Mrs Widds seemed in a pensive mood last night.
As couples who have been together for a while tend to do, we both, for no particular reason, turned to each other at the same time. I, from my computer and she, from her book.
Perhaps something had been triggered by what she had been reading, for she looked at me and asked, probably rhetorically, “Why do mirrors never show us as we see ourselves?”
“Because they lie,” I answered without thinking.
It’s not their fault, of course, they were cursed, a long, long time ago: And this is how it happened …
When they were first invented, by a cronemage who chose the name Skögul after one of the Valkyries of legend, mirrors reflected all aspects of the viewer back to themselves.
First there was the Physical image, but it was a weak, thinly defined, image, because, of course, the physical is only the first stage of one’s Self. Layered on the Physical, was the Mental image, where one could, if one looked closely enough, discern all the thoughts one had ever created. The third layer was the Emotional, thick and full of drama and beauty, it was the layer that created a three dimensional aspect to the other two. Finally came the Spirit layer that bound the other three to it and thereby giving the viewer what was known as a True Reflection.
Skögul made them, freely available to all who asked.
When she felt her life drawing to a close she made a special mirror that enabled her Spirit, at the moment of her Death, to brush lightly across the surface of all the mirrors she’d created, in a kind of a Blessing. Then she was no more.
Eventually one of Skögul’s mirrors crossed paths with a wizard. The sort of wizard who had long white hair and a long white beard, both longer, in his estimation than all the other wizards he knew. In fact the wizards gathered together once a year for a beard & hair measuring competition, as is the way with wizards who are concerned more with the length of their, beards, than being wizards.
This particular wizard looked at his reflection in the Skögul Mirror, and to his horror and disgust, saw the true nature of his Spirit.
He was also bald and cleanshaven, which wouldn’t do at all.
He gathered his dignity around him like a shroud and, ignoring the twitching eye in his reflection, cast a mighty spell that broke the enchantment on every one of the Skögul Mirrors, so they would show him only what he wanted to see.
Skögul, of course, had the last laugh. The wizards curse didn’t quite work out for him. From that moment on, all the mirrors ever made, in all the world, would only ever reflect back the thinnest, meanest, layer of what a person truly was.
Every now and then though, in dusty corners of second-hand stores, or mouse-nibbled boxes in attics and basements, and wrapped in cloth that smelled of mists on lakes, and sunsets on ancient stones, and if one is very lucky, a true Skögul Mirror will appear, and a True Reflection will be shown.
Widdershins Worlds 
Beautiful
Even though I’m a performer, & used to seeing myself in photos & film, I’m still surprised at how obvious it is that our Emotional & Spiritual selves cannot be properly captured by cameras (or mirrors); now I know it’s that dumb wizard’s fault, thank you
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It’s almost always some dumb wizards fault! 😀
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Yes i think that explains it. Good to know I’m not a bald old bugger who’s lost his dentures then.
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My thoughts exactly! 😀 Truth is we are all gods and goddesses, with form and features divine. 😀
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The person I see in the mirror is nothing like me at all, so thank you for explaining why this is in such a delightful way!
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It makes sense. 😀
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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That’ll teach Mrs Widds not to ask deep questions. Great story
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She always gets more than she bargains for! 😀 … the benefits of marrying a storyteller! 😀
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🙂
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Awesome story! Ever considered writing it as a screenplay? I’d like to see an epic fantasy pic based on this! 😎
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Wouldn’t that be cool!!! 😀 … this was one of those unpolished spur-of-the-moment storytelling things, but it’s got some good bones, that’s for sure. 😀
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❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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My pleasure! 😀
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Not sure I’d want to see a true reflection of myself. I’d be scared to look. Great story!
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It can be scary, but I think, for most people, the fear comes from not knowing, and social conditioning.
Glad you enjoyed the story. 😀
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What a revelation, now we know…
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Exactly! … down with the tyranny of mirrors! 😀
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Hmm. I wonder if this explains all those “fat mirrors.” Mirrors are sort of magical and even scary. No wonder you came up with this story.
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Yep, completely explains them! 😀
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I love it.
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And true too! 😀
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Nice story!
I believe all mirrors are magical, but its the Human condition to see, and like, or dislike what its reflected, generally more of the first when we are young, and more of the late, as we grow old. 🙂
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Sadly, yes.
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Loved your story. Thoughtful and humorous. It’s too true that a mirror only reflects the surface story and not the deep complex personality within.
At least that’s my belief and I’m sticking to it. (Pluck out those incoming gray hairs)
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T’would be interesting if someone did actually invent a mirror that showed us who we really were. 🙂
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