From: a-paulc@microsoft.com (Paul Clark)
Subject: Re: Ouija
Date: 08 Apr 92 00:55:03 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.

In article <12269@umd5.umd.edu> walrus@bessel.umd.edu (Grig Larson) writes:
>In article <1992Apr1.183659.4953@henson.cc.wwu.edu> n8743494@henson.cc.wwu.edu (The Stranger) writes:
>>In article <43331@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> baedrik@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Funkymonk) writes:
>>>
>>>Just curious, but what are your oppinions on Ouija boards?  Personally, I 
>>>don't know what to make of them, but I do believe that they move without
>>>CONSCIOUS help from the people using it.  Well in either case they are fun
>>>and interesting.
>>
>>From My personal experence and my friends I wwould tell you to stay
>>away from them.  I have had tomany sesisions were a spirit (or something)
>>control the board and then, after we asked who was there or a SERIOUS 
>>question the spirit would ask for a medium.  At that point I would put
>>(stuff deleted)
>
>I **strongly** suggest never even touching them, looking at them, or be in
>the presence of one if you can help it.
> 
>able to comment on what happened anymore...
> 

	Whenever I see something that says "DON'T DO (whatever it is)",
the first thing I want to know (after backing up a step) is: Why Not??

	Especially since the proscriptions on Ouija Boards can smack of
"Ooh, that's wicked occult. Stay away."

	So to add some support to what was said above (basically: stay
away from Ouija boards), let me add some comments, based on the usual
literature, as well as a bit of firsthand experience. 

	The reason not to mess with 'em is that they are simply a convenient
device for mediumistic work- but are nearly always used in a passive and
nonspecific way. Basically, what you're doing is opening yourself wide open,
and waving a big sign around saying "HEY OUT THERE! ANYBODY WHO WANTS COME
AND TAKE CONTROL OF PART OF MY BODY!!" 
	Now, whether you adopt the paradigm that spirits are real, separate
entities, or whether they are manifested projections of supressed parts of
one's own subconscious, the fact remains that as phenomena, they exist, and
many are dangerous, harmful, even malicious. 
	Ever stand on the edge of a cliff, or next to a subway track? Ever
hear the little voice that says "Why not just step forward?" Ever hold a
baby animal in your hand and hear a little voice that says "just squeeze"?
	Yes, much of this is definitely internal psychology- The Shadow
archetype of Jungian archetype. But whether it's just your mind or
something else, these are not impulses that you want to give freedom and
energy to do what they will. Going to a mood charged place, whether it is
a 'haunted house', the site of a murder, or an ancient burial ground, you
are asking for the excess energy to really let those nasties pack a 
wallop.
	Crowley gives a very lucid description of this in a chapter of MTP,
describing the whole process as 'letting all the worst denizens of the
lower astral come and squirt their slime all over you'. Victor Neuberg,
wasn't it, was involved in mediumistic games in his youth, and later, when 
he was a serious student of magic, he had a hard time keeping control of
himself, and was liable to fly off into hysteria (see the Paris Workings).

	Divination of many types involves invocation of gods or spirits,
but the difference is that for one thing, using other forms places the
invoked energy through a random event, such as shuffling cards, rather
than the movement of your motor nerves. And serious divination usually
involves some cultivated technique of invoking a specific spirit, and
no one else, rather than just grabbing the first spirit that happens
along the street. You wouldn't do this with people in a city, why do it
with your body, mind, and soul (whatever that may actually be)?

	I think most people who play with  Ouija want a little cheap thrill
of the weird, or else want to court the paranormal, to get some evidence of
the fact that magick is real, that spirits exist. The motive is natural,
but playing with a Ouija board is the magical equivalent of sniffing
glue. 


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