[Ed note-- While this file seems useful in some of its concepts, I would highly recommend the excercise of both caution and prudence as well as some form of 'magical' protection before attempting to use Ouija boards for divination. --Amythyst] General Topic : Channeling Specifically : Divination Devices. Picture a scene... Six young students; four women and two men. Ages ranging from seventeen to twenty-three. All are sitting in a small dormatory room. One male sits on a bed near the door nervously watching the group. Two of the women sit on another bed; nearer to the action. One of these women wields a pen, busily writing down the letters that the members of the group call out. Within arms- length two females and one male sit around a small table. Thier eyes transfixxed on a small glass cup which upon each one has a single finger resting. The table is divided into many sections; The alphabet lay scattered about in organized chaos surrounding and crossing through words such as Yes, No, What, and Why, among others. The room's lights are slightly dimmed. Even though no one says it out loud, there is a great feeling of expectancy. Each of the six has a hidden reason for attending, yet all are curious to play with toys that they were never encouraged to play with as childred. Channeling a neither something new nor something old, it is something that has always been. The above scene is a picture from memory. Many times I have seen postings on this group and others describing channeling as being demonic. Now I'd like to take a moment and describe my knowledge of channeling. Hopefully, this knowledge may open a few minds and give a new perspective to an unaccepted social practice. Basics: The diversity of channeling devices is astounding. Almost anything can be used to channel. A channeling device is anything that is used in conjunction with oneself in order to better understand the messages one recieves. Some of the more known devices are tarot cards, Ouija boards, divination rods (the common name escapes me for the moment), and autowriting. There are thousands of other devices used in conjunction with channeling. No device has been proven to be effective in the interpretation or amplification of channeled messages. (Professor Reich's device excluded - as I've never read a proper report on it yet.) To narrow down a bit, I'll stick with the device commercially called a Ouija Board. The history of the board can be found either on a boxxed set of the game or within the backlogs of the forum. I'll stick to the name Ouija Board hereafter, even though many channeling boards are nothing like the game set. A ouija board can be of any size or dimension. It can contain words, numbers, letters, symbols, or anything else for that matter. The commercial set uses a plastic pointer with felted bottoms to ease it's abilty to slide on it's board. Some people refer to the pointer as a planchette. The pointer can be almost anything that will easily slide on it's board's surface. Glass vessels are often used. Most- likely this is due two one of two reasons: 1) the crystaline properties inherant to it's structure or 2) it's a handy item that most people have around. As to the board design; there are many. Some people tend to stick to the commercial set, while others design hand-carved wooden tables with polished glass tops. Blood is also used by some who believe that once one becomes part of the board then they can master it's power more easily and control it's forces better. Preliminary Ceremonies: Sometimes a cloth is kept with the board to wipe it clean of spiritual residue before and after the board has been used. Mostly, it's a good idea to keep one's board free of dust so the pointer can move freely. Another practice is to dim the lights and light a candle(s). A prayer of protection is also used often to protect the channeler from evil forces. Many practices are used, as there are too many theories and too few facts to give people. Most people are afraid and will do anything that they think will aid and protect them. The Act Itself: Initially a session begins with a number of people grouped around a board. The number commonly varies between two and four members. A common belief is that a person will be open to a spirit's will if the person maniplulates the board alone. The initial cerimonies are preformed and each member of the group places a finger or two on the pointer. If there is no table then the board is placed so that it touches the knees of each of the members. Usually a caller is determined, a person who is either experienced with channeling or one who has a strong will. Hereafter the session can go in a multitude of directions. Common practic is for the caller to ask if there are any spirits in the room. If there is no caller, then the channelers take turns asking questions of the spirit; either verbally or mentally. Some Facts About the Spirits: [Ed. note-- refer to my comment at the beginning of this document. Most deleterious effects can be avoided by working withing a 'protected' area. --Amythyst] 1. Spirits do not know everything. 2. Spirits are mostly common folk. 3. Spirits cannot predict the future, although some would like to. 4. Spirits do lie. They welcome the chance to chat and will tell a person anything to keep them on the 'line'. 5. People who channel often will have a greater following of spirits. The reason being that spirits hang around hoping to chat; to somehow get a piece of what they miss while in thier non-corpral state. This also extends to thier efforts to steal one's strength. This can work for or against thepractitioner. 6. Each living person has a soul mate. The purpose of this soul mate is unknown. Maybe it is the guide that leads one's soul from thier body when one dies. 7. Most spirits are weak powerless entities. Most 'evil' ones are good at scaring the channelers, somehow deriving pleasure from thier fear. Very few of these have the strength to do anything more than talk. 8. Spirits are just like people; good, evil, neutral. Most border on neutral with good tendancies. Like others have expressed in this forum; people are not good or evil, only shades of grey. Most spirits one meets while channeling meet this criteria. 9. Any spirit that must go through a channeler in order to come in contact with the living will be virtually without any strength. This doesn't mean they will be powerless, it does imply that a spirit's strength in the living world is proportional to the strength (will) of the caller. 10. Most spirits talk of a corridor and that they cannot truely see or feel, but they can tell whether another entity is around and if the other entity has malicious tendancies. 11. Entities if asked about god, heaven, or hell will often either make no response or give a response of unsuredness. 12. Most entities can't spell very well. 13. Entities who have been "out of touch" for a long period of time will have problems relating to the living. They tend to forget who they are, what it feels like to be alive, even what it means to be alive. In essence they tend to forget that which they have little or no use for. Observations: Devices such as Ouija boards are no better or worse than any other such device that a practitioner uses as a focus. For once someone has mastered the ability to focus thier attention, such devices will not be needed again. Granted, no one likes to abandon the one tool that most aided them on thier path of learning. Initially a person begins as a student, learning the basics; like how to feel and how to tell the difference between feeling true forces and non-true forces. A true force is one that is physical and can be measured (assuming one had the equipment or resources). Non-true forces are those that come from one's imagination. The second level is when one can not only feel, but also hear. Usually one has to teach oneself to hear. To hear one must open thier mind to the speaking voices. When one begins channeling they cannot feel nor hear so thier limbs must be forced to move a pointer on a board. Breaking words down to thier components (letters) is not always an easy task. It is much easier to hear a whole word then wait for the board to spell it out for you. Mostly what one needs to do is listen for the words and guess at thier meanings, but never force the pointer to letters. If you're guess is correct then good, if not just keep at it. If your ability good enough or the spirit strong enough, you will hear it's words of frustration when your guess is wrong. Once you can hear words, sentences will not be far behind. The last level (surely not the last) is when the channeler puts down thier device and no longer needs it. When this happens, the channeler can now see. Like the other levels, seeing is an enhancement of one's existing abilities. To see one needs to have found thier focal point. To say it is a point of great power is to under estimate it. For each person the exact point is different. Once one can see, this ability will stay with them, even if they give up the pratice of channeling. Seeing covers many areas; it is the visualization of auras, second sight, travel, among many other things. This level is a spring- board point from which the channeler can easily move on to other psi-related areas. Expectations: Why does a ouija board directly/indirectly contact spirits whereas tarrot cards only seem to flirt with spirits who know the future and past? The reason is that our expectations of these devices are different. When one uses a ouija board they expect to contact a spirit (or non-tangable force). If one thinks they will come in contact with the devil, then maybe they will. It's an internal force that one deals with when channeling. For this reason, a novice can easily interpret a subconcious effort for a true spiritual confrontation. One's fears of meeting the ultimate evil or one of his dominions can easily force one to perceive fantasy for reality. Likewise, if one expects that they will be possessed by a spirit, then it may just happen, but it will be a force of the mind rather than an exterior force. These possessions can be easily fixxed by giving the subject something positive to focus on. Many times self-induced possessions are the result of depression. Once the person has announced that they have been possessed they will recieve companionship and the attention of thier peers. Given this attention most cases will disapear. Misconceptions: If you channel, you can easily be contacted by one [evil entity] and not know it. [...] Ouija boards are gateways for entities, they especially are contacted by nasties because it's an easy gateway for them to get through. Remember, evil entities will not seem evil all of the time - thier goals are to get to our world and manifest. This is a clear case of the misconceptions that, unfortunately, are taken as truth. There are indeed such things as evil entities, but channeled spirits are not always evil. It is just the evil ones that people find most worth noting. One thing that should be remembered is that a Ouija board is nothing more than a device, you are the medium through which the entities converse; the gateway is you. Invitations: The invitation of entities may not be wise, for it releases many forces. A free entity, unless controlled, will most often express it's presence in unexpected ways. It's not that freed entities are neccessarily evil, it just means that they have been cooped up with no way to express themselves and thus tend to be bit over-zellous. This in no way confirms the existance of entities, it just means that there are forces at work that we do not fully understand. As stated before, one's expectations can be an extremely powerful force. When one expects an entity and truely believes in it's existance, they may indeed fabricate one from thier own will. Whether this is a concious or subconcious force is not clear, but it is believed that a person can induce telekenetic forces from thier own will. Poltergiests and Entities: One of the more famous encounters with forceful entities is detailed in the Warren's book, The Demonologist. The case tells of a teenaged girl who took up playing with an Ouija Board. The girl encountered an entity that claimed to be a sixteen year old boy who had once lived near her prior to his death. The girl, being lonely, made contact with this spirit on a nightly basis, trying to find out more about him. She became romantically attached to the spirit. She told the entity that she wanted to meet him and in doing so invited him to her world. After this calling her life and her family's was in constant termoil. In essence she had called forth a poltergiest; an entity of mischief. The Warrens were called in and after a couple of weeks they persuaded the entity to leave the family alone. In this case there are a few factors that stick out and may have enhanced the encounter: a) The girl's loneliness and possible depression, b) The age of the girl. Emotions such as loneliness and depression express themselves as darkened areas (voids) in a person's aura (or bio-magnetic/electric field). When a person channels, they open themselves to the entities. If a void exists in one's aura it is not difficult for an entity to merge it's energies with those of the channeler's. The more a person uses such a channeling device while in this state of mind, the more chances the entity has to work itself into one's own field; in essence it anchors itself and burrows in. Once an entity is "attached", it can do several things: a) Possession, b) Gateway through, c) Bind. A possession occurs when an entity is able to burrow down far enough to attempt to gain control of a person's internal electrical relays. Possessions have to be allowed, even asked for in order that they may occur. Living beings have what one would term as "shields". These shields protect one from being attacked by low energy bursts (psi) or continuous low intensity fields (entities). When a person becomes depressed they begin to internally weaken thier shields, thus inviting attacks by entities. One thing to note is that while one lives they cannot fully drop all thier shields (unless trained). Like any well constructed machine, the human body has many redundant fail-safe guard systems. The second possibility is gating. A spirit, if given enough oppertunities, can gate itself. Gating of this manner relate to the entity's ability to passthru the channeler's energy field(s) and roam about the living world as they please. There's one major flaw to a spirit gating itself; the entity's energies are linked with the channeler's. If the channeler works hard enough to rebuild and strengthen thier aura, they can in effect banish the spirit. While linked to the channeler the entity cannot roam far, and it's roaming range is severly limited. Since the entity would rather stay in the world of the living it may try to prevent it's host (the channeler) from rebuilding his/her aura. If an entity is desperate enough it will try almost anything to keep it's host distracted and if possible try to drive the person into greater depression so that it may establish a greater link. Gatings of this nature are usually the result of incompatible host/entity relations. When an entity and it's host are compatible they establish what is termed as a "link". A link is more complex than a gating because it involves a willful merging of both the entity's and the channeler's auras. A link involves the sharing of energies as well as knowledge. Compatibility of entity and host is essential because a link boarders on gating and possession, but it requires cooperation whereas the other two require force. Links can lead to greater understandings and manipulations of one's own psi-related abilities. [ Actually, when one channels, they are in essence establishing a link. Although a channel link differs in that the link is less successible to coruption. ] The age of a channeler plays a strong factor in the stability of one's connection. Teenagers who dabble in channeling usually do it based on an ulterior motive. This most often being due to the need for speaking to someone who understands what they are feeling or experiencing. It's also a time in one's life that they seek to experiment and defy authority. In essence it's a time of great change, and with change comes much burden of thought. For some teenagers, channeling is a way to find a friend. For others it's a means of expressing thier inner feeling, even some that they are not aware of. Observations: 1. There are many perconcieved ideas reguarding Ouija boards. Some hold truth, while others are merely superstitious bull. 2. Women tend to participate in psi-related activities more than men. 3. The longer one practices channeling, the greater one feels they understand. 4. The after effects of channeling are sometimes more vivid upon reflection than when the event occurred. 5. "Seeing" does not necessarily mean vision, it implies understanding as well. 6. Insanity is a broad term that society lables paranormal activists; he who strays from the norm and delves in unexplained activities must have a few loose screws. 7. Generally, people enter into paranormal activities in hopes of finding out what it is exactly that makes them special. Everyone has a feeling that they have a special inner talent, something that is utterly astounding. But, life comes with no manuals, no guide books to tell you what is life and why you are here. You are intelligent and must figure that out on your own; no one will tell you or give you the slightest hint. Conclusion: If one approaches channeling with an open mind they will have little trouble understanding it. Yet, one who has an open mind is not one who is easily persuaded, it is just a person who can look at all things as though they are new. Looking at thing without preconcieved ideas is not an easy task, but it can be learned and once mastered one can see beyond most learned hatreds and fears. Channeling is an art. It is an ability that one must strive towards. It can be reached many ways including meditation; which I haven't discussed. And like most other psi-related abilities, channeling is something anyone can do. There are many factors that can inhibit a person, the foremost being that of thier programming. From the point of conception, a child is burdened with programming from it's parents, from society, and from many other sources. One theory is that children shy away from thier inate psi abilities in favor of the positive reinforcements from thier parents. As people grow older and begin making decisions for themselves, they tend to experiment to see if they can gain back the abilities that they loss. The bond between mother and child may be a good example of this; the way a mother can sense when her child is in danger. Afternote: When I mention auras I am referring to a general term. A living person is nothing more than a glorified machine that changes matter into energy. Basic laws of physics say that energy can never be loss, only transfered. The human body is constantly changing matter into energy and although a good bit of that is used for the body, there is an amount of it that escapes the body in the form of radiated energy. Some of this energy stays near the body in a concentrated form while other bits extend out into fields. There are several fields, some very distinct, while others are widely dispursed and somewhat amorphus. Based upon dispersion, the layers differ in color and magnitude. To say a person's aura is a certain color is incorrect. It is more to correct that one's field is comprised of a greater amount of one color than the other. Either that, or people are referring to the outer field. The inner field is a great display of a multitude of colors and shades. It's this field that I'd guess healers look at to see illnesses. By way of comparrison one could look at the reflection a gasoline gives, but an aura's colors are better organized and filled with less darkness. I'm sure many will disagree, even say I'm completely wrong, but in my defense I can only say that this is what I see.