your door, your window, your waiting light — as they would see it, coming up the road.
- When the image steadies, speak the incantation, sending the vision down the long glass road toward them.
- Cover the mirror with a dark cloth to hold the calling within, and uncover it to the moon each night until they come.
The Incantation
Silver water, moonlit glass,
show the road where the lost feet pass.
Carry my door to a far-off eye,
a waiting window, a lit-up sky.
Let them see it in waking and dream,
the near, kind light, the homeward gleam.
Down the long glass, down the moon’s white road —
come to the door, come home, come home.
The moon will carry what the glass has shown; and one night the face you called will be no reflection at all, but the true one at your door.