Normally I reply individually to as many comments as possible, however yesterday’s comments following my post on mirrors really deserved a separate little blog of their own. So here goes.

I was very interested in Lifes Lessons and his reaction to a programme on mirrors when he was little. In spite of the 20th/21st century and all its scientific advancements, we are still more than a little nervous when it comes to mirrors. They carry a part of us, after all, and they change as we change, through life. The idea of a mirror speaking to us (such as the one that had conversations with the Wicked Stepmother in Snow White) is not unusual. When my father ‘came back’ after his death, he appeared in a mirror to Mr Penry – this mirror had belonged to my father’s family, so there was a family link there.

And Philghodg’s account of accidentally cracking a mirror and feeling that he had somehow to ‘make things up to it’ to avoid seven years’ bad luck is also commonly found. When she was a child Mira saw the mirror not as her own reflection but as a magical gateway, and perhaps she was right. Magical gateways do pop up in some very odd places, and although many of them are out of doors, some do turn up indoors too. Maybe there was a magical gateway and a mirror in the same place.

Mirrors are even mentioned in the Bible, by St Paul, ‘then I saw as through a glass, darkly, but now face to face’ referring to the fact that early mirrors lacked the crystal clear images we take for granted nowadays. Often they were made from polished metal, and regarded as so fragile (and valuable) that they had another metal cover to protect them. Yet Narcissus was entranced by his reflection in a limpid pool, and pined away as a result.

I suspect distorted mirrors make us sick because they have a similar effect to vertigo, where everything starts swimming around you. But Mira really hit the nail on the head when she mentioned ‘good mirroring’ because what many people do not realise is that you can have interesting relationships with certain mirrors. Some are spiteful, some are loving, some are encouraging.

Amaletska’s comment that she looks in the mirror and thinks ‘Is this me’ is also perceptive, because she has inadvertently recognised one of the primary rules of mirror magic – you can be what you wish, but it all depends what is within you in the first place. So if you believe you are enormous, that is what you will see. If you believe you have a hooked nose, the mirror will point this out to you because this is what is in your mind. A ‘good’ mirror obliges its owner. (‘Bad’ mirrors should be binned.)

The mirror Mira remembers from childhood may even have been enchanted in some way at some earlier date. Mirrors have been used for scrying and divining since early times, and it’s perfectly possible that the full length mirror she mentions had been used for this at some point.

And this I think is where the idea of having seven years’ bad luck comes from. It takes years to build up a good relationship with your mirror and if you break it you have to start all over again. And during that time you have to do without the support of your ‘good mirror’. Of course, if your mirror wasn’t ‘good’ to begin with, you may well be better off without it!

Seeking the Green by Tylluan Penry, published soon by Capall Bann. For more info please watch this space!