Anyone who’s watched a show about ghosts in the past decade has most likely heard about Electronic Voice Phenomenon, commonly known as EVP.
EVP is what you get when a recording device–be it digital or analog–picks up voices that the people in the room don’t hear. Even in the recording they’re frequently barely audible, garbled and at odd speeds and pitches.
Assuming that EVP is actually messages from the spirit world, it’s pretty clear that the lines of communication aren’t very solid or clear. In fact, it would seem there’s an awful lot of static on the line.
That same static affects other methods of spirit communication, like Ouija boards, automatic writing, table tapping/turning, channeling and whatever else is out there. What makes those different from EVP is that all of those more classic forms of mediumship are directly filtered through humans before they’re introduced to the rest of the world. Sometimes, with some practice and some luck, that human filter can clean out the static and produce much clearer communication.
Of course, that human filter can also add a tremendous amount of bias to the messages being passed along. That’s why most forms of human-filtered spirit communication are looked at askance by more scientific types. It’s simply too subjective to measure and too easy for it all to be made up (or imitated using common carnival tricks).
But if you’ve experienced spirit communication first hand, you know it real. You know that something other than your conscious mind is moving the planchette or pen. You know the difference between your own imagination and images popping into your head from “somewhere else.” It’s not objective, and it can’t be accurately shared with anyone else, but if you’re in the middle of it, you know.
What if you can’t tell the difference, though? What if you’re one of the millions of people out there who never had any interest in talking to the other side or seeing a ghost or following a spiritual path? What if you just plain don’t believe in all that crazy stuff? Then you’re bound to think it’s either just your imagination or that you’re going crazy.
Of, on the other end of things, what if you desperately want to be special? What if you can’t tell the difference between things your imagination produces and things produced outside of yourself? Then you’re likely to think that everything fits in some way into your delusions, you probably are going crazy.
There is a continuum of awareness we all exist within. Our relationship with ourselves–our knowledge of ourselves–helps determine our place on that continuum. It is easy to slide one way or another, depending on what’s going on in our lives or what we want to go on in our lives. As some of us are all too aware, no one can fool us better than we can fool ourselves and no one can punish us as badly as we can punish ourselves.
This is why I never recommend direct spirit communication (such as talking boards or automatic writing or mediumship) as a solo practice. Any time you’re engaging something that may just be in your own head, it is important to have others around–preferably others who know you and who you trust. They can help keep you centered and grounded amid the swirl of energy that spirit communication brings with it.
Whenever I’ve done talking board sessions, I’ve either been with a good group of people or been more than willing to accept that what I’m “getting” may just be from my subconscious. If I were to ever attempt direct channeling, I would be sure to have a similar group around–not just to document things I may not remember, but to pull me out of anything that may not be good for me.
Magickal working and spiritual development is as much a community affair as it is a personal one. Its those other people–and, sometimes, other entities–that make the trouble and cost of those long distance calls to the spirit world worth it. Everyone grows, everyone learns, everyone gains from a successful foray. With practice, the line noise can be reduced and better connections can be made.
With work and care, those spirit communications can become valuable ways of learning more about the metaphysical world.
With carelessness and blind faith, though, it can lead down a much darker and less productive path.
Which way would you rather go?
Leave a Reply