A reader writes:
Before I came to Christ (and the Church) I was thirteen years old. One time, I played a fortune-telling game, and the dark side made some dire predictions about my life. Only bad things: Never getting married, never graduating college, dying at age 27, etc…
I heard of other people quija boards, and all the predictions always come true. I’m am very scared. Do you know of any cases when occultic predictions failed to come true?
Yes. False occultic predictions aren’t just a dime a dozen, they’re a dim a billion. The failure rates for psychics and such are staggeringly high, at least when their predictions have any degree of specificity to them, like the ones allegedly made about you.
Back when I was a teenager, before I was a Christian, I also had an interest in the occult. I didn’t get into ouija boards, but I read a lot of books about psychics like Edgar Cayce and Jeanne Dixon, both of whom made numerous predictions that failed to come true.
An example would be a series of cataclysmic "earth changes" that Cayce and other psychics said would occur between 1958 and 1998, including the earth’s poles flipping, California and most of Japan sliding into the sea, the rising of the continent of Atlantis, and it was all building ujp to the second coming of Christ and the dawning of the Millennium.
Well, as time rolled along, these things started not happening, and the psychics started to get nervous as we got closer to 1998. Some predicted that the things would happen in 1999, 2000, or 2001 instead.
Needless to say, they didn’t, and today this body of predictions–which was hot stuff in prior decades and the subject of numerous books–has been embarassedly swept under the collective rug of the psychic community, with very little being said about it today.
I don’t know who’s been telling you that predictions of ouija boards are never wrong, but they’re just telling you a scare story. They’re most likely remembering a few predictions that happened–due to pure random chance–to come true and they’re forgetting all the false ones (a phenomenon known as the "file-drawer effect," where things that tend to confirm a theory get remembered and things that tend to disconfirm it get overlooked).
The bottom line is that if ouija boards were infallible then no force on earth would stop people from using them constantly to corner the market and make tons of money. They’d also put all the other psychics out of business, and ouijaboardology would be a respected science being studied and taught at countless universities, with massive funding by private foundations.
That ain’t the world we live in, so ouija boards ain’t infallible. FAR from it.
So set your mind at rest about that.
Also, since you’ve now come to Christ and the Church, you have their protection in a way that you didn’t before, so draw confidence from that as well.
And know that this is a problem that will dissipate with time. As soon as you get married, graduate college, or turn 28, you’ll have your own personal disconfirmation of the predictions.
NOTE: To further help our friend out, I invite readers to mention psychic/occult predictions (particularly ones involving ouija boards) that they are aware of that have proven false!
20
When I was a kid, my family (though my parents were strong and orthodox Catholics) owned a Ouija board. At one point in a family gathering, we each took turns asking it questions about whom we each would marry, how many kids we’d have, and a number of other questions. We wrote down the answers and checked them years later.
Every one of the predictions, without exception, proved false.
As an additional note, since the questioner is worried, I would suggest going to a good priest with your concerns, particularly one who has experience with spiritual warfare issues. In the circles in which both my wife and myself have run (many pagans, witches, and others in our acquaintance) and considering the situations we’ve run into, I can say without a doubt that a simple exorcism blessing or deliverance prayer (not the same as a SOLEMN exorcism) goes a long way to purging any evil influence that might remain and calming any lingering fears.
Also, Go to Confession about being involved in this occultic practice. Chances are, all the healing and deliverence and protection he will need to put this whole notion behind him is right there in that precious Sacrament. God is so good.
Just take a look at all those “end of year” predictions magazines and newspapers get astrologers and psychics to make.
The ones that ‘come true’ are those so generally phrased as to be meaningless: conflict will break out in the Middle East; a pop singer will get married; a politician will be involved in a scandal. Gee, who could have predicted *that*?
Ouija boards are sold as games, not time machines. They can’t tell you what’s going to happen and they can’t make it come true. Ask the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their help and pray for them also – that’s the only communing with spirits that’s ever going to do anyone any good. You are part of the Communion of Saints and they will help you.
And remember the Irish proverb: God’s help is nearer than the door. God bless and keep you.
Not to discount the “dark side”, but in my experience whenever an Ouija board has made a “prediction” in my presence, I have been able to prove that the user of the board was scamming by purposely moving the pointer. Of course, none of the predictions ever came true. I have also read other cases where famous users of the board were scam artists, and of scientific explanations of how the pointer moves in cases where people aren’t scamming. See Wikipedia.
That’s not to say that playing with the occult aint foolish, (you certainly should go to confession,) but I wouldn’t worry too much about the so-called “predictions”.
Just take a look at all those “end of year” predictions magazines and newspapers get astrologers and psychics to make
I don’t think they even do that any more due to the failure rate (100%).
I would add Nostradamus to the list as well. People can bring up “Hister” all they want. Here is a some information from Wikipedia:
The name Hister, in the quatrains of Nostradamus, is understood by students of the seer to be a reference to Adolf Hitler.
Ister was a name used by the ancient Greeks for the Danube River (which flows through Hitler’s birth country of Austria), and may have been named such for the area called Istria in what is now northwestern Croatia, where dwelt a tribe called the Histri. In ancient times before the means existed to conduct a proper survey of the Danube, it was thought that the local freshwater streams in Istria derived from a non-existent southbound branch of the Danube.
Another quote from a skeptic site:
Skeptics cast doubt upon the interpretation of Nostradamus’s quatrains (Randi 1993). Here is how James Randi and Cheetham read one of the more famous quatrains, allegedly predicting the rise of Adolph Hitler to power in Germany:
Bêtes farouches de faim fleuves tranner;
Plus part du champ encore Hister sera,
En caige de fer le grand sera treisner,
Quand rien enfant de Germain observa. (II.24)
Cheetham’s version:
Beasts wild with hunger will cross the rivers,
The greater part of the battle will be against Hitler.
He will cause great men to be dragged in a cage of iron,
When the son of Germany obeys no law.
Randi’s version:
Beasts mad with hunger will swim across rivers,
Most of the army will be against the Lower Danube.
The great one shall be dragged in an iron cage
When the child brother will observe nothing.
Just my two cents…
A palm reader once told me that I’d be dead in a year, burned alive in a fire, probably a car accident. That was seven years ago. Then, I went to another one who told me I would get married at 26 and be a carpenter. I am recently engaged and will be 28 when I get married. I work in Public Relations for a large energy company. It’s all mumbo jumbo.
Something else to keep in mind is that fortune tellers often times make dire predictions and then offer their services to help cleanse you from evil spirits for a price. Just remember that the Blood that Jesus shed on the Cross cleanses all humanity and only The Lord can wash away sins.
Also, a strong devotion to St. Benedict wouldn’t hurt: “Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas!”
Translated: Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!
I hope this doesn’t violate the 20 but it might also be worth considering that the particular predictions (save possibly the third) are not per se “bad things”. Granted, they’re not desirable, but still…
You’ll find that many of the truths we cling to depend on our point of view.
I have a family memeber who spoke to a dead spirit through a ouija board. The “spirit” was very specific about who he was and were he came from. She spent much fruitless time trying to prove any of this. None could be proven nor any of his useless predictions.
Keep in mind that even if demons are involved satan is the father of lies. A fictional but good exaple is from the Lord of the Rings. Dethanor struggles with the Dark Lord over using the Palintri (Crystal ball). The Dark Lord let him see true events but not in true perspective. He saw the massing troops on the boarder but not the help “comming unseen”.
Bear in mind also that we are Christians. We already know how the story ends. We win. You win. You have already won. Don’t focus on the scary part of the story where the dragon is winning over the hero. Flip to the end where the hero has won his princess and remember this is your fate. If I had time I’d go look up St. Patricks breastplate: Christ before me, Christ after me, …..beutiful prayer to start the day as a warrior.
In addition to what Jimmy and other commenters have said, remember that Providence — not Ouija boards or occult powers — is ultimately in charge of this universe in general and your life in particular.
No one can promise you that you will live to 28, graduate college, or get married, with our without a Ouija board. Lots of people don’t — and it has nothing to do with Ouija boards or occult powers. We are in God’s hand; we we are called to entrust ourselves with faith and filial trust to His will.
This means that there is nothing to fear — and that includes not living to 28, graduating college, or getting married. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
Consider that the sin of divination consists precisely in offenses against the proper trust and reverence that the first commandment tells us we owe to God. By the same token, the trust you are called to is incompatible with continuing to live in dread of those predictions. Have confidence that God does not wish you to worry about these predictions any more.
Entrust yourself, your hopes and your fears, to Him, and fear nothing. Having turned with contrition from the error of your ways, resolve that there is nothing you will not accept from his hand, and know that he will be with you no matter what happens.
And then, having done all that, believe this: You can have moral certainty that these predictions are complete hogwash and nothing to worry about anyway.
RULE 20 VIOLATION.
so that’s where it came from ….
Back in the 70’s a friend of mine, who was into Edgar Cayce, predicted that California would substantially fall into the ocean. We made a $100 bet on it ….he paid.
I never knew the prediction came from Cayce.
Not that anybody will read this…
Another point:
I once asked a “psychic” why she was still working. When she became puzzled at my question, I told her that if she could really see the future, she could make herself wealthy via lottery, betting, or investments.
She had no response…
Did (un)Realist commit the rule 20 violation, or was he pointing it out? I think I can guess…
The sad/disturbing/disgusting thing is that these Ouija boards are sold in the game section, like it’s a toy. Unfortunately, this “toy” becomes (for some, not all) a gateway tool to occult obsession.
I’d love to know why this “religious” implement is in the toys & games section of Toys-R-Us. It would be like putting a crucifix or holy water font in the home & garden section of Wal-Mart.
BTW, if you think fortune tellers have gone the way of the dodo, read the comics section of your local newspaper – 9 times out of 10, the horoscopes (daily predictions based on astrology) are right there as well. Don’t think that Satan has given up, just because he’s been shown to be wrong.
Two stories, one more disturbing than the other.
First, when I was a young teen (it seems like teens get into this stuff more than anyone else), my ouija board told me that my favorite aunt would die by a particular date of a brain tumor. She lived 35 years beyond the predicted date, and a brain tumor was not the cause of her death.
The other story is the more disturbing. My former parish used to hold a formal dinner dance every spring with a different theme each year. One year the theme was “Bal Mystique,” and it was supposed to be like something out of the Arabian Nights. They hired belly dancers, Middle Eastern musicians, and (this is the shocking part) a palm reader. There was one table “prize” at each table to get your palm read. I won the “prize” at my table.
Everything that palm reader told me came true in very short order (some very specific and personal predictions). I was drawn into her wiles, and a good many other parishioners were, too. That’s the disturbing part — my parish provided this occult “entertainment,” and, yes, our pastor and two other priests were took part.
I thank God I wasn’t led permanently astray, and that I know better now.
‘thann
Actually this just crept up in the news. Popular “fortune teller” Sylvia Brown, of Montell Williams and Oprah fame, actually told told parents of Shawn Hornbeck, the kidnapped young man recently found, that their son was dead. She then offered to continue consulting them at a rate of $700/hr. Obviously, her predictions were false. romancatholicblog.typepad.com has more on the story. http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/7565568
P.S. could somebody, perhaps in email, instruct me on how to add links in a comment…it would be most appreciated
No joke here….
When I was around thirteen years old, the Ouija board said I would die at 21 in a car accident and be reincarnated as a monkey!
I am 35 with a great wife and two wonderful children.
My first and only experience with a ouija board occurred as a pre-teenager. My friend’s mom was into the occult so he had access to a board. We played with it like it was a game. No harm, no foul.
One must also be careful with gypsies et al who profess power over demons, future, and your well-being. My grandmother was told by a roving gypsy group that she had demons under her bed. They wanted $20 to eliminate these fallen angels. My Mom caught them in the act and they never were seen again in our town.
Sorry about the violation of Rule 20. Pin Head, my GA, was out all night drinking and was a bit groggy when reviewing my commentary which was too much off topic. I will save it for a more appropriate discussion.
Oh great — Realist is not only the Tokyo Rose of the Catholic blog but also its Moderator!
Hmmmmm… I wonder — demons and realist… could they be one and the same???
C’mon, Esau! Rule 1 applies to all of us. Don’t dive into the gutta, brutha!
By the way folks, about sceances and ouji boards and the like:
Dt:18:10: There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.
Dt:18:11: Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Dt:18:12: For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
(KJV)
Even Wesley interpreted these verses as thus:
18:10 Useth divination – Foretelleth things secret or to come, by unlawful arts and practices. An observer of times – Superstitiously pronouncing some days lucky, and others unlucky. Or, an observer of the clouds or heavens, one that divineth by the motions of the clouds, by the stars, or by the flying or chattering of birds, all which Heathens used to observe. An inchanter – Or, a conjecturer, that discovers hidden things by a superstitious use of words or ceremonies, by observation of water or smoke or any contingencies. A witch – One that is in covenant with the devil.
Further, from Wesley:
18:11 A charmer – One that charmeth serpents or other cattle. Or, a fortune – teller, that foretelleth the events of men’s lives by the conjunctions of the stars. Spirits – Whom they call upon by certain words or rites. A wizard – Heb. a knowing man, who by any forbidden way’s undertakes the revelation of secret things. A necromancer – One that calleth up and enquireth of the dead.
In other words, gypsies, fortune-tellers, seances, ouji boards; all of these are forbidden as Deuteronomy 18:10-12 dictates! Even Wesley, our seperated brother, knew that!
Hey, I remember a year when I decided to make my own year’s end predictions: conflicts would erupt in the Middle-East, a ship would leak oil on the coast and the inflation would continue rising. I was 100% correct in all accounts and all I needed was a bit of common sense for the obvious.
Ah, for this year, I predict that war in Iraq will drag on, President Bush’s ratings will remain low and the Democratic Congress will push the culture of death. Call me again in a year. 😀
Look, ma, no ouija boards!
Tip to spot a fake psychic: real ones don’t ask your name, they already know it! 🙂
Esau,
In other words, gypsies, fortune-tellers, seances, ouji boards; all of these are forbidden as Deuteronomy 18:10-12 dictates! Even Wesley, our seperated brother, knew that!
Yes, but the problem comes when certain of our separated brethren try to apply that Scripture from Deut. to our seeking the intercession of the saints – accusing us of “conjuring up the dead”.
My baby brother dabbled in Spiritism and, in my opinion, became oppressed by demons, which led him to suicide.
The army of the enemy pressed on my grieving parents through mediums and seances, “revealing” things that only my brother could know. My reply to my parents was that my brother and angels, guardian and fallen ones, knew it, pointing out that the enemy may ensnare even the skeptical among us.
May Samuel intercede for us.
Edward:
That does not take away from the fact that gypsies, fortune-tellers, the use of ouji boards, etc. are all explicitly forbidden by Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
The fact that there are a certain of our separated brethren who mis-interpret Dt 18:10-12 to include the intercession of the saints is a whole other issue entirely.
A great verse of Scripture that you might want to look at is Revelation 5:8 which shows us a great example of intercession of the Saints. It says that John here is receiving a vision of Heaven and he sees: “And when he had taken the scroll, the 4 living creatures and 24 elders (now this is 4 angels and 24 human beings) fell down before the Lord before the Lamb, each holding a harp and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints” and they take those prayers to God.
Back in college, I played with a ouija board a few times with friends. It always seemed so fake that I was sure that somebody was actually pushing it. Turns out I was right. Every time the little doo-hickey would start moving around the board, I’d push down hard on it (you’re supposed to rest your fingers very lightly on it). Invariably I’d see my friends fingers slip on the surface…they were pushing it.
Maybe if you really believe it’s a tool of the occult and has some mystical powers then a demon will come and push it around…who knows? Even before I was Christian I was a skeptic of ouija boards, and I can tell you from experience that when a few honest people who promise not to interfere with the movement put their fingers on a ouija board and don’t move the marker around, the thing just sits there and never moves.
1) The saints are not dead, but alive in Christ.
2) We don’t converse with the saints. We don’t conjure their presence. We don’t ask the saints for advice , information, or anything like that. We ask them to pray for us, just like anyone might ask a Christian friend for prayer. The bible teaches that the saints pray a lot. It is their JOB, according to scripture, to bring the prayers of the faithful before the throne of Christ. Check the Revelation.
Again, folks, just because there are those of our seperated brethren who have misinterpreted Dt 18:10-11 to include the intercession of the saints DOES NOT, in fact, take away the force of those verses that explicitly forbids us to use gypsies, fortune-tellers, ouji boards and the like!
I am sick and tired of seeing/hearing Catholics, either on television or on the radio, practicing such things, thinking that it’s okay for them to do so!
No wonder our separated brethren think the worse of us!
That does not take away from the fact that gypsies, fortune-tellers, the use of ouji boards, etc. are all explicitly forbidden by Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
As for the intercession of the saints, this is a whole other issue entirely.
Again, a great verse of Scripture that you might want to look at is Revelation 5:8 which shows us a great example of intercession of the Saints. It says that John here is receiving a vision of Heaven and he sees: “And when he had taken the scroll, the 4 living creatures and 24 elders (now this is 4 angels and 24 human beings) fell down before the Lord before the Lamb, each holding a harp and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints” and they take those prayers to God.
Augustine: Why Samuel?
Just curious….
I am sick and tired of seeing/hearing Catholics, either on television or on the radio, practicing such things, thinking that it’s okay for them to do so!
For example, there was this astrologer on a popular alternative radio station touting that she was, in fact, Catholic and it seemed she was attempting to justify her practice of these arts (Read Augustine’s Confession, by the way; in addition to what Dt 18:10-12 says about this, even he denounced astrology) by what she learned back in Catholic school.
If you were not Catholic or was one that was ignorant of Catholic Teaching, you might think that such things were permitted or even encouraged by Catholic Teaching.
David,
Samuel because he was conjured up for Saul after dead.
May he present our prayers for those dabbling in the occult.
G. K. Chesterton, in his autobiography, recounts messing around with stuff like this when he was one young; and he says this about it:
“The only thing I will say with complete confidence, about that mystic and invisible power, is that it tells lies. The lies may be larks or they may be lures to the imperilled soul or they may be a thousand other things; but whatever they are, they are not truths about the other world; or for that matter about this world.”
Esau,
Yes, I know, I was “just sayin'”. It was an offhand comment, not a request for apologetics help.
But, perhaps your post will be of help to some lurker who may have had his faith in the rightness of asking the saints to pray for us shaken.
Hmm, this reminds me of the question of how does casting lots in the OT fit into this type of thing?
Edward:
But, perhaps your post will be of help to some lurker who may have had his faith in the rightness of asking the saints to pray for us shaken.
No prob, Edward!
Again, I am just concerned about the many Catholics out there who are ignorant of Dt 18:10-12 and continue to practice such things that involve fortune-telling and the like.
This is not right and, furthermore, it puts Catholics in such negative light where non-Catholics will look on these folks and think (due to their ignorance of what the Catholic Church teaches as well) that this is actually a practice that is given license by the Catholic Church when, in fact, it isn’t.
God bless you, brother — and I appreciate your vigilance on such issues.
There’s a “psychic” on the main drag in my town, right next to the gas station, complete with neon signs in the window advertising, “Tell her nothing, she tells you all!”
Sometimes, as I wait for the gas tank to fill up, I toy with the idea of plowing the van through the front window, and then asking, “So– did you know I was coming?!??”
I was once with a group of friends where one brought a “psychic” friend who was “never wrong”. She started predicting how many children each one of us would have (amazingly she picked 2 or 3 for everyone – don’t most people by choice have 2 or 3?). Well, I was only supposed to have 2.
Tell that to my 4 children (and hopefully many more).
I remember TV ads from some psychos–uh, psychics. I remember sometimes thinking: “Prove to me how good you are; you call me…now!” Never did get a call.
The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gold,
Men may uproot where worlds begin,
Or read the name of the nameless sin;
But if he fail or if he win
To no good man is told.
The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.
The men of the East may search the scrolls
For sure fates and fame,
But the men that drink the blood of God
Go singing to their shame.
The wise men know what wicked things
Are written on the sky,
They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,
Hearing the heavy purple wings,
Where the forgotten seraph kings
Still plot how God shall die.
The wise men know all evil things
Under the twisted trees,
Where the perverse in pleasure pine
And men are weary of green wine
And sick of crimson seas.
But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.
—From The Ballad of The White Horse
I have always considered ouija boards Satanic
Christine
TheWorld…IMHO
The one who prays has no fear of the dark side. The greatest weapon of the Catholics is the rosary.
I was once walking home from work when I was accosted by a woman who offered to read my palm for a dollar. So for a lark, I gave her a buck just to see what she’d come up with (I didn’t believe in divination then.) She then proceeded to tell me about how my family life was great and my love life was great and how everything in my life was just peachy. At the time I was having serious family difficulties, my love life was non-existent, and I was virtually unemployed (my job was a stopgap through a temp firm.) She looked so confused when I flatly told her that everything she’d said was completely wrong….
For a whole list of false prophecies, look up the late Jeane Dixon, who, among other things, predicted that Kennedy would lose the 1960 election….
For a whole list of false prophecies, look up the late Jeane Dixon, who, among other things, predicted that Kennedy would lose the 1960 election….
Well, if you don’t count the voters in Alabama who cast votes for unpledged Democratic electors (some of which electors then went on to cast their votes for Harry F. Byrd), then Kennedy did lose the popular vote. (Yeah, yeah, I know: I’m stretching.)
But if you really want to point to a screw-up by Jeanne Dixon (who, strangely enough, considered herself a Catholic and was a parishioner at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington–she lived in the same block as my office, and I used to see her walking her little yippy dog down 19th Street), how about her prediction that we’d have universal peace by the year 2000, ushered in by some guy born in Syria in the year 1962? (Maybe she meant in some alternate universe.)
A few years ago there was a conference of psychics in London. Asked by a journalist whether the event would be repeated the following year, the spokesperson replied: “We don’t know yet.”
When I was a teen, my best friend’s weird Goth girlfriend played Ouija board. As a Catholic I refused to take part, but I stayed in the room. (They were at the kitchen table while I was watching the TV.) I loudly and sarcastically broadcast my skepticism at every bizarre prediction, so they read my fortune:
They said I would one day be an astronaut (or really something more convoluted about walking among the stars and other such nonsense that boiled down to being an astronaut). Um yeah, to my chagrin, it didn’t happen. Of course, the fact that they both knew that I wanted to be an astronaut probably played a role in that particular prediction.
Interesting fact: Ouija boards used to be manufactured at the Parker Brothers plant here in Salem, Massachusetts, where there is more than a little occultic activity. The plant closed over a decade ago and God (and perhaps the Enemy) only knows where they’re made now.
My mother ran into a fortune teller who was, for some reason, operating near my mother’s workplace. The woman predicted that my father would change jobs within two years, along with some other vague, borderline non-predictions. Six years later, he’s still working in the same place. He wasn’t even promoted or demoted or anything. They didn’t even change his job title the tiniest bit.
I also remember when I was in high school, there was a teacher there who got fired, partly thanks to the intervention of two other teachers. The fellow who was fired had his occultist wife put a curse on the others, and claimed they would die of disease (probably cancer) within three years. Needless to say, neither “cursed” man ever got anything worse than the flu during that time.
Here’s the relevant section from the Catechism on Divination:
Divination and magic
2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.
2116 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. 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.
2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others – even if this were for the sake of restoring their health – are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.
I learned in my AP Psychology class about hindsight bias – you look back and think “I should have seen it coming.” This is how horoscopes and such work. Predict something vague, then after the fact you look back and work reality into the prediction.
Chesterton fooled with ouija once, according to his autobiography.
It told his father that G.K’s aunt had married Cardinal Manning.
My friends and I used to LIVE for, by and almost always on the “Board”. This was right before the internet became widely known and it was oddly similar. A spelled, often abbreviated speech done n slow, silent anonymity, where saying and describing reacting mingled in a clunky way. We were hooked and preoccupied. Oh, lots of obviously supernatural things happened. That was somehting we all got as used to as we were used to grocery shoping. It permeated all our lives. We eventually found that the beings we talked to were able to predict some kinds of future events but not others. Now what they could predict? Everything that could be reasonably surmised by someone who knew what was going on all over town. That someone was about to make a first-time or improbable surprise visit, maybe with someone we didn’t know they knew; that someone had gotten pregnant the day before; what people in a class we were about to visit were discussing; next year’s fashion trends (which are already decided in the designers’ studios, sewing rooms and fashion-magazine boardrooms and creative offices)things a well-connected spy network would know. What were they wrong about? How many kids people would have. Who would stay in love. Who would never fall in love. What someone was thinking prior to a confrontation. How long people would live. Who was likely to win a war. Not only that, they were revealed bit-by-bit to be very hostile to all of us and to want to harm us. Interesting. It sounds to me like the beings we talked to were real (supernatural things definitely happened all the time, everywhere), and they knew more than we all could put together about some things. But the future? They had no clue. Nor could they read minds, they could only read subtle facial and bodily tip-offs to people’s reactions to things, in slightly more detail than a human fortuneteller could do. Waht they learned they mostly used against us. Verdict: Stay away from it.