Ouija

Ouija (pronounced wee-juh or wee-jee) refers to the belief that one can receive messages during a séance by the use of a Ouija board (also called a talking board or spirit board) and planchette. The fingers of the participants are placed on the planchette which then moves about a board covered with numbers, letters and symbols so as to spell out messages.

Ouija is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by Parker Brothers. While the word is not a genericized trademark, it has become a trademark which is often used generically to refer to any talking board.

File:English ouija board.jpg

A typical Ouija board

History

The use of talking boards has roots in the modern Spiritualism movement that began in The United States in the mid-19th century. Methods of divination at that time used various ways to spell out messages, including swinging a pendulum over a plate that had letters around the edge or using an entire table to indicate letters drawn on the floor. Often used was a small wooden tablet supported on casters. This tablet, called a planchette, was affixed with a pencil that would write out messages in a fashion similar to automatic writing. It should be noted that many of these methods predate modern Spiritualism.

During the late 1800s, planchettes were widely sold as a novelty. In 1890, businessmen Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard had the idea to patent a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed, and thus had invented the first Ouija board. An employee of Kennard, William Fuld took over the talking board production and in 1901, he started production of his own boards under the name "Ouija" [1].

The Fuld name would become synonymous with the Ouija board, as Fuld reinvented its history, claiming that he himself had invented it. Countless talking boards from Fuld's competitors flooded the market and all these boards enjoyed a heyday from the 1920s through the 1960s. Fuld sued many companies over the "Ouija" name and concept right up until his death in 1927. In 1966, Fuld's estate sold the entire business to Parker Brothers, who continues to hold all trademarks and patents. About 10 brands of talking boards are sold today under various names [2]. See also: Ka-Bala

How is it done?

A Ouija board is operated by one or more users. They place the planchette on the board and then rest their fingers on the planchette. The users start moving the planchette around the board and speaking to the entity (or entities) they wish to summon; They then begin asking questions of it. Eventually the planchette will come to rest on one letter after another, spelling out a message. Often an additional participant records the messages on paper. As with automatic writing, the messages are often vague and open to interpretation, or complete gibberish.

Some talking boards have words or phrases written on them to simplify the interpretation of the messages. Tarot, zodiac, and other esoteric symbols are frequently incorporated into talking board's design, along with dramatic and mystical artwork. Some users prefer to improvise their own Ouija board. They may use a sheet of paper with the alphabet written on it or lettered cards placed around a table, together with an object like an overturned glass or coin as the indicator. Hand-made Ouija boards produced by artists are valued by talking board enthusiasts and collectors.

Many users feel that the spirit with whom they are communicating is controlling their motions to guide their hands, spelling out messages. They see the board as a tool or medium through which they communicate with the spirit realm. These believers often take offense at the dismissal of the talking board as merely a game. Other users contend that they are in control of their own actions, but that the talking board allows communication with their inner psychic voice or subconscious.

Some proponents of Ouija boards claim the activity is harmless fun. Others believe that they are communicating with spiritual entities but there is no harm in doing so provided that basic guidelines are followed. These rules often vary from user to user, but usually include things like never playing alone, beginning and ending a séance "properly", and always using the board in a "comfortable" environment. Numerous superstitions surround Ouija board use.

Skeptical view

Few people who have investigated Ouija boards from a skeptical viewpoint accept that a piece of cardboard sold as a game can conjure spirits, evil or benevolent. The accepted theory among psychologists and skeptics is that the participants are subconsciously making small, involuntary, physical movements using a well-known, and well-understood, phenomenon called the Ideomotor effect. Experiments consistently suggest that, at best, the messages are received involuntarily from the participants themselves, and, at worst, by a manipulative player, possibly with the connivance of confederates within the group present.

In some instances, users of talking boards have communicated with "ghosts" of people who were not dead, as demonstrated by the British mentalist Derren Brown in his 2004 television special Derren Brown: Séance. Skeptic and magician James Randi, in his book An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, points out that when blindfolded, Ouija board operators are unable to produce intelligible messages. Magicians Penn & Teller performed a similar demonstration in an episode of their television show Bullshit!.

These failures indicate, as skeptics believe, that people are simply very willing to fool themselves, for example, by the Forer effect. The public (and frequently energetically flaunted) expression of native and genuine fears and subconscious desires, often concerning death or sex, while appearing genuine, can frighten impressionable people, or cause them to loosen their purse strings (or both). It is for this reason alone that many skeptics suggest that the Ouija board is best avoided, particularly when each player may not absolutely trust, or know, every other player.

Criticism of Ouija boards

Although Ouija boards are viewed by some as a positive spiritual device or a simple toy, there are people who believe they can be harmful, including Edgar Cayce, who called them "dangerous." Critics warn that evil demons pretend to be cooperative ghosts in order to trick players into becoming spiritually possessed.

Others believe that communicating with spirits using a Ouija board is dangerous. They contend that the sources of any spiritual communications are unknown, and therefore inexperienced users may inadvertently contact "harmful" entities. More "controlled" methods of communication with the spirit world - often involving a medium - are often recommended instead for those who are trying to discover something about themselves, or who are seeking answers to their questions.

Some practitioners claim to have had bad experiences related to the use of talking boards by being haunted by demons, seeing apparitions of spirits, and hearing voices after using these boards. A few Paranormal researchers, such as John Zaffis, claim that the majority of the worst cases of demon harassment and possession are caused by the use of Ouija boards.

Many Christians claim that use of a talking board is an evil taboo, as they believe it allows communication with evil demons, which is Biblically forbidden as a form of divination. Many of these people claim they could only get rid of these problems after Christian deliverance.

Parapsychologist Martin Ebon in his book Satan Trap: Dangers of the Occult, states:

"It all may start harmlessly enough, perhaps with a Ouija board. [...] The Ouija will often bring startling information, [...] establishing credibility or identifying itself as someone who is dead. It is common that people who get into this sort of game think of themselves as having been "chosen" for a special task. [...] Quite often the Ouija turns vulgar, abusive or threatening. It grows demanding and hostile, and sitters may find themselves using the board [...] compulsively, as if "possessed" by a spirit, or hearing voices that control or command them."

The late Roman Catholic priest Malachi Martin believed talking boards to be dangerous and claimed that by using these devices a person opens themselves to demonic oppression or possession, topics upon which Martin spoke and wrote extensively for many years.

The novel The Exorcist and the film of the same name were based on a story of a demon possession, caused by use of talking boards, that was removed by Catholic exorcists.

Literature

Talking boards appear in countless books and movies. Their role in such varies from being a benign object to an evil entity. This demonstrates what an iconic part of culture the game has become. A more peculiar role of talking boards in literature stems from authors using the board to channel complete written works from the deceased.

In the early 1900s, St. Louis housewife Pearl Curran used her Ouija board communications with the ubiquitous spirit Patience Worth to publish a number of poems and prose. Pearl claimed that all of the writings came to her through séances, which she allowed the public to attend. In 1917 writer Emily G. Hutchings claimed to have communicated with and written a book dictated by Mark Twain from her Ouija board. Twain's survivors went to court to halt publication of the book that was later determined a hoax.

Since the 1970s, author Jane Roberts has transcribed text channeled from what she described as an "energy personality essence" named Seth. Topics attributed to Seth discuss the nature of physical reality, the origins of the universe, the theory of evolution, the many-worlds interpretation, the Christ story, and the purpose of life among other subjects and form a collection of more than 10 books and a number of videos and audio recordings.

Author John G. Fuller used the Ouija board for his research in "The Ghost of Flight 401" [1976]. He was skeptical of the effectiveness and and reliance o the board so he tested it out with a medium. They both contacted Don Repo, the flight engineer on the ill-fated flight en route to the Miami but crashed into the Everglades. Words were spelled out describing facts that neither John or Elizabeth (the medium) previously knew.

More recently, Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill used a Ouija board and recorded what he claimed were messages from a number of deceased persons. He combined these messages with his own poetry in The Changing Light at Sandover (1982).

Etymology

The term "Ouija" is derived from the French "oui" (for "yes") and the German "ja" (for "yes"). An alternative story suggests the name was revealed to inventor Charles Kennard during a Ouija séance and was claimed to be an Ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck," although this is known to be incorrect. It has also been suggested the word was inspired by the name of the Moroccan city Oujda.

Despite its common usage, "Ouija" is a trademark and the word should be capitalized when used in print.

Non-occult usage

In the technique of directional drilling, a mechanical calculator was used to perform calculations necessary to solve "how do I get 'there' from 'here'" problems. This board has traditionally been nicknamed a "Ouija Board." These calculations are done by computers these days, but often the name persists as the public or internal name of the relevant module.

In US Navy, ouija board is informal term for scale model of aircraft carrier flight deck used by flight launch and recovery officer as a visual aid to manage launch and recovery stacking of aircarft on the flight deck.

Weegee was the pseudonym of Arthur Fellig, an American photographer and photojournalist.

Books

Gruss, Edmond C. The Ouija Board: A Doorway to the Occult 1994 ISBN 0875522475
Hunt, Stoker. Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game. 1992 ISBN 0060923504
Roberts, Virginia Kent. My Friend, the Ouija Board. 2003 ISBN 0974138304

External links

Online Ouija boards

Online Board JavaScript based (free) Board
Interactive boards at The Museum of Talking Boards
Online Witchboard
Online Talking Board

External links skeptical of Ouija boards

External links critical of Ouija boards