Interesting comment, actually, because he did something called Scrying, which typically involves gazing into a reflective surface, like the bowl of water you mention, using it as a mirror or a crystal ball, hoping to induce a trance-like state and gain insight into the unknown. He would chant prayers and incantations which he claimed would induce the prophetic visions that he recorded in the "quatrains," his collection of cryptic, four-line verses known as "Les Propheties," which basically became the mainstay of the Weekly World News, LOL