Everything Under the Moon

So the dawn of the Spiritualism movement in the 18th and 19th centuries brought spirit contact into American and European mainstream. While much of this was often exploited by less than scrupulous 'mediums', certainly there must have been some success. Group spirit contact is common in Native American cultures in various forms, but seems to have fallen from favor in white American culture. Has anyone participated in one? What was your experience?

I have vague memories of trying to do seances at slumber parties way back when. I don't think we got any results. A bunch of giggling pre-adolescent girls isn't really conducive to spirit contact. We may have been fortunate to have not summoned something unfriendly.

Snow

That seems a common enough example. How strange that children are so eager to experiment with such things. On this note, 'tis the season for ouija boards and summoning ceremonies of all sorts, perhaps your mention of not attracting something malevolent is really the pearl here. The last thing we need is something foul getting through the veil by means of unwitting participants just playing a 'game'.

I recall a neighbor who each Halloween would host a seance 'party' in a local cemetery. If memory serves, they were quite popular with her crowd. Of course that was the '70s, so who knows what that was like!

I attended (rather skeptically) a spiritualist church several years ago in St Pete Fl. I was blown away by the medium's accuracy. I had wandered in off the street on a lark without any prior notice and he proceeded to describe an uncle that died while my mother was pregnant with me. He said he was told we looked and acted eerily similar and that his last name was my first name. He passed a message to me of an upcoming event that I didn't know about and it happened. All of this was 100% true. Since that time my interaction with "spirits" has become a regular thing. There is no doubt they walk among us and are more than willing to talk if we care to listen imho.

My experiences were in the mid to late 1960's. I think Ouija boards were having a popular streak at the time. And girls at slumber parties can come up with lots of wild ideas. Guys wouldn't understand. I think that particular behavior aspect requires two x chromosomes.

Snow

I've been at Seances. I've lead them as well. And yes, they are very serious. I've summoned the spirit of a man {AmerInd}.
I brought my wife to be and two very close friends to a place that was the site of a battle, if you will. A BL00D bath really. It was deeply personal. None of us have spoken of it except to each other. That's all I'll say about that. I do have a cautionary story. As kids will { even at 18 - 19 years } we were in a backyard partying. It was the house in the middle of the "city" Block. In this part of NY yards are big. Fire pits are in use, as opposed to BBQ's. We had a fire going. In the particular circle of friends in question, conversation got around to the occult. It was fairly early. Next would be either Atlantis or UFO's. Without letting me draw a circle or take other precautions. They, ...k..g genius's, started playing toss out the names of D&M0NS. It took me about 5 minutes to get them to stop. IDIOTS !!! I didn't like it at the time, hung around to help clean up and hopefully close off whatever damage was done. I was maybe 19. Didn't have the experience I do now. On the block there is a tendency toward house fires, usually small. Yeah. I'm back in the family home. It stays in the family. I haven't had any problem beyond "all" the leaves {OK , a lot of } piling up in my yard. The house on the property has been hit with four fires since the name toss. There are, rather, were, more fires in the other houses on the block. Freak accidents and health problems that are hospital worthy. Amazingly, the house where the toss took place has changed hands 7 times. It took me a full 18.6 year (a full lunar cycle) to close whatever was opened that night.

Unfortunately Planewalker, your story is not uncommon. Demons and other dark energies care very little if we believe in them or not, and will take any opportunity to manifest themselves in whatever forms suit them. It is good that you were persistent enough to complete the closure, your sense of responsibility is commendable. I feel certain that as the newer generations move further and further from nature, these opportunities will arise more often. I attribute much of the current discord in this world to just this sort of thing. A lack of understanding and respect for these things that our ancestors knew to be dangerous and real. I hope that all of us can be just as wary and persistent in the battle between dark and light and take every chance we get to not only spread love and light, but to repel those things at the opposite end of the spectrum. This time of year requires a higher level of vigilance...

Note: I'm editing my original comment. It was too blah blah blah wordy.

In college in the 70s, our study group of 6-10 girls worked with a medium for 2 years (she taught at the college) and we also attended her public sessions. These involved groups meeting in someone's home, and the medium passing on commentary from someone's deceased relative or some connection, and then the medium's teaching guide giving a lecture, with Q&A followup.

We began as a small group with a Ouija Board, sitting on the floor of one or another's dorm room, and special weekend gatherings, shrieking if the wall phone rang...before cell phones, ah-hem.

For several months we worked the board to help spirits coming to terms with completing their crossing over. A usual Q&A went like this: ask for a name and death experience; did they want to move on, if not why? Did they know how to move on? Winkle out what worried them and quell their fears. The members of the group meditated and held the energy as a group. This is what I think of as common garden variety, spirit contact work.

It was not all good times. Fantasy and ego intruded. False trails and false trance guidance occurred. Sifting wheat from chaff, our teaching guides were not at fault. Learning what was reliable and what was personality & ego, and having the maturity to admit failure, came at a price. The study group broke up and careers took over.

If you wanted to include as spirit experiences encounters with the land spirits or Fae, I've had a few minor encounters: with plant consciousness, with a gnome in a Kentucky cave, and with a brownie in my own basement and back yard, and I've been pixie led.

These things just pop up like "oh look, she needs another face plant" PLOP

As kids we were lucky to have family members who kept the old ways and were willing to teach us. Until I was a teenager, I really didn't know what a Fae or a Gnome was. I imagine they were things we called by different names. From the time we were very small we were taught to sit in the woods very quietly and listen to the voices of the animals, rocks and plants. I remember the first time I was allowed to join in mushroom (morel) gathering. I was impatient and frustrated because I couldn't find any. My grandmother instructed me to sit on the forest floor, close my eyes, and silently wait to hear the mushrooms singing. Upon opening my eyes a few minutes later, I found myself surrounded by them. I was not surprised by this, but I was happy to not return empty handed! I learned to be thankful to the many spirits in the woods, and also how to use that very same technique in herb and crystal hunting. Incredible how naturally attuned we actually are...

Hmm. I tried once to talk to my mom about this, and she seriously offered to pay for a psychiatrist. Not a warm fuzzy feeling.

T'a Nuk wrote:dark energies care very little if we believe in them or not, and will take any opportunity to manifest themselves in whatever forms suit them.

T'a Nuk wrote:I attribute much of the current discord in this world to just this sort of thing.

It's like a hole from the 1960's has cracked open and is returning 3 fold. Could this be because of the uprise of witchcraft in general at that time that could have lead to some irresponsible or mistaken/misuse of newly remembered magic roots that has taken 40f50 years to manifest?
Anyway we didn't really do séances, but we did levitation circles where we requested unknown spirits to help us in the levitation , @Snow, remember "light as a feather, stiff as board"? And the Ouiji was popular in the 60's, my cousins and I always played it at family gatherings. Who knows what sort of portals werd cracked open that us children had no idea how to manage at the time.

That seems a logical assessment. As a kid n the 70s I remember almost everyone had a ouija board. Even to this day I find it odd that it is sold as a toy. Consider the accidental summonings as well as those intentionally calling forth dark energies. Strange times. I remember being scared of the 'Bloody Mary' thing. To this day I get creeped out and avoid looking at the bathroom mirror in the middle of the night! These days I feel like there are those who want to 'dabble' with magic and spirit summoning without any real knowledge or understanding. Just opening the door for a few seconds can be disastrous, imagine all the situations similar to what Planewalker mentioned where the portal was left open until somebody was able to reseal ii. Hmmm... wonder where all these school shootings and terror attacks are coming from...

I don't look I the bathroom mirror in the middle of the night. I did so accidentally, once, and scared myself. I remember, even as a very young child, being afraid of what I would see. That was well before seeing any creepy movies.

Snow

My reasoning says that it's silly b.s. but my primal self argues against it. Even as a surly teenager I never tried that one. Now I can say, "No thank you", based on ,"just in case...". However, I have to think that SOMEBODY has done it, but I don't know anyone.

There has always been good and evil in the world. All that can be done is to strive against the darkness.