Directions On How to use it:
Two people sit opposite each other at a table. On the table is a rectangular playing board with two curved rows of letters, one above the other. The top row runs from A to M, and the lower row runs from N to Z. Just below these is a row with numbers One through Zero. At the top left of the board is the word Yes, and at the top right, the word No. Near the bottom of the board is Goodbye.
1st - Place the board upon the knees of two persons, lady and gentleman preferred. Place heart shaped table in center of board, resting fingers lightly upon the table so as to allow it to move freely and easily. A question may be asked, and in from one to five minutes the table will commence to move, at first slowly, and then faster. As the table passes over the board, a transparent window and pointer in the top indicates each letter of a message as it is received.
2nd - Care should be taken that only one person ask questions at a time so as to avoid confusion.
3rd - To obtain the best results it is important that the person present should concentrate upon the matter in question and avoid other topics. Have no one at the table who will not sit seriously and respectfully. If you use it in a frivolous spirit, asking ridiculous questions, laughing over it, you naturally get undeveloped influences around you.
4th - The Ouija is a great mystery, and none claim to give exact directions for it's management and use, and the Ouija will not work equally well under all circumstances. With reasonable patience and judgement the Ouija will satisfy your greatest expectations.
5th - The board should be kept smooth and free from dust and moisture, as all depends on the ease with which the feet of the table can glide over the surface of the board. Rubbing with a soft dry cloth just before using is advised.
You Ask yourself if it is real or is it not. So which is it? Are we controlling the Ouija or not? The Museum of Talking Boards articulates the two prevailing theories on how the Ouija works – the automatism theory and the spiritualist theory:
The Automatism Theory –
The clinical term is “ideomotor response.” You may not know that you are moving the message indicator, but you are. This is similar to automatic writing, also know as automatism, a well-understood phenomenon. Mediums in years past, would hold a pencil in one hand and pay no attention as it wrote furiously. Some believed that these written messages came from the spirits. Others felt that the messages came from a clever medium. At any rate, most proponents of the Automatism Theory generally accept that it is very possible to move the planchette unconsciously. They claim that the Ouija board opens a kind of shortcut from the conscious to the subconscious mind. Collective automatism occurs when more than one person is operating the board.
The Spiritualist Theory –
Ouija messages obviously come from forces beyond our control. You contact or “channel” these entities through the board. They are discarnate spirits, ghosts, or other ethereal beings who have a purpose for contacting the living. Many advocates of the Spiritualist Theory think that there is no harm in contacting the other realm because most spirits are basically benign and have important information to share. A few of these same advocates will perform elaborate cleansing rituals before using the board, just in case they run into a stinker. Other Spiritualist Theory supporters believe that no one should ever use the Ouija board. Malevolent forces can masquerade as good and cause emotional damage, even death to the user of the board. They offer as proof the many accounts of spirit possession reported by “experts” on the occult and demonology.
The Moving Glass Séance/Ouija Page offers some other suggestions for how the Ouija operates:
Autosuggestion –
Autosuggestion is where the participants unconsciously control the movement of the glass or pointer. Something, possibly the combination of the random and minor spasming of the muscles of the participants, drives the glass in a random direction. This random movement would, one would expect, lead to a random distribution of letters which would, for the most part, appear as gibberish. However, despite all good intentions, there is likely to be some editing by the participants. The participants begin to subconsciously guess ahead and the letters come out in a generally orderly fashion.
Self-delusion –
Self delusion is where the belief of the participants drives them to subconsciously control the movement of the glass or pointer. A sort of not quite intended fraud. This is very like autosuggestion except that one or more of the participants actually controls the movement of the glass, albeit subconsciously. They hear the question, they know what needs to be spelt out and their fingers subconsciously push or pull the glass in the direction of the required letter.
Telekinesis –
If telekinesis (or psychokinetic ability) exists, there is a possibility that in a séance the questions are answered by those who ask them. The participant who knows the answer also controls the movement of the glass or pointer. It is likely that control of the movement is subconscious, so the mechanism is closer to self-delusion than to fraud.
Telepathy –
If telepathy exists, it is again a possibility that in a séance, the questions are answered by those who ask them. The answers are broadcast and the whole group then subconsciously knows the answer and they all ensure that the correct answer is achieved.
A very good information page on this is:
