planchettes.com - History of the Psychic Appliance...
The Industrial Revolution - New Psychic Tools & The Mass Production Thereof
Ultimately, this public interest in communications with "spirits" led to many new psychic appliances being created, experimented with, and marketed to the believers. The "automatic writing planchette" was the most successful device ever invented, as of the mid 1800's... |
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The "automatic writing planchette" was first seen in France. Planchette, in French, means "little plank." A planchette is a small plank, supported by two little wheels or pegs, and accompanied by a pencil holder. By lightly touching the surface of the planchette, they witnessed it seeming to "move on it's own accord" and literally write out messages with it's pencil. |
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As the interest in Spiritualism continued to grow, a device generically referred to as the "dial plate" began to gain in popularity. A dial plate generally is a small " psychic machine" which features a dial of sorts imprinted with letters, numbers & symbols. Users would hold knobs, or with some versions, just rest their fingertips on a moving part. Coupled with the machine, questions again could be asked, and answered by the "spirits..." They felt that the spirits would literally work through their physical bodies, taking control of them and causing the indicator to spell out messages.
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A device of extreme rarity was pioneered by a prominent Victorian scientist who after exploring the claims of Spiritualists on his own, became a believer. His built several exotic machines which he called "Spiritoscopes..." He designed these machines to prevent the possibilities of fraud. They functioned similarly to the famed "dial plate" machines, but frequently added controls which would make it impossible be abused.
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It was discovered that "spirits" could "work through the bodies of the living and point at letters to spell out their messages..." The most popular method at first involved using an inverted wine glass to point to characters displayed on a table. More and more Victorian era "believers" began "asking the glass..."
In an "ask the glass" session, an ordinary wine glass would be combined with little cards spread out around the seance table. The inverted wine glass would be lightly touched by the participants of the seance and after questions for the spirits were announced, the glass would slide around on the table, stopping at each letter in their message.
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It was only natural that practices like these, where the "spirits" would point at printed characters, would be combined with the already popular automatic writing planchette. In the 1880's, mediums began producing boards, printed with the alphabet, numbers and perhaps some other words or symbols.
These first "communications boards" used a well-constructed planchette as the "pointer." They were most often called "talking boards" or "spirit boards..." Speculating on the potential of this new device, a businessman named E.J. Bond was granted a United States patent for this device in 1891.
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Soon, his "spirit board" found it's way into mass production. The new board was trademarked "ouija", being derived from the French & German word for "yes..." (oui - ja)
These first "ouija" brand communications boards have proven to be incredibly successful. Although the rights to the name have changed hands several times, they are still being mass-produced by the current owner of the trademark, Parker Brothers. As they have been immensely popular for over 110 years, they have earned the honor of being the most popular "table game" of all time. Although they cannot produce the range of possibilities that an automatic writing planchette can, they have several advantages.
Although the mass produced "ouija board" brand communications board had even in it's first years been a victim of the realities of mass production, several other communications boards were produced in the Victorian era. Boards were constructed from many materials using many different techniques. Although there were a number of hand painted boards produced, the most beautiful surely had to be the marquetry boards with the Victorian pyrography boards coming in a close second.
Marquetry is a process where a "image" is built up out of varying wood veneers, much like a jigsaw puzzle. With ouija boards of this nature, every number and letter, as well as symbol is painstakenly hand-cut and recessed into the board, one at a time. Victorian pyrography was the practice of tediously burning an image, frequently only with the aid of the sun and a magnifying glass. Both of these techniques were fashionable with furniture construction in the 1800's. It's no surprise that these arts were used in producing some of the finest communications boards ever created... |
"Ouija" boards are fairly easy to master. Messages are spelled out quickly, and clearly. They require no paper. The ouija board has became so deeply rooted into American culture, most everyone has had an experience of some sort with them. It's a shame that the necessities of the mass-produced "toy" market has caused these fine tools to devolve into low-quality devices, significantly limited when compared to "the genuine article..." |
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Untitled Document
The History of Psychic Tools Psychic tools have a history going back thousands of years. We attempt to explain the evolution of these "devices" as well as show the connections between each of them. From the "pendulum board" used by Pythagoras through the most recent inventions. |
Thomas Alva Edison and the Spirit World Thomas Edison is certainly regarded as one of the great minds of the ages. He has over 3,000 patents to his credit, more than anyone in history. Thomas Edison invented, among thousands of other things, the light bulb, the phonograph and many other "miracles of science" which we take foregranted today. Did you know that he spent years of his life building a machine which could communicate with the dead??? |
The "Ouija Board" - Fact, Fiction & Folklore The "ouija board" has been accused of many things. Some claim it's a direct link to the spirit world. Others would have you think that if you as much as went near one, you'd open the gates to hell and become posessed, just like the little girl in "The Exorcist..." We explore the FACTS and let the reader judge for themselves... |
Do Spirits Write Books??? Via automatism and seances, many books have been published which credit supernatural entities with the authorship. We offer a synopsis of several well known, as well as nearly completely obscure books. We begin with discussing the "Seth Books", certainly the most famous of the lot. We also explore another book by well-resepected authors. In their book, they report to have communicated with famous "ghosts" including George Washington. Although this book is from 1882, they have some interesting things to report from entities living on Mars... |
The Truth About Automatic Writing Automatic Writing is a powerful ability which most of us have yet to explore. We examine the evidence on hand and attempt to explain this phenomenon as well as potentials which are hardly explored. |
Ouija Boards in the Movies... Psychic tools such as the "ouija board" have made their way into the spotlight many times. We reminisce about some of our favorites. |
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planchette
n : a triangular board supported on casters; when lightly touched with the fingertips it is supposed to spell out supernatural (or unconscious) messages
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
