Spirit Of The Glass - A Review

Filipinos are always fascinated by stories especially about the paranormal, ghosts and the supernatural. We are often curious when somebody talks about it and would spend our time to listen to the whole story. Can you recall when was the last time you heard stories about ghosts, "kapre", "aswang" and similar topics?



I am writing a review about spirit of the glass. This article is NOT intended to invite you to perform or try this game or whatever you might call this. "Spirit of the Glass" is a method of divination and a form of seance contacting the spirits using a spirit board known as Ouija board.

Ouija board is known as spirit/fire keyboard or talking board. It is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, the words "yes", "no", "hello" and "goodbye" and various symbols and graphics. It was regarded before as a harmless parlor game with no relation to the occult until an American spiritualist popularized its use as a divining tool during World War 1. Despite being repeatedly debunked by the efforts of the scientific community and denounced as a tool of Satan by conservative Christians, Ouija remains popular among many people.

We used to play this game before together with my brothers and sisters during our teenage days and until I reached college. I did not remember any unusual event that happened except that I saw the glass moved from one point of the board to another while someone is jotting down in a piece of paper the letters and numbers where the glass stops. I just wondered how the glass moves? We were told not to open our eyes during the play but since I was still a teenager then, I pretended that my eyes were totally closed. It was my curiosity that made me as one of the promoters of the game when I was in college. 

Why does the glass move during the divination? A psychophysiological phenomenon called ideomotor effect caused the unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer while the Ouija believers feel that the paranormal or supernatural is responsible for the Ouija's movements or actions.

Every time we played that game before, I was thinking that someone among the group is controlling the movements of the glass.

How do you play spirit of the glass? The requirements are as follow: 

• Ouija board or anything similar to it is a requirement. If no Ouija board is around, a clean "Carolina" or illustration board can be utilized. Make a replica of the Ouija's content.
• Plain short glass which will be used as the pointer.
• A piece of paper and a pen to jot down the messages.

Some things to consider when playing this board game:

• Do not perform divination during the holy week or Sabbath days.
• Avoid used spirit boards as it might have attracted evil spirits unless it has been cleansed by wiping with holy water.
• Never ask a question as to when or how will a person die.

Divination opens a portal to the other side and proceeding without taking precaution is an open invitation to any spirit that might wander by. A prayer or litany is required before starting divination to help control and protect the participants. When the session is complete it is wise to thank the guardian spirits for their aid and ask them to lead all spirits remaining or who have gathered back over to the other side and seal that portal when they depart.

During the session, the participants are requested to place their forefingers on the top of the inverted glass leaving behind a small gap. The participants are told to concentrate on the questions being asked. Often times it is hard to make contact. Moving the glass physically around the board can help everyone loosen up and it is best to clear up the minds first before retrying to make a contact.

What are the consequences of practicing divination or of playing "Spirit of the Glass"?
Divination is not a joke. Never treat the game as a very simple board game. It involves contacting good spirits and evil ones. A person who is weak in his beliefs might get into trouble when participating in the game. The worst thing to happen is when a participant or participants will be possessed by some entity. It is highly recommended for teenagers not to perform divination as it will only cause them harm.

It has been noted that Ouija boards have been the source of inspiration for literary works, used as guidance in writing. During the 1920s many "psychic" books were written of varying quality often initiated by Ouija board use.

Emily Grant Hutchings claimed that her 1917 novel Jap Herron: A Novel Written from the Ouija Board was dictated by Mark Twain's spirit through the use of a ouija board after his death. (Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/19170909.html)

Poems and novels written by Patience Worth, an alleged spirit, contacted by Pearl Lenore Curran, for more than 20 years, were initially transcribed from sessions with a Ouija board.

Here is an excerpt of a girl's story when she participated in playing the Spirit of the Glass.

"There came a time when we (we were a group of all decided to cut class and just hang out at my friends house, bored with nothing to do we decided to play “spirit of the glass”, we made a makeshift Ouija board out of an illustration board and used a glass as the pointer. Not knowing all the consequences, we tried to summon/contact, and we were able to talk to a lady, saying that she was a rape/murder victim. As teenagers, we were skeptics and thought that one of us just moved the glass, and just playing a prank. But after confirming that no one moved the glass on purpose, we decided to “test” the spirit we were able to contact. We tried asking questions like, What year were you born? What age was you when you died?, When did the incident happen? to cross check if the dates would tally, and it did. She was asking for help, but we were so afraid that we just said goodbye, said Our Father and packed things up." 

"That’s when things started to happen to us, especially me, I didn’t know what happened next, the last thing I knew I went into a certain blackout stage and I woke up in my friend’s bed. They told me after we packed up the board I fainted, when they tried to wake me up, the next thing they knew I was beating them up, I was in such a rage that even four guys couldn’t handle me, according to them I was being possessed by some entity, they guessed it could be the lady we came in contact with. They held me down on my friend’s bed and prayed over me. When I woke up all of them looked exhausted and there were tears in their eyes because of fear. We went to the church after that incident, but we felt a presence with us. But that didn’t stop us from trying to do it again, to make the long story short; we tried it twice and got the same outcome/scenario."

(Source:Spirit of the Glass)

Do you have any experience that is related to the paranormal or supernatural phenomenon? Please share it to others at the comment box below.