Psychic Circle Unboxing; Ouija Musing Vid

[Paranormalcy]

So though I don't go into a ton of anecdotal detail, I've actively (hands-on) logged over 250 hours on a Ouija board, and this is my unboxing plus some observations and explanations of some of the features of the Psychic Circle modern type of Ouija board, and some general thoughts I have on these things (warning - non-spiritual, ideomotor view). I have not gotten to USE the PC unfortunately. =(

Still I'd like to hear any thoughts on the Psychic Circle or Ouija boards or anything else. I'm of the belief it's all psychological and physiological but I enjoy some conversation about it still, and Patience Worth is still one of my favorite ouija/automatic writing-related stories.

[Paranormalcy]

I agree that I do not know with certainty if the ideomotor effect is the best and full explanation of what happens in Ouija use. I wish I was smart enough and/or someone with that field of study to elaborate and explain exactly why and/or how it can explain the various "exception" cases where conditions seem to preclude or at least make very unlikely, the effect being the culprit.

My group also almost always had three people, sometimes give, all with a finger or two on the traveler, and this went on almost every weekend for many years in the nineties, and we were all 19 to 30 something. I do not know if or how the ideomotor can properly fully explain everything, but I don't find it that difficult to think it is possible. Certainly a lot more possible than disembodies spirits.

No, I don't think everyone is going to have the same type of experience or observation. My group for example, was into sort of their own individual "field" at the time, some magic, some UFos, some poltergeists/ghosts, etc. All a tad into the new age shamanism stuff, the most outgoing and deeply interested and believing in the spiritual/supernatural aspect of things, was the one that supported THAT the most. I think as a result, "spirit guides" were our group's commonality, and accounts for why we had different personalities that seemed more consistent with the different sitters.

Yes, I know in the lore and sometimes in our own experience, we had board personalities that were very different than the people using them, and even seemed to be consistently to that personality, even when people that previously had "gotten" that one, were not on the board or even present. Mostly when I was talking about the personalities matching the people at the table, I was referring to the common "guide" types we got. We also got a good small selection of randoms who did have differing personalities, ideas, temperments and seeming intellects. Some spoke other languages (supposedly), or gave a few words from other languages at least, or used words none of us used, like "panacea" or "quay" - but we were all quit intelligent enough to use them, and probably came across them in the voluminous reading we all had done in our lives.

I know, and I remember watching and using the board, once I started thinking more pragmatically about its use, and indeed I could feel, to a small extent, the traveler being directed, and I have no doubt the "pushers" weren't doing it consciously. But the thing is, I had to think about it TO realize they were doing it at all - the Ouija is "weird" by its nature, with lots of starts and stops and erratic movement. Among all that, you're not going to notice who or when someone is pushing it unconsciously (consciously is a different story). I realized when someone would ask a question and then not even wait for the traveler to finish spelling half the word, that this person or persons were very clearly "assumping" and anticipating the results, because they could "feel what was going to be said" - which makes sense, since they were the one dictating it (again, unconsciously).

I still think its fun and I still recommend people do it, but to enjoy it and approach it with a good dose of pragmatism and think about its results, how it gets them, what happens during a session, what "forces" are actually at work.

[eight bits]

Nice vid. Say hi to Snowball for me .

Chester makes a point I'd like to amplify.

Personally, I think this is one of those times that psychologists give a name to some mystery they don't fully understand and then claim to have profound understanding of it.

Richard Feynman warned about confusing explaining something versus merely giving a name to what needs to be explained.

"Ideomotor effect" (that voluntary muscles can be efficaciously moved without conscious awareness of being in control of them) is sometimes an explanation and sometimes only a name for what is explained.

"Table tipping" (supposed spirits moving an object which living people are in contact with, without anybody thinking that they moved or helped to move the object) is an example of ideomotion as explanation. It adds to what was observed (the object moved mysteriously and the people don't think they did it) something more that accounts for the observation (poeple can do that without awareness).

An example where ideomotion is only a restatement of the observation is sleep walking. Yup, the voluntary muscles are moving, and nope, the person isn't consciously aware of it (or conscious at all). Ideomotion is what is taking place, not what causes what takes place.

In ouija, we can see plainly that person(s) are moving the thing, and we hear from them that they aren't aware of controlling the movement. Ideomotion is a name for what is happening. What needs to be explained is why the result is sometimes meaningful, and also the full qualia of the experience: it is not just unawareness of conscious control, but the affirmative sense that somebody else is consciously controlling the movement, maybe "through them."

"Board personality" is a fine term for that "sensed other player," by the way.

[Paranormalcy]

Excellent point and explanation about the broader, proper term for what ideomotion is and how it can be applied to many things, by Eight Bits. I'd be right there at the top of the list for more research or experiments or better explanations of what the term means and exactly how it works in the case of a Ouija especially with multiple people - a government/scientific grant would be geat!.

But I do recognize also there is a difference between explaining something away with something nearly as amorphous (like UFOs being ball lightning or even earth lights, both still somewhat scientifically accepted in their own extents, but rarely said to be fully understood) and being "logical". It IS possible, I'm sure, to understand the ideomotor function if you had someone with enough time and expertise to teach or explain it, much like I could understand exactly how a card works when I say "it uses a combution engine" - I have a basic grasp of the basic summary of what combustion is but I couldn't tell you the intiricate ins and outs of EXACTLY how it works, but it obviously does, and it has been studied and created and reproduced, which gives it a solid pedigree to a large extent, even if some things aren't immediately evidence to everyone. Moreso than saying gremlins running on hamster wheels are what powers a car.