Ouji boards anyone?

i'm another that has used a ouija board for years and never had a problem.

of course, contacting anyone in the spirit world is never a game. i recommend casting a circle, calling upon your guides for protection, and only using it to call upon loved ones and ancestors.

There's a wonderful (book-length) poem by James Merrill (?) called The Changing Light at Sandover based on his years of experience with ouiji . . . I read it years ago, so I don't remember much, except that there were some really beautiful passages (& no darkness, nothing creepy).

Come to think of it, reading this book was what inspired me to experiment myself--with unpleasant results. I guess different people are cut out for different things (different strokes for different folks . . . )

zorya said:

i'm another that has used a ouija board for years and never had a problem.

of course, contacting anyone in the spirit world is never a game. i recommend casting a circle, calling upon your guides for protection, and only using it to call upon loved ones and ancestors.

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Zorya and punchinella- it's so good you've never had a problem with ouija boards, and I hope it may always be so. I can pretty much see eyes rolling out there in Aeclectic-land when someone gives a warning about a divinatory practice, imagining that the warning comes from a religious perspective or a holier-than-thou attitude. That's not the case here, and I want everyone to know I'm not climbing on anyone's case.

There are several threads here at Aeclectic that talk about the board and planchette, and almost all of them contain warnings. People use them because they're easy to find and easy to use, and one often gets startling results from them. That's a fairly seductive attraction.

The reason I'm repeating myself here is because it's very important for people newly attracted to various kinds of spiritual practices to know tis stuff. It points to a major difference between the use of the tarot and the use of ouija or automatic writing.

The way ouija works is by the operator resigning control over his/her physical and 'lower-astral' body, and surrendering it to the use of other influences. And since the operator usually knows nothing about the other influences/entities, there's no way to tell who or what is vibrating the planchette around. It's a kind of a crapshoot as to what sort of will is overshadowing one's body in order to produce the message on the board. The closest influences to the human level are those that exist in the 'lower astral' plane, and the reason it's called 'lower' is because those influences are mostly selfish and not all that smart, if not actually malignant. One might as well seek enlightenment in the local bar.

The tarot, by contrast, is used with full concentration on the highest influences one can reach. One doesn't give up control of one's body, and the aim is considerably higher. Properly done, there is almost no chance of problems occurring with tarot work.

rota said:

Zorya and punchinella- it's so good you've never had a problem with ouija boards, and I hope it may always be so.

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But Rota, I'm agreeing with you--my experiences have indeed been dubious, if not downright bad.

The closest influences to the human level are those that exist in the 'lower astral' plane, and the reason it's called 'lower' is because those influences are mostly selfish and not all that smart, if not actually malignant. One might as well seek enlightenment in the local bar.

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That's just exactly the feeling I got from working with ouiji. You put it so well.

Moreover--supposing one sets out to contact a deceased family member via ouiji. The purpose sounds like a good one . . . but my impression of working with the board is that there's really no way to know who or what you're talking to, regardless of who they say they are. I might think I'm in touch with the grandfather who died when I was two, when actually I'm communicating with an impostor. And, if I am communicating with someone or something other than my grandfather, & that being has falsely identified itself as my grandfather, then that being is a liar. --In which case, why do I want to communicate with it??? --What can I possibly hope to achieve?

It may be that people who really know what they're doing have ways of verifying who they connect with, or of ensuring higher-level contact. I wonder if there are books on this? Well, I'm sure there are . . . I wish I had a list to recommend!

old belief

honestly...i'm of the old belief of the board opening portals that you don't have any control over...usually the dark ones. my gut is telling me to tell you watch out. though you're creating with nothing but the highest loving intent...evil can still sneak out.

i'm sure it'll be a beautiful peicblessing pg

I had voices as a bi-polar, & these voices started out on the Ouija board. Speaking of liars: they actually had me believing they were *living* people! (This here is a first-time confession, folks!) No matter how spectacular your results - believe me, *mine* were!! - long, *long* conversations!! - always, ALWAYS take it with a grain of salt.

danubhe said:

ALWAYS take it with a grain of salt.

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And with the mention of salt, another way to protect yourself before using a ouji board, is to sprinkle sea salt (not table salt) around in a circle that you will be sitting with the board.

Much like zoryas suggestion of casting a circle I would think.

I think you could use peices of decorative stained glass for your board or maybe line the board with parchment and decoratively write the letters on.......(might be a bit messy and hard to read)

I really like the suggestions of using glass and stained glass. I'm sure that would be a beautiful piece! I use to use the ouija with mixed results. My final time was enough to scare me away for good.

Good luck with your project and if you use it do so with caution.

Stained glass is an interesting idea.... I need to get working on it, I would like to have it finished before it gets too cold outside!