Table Of ContentThe complete guide to the
Ouija board
History, Theory, Practice, Psychology
Eleonora Zaupa
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means without prior written agreement of the author.
Copyright Eleonora Zaupa
The complete guide to the Ouija board – History. Theory, Practice, Psychology
© 2022 Eleonora Zaupa
Translated by Sarah Costalunga
Introduction
The first time I used a Ouja board had been quite an adventure, in every
way. I don't usually meet people I meet on the internet, however that day I
made an exception. From her photos, I felt instinctively that I could trust
Sarah and, from the things she wrote on social media, it was clear to me that
her knowledge of the esoteric field far exceeded the average of the other
Facebook users. That afternoon, by chance, an event that we were both going
to attend had been canceled so we decided to spend the evening together
anyway in a gothic themed club. We clicked immediately and we discovered
that we had many passions in common. In a very simple way she taught me
how to see energies and how to create little games with them, with the intent
of making them feel like a physical sensation, even to those who are
unfamiliar with such matters.
The club closed around 2 a.m. and, not yet satisfied with the evening, we
decided to go to her house in order to try using a Ouija board. Creating one
together bonded us even more, as did what happened shortly after.
I am going to be honest with you: I didn’t know much about it and it was
an adventure for the both of us since neither one of the two had ever tried it
before that night. I knew how to protect and cleanse myself, and I counted on
that to be enough.
For an hour we stood there, with our finger on the coin, without getting
any kind of results. During that time we tried several things, including
charging our handmade board through the laying on of hands. Eventually, the
coin began to move very slowly, it crawled all over the board as if it was
exploring it: it was gaining confidence. We let the coin move at will through
the board, without overloading it with questions, until it began to move more
decisively. At this point we began asking our queries.
Many people would never approach the Ouija board, others are even afraid
of simply having one at home. I’m not like that: I love to try, explore and
experiment. In no way I could have ever written my books if I had never tried
it. I love to take risks, to push myself to and beyond the limit, discovering
unexplored things and breaking down barriers of the Impossible. That's why,
that day, I allowed the coin, moved by spirit, to go through all the letters of
the alphabet, including the numbers. Against all tragic beliefs, nothing deadly
or catastrophic happened. Later, our Spirit Guides came to answer our
questions and to spend some time with us. I really appreciated their desire to
joke around with us and we laughed a lot together with our guides. It's not a
game, that’s for sure, and I will never stop saying this, however, you can
meet, in addition to the parasitic entities, others who simply desire to enjoy
the company of the living.
During other sessions, done in other occasions, I had the chance to meet
larvae and spirits who liked to tease the attendees of the gathering. I didn’t
step away from this mediumistic tool because of them, on the contrary, I took
it as an opportunity to converse with them and to learn new things. I am
aware of the risks of encountering energies that could plague the subtle
body[1] and the place where the session is performed, but I take measures,
even knowing that they may not always be enough.
To use this tool it is not sufficient to know how to protect and cleanse
yourself, but also how to manage the situation, should it be unmanageable,
and how to behave if the problems that emerged during the session continue
beyond that.
I will try to provide you, as much as possible, with all the instruments to
safely use the Ouija board, or even to simply study this incredible divination
tool.
There is a variety of material online about the Ouija, the majority of them
being repetitive. Most of those notions are written by enthusiasts of the
paranormal and everything gothic, however they are predominantly
individuals who never actually used the Ouija board but that, having read a
few words online and having watched a couple of horror movies about it, they
consider themselves to be bearers of knowledge on the matter. I am convinced that,
to know how things truly are, you have to listen to those who really had
direct experience, and this refers to anything and on all subjects.
There are many people who, intrigued by the Ouija board, decide to use
this tool but, since it really works, they get scared and then prefer to get rid of
it.
The first Ouija board I ever owned, I made it out of wood and painted it by
hand, although years later I bought one that was part of a numbered series
from a stand in a Celtic fair in Piedmont. The owner, a very friendly guy,
explained to me why he stopped producing them. It wasn’t a matter of scarce
clientele! Far from it! It was because many would return to him complaining
that the board actually answered to them. In fact, some had broken it right in
front of him and one even set it on fire in front of his stand.
I would like to make a small clarification: in the Middle Ages, bending a
magic object, was like killing it. So, breaking it, could make it null and void
and no longer usable.
I hope this book will serve to warn the curious and to educate those who
really are interested in the use of the Ouija board.
History of the ouija board
Before the Ouija board was put on market, it had been registered, and
tested, in the Patent and Trademark Office in order to be approved. Elijah J.
Bond, a lawyer from Baltimore specialized in licenses, was one of the first to
deposit the patent of the Ouija on February 10th, 1891. Charles Kennard, also
from Baltimore, brought together four other investors to start the Kennard
Novelty Company and sell the Ouija Board to the public. None of them were
spiritualists, nor did they ever deal with any other paranormal practices: they
were entrepreneurs who saw an unrepeatable opportunity and wanted to
profit from it.
It is commonly believed that, to create the name, the words "Oui" and "Ja"
had been merged, however this is not the truth. Robert Murch, an historian of
Ouija, stated that, based on the research he carried out, it was Elijah J. Bond’s
sister-in-law, Helen Peters, who came up with an intuitive and easy to
remember name. The creators, although, claimed that it was the board itself
that suggested the name, which meant "Good Luck".
Newspapers from 1981 advertised it with the headline “Ouija, the
wonderful talking board”, sold by Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh described it as a
magical device that responded to questions about the past, present and future
with wonderful precision; an instrument halfway between the known and the
unknown. The company promised never ending fun for people of all ages and
sold the Ouija board for $1.50 in toy stores. It didn’t come with any
instructions whatsoever, it only stated that it did what it promised, and this
increased the halo of mystery around it and intrigued people even more.
Ouija boards haven’t changed much with time even though some have
added words or symbols, such as exclamation or question marks. The first
Ouija boards were made out of wood, but nowadays they can also be made
out of plastic, resin or cardboard.
As we can see, the purpose was that of a simple board game with which
one could spend time in the company of friends and, at the same time, it was
also marketed as a mystical oracle.
The initial idea was that two or more people, sitting on opposite sides,
would place their fingertips on the planchette, a small tear-shaped instrument,
and then proceeded to ask questions and looked at the answers indicated by
the pointer.
Mediums, before others, detested the Ouija boards because their work was
undermined by this new tool.
In 1892, the Kennard Novelty Company expanded by having two factories
in Baltimore, two in New York, two in Chicago and one in London.
The following year, Kennard and Bond were no longer a part of the
company, and William Fuld, from simple employee and shareholder, began
managing the company.
In the year 1920 the Ouija board sales amounted to three million.
Fuld then died in 1927, victim of a mysterious fall from the roof of a newly
built factory.
In 1944, thanks to one of the firm’s warehouses in New York, fifty
thousand Ouija boards were sold.
In 1965 the Parker Bros. Company bought the rights of the Ouija board
and the following year there were two million pieces sold, beating the classic
board game Monopoly.
Robert Murch stated that before he began his research on this instrument,
no one knew its origins. This amazed Murch, since it was such an iconic,
mysterious and curious object. Murch explained: “Communicating with the
dead was common, it wasn’t seen as bizarre or weird. It’s hard to imagine
that now, we look at that and think, ‘Why are you opening the gates of hell?’”
At the time, no one from the Kennard Novelty Company had any intention
of opening the gates of hell, only to open Americans’ wallets.
In 1848 America was nearly obsessed with spiritualism, thanks in part to
the Fox sisters, who publicly claimed to receive messages from spirits, which
is why the Ouija board found fertile ground to flourish once it was put on the
market by the Kennard Novelty Company years later. Almost every family in
the United States had a Ouija board hidden in the house, or even leaning in
sight, kind of like any other regular piece of furniture.
In the second half of the 19th Century, the adherents of spiritualism
numbered in the millions: it was compatible with Christian dogma so there
was no fear of inciting the divine wrath. Not only was the Ouija board
popular, but also was automatic writing and all the other mediumistic
methods such as table turning séances.
Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln, held séances in
the White House when her eleven-year-old son died of fever in 1862. During
the American Civil War the adherents to these practices multiplied even
more, they wanted to attempt to communicate with their sons and husbands
that perished or disappeared in war.
I dare to say that this is a good explanation as to why there have been so
many cases of possessions, poltergeists and hauntings, if we look at the
documented ones. All those who wished to communicate with the deceased
