Spirit Communication: The Spirit Board

My favorite form of spirit communication is the spirit board. The spirit board has several names. It is also known as talking board, witchboard, and the Ouija board. The Ouija board is a brand, but many people will use the word Ouija to describe every spirit board.

The talking board itself has been popular since the latter half of the 1800s. The predecessor to the talking board was the planchette. The planchette was just that — a planchette with a place for a writing tool — and it enabled the user to employ automatic writing as a form of spirit communication.

The Ouija board itself can be found in most board game aisles at your local store. I, myself, have let my children use the board. My oldest and my youngest have expressed interest and used them when I had company over and we already had the board out. I've found that if you just let them try it and guide them, they usually lose interest pretty quickly.

Many people fear the board, or even think that children are too young and shouldn't use it. However, I don't feel this way, but each household should do as they see fit. The evil stigma that seems to surround the board only began with the Exorcist movie.

Spirit boards were once popular and there was no fear surrounding them. There is an episode of Lassie where the Sunday School is setting up for a carnival. Timmy sets up a fortune telling tent and uses a Ouija board. Obviously, if the board were seen as an evil tool, then it would have definitely NOT been used by a 9-year-old boy during a SUNDAY SCHOOL carnival for family TV programming.

**Some early books about spirit communication:**

• Planchette's Diary (1868)— Kate Fields
• Voices from the Void: Six Years Experience in Automatic Communications (1919)— Hester Travers Smith
• Our Unseen Guest (1920)— Darby and Joan

Beginning in 1913, Patience Worth — a 17th century entity — communicated through the Ouija (and Pearl Curran) and wrote several novels and a book of poetry. Some of her works include:

• The Sorry Tale: A Story of the Time of Christ
• Hope Trueblood
• Telka, An Idyl of Medieval England
• The Pot Upon the Wheel
• Light from Beyond (poetry)
• Read more about Patience Worth — Smithsonian Magazine

Another spiritualist who began on a Ouija was Jane Roberts. Jane began experimenting with a Ouija for a study on extra sensory perception, and during this time a spirit known as Seth began speaking to her through the board. Not long after, Jane said that she could hear the messages in her head and she was able to stop using the board. She would thereafter go into a trance, channel Seth, and dictate to her husband in Seth's "voice". Several books were written, including:

• Seth Speaks
• The Seth Material
• The Unknown Reality Vol. 1
• The Unknown Reality Vol. 2
• The Coming of Seth
• Learn more at the Seth Learning Center

In 1972, Flight 401 crashed in the Everglades. The ghosts of the flight attendants, pilot, and co-pilot were all being seen by other airline employees. Author John G. Fuller took a Ouija and contacted the spirits. The result is:

• The Ghost of Flight 401— John G. Fuller

William Butler Yeats' wife practiced automatic writing. He used her ability to write his book A Vision, which is a metaphysical masterpiece:

• A Vision— W.B. Yeats

Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, used the Ouija to help create the famous program's 12 steps. The spirit that aided in the writing? A monk named Boniface.

• Read more about Bill Wilson and the Ouija

**Some great sites to visit for more information:**

• The Mysterious Planchette
• The Mysterious Planchette Blog
• Museum of Talking Boards

An absolutely fabulous book written by Karen Dahlman — I highly, highly recommend it. You can purchase it here and get an autographed copy:

• Creative Visions Publications — Karen Dahlman

Brightest Blessings and I hope you enjoyed the tidbits of information about spirit boards. Please enjoy some of the spirit boards that I have designed and created: