séance
Is It Safe To Use A Ouija Board?
I have been asked over the years if it is safe to use the Ouija Board as a spiritual or divinatory tool. This is a simple question with a complex answer, as it depends very much on who will be using the Ouija, as well as the intended purpose or goal.
To simply say yes or no would be the same as saying someone should or should not use tarot cards, runes, crystal balls, or scrying mirrors, as they all involve communication with the spirit realm.
While I personally do not use Ouija as a mediumship or divination tool, it certainly should not be used as a toy, especially by people who are simply curious and unfamiliar with working with the spirit realm.
I do not know of anyone who has been physically harmed by contacting spirit via Ouija, but I have worked in the past with a client whose mental health and emotional well-being were severely affected by it.
I’ve also heard from a fellow psychic involved in paranormal investigations that she was called in to deal with disturbing paranormal activity in someone’s home that was triggered by a botched amateur séance.
Contrary to popular belief, the Ouija board was originally created as a fun family board game that seemed to have nothing to do with spiritualism or the occult. The truth is that the concept actually has spiritual origins. There is evidence, for example, of a planchette-like device used for divination in ancient China around 1100 A.D., and it is a historical fact that the commercial Ouija Board “game” actually has its roots in spiritualism.
The Ancient Art Of Scrying
When the evil queen in Walt Disney’s animated classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), says, “Magic mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” she is not merely admiring the beauty of her own reflection. Instead, she is practicing an ancient divination technique known as scrying. In this case ‘mirror scrying,’ also known as catoptromancy.
Scrying is the metaphysical practice of gazing into a reflective surface, such as a crystal ball, mirror or water, in order to perceive spiritual insights, spirit messages or clairvoyant visions of the future.
In most societies, since time began, people used different tools in attempts to scry for answers about the present and future. It seems to be human nature to want to know what is in store for us in the future. Often scrying was done in the confines of royalty or religion – reserved only for the privileged few deemed worthy to do it.
Scrying was often a practice learned and applied within a family, as children often watched their elders scry. People did not write down how to do such things in the early days. The secrets of scrying was handed down from one family member to another. However, this metaphysical practice can be learned by almost all people with some dedication, concentration and patience.
Many objects can be used to scry. Apart from the traditional crystal ball or mirror, one can also make use of a candle, water, ink, smoke, tea leaves, or even a glass of dark wine. In ancient Egypt there were sacred lotus pools used by priests for scrying. Shallow scrying bowls, carved from dark stone, have been found in many parts of the world. When filled with water, ink or dark red wine they too became ‘mirrors’ for scrying. The crystal sphere that many modern practitioners use is a more recent innovation. The earliest examples, used primarily for divination date, from about 1500 AD.
When Will Your Loved Ones In Spirit Make Contact?
I recently attended my nearest spiritualism centre here in Spain. They don’t have formal Spiritualist churches here, but other venues are used for spiritualist services in various locations across the country. The services I attend are held at a large bakery owned by fellow expats who have passion for spiritualism and enjoy bringing believers together to connect with their loved ones on the Other Side.
At this particular service, a gifted medium from England took the platform. Her energy was serene and caring, and the loving energy among the large gathering was tangible.
Healing was first offered to those in need by a group of spiritual healers prior to the session. Distant healing was also sent to people and pets that could not attend. Their names were read from a list for the congregation to send healing energy. One could feel the unlimited abundance of love energy in the room!
The last time I felt such an intense energy vibration was at the end of a week-long course I attended at the Arthur Findlay College of Spiritualism and Psychic Sciences decades ago. All the inspired students and their mentors were gathered in the large hall for a farewell meditation. A large basket of flowers had been placed in the middle of the auditorium, and I literally saw it levitate a few of inches off the floor that night. The energy from the crowd and spirit’s presence in the room was that loving and powerful!
My father passed almost 17 years ago, but through the years I have had very little spirit communication from my father. Although we were quite close most of my life, and I had nursed him through his final months of terminal illness, he had become bitter and exceptionally domineering towards the end of his life.
Spirit Channeling In The Trance State
The term ‘trance’ is sometimes misunderstood in psychic mediumship. The trance state is an altered state of consciousness that enables a medium to communicate with spirit. This shouldn’t be confused with spirit possession, as depicted in some Hollywood films and television shows. There is nothing evil or demonic about mediumship and trance channeling!
In a trance state, the psychic medium’s consciousness serves as a conduit for spirit. It is a two-way communication, and the purest and most trusting form of partnership between the physical and spiritual worlds.
There are essentially two levels or types of spirit channeling, namely mental mediumship and physical mediumship.
Mental mediumship, sometimes also called ‘telepathic mediumship,’ is what most people are familiar with namely to communicate with spirit while fully conscious. Mental mediums use various levels of trance to channel spirit messages.
One of the most famous mental mediums was as the American psychic Edgar Cayce, also known as the ‘sleeping prophet,’ who channeled his higher self while in the trance state. Cayce was a devout Christian who in in a trance state with his eyes closed would answer questions on a variety of subjects, such as healing, dreams, the afterlife, past lives and reincarnation.
While mental mediumship is communication experienced only by the medium or channeler, physical mediumship is also evident to everyone who is with the medium. Mental mediumship involves only the mind of the medium, while in physical mediumship the body of the medium is used to channel information from spirit.
Physical mediumship can involve various physical manifestations of spirit energies, such as the moving of objects, table rapping, and spirit materializations. These phenomena usually occur during séances. There are not many physical mediums these days because this form of channeling requires extensive training and is a psychic practice that can take many years to develop.
Mediums To The Rescue
When some people pass away, they are taken by surprise and in shock. These souls aren’t sure what is going on, where they are now, and how they got there, while wondering where everyone else has gone. These individuals find themselves stuck in a physical, human mindset and unable to progress in the spirit realm.
How can such a confused soul energy become unstuck and cross over into the light? Well, that’s where spirit rescue work comes in! Some of the most rewarding spiritual experiences in my own mediumship career have been during rescue sessions that I used to attend. Once every month, a group of mediums would gather in a séance circle and with the aid of a facilitator we would engage in the rescue process. In the trance state, one of us would then begin to channel the energy of someone who needed assistance to cross over and reach the Other Side.
There are several rescue sessions that particularly stand out in my memory, even after all these years. The first was the spirit of a young woman about 35 years of age. She had been sitting on her kitchen counter in Indiana for months, wondering where the rest of her family had gone? We soon discovered that they had all been killed in a car accident and only she had returned home to search for everyone. The facilitator encouraged her to look to the light, reach for their outstretched hands and join her husband and two children.
Another time, I channeled the energy of a little boy about six years old. He was hiding under one end of his bed, which was on an angle forming a tent over him. He had perished in a house fire in Nebraska and couldn’t find his parents. We encouraged him to look towards the light and reach for his waiting mother’s hand.
Another unusual case was a patriotic young WWII soldier who had been killed in combat, but refused to abandon his post. Our facilitator had to give him a direct order to look to the light and immediately report to his commanding officer!
Mental Mediumship
There are two forms of psychic mediumship: physical and mental. Physical mediumship is instead the manipulation of energies and energy systems by spirits. This type of mediumship is involves physical manifestations that can be observed by others, such voices; tapping, raps and other noises; apports (materialized objects), and materialized spirit apparitions.
Mental mediumship however only utilizes the mind and is purely mental phenomenon. Forms of mental mediumship include perceptions of clairvoyance (seeing), clairsentience (sensing), claircognizance (knowing), clairaudience (hearing), clairempathy (feeling), clairolfaction (smelling), clairgustance (tasting), clairtangence (touching), inspirational speaking, automatic writing, and energy healing. These mental aspects express more of the personality of a medium than the physical aspects, as all thoughts come through the mind of the instrument.
The sending and receiving of thought vibrations by the human mind has been known to man since the dawn of time. Telepathy and psychokinesis have also been extensively studied in parapsychology. I believe the thought vibrations sent out from the human brain take on form and persist in the ether after the individual sending them has forgotten all about them.
These thought waves have the ability to interact with the thought waves of others that come within the same range of vibration. In other words, like attracts like. A person thinking thoughts of a certain nature will attract to themselves from the ether thoughts of a like nature that have been sent out by other individuals.
Each individual is a sending and also a receiving ‘station,’ all attuned to a unique frequency or rate of vibration. As a result, it is best to send out those kind of thoughts that will attract to us only similar thoughts of a constructive nature.
Miracle Moments In Mediumship Readings
Mediums are a mouthpiece for the spirit world, or the ‘telephone’ in the middle. In a mediumship reading spirit may come through with a short, simple greeting or a full hour reading. The medium is merely the messenger and does not control the process. It is a three-way conversation between the client, spirit and the medium.
It is, of course, important for the sitter or client that spirit gives validating information or evidence that the medium could not possibly know or guess. This ‘seals the deal’ so to speak. The best way to receive these validations is to allow spirit to just take the lead and let the miracle unfold. The medium or the client trying to take charge and steer the reading is never a good idea.
Some typical examples of spontaneous evidence may include their birthname or nickname, their dates of birth and passing, how they passed, their personality and physical appearance when they were in this life, their career or business, their favorite hobby or sport, and even a beloved song, a saying they may have used a lot, or a family inside joke.
An unusual reading I will never forget was the time spirit kept showing me a yellow kayak that had rolled over in the water, to indicate his cause of death. Someone dying in a hospital bed is generic, but there is no way anyone could have guessed such an unusual fatal event. That is what I mean by authentic evidence in a reading.
I love it when a client gets that ‘ah ha’ moment, when they know without a shadow of doubt they are talking to a loved one. It is a beautiful miracle for all involved. Most of the time it is also a deeply healing experience.
I recently had a father come through with the unusual nickname he used to call his daughter. She did not ask me at the beginning of the reading what her father used to call her. He just revealed it to me unexpectedly. This is the best way to approach mediumship readings. In my experience, skeptical ‘test questions’ seldom succeed with spirit. In fact, there is usually no response to such ‘tests.’
