The Witches' Book of the Dead (11 page)

Brown's talent expanded. She took dictation in automatic writing, recording the words of famous persons such as playwright George Bernard
Shaw, psychiatrist Carl G. Jung, and physicist Albert Einstein. Artists drew and painted through her as well.

Brown baffled the experts, even though some tried to say she was just imitating styles she knew. She died in 2001, her legacy still a mystery.

Exercise: Automatic Writing

Automatic writing is one of the easiest methods of automatism and can often bring astounding results. To begin, gather a pen and a piece of paper. I prefer those rollerball style pens that are easy to grip and yet glide smoothly across the page. You should probably bless with anointing oil any pen that you use, and make sure that there is nothing written on the pen that could interfere with its energy. Find a comfortable chair and sit in a straight upright position at a desk or table; then hold the pen over the paper as you normally would hold it.

Close your eyes and descend into a visionary state (see
chapter 2
). Embrace the energies of the Death Current as you begin to feel the spirit forces moving in the space around you. Let their energies come into you and flow through your entire body. You will begin to feel as though other forces are layering themselves over your consciousness. If spirits are present, the pen will likely begin to move, writing out messages. Do not attempt to force the movement, for you shall prevent the spirits from coming through. Your consciousness must take a back seat for this process to work.

When the writing stops, come back up from the visionary state. Look over the paper. Is there anything written that makes sense to you? Look for drawings and symbols. Did the spirit draw an actual face? If so, it could be the face of the spirit itself or someone he wants you to know about. Save all such writings in a binder or scrapbook so that you can look back to see if patterns emerge.

• • •

The Pendulum

One of the oldest and simplest forms of divination and spirit communication, the pendulum remains popular. At HEX and OMEN we sell many pendulums of copper, brass, and a myriad of styles made of different kinds of crystals and stones. I personally prefer the simple copper coil for its powers as an energy conductor, while you might prefer one made of quartz crystal, moonstone, rose quartz, or amethyst.

To use a pendulum, you simply hold it in your hand or over a pendulum board in a visionary state and wait for it to move. Typically, the answers are said to come from your inner, spiritual self or from your subconscious. To use it as a necromantic tool, you simply need to affirm at the beginning of the session that you are using the pendulum to contact the dead.

To begin, find a pendulum that works for you. It also helps to get a board; you can program the pendulum to answer you according to the layout on the board. Typically, a pendulum board will designate “Yes,” “No,” “Maybe,” and “Ask Again.” Without a board, you could simply affirm that a clockwise circle means yes while a counterclockwise circle means no, though there is no hard and fast rule on how the pendulum will work for you—and the spirits may have their own ideas.

Descend into a visionary state and, once there, open your eyes and hold the pendulum in whichever hand you write with. Hold it as still as you can by the top of its chain. Ask the spirits your question; if you have
a specific person you wish to contact, ask for him by name. Wait patiently, and the pendulum should start to move in the direction that corresponds to your answer.

The Ouija Board

Of all the necromantic tools, none is more maligned, misunderstood, and misused than the infamous Ouija board. Thanks largely to the sensational fictions of Hollywood and the media—as well as misinformed “experts”—the Ouija board has come to be regarded as a problematic device that can open a doorway to demonic entities eager to torment and possess the living. The late demonologist Ed Warren once called the Ouija board a proven “notorious passkey to terror.” From my perspective, however, the negativity has been blown
way
out of proportion.

While it's true that using the Ouija can result in the kinds of problems we discussed in the previous chapter, those warnings apply to
any
method for conjuring spirits. I do not believe that the Ouija board is uniquely hazardous. That being said, if you have a hard time getting past your personal fears about the board, it's best to skip it as a tool of spirit contact in favor of a method you feel more comfortable with. For the bold and fearless, the Ouija can serve a useful purpose. Just remember, any spirit work will open doors, so be ready to handle the results!

“Ouija” is a trademarked name for a mystical parlor game and mediumship device created in late nineteenth-century Baltimore. It was also known as the William Fuld Talking Board, named for the man who would bring the game to people worldwide and later referred to as the “Father of the Ouija Board.”
⁷
In 1927, Fuld died in a freak accident at work. He fell off the roof of his three-story company building, and died from his injuries. The company remained in the Fuld family until 1966, when it was sold to Parker Brothers and produced right here in Salem! In 1967, the Ouija Board was the best-selling board game in America, outselling even Monopoly. Hasbro bought Parker Brothers in 1991, and today the Ouija is marketed as purely entertainment.

The generic terms for Ouija are “talking board” or “spirit board.” The board employs a person's body, so using one can be considered a method of automatism. Its operation is simple: a board printed with letters of the alphabet; numbers; the words “yes,” “no,” “hello,” and “good-bye”; and a pointer—called a planchette—on three legs that sits atop the board. Typically, two or more people place their fingertips lightly on the planchette, ask questions of the board, and hope that the spirits will answer by moving the planchette and spelling out words. Skeptics contend that eager users subconsciously push the planchette themselves, but those who have gotten results know that “something” other than the living is facilitating the process.

The origin of the name “Ouija” is not clear. According to one story, one of the people who helped bring the Ouija to popularity, Charles Kennard, was given the name by a spirit while he was using the board with a lady friend. Original Ouija patent lawyer, Elijah Bond, referred to the Ouija as “The Egyptian Luck Board,” and some claimed that “Ouija” was Egyptian for good luck. Fuld later claimed it was the combination of the French Oui and German Ja—a “yes yes” board that would always answer you.

The Ouija is the modern answer to the ancient pointing and spelling devices used for divination. In the past, such devices were used by specially trained diviners or priests, who served as mediums between worlds. Today, anyone who visits a local toy store can be the medium in the sanctuary of her own living room.

Fears of the Ouija Board

Mediums were initially afraid to see the Ouija placed in the hands of the public—not because of any “demonic” threat, but because it took business out of their spirit parlors. Who would come and pay for readings when anyone could contact the dead at home? After World War I, the Ouija was especially in demand by those who were grieving their war dead. It was also marketed as home entertainment: advertisements showed happy families or romantic settings with participants cozily playing with the board in front of the hearth fire. In particular, the board's use as a tool of love divination was promoted,
since the age-old questions of “does he / she love me” and “who will I marry” have been among the goals of divination tools throughout history.

On the flip side, occasional newspaper articles did tell of obsessions with the Ouija factoring into personal tragedies and crimes. People blamed the board when they went insane or committed theft and even murder. Ministers denounced the Ouija board as evil.

An example of one murder case was the sensational “Ouija Board Killing,” which took place in Biggs, California, in 1923. A woman became obsessed with the board, claiming it told her that her husband was having an affair. Apparently, the entities communicating through the board informed her that her husband was planning to murder her with an axe. Petrified, she shot him to death. She testified at her trial that she shot him first before he could kill her. She was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison. In all likelihood, there was no affair or plans for an axe murder—just a paranoid, unstable wife who probably suspected her husband of cheating, and found “corroboration” through her reckless dabbling. This is a perfect example of why you must keep your mind free from delusion when working with spirits!

Nonetheless, many thousands of people quietly used boards without problems. Some found it to be a springboard to creativity, channeling “voices” that turned into literary works. In 1913, Pearl Curran, a St Louis housewife, began receiving communications from “Patience Worth,” a sixteenth-century English spinster, via the Ouija. Worth, speaking in an old English dialect, dictated an astounding volume of poetry and novels. In 1919, Betty and Stewart Edward White were using the Ouija as a lark with friends, when suddenly Betty was instructed to “get a pencil” and take dictation. The entities coming through identified themselves as the “Invisibles,” higher beings who dispensed metaphysical wisdom. Stewart compiled it into
The Betty Book
. In 1963, Jane Roberts was using the Ouija when she met Seth, who purported to be a highly evolved entity who later dictated very popular books on metaphysics. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Merrill composed his epic
The Changing Light at Sandover
from two decades of spirit communications via the Ouija. And author Ruth Montgomery began her channeling
with the Ouija, then moved to automatic typing for her books on ETs, walkins, and New Age phenomena.

By the 1960s, Hollywood began to see the Ouija as a convenient and eye-catching device to feature bad spirits as the villains. Movies such as
Thirteen Ghosts
cast the board in sinister roles, manipulated by evil-minded entities. But the film that did the most to forever alter public perception of the board was
The Exorcist
(1973), based on the novel by William Peter Blatty. Blatty's tale of a demonically possessed girl was in turn based on the documented case of the possession of a young boy, who may have used a Ouija board with his aunt prior to her death. In the film, the Ouija makes a brief but impacting appearance as the device that opens the doorway to the demonic world.

The Exorcist
terrified audiences when it opened on a Christmas day. Some moviegoers fainted, and ministers once again denounced the Ouija as a device of the Devil. Going even further, claims were made that merely using the board once could invite legions of demons to plague and torment the user or even his entire household.

Once
The Exorcist
cemented the idea of the Ouija as a portal to evil, Hollywood continued to reinforce the perception that using a board brings nothing but trouble. I stress once again that this is
mis
perception. The Ouija is a tool, no more or less dangerous than any other method mentioned in this chapter.

Let the Spirit Move You!

I first met my friend Robert Murch in 1998 when he came to me with an idea for a talking board called Cryptique.® Murch wanted his board to be known as “A spirit board from Salem, Massachusetts.” What better place to host the birth of such a board—the Ouija was made during my youth at the former Parker Brothers factory here in Salem.

I found Bob a fantastic designer, another friend of mine named Deborah Norris, who gave Cryptique a moody feel reminiscent of the graveyards of Salem. The planchette was shaped like a gravestone and featured the winged
skull motif so commonly found carved on the headstones of New England cemeteries. I made some modifications to the design, built a website to promote the game that included an interactive version of the board, and offered writing and marketing help. At one point, even Toys “R” Us sold Cryptique on its website!

The high point of Cryptique was appearing with Bob and Shawn on Penn & Teller's show,
Bullshit!
, on the Showtime cable network! Sure, Penn & Teller made fun of us like they would any practitioner of the psychic arts, but we gave an accurate and positive portrayal of the Ouija board, and particularly of Cryptique, which host Penn Jillette described as “the perfect blend of death and the mall.” Shawn and I used the board on the show, and the spirit of 1692 Witch Trials victim Bridget Bishop came through loud and clear. My favorite part of the evening was that the film crew's equipment kept breaking down, something that I had warned them would happen, and it did so in spite of the crew's response to my warnings that “this stuff never breaks down.” Bridget had other plans, apparently.

Sadly, Cryptique is no longer produced, but Bob remains the world's foremost Ouija historian and continues to educate the curious about this fascinating parlor game.