FAQ

QUESTION: What do you think about Ouija boards?

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ANSWER: The topic of Ouija boards seems to come up a lot. Let me be honest here. I don't like them. And it's not just because it can draw unwelcome spirits, set you up for possession, and trigger unpleasant hauntings. It's because no matter what answer you get, it may be lose-lose. Let me walk you through the combinations of what kinds of situations occur when people play around with a Ouija board. We'll start with the most common situations and work our way up in complexity. Although conscious fraud can occur in all situations, it's complicating effect is pretty obvious, so I'll only go through it for the first two situations.

FIRST SCENARIO: No Spirit - No Unconscious Input - No Conscious Fraud:
You can have one of two situation when there are no spirits present, nothing coming through ideomotor or as PK from the unconscious mind, and no one playing games: either nothing happens (which is really boring) or you can get results that are due to artifact. "How is this?" you might ask. Well, boards get sticky, especially with use. It can be as simple as from the oil in your skin. Regardless, if you run your fingertips lightly over the surface of your board before you start, you can often feel if there are changes in texture that will tend to catch or stop the glass or planchette over certain letters. Likewise, if you notice when using the board that you keep getting certain letters of the alphabet, be suspicious. It may just be artifact from the board itself.

SECOND SCENARIO: No Spirits - No Unconscious Input - Conscious Fraud Present:
This is a common combination. Usually one person around the table (or more) decides to play a joke on someone else and pushes the planchette around. The information isn't accurate, but it often really freaks people out.

THIRD SCENARIO: No Spirits - Unconscious Input Present:
This is another common combination. The unconscious mind can get involved in one of three ways.

1. The unconscious mind can provide true information, either psychically or from your own memory storage banks. Even though these are accurate answers, they may not always be helpful or desirable. I've heard of situations like when an affair someone didn't want others to know about came out. Everyone has a few skeletons in their closet or feelings that they'd rather not be made public. Using the Ouija board may open the door to something you regret getting out. And every psychic knows that the most important part of doing a reading may not be what you say, but knowing what to withhold because it may not only not be helpful, but actively harm. The Ouija board shows no such discretion. Furthermore, opening the door to the unconscious mind can cause people to have an unexpected psychic opening they aren't ready for and don't know how to handle. This can be a big problem.
2. The unconscious mind can provide false information. This is usually either because the psychic answers are distorted by someone's personal issues or because the unconscious mind honestly doesn't know the answer to what was asked but wants to be helpful, so it makes something up. This can lead to people falsely believing something is true that isn't, or at least make them question and doubt what they shouldn't.
3. The unconscious mind can perform psychokinesis (PK). Objects can start moving on their own or flying through the air. Usually this occurs in highly emotionally charged situations or when people (especially teenagers) are under stress. The latter can be a vicious cycle because it freaks people out and the freaked out people are apt to perform more PK  which then leads to people getting even more freaked out...and you get the picture. Individuals with significant psychic ability may get so freaked out that they block their own gift and refuse to ever use it again. This is a problem because it often appears to lead to major health problems for those folks down the road.

You'll notice that NONE of these outcomes are necessarily good ones - not even when you get accurate psychic information if it spills the beans on someone's secret or is hurtful information. And there's no easy way to know if what you learn is true or false.  Add a bit of conscious fraud with someone playing around, trying to raise the stakes, and it get even worse.

FOURTH SCENARIO: Spirits Present - No Unconscious Input:
This is the situation that most people probably hope for, or think they're going to get, with a Ouija board. In fact, having a circle and asking that any spirits come through without setting parameters can cause all kinds of trouble. Spirits may be able to use their minds through psychokinesis (PK) to move the planchette and provide answers. I'd say this is actually very rare. Nonetheless it can create one of four situations, none of which are great:

1. The spirits provide true, accurate information. This is sometimes a setup to get you to falsely trust them.
2. The spirits provide false information that you are either tricked into believing or that cause you to doubt something that it true. I know of NO WAY to guarantee that a spirit tell the truth. I've heard people claim if you ask a spirit the same question 3 times that they'll have to tell the truth. Wrong. The spirit might get bored and wander off, but nothing FORCES them to tell the truth. So, you need to be really, really careful about believing what comes through.
3. The PK used by spirits to communicate may totally freak everyone out. This is especially a problem if one or more people at the Ouija board has significant psychic talent and gets scared to the point that they totally shut down their gift. As mentioned before, blocking your psi appears to cause major health problems down the road.
4. The spirit may take advantage of the open door created by those using the Ouija board by trying to possess one or more of the people present. I've also heard of situations where a Ouija board session attracted negative spirits that then began to haunt those involved. Neither of these are good situations to get into.

FIFTH SCENARIO: Spirits Present - Unconscious Input:
This is a bit more common than the fourth situation, as the spirits are not limited to PK but can communicate with participants and influence their movement of the planchette. Nonetheless, it has all the potential problems and pitfalls listed above.

1. The spirits provide true, accurate information. As before, this can be a setup to get you to falsely trust them and may not be helpful information.
2. Your unconscious mind, whether through psi or by retrieving something from memory (whether consciously forgotten or otherwise) provides true, accurate information. This is okay as long as it isn't something you didn't want others to know about or that doesn't cause harm by being made public.
3. The spirits provide you with false information that you are tricked into believing or that cause you to doubt something that it true. As before, I know of no sure way to force spirits to tell the truth, even if they know it (which they may not).
4. Your unconscious mind may provide false information either because of your own bias/distortion of psychic data or because it doesn't know the answer and is just trying to be helpful by making one up. The result can trick you into believing something that isn't really true, or at least create false doubt.
5. The PK used by spirits and/or the participants may really freak people out. This is especially a problem if one or more people at the Ouija board has significant psychic talent and gets scared to the point that they totally shut down their gift. As mentioned before, blocking your psi appears to cause major health problems down the road.
6. The spirit may take advantage of the open door created by those using the Ouija board and asking spirits to come in by trying to possess one or more of the people present. I've also heard of situations where a Ouija board session attracted negative spirits that then began to haunt those involved. Neither of these are good situations to get into.

Of course, there are some experienced Ouija board users out there who get solid information, either from their own psi or a genuine spirit and who know how to be wary of, and protect themselves from, these pitfalls. Nonetheless, I really don't recommend people treating Ouija boards (or any other form of spirit communication) as a game. Take it seriously. Take precautions. Don't ask for just any spirit, but only the highest and best (but recognize others may come through). Perhaps most importantly, don't get sucked into putting too much faith into whatever answers you get - keep at least a grain of doubt about it's truthfulness.

Since it's clear that I don't recommend Ouija boards, you might ask whether I recommend any form of spirit communication. Yes, I do. I think trained mediums have a big edge over using Ouija boards for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it's often possible to get a sense of whether you're being lied to by the spirit. Second, it's a faster and less cumbersome form of communication since you're not limited to spelling words out one letter at a time, but can get entire complex ideas in one quick mental image. Third, they are better able to provide psychic protection and, when needed, move spirits on to the light. But you would need to first learn how to communicate with spirits under the guidance and tutelage of an experienced teacher - not by playing around on your own. If you're not a psychic medium and you want to communicate with friends and family who have passed into the other side, you can do so through your dreams. This is a technique that has been successfully used for thousands of years. As you lie in bed getting ready to fall asleep, think about with whom you would like to speak - perhaps mentally imagine yourself sending out an invitation or setting out a tea table for them to share with you that night. Then, write down your dreams the next morning. See if you have messages or simply a warm, comforted feeling. If there is one thing that is clear in channeled messages, it's that the bond of love doesn't end when a soul crosses over into the afterlife - it lives on.

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