I’ve recently started mirror gazing in normal ambient conditions, and nothing particularly “ritualistic.” I sit still and look directly into my eyes in the mirror. No affirmations, no expectations. Just presence.

What’s been happening, though, is a little surreal.

Within the first minute, my face starts to shift. The most consistent pattern? My neutral expression starts to smirk—subtly at first, then more noticeably. The odd part is that I’m not doing it. It’s like watching a part of me that isn’t “me” take over. A version of myself that feels smarter, older, and amused by my attempt to look inward. There’s no malice, but there's definitely a mocking edge to it.

Even more striking are the eyes. Sometimes they suddenly seem... ancient. Like they belong to something far older than me, watching through my face. There’s a deep calm in them—but also a distance. As if they hold a kind of wisdom I haven’t earned yet, and they're just tolerating my presence. It doesn’t feel like delusion—it feels symbolic, like I’m witnessing a part of the psyche that usually stays submerged.

From a Jungian perspective, I can’t help but wonder if this is the Trickster archetype showing up. The smirk feels like a classic Trickster grin—half challenge, half riddle. It doesn’t want to be understood, and maybe that’s the point. It’s not trying to tell me something directly—it’s provoking me into deeper awareness through discomfort and ambiguity.

At the same time, the eyes feel more aligned with the capital-S Self—that transpersonal, integrated wholeness Jung described. Maybe the Trickster is the gatekeeper, and these mirror sessions are my first step into an encounter with something deeper in the unconscious.

I’m curious if anyone here has experienced similar things when doing it?