TALES OF TERROR

Dark Reflection Ritual

Here's what you'll need to do this ritual:

• A mirror of any type, 

• A candle of any size or color, 

• Friends to do it with (Optional, but highly suggested)

I should probably warn you, once you begin this ritual, there is no way to stop it. What I'm saying is, don't start it unless you are planning to finish it.

Have you ever broken a mirror, by accident or on purpose? Have you ever looked into a mirror and felt like there was something watching you from the other side, or seen something sinister lurking within the eyes of your own reflection? You've probably heard the legend that breaking a mirror is seven years bad luck.

Legends about mirrors have been around for hundreds of years. In particular, some ancient civilizations believed that there was a sort of purifying effect to mirrors. They believed that, by looking one's reflection in the eyes, it would transfer a person's negative energy into the reflection in the mirror. They believed that this had a cleansing effect, but also hidden dangers. That's why breaking a mirror has been known to cause bad luck. Think about it, if this is true, then every time you look into a mirror you are transferring negative energy into it. Can you imagine just how much negative energy is just sitting there inside your bathroom mirror? When you break the mirror, that negative energy is released and causes bad luck for everyone around it.

For this ritual to work, you will need a mirror that you don't mind breaking. According to the manifesto, both the risk and the eventual reward for this ritual are stronger depending on how old the mirror is. It makes sense if you think about it, an older mirror has been looked into more, and therefore, has more negative energy inside of it.

In order to begin the ritual, you must look your reflection in the eyes, transferring your negative energy into the mirror one last time. You only need to do this for a few seconds. Then, you need to lean forward and breathe onto the mirror, making it fog up with your breath. My sources refer to this as "anointing the mirror with your breath". At first, you might find this strange, but do a little digging and I think you'll find that the word "breath" once meant something similar to "spirit". By breathing on the mirror, you are symbolically linking yourself to the mirror and to the negative energy contained inside. This linking is critical to the success of the ritual.

Everyone in the group needs to do this step as well, before moving on to the next one. After this is completed, you can light the candle. Use the candle to burn the mirror, this agitates the negative energy inside. You only need to do this for a few seconds, or until there is a noticeable black mark on the mirror. Note that the longer you do this for, the more agitated the negative energy will become.

After this, the final step is breaking the mirror. Once this step is done, I suggest you start running. You see, it's actually a common misconception that, when a person breaks a mirror, they will be followed by bad luck. This is not true. When a mirror is broken, the bad energy stays in one spot, near the broken mirror, until it eventually dissipates. Or, at least, normally it does.

If you completed the above steps, then you have tied yourself to the negative energies, through the medium of your breath. This means that the negative energy will pursue you wherever you go. This is why I said earlier that it would be best to complete this ritual with a group. If there is only one person doing this ritual, then all the negative energy will pursue that one person, but if there is a group, then the negative energy will be spread more thinly. This increases your odds of survival.

Bad luck will follow you throughout the night. At first, it will start out as small incidents, a chipped nail or a flat tire. The incidents will begin to escalate though as increasingly horrific things begin to happen around you. Eventually, these incidents will become life threatening, no matter how many people you did the ritual with. Like I said, don't start this ritual unless you're planning to finish it.

The only piece of advice I can give you for surviving the night is to remember that the negative energy is linked to you through your breath. Your breath is how the negative energy detects you and so, if you find yourself in a bad situation, try holding your breath. This should make you temporarily invisible to it. Of course, you can only hold your breath for so long...

Still, this technique might provide you with a few extra seconds to get out of a dangerous situation.

At this point, you are probably asking yourself why on earth anyone would ever engage in this ritual. Why would anyone ever risk their life like this? Well, most people who try this probably didn't think that it would actually work, but there is a reason beyond that.

The bad luck will chase you throughout the night, but if you manage to survive until dawn, not only will you find that your run of foul luck has ended, but that a new streak of good luck is about to begin. The first lights of dawn have a special, purifying property. If you survive until the morning, then the negative energy inside the mirror will be purified and will re-enter your body, filling you to the brim with positive energy. After this, everything will seem to go your way. You'll find that people are generally nicer to you and that the opposite sex are extremely attracted to you (or the same sex, if that's your thing). You will succeed at everything you do, whether it be a job interview, an important exam, or a business venture. I would highly suggest buying a lottery ticket.

It should be noted that the amount, and duration, of your good luck will be equivalent to the amount of negative energy that was in the mirror. If you just bought the mirror at the store then the good-luck will only last a couple of days and will not be all that severe. If you use an old mirror though, then your lucky streak will be far more powerful and it may last for months or even years, if you had an old enough mirror. If you use a mirror that has a more personal connection to you, such as a bathroom mirror or a mirror from your bedroom, then the good fortune you experience will be more suited to your particular tastes and desires.

One more thing I should probably warn you about is the timing of the ritual. The ritual needs to be started after sunset and with at least six hours until dawn. Two common tricks that people try to use in regards to this ritual are starting during the daytime and starting a few minutes before dawn.

Starting near dawn is probably the least dangerous of these little cheats. If you start near the dawn then the negative energy will not have enough time to fully manifest before being purified. The energy will then simply dissipate into the air rather than doing anything and you will probably walk away thinking it was all a gigantic hoax.

Starting during the day is more dangerous. People start during the day thinking that the daylight will instantly nuke the bad energy and keep them safe. This is not true. Notice that I said it was the lights of dawn that have the purifying power, not the light of day. By starting during the day, you actually give the bad luck more time to pursue you and thus decrease your odds of survival significantly.

You know, a lot of people might call you stupid or crazy for trying to attempt this ritual. I wouldn't, though. I can understand the thinking that goes into it. I can understand wanting to take control of your luck, both good and bad, rather than accepting the seemingly random twists and turns that life seems to throw at us.