Gaia's Perspective on The Ouija

[_Gaia]

Hello Everyone --

Besides Mormonism *smile* I have studied and taught a number of different spiritual Paths/ systems, and here is an article i wrote on the Ouija board and why i generally discourage anyone who asks, from using it --

ON THE SHADOW -- (c) By Gaia

(Please do not reproduce without express permission)


THE SHADOW: WHAT IT IS, HOW IT WORKS:

Renowned Psychologist Carl Jung, (who in his later work focused a great deal on spiritual issues) spoke of the "SHADOW" which all individuals and groups have --

The Shadow is that aspect of our subconscious which "carries" any qualities that we cannot bear to acknowledge within ourselves. The Shadow is *the Other* in us, that embarrasses or shames us:

"By Shadow i mean the "negative" side of the personality, the sum of
all those unpleasant qualities we like to hide, together with the
insufficiently developed functions and the content of the personal
unconscious."


By 1945 Jung was referring to the Shadow as simply "the thing a
person has no wish to be":
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light," he
said, "but by making the darkness conscious. The latter proceedure,
however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular."

The Shadow "coalesces into a relatively separate splinter
personality in the unconscious, where it is isolated from exposure
and discovery. This compensates for the one-sided identification we
make with what is acceptable to our conscious minds."


THE SHADOW's POWER:

The Shadow is *very* powerful; it is the source of a great deal of psychic energy; furthermore, we USE psychic energy to maintain the Shadow and to hide it from ourselves -- The more we refuse to acknowledge and work with our Shadow, the more energy it takes.


THE SHADOW, PROJECTION AND BIGOTRY:

Most people who deny their Shadow end up PROJECTING it onto others. For Example: a person who has secret homosexual tendencies might spend enormous energy hiding the fact from himself and everyone else; at the same time, developing tremendous hatred toward homosexuals, and suspicion toward others who (he believes) harbor homosexual tendencies -- generally, most everyone but himself, of course.

A person who hates his own inner weaknesses might develop tremendous hatred toward anyone who demonstrates weakness of any kind.

See how it works?

This is (one of) the origins of BIGOTRY -- projecting onto others the very human qualities, tendencies, weaknesses, desires, etc -- that we cannot bear to confront in ourselves. It's what makes people say things like, "Those __, they're all a bunch of ___!" and "You can't trust a __, they're all alike!"; It's what makes people use terms like "Gook" and "Towel-head" and all the other ugly terms that separate us from each other. It makes the "Other" into some'thing' less human and therefore easier to hate and denounce, even perform acts of cruelty and "inhumanity" toward.


IDENTIFYING YOUR OWN (and someone else's) SHADOW:

If you want to know what your own Shadow is like, just look at the people who drive you crazy -- the people who anger, disgust, irritate, annoy, enrage, horrify or embarrass you.

Here's an axiom to remember: The stronger your personal reaction against someone or some characteristic, the more likely that your personal Shadow is being activated.

This is *not* to say that someone or some characteristic might not be undesirable -- it very well may be -- but a NORMAL reaction is simply, calmly, to acknowledge it, NOT to get all hot and bothered over it.

AXIOM: The hotter and more bothered you get over something or someone, the more your Shadow is being activated. The hotter the rhetoric, the stronger the Shadow is being set off. In cyberspace, the more italics or all caps or exclamation points somebody uses, the more their Shadow may be running rampant.


ARGUMENTS AND THE SHADOW:

A very helpful exercise is to observe arguments from this perspective: that's a prime opportunity for people's Shadows to get activated. LISTEN to the kind(s) of accusations that are being hurled and you'll get a very good idea of what somebody's Shadow involves -- what they fear is deep within themselves, what they fear they may be capable of.

This can help us understand the frequently UNSTATED heart of a disagreement, get to the heart of what's really going on, perceive the real issues -- and hopefully, find a way to solve or defuse the REAL problems -- much faster.


SOLUTION: WORKING WITH THE SHADOW

The solution is to acknowledge and work *with* the Shadow, not to hide from, deny or resist it. There are many ways to do this "Shadow work" -- and in fact, most metaphysical systems have built into them, a specifically and precisely designed way to help people recognize and work through their Shadow issues, and initiation or full membership and knowledge of the inner secrets is withheld, until they have done so.

Certainly nobody with intentions of acting as a leader, should do so without having done considerable Shadow work, because leadership roles of any kind tend to emphasize and activate Shadow material. -- and leaders find themselves reproducing their Shadow issues with everyone they encounter, in one way or another. If you do not recognize and work with your Shadow, it WILL turn around and bite you. In fact, an interesting and very educational exercise is to observe the leaders in your experience, and watch how many problems they have with others, are directly attributable to Shadow issues.


HALLOWEEN AND THE SHADOW:

This holiday is DESIGNED to get people to acknowledge and confront some very universal Shadow issues: fear and loathing of death, disability, disease, decline, disintegration, alienation, etc.

The "monsters" of Halloween are (in part) so popular precisely because they remind us of the "monsters" *within* -- the Monsters of the unconscious/ subconscious, that dwell within us all -- and ANYBODY who refuses to acknowledge that they most certainly *do* have 'monsters' dwelling within them, is fooling themselves and directly speaking from their own Shadow.


ON OUIJA AND THE SHADOW:

A Ouija Board is a *perfect* tool for the Shadow. When someone who has NOT done their Shadow work gets hold of a Ouija Board, their Shadow is set free and can begin to run amok -- it can impersonate a "demon", a deceased relative or beloved, an angel, everything in between, and often ALL OF THE ABOVE.

A beginner simply does not have the experience, power, or knowledge to actually "conjure" some demon -- and they don't HAVE TO -- with a Ouija board, their untamed, wild, undisciplined Shadow is quite "demon" enough for them!
-- Remember that it has access to every bit of conscious AND UNCONSCIOUS material in their psyche, everything they have ever thought, imagined, experienced, wondered, feared, worried about or been embarrassed by -- from infancy through to the present.

UnLESS you have done your basic Shadow work, i strongly recommend that you NOT play around with a Ouija -- they seem to particularly lend themselves to rampant Shadows.... Besides, i think there are much better, more effective divinatory tools -- the pendulum, Tarot, Astrology, Runes, etc - which all seem to be less potentially troublesome.


For more information on the SHADOW, please see the following

RESOURCES:

BOOKS:

- "The Search for the Beloved" by Jean Houston
- "Meeting the Shadow" by Zweig and Abrams
- "Mysteries of the Dark Moon" by Demetra George
- "Dancing with the Shadow"


MOVIES:
- the classic Hollywood sci-fi film, "Forbidden Planet" is a great
resource on the Shadow;
- "What Dreams May Come" starring Robin Williams, was an excellent
resource on the Shadow;
- Strangely enough <rueful grin> Michael Jackson did an interesting
Music Video on the Shadow (sorry i don't know the name, if anybody
does, please let me know!) -- about a Rock singer who is challenged
by a self-righteous religious fanatic who lives in a haunted mansion
(*both* played by Jackson himself) --


Blessings --
Gaia


[/u]

[_Yoda]

Hi Gaia!

Nice to see you here!

:)

[_karl61]

[quote="Gaia"]Hello Everyone --

Besides Mormonism *smile* I have studied and taught a number of different spiritual Paths/ systems, and here is an article I wrote on the Ouija board and why I generally discourage anyone who asks, from using it --

Hi Gaia: do you know that there really is no difference between a ouija board and a seer stone. why do you think that Joseph's instrument was different? If there were crystal balls for sale in Palmyra then history would have shown him putting that into a hat and starting to see certain words in the ball. Peal Curran used a ouija board and came into contact with the entity Patience Worth. Everything the Church says about Joseph Smith this lady did and did ten times better. I refer you to Scott C Dunn's work Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon. He writes about people that use seerstones, ouija boards, or just a trance to dictate something that is way beyond their educational level and insight. It's probaly one of the best articles that I've read about seerstones, ouija boards, crystals. It's a process called automatic writing and Joseph did it and others did it too and better at times.

regards,

thestyleguy

[_The Nehor]

Hello Everyone --

Besides Mormonism *smile* I have studied and taught a number of different spiritual Paths/ systems, and here is an article I wrote on the Ouija board and why I generally discourage anyone who asks, from using it --

Hi Gaia: do you know that there really is no difference between a ouija board and a seer stone. why do you think that Joseph's instrument was different? If there were crystal balls for sale in Palmyra then history would have shown him putting that into a hat and starting to see certain words in the ball. Peal Curran used a ouija board and came into contact with the entity Patience Worth. Everything the Church says about Joseph Smith this lady did and did ten times better. I refer you to Scott C Dunn's work Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon. He writes about people that use seerstones, ouija boards, or just a trance to dictate something that is way beyond their educational level and insight. It's probaly one of the best articles that I've read about seerstones, ouija boards, crystals. It's a process called automatic writing and Joseph did it and others did it too and better at times.

regards,

thestyleguy

Why couldn't they all be supernatural?

[_mormonmistress]

Ouija Boards are fun, at least they were to us as kids. As good little Catholic schoolgirls, we used to use one and have seances in the stationery cupboard of our school at lunchtime. We would also sometimes hide on the shelves of the same cupboard and throw things at other kids who came in. They thought we had summoned up evil. Very funny, at least it was to a bunch of 10 year olds.

[_Mercury]

OK guys, these things have been scientifically debunked. Blindfold the two participants, spin em around and have them use the board. What you get is garbled text. The participants don't know it but they influence the boards, probably subconsciously. They are stil fun though but there is no supernatural forces at work.

[_barrelomonkeys]

Mercury, I agree. Of course the participants influence the board. Even if they’re not aware that they are doing so.. of course this happens often when they both deny that they are in control of the board. And yet that’s probably accurate too as they are both actually controlling the board through subtle, gentle movements.

In an effort to not push too hard either way it can be quite a surprise when words are spelled out that we would often times blame the other party for creating – never recognizing that we too (on one side of the board as well) were just as responsible for the outcome.

Although I'll admit that there may be times when I've played with an oujia board where perhaps I did push slightly and then wouldn't want to admit I did so because it's embarrassing for my partner on the other side to recognize that I helped spell out the shocking words. Wouldn't that be embarrassing to admit that you were responsible in part for the words spelled out? I'm pretty certain when that happened I may have feigned ignorance and cocked a brow at my partner and asked them if they were the one that intended to spell out those shocking words!

The intial shock over what is spelled out can certainly dissipate over time though when the participants can recognize that they each made micro movements to spell out whatever.

Certainly we do this everyday as we fill in the blanks when we communicate to create our own stories and make sense of our relations with other people.

Isn't it unfortunate that often times people just can't talk without boards and recognize that these micromovements we make are often times laden with miscommunications for fear of pushing too hard for an outcome. Treading gently with the other person on the other side (not intending to sway the board - or spell out something intentionally) can often times be a momentarily reeling experience when the words spelled out are not what we expected.

Seems to me that only with reflection can the participants recognize that the words were not so shocking... it is just what happens when people choose to communicate by subtle movements rather than talk to one another honestly and openly. Seeking answers (or attempting to communicate - create internal stories?! ) best be saved for mediums other than oujia 'boards'.

[_Gaia]

Hi Gaia: do you know that there really is no difference between a ouija board and a seer stone. ...

GAIA:

Hi The Nehor --

I'm afraid i must respectfully disagree; Practitioners themselves have often noted that there seems to be a qualitative difference between on the one hand, the Ouija board, and on the other hand, various other divinatory tools like Tarot, Astrology, the Pendulum, Runes, etc. For some reason, the former seems to lend itself to more problems than all the latter, together --

Now, whether that's a case of some objective difference in the operation of the tools themselves, or just a case of someone's Shadow responding more to one tool than another, it would be difficult to determine --

-- But the differences are often noted by those who actually USE those tools.

It's a process called automatic writing and Joseph did it and others did it too and better at times.

GAIA:

Yes, i'm familiar with Automatic Writing....

In fact, AW is often a precursor (for many practitioners) for "Channelling" --


In my experience, some of those who attribute their writings or speeches to AW or Channelling, often do so (either consciously or not) just to lend the material more credence and authority. It's not nearly so impressive to present some material saying, 'Here's something i felt inspired to write last night", as it is to say, "The Ancient Ascended Master WhooHoo (or, to be fair, the Angel Moroni) came to last night and whispered this in my ear...."

Why couldn't they all be supernatural?

GAIA:

Hi There, Styleguy --

Actually -- as i've said elsewhere -- *smile* -- Most practitioners of authentic magick (the "k" on the end is often added by practitioners, to distinguish the difference between parlour magic ala David Copperfield, and authentic, life-transforming magickal practices, like (serious) Divination --

Most practitioners of such authentic "magick" do not consider what they do, "Supernatural" at all; they consider it entirely natural.


Blessings --
~Gaia

[_Gaia]

OK guys, these things have been scientifically debunked. Blindfold the two participants, spin em around and have them use the board. What you get is garbled text. The participants don't know it but they influence the boards, probably subconsciously. They are stil fun though but there is no supernatural forces at work.

GAIA:

Hi There, Merc--

As i just said, Most actual practitioners would not call it "supernatural" -- that's the word often used by those who merely hear about, rather than actually practice -- the practices *smile*......


However, i also think that most of us "debunk" a LOT of things -- until we actually experience them for ourselves.
Then, it's a different story.

Like many Priesthood holders in the Church, who after many years come away saying something like, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than we often dream...."

i have experienced things, and know good, honorable, reliable people who have experienced things -- that have led me to conclude that it is wise to withhold judgment on this matter.


Blessings --
~Gaia