Friday, November 9, 2007

Opening the Gate: The Dangers of Divination

One of the most popular forms of divination is the Ouija Board, perhaps because it's been sold as a children's game by Parker Brothers.

Whatever the tool, though, any form of divination opens a gateway. It welcomes in spirits to answer questions, particularly about the future.

This sort of thing is strictly forbidden by the Catholic Church.

"All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to 'unveil' the future.[48] Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone." (Catholic Catechism, paragraph 2116)

The story some might know from the Bible dealing with the summoning of spirits is how Kind Saul consulted a medium so that he could speak with the prophet Samuel. The first thing Samuel says is, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" (1 Samuel, 28:15 Revised Standard Edition)

But if you are not a Catholic, or of any other Christian denomination, what reason do you have not to consult spirits?

Perhaps first I should mention that I think the Ouija board is the most dangerous of the divination tools I know of.

This is why.

To use the board two or more people touch the planchette and it seems to move under its own power. One theory is that the users move the planchette with their subconscious, another is that spirits are involved.

Either way, the very fact that it must touched by human hands to work indicates that those bodies must be involved in controlling the planchette. But is the mind of the humans in control or someone else?

It is because of this that many people have rituals to protect them when using the board. It might be as simple as a positive attitude, avoiding certain times of day or weather conditions, or even placing up sacred barriers.

The thing is, no matter what walls you have in place the Ouija board is a door. So when you start the session there's a gaping hole in your protective barriers and you no longer have control over which spirit answers first.

Also, spirits can lie. Especially if the spirit that comes to call is demonic in nature. It seems very silly, even arrogant, to think that we'd get honest answers whenever we consult the spirits.

Repeated use of divination tools can make the door harder to close, too. The stories most often seem to involve people who didn't take the tool seriously to begin with, but to me 'taking the tool seriously' involves not using it at all. Why take the chance?

There is one story of a girl who's Ouija board made the furniture in her room shake. One of the kids involved eventually moved on to Tarot cards, and found them "wonderfully insightful" (Tarot for Teens) but I beg to differ.

The only difference with Tarot cards is that rather than controlling the human's body, the spirits manipulate the cards. There is still nothing to keep the spirit from lying. And there's still nothing to keep the spirit from manipulating the human's mind. A charming speaker with a manipulative nature can do a lot of things.

I recommend strongly that you never try to contact spirits this way. If you have ghost in your home that you believe desires help passing over, don't you think the spirit would contact you? They can talk, after all. It's the spirits that you can only contact through an intermediary that you have to worry about. That's why such things are forbidden.


Resources:

No comments: