by The second passive communication exercise
Continuing with the passive communication exercises, Bardon introduces us to a tool that has been popular since the Victorian era: the planchette.
Originally, the term ‘planchette’ referred to a heart-shaped wooden tablet that featured two wheels and a hole for a pen, designed to facilitate automatic writing.
Over time, a modified version of the planchette served as a support for questions through a board featuring the letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers, the words “yes” and “no,” and possibly some symbols.
This board is commonly known as the Ouija board. Popular belief suggests that the name comes from a combination of the French word “oui,” meaning “yes,” and the German word “ja,” also meaning “yes.” However, it appears that the name actually originated from a question posed to the board by an American medium and spiritualist, who asked what name it wanted to be called. The board responded with “Ouija,” which, according to that source, means “luck” or “good luck.” Today, the terms “planchette” and “Ouija” are generally regarded as synonymous.
Bardon suggests using a shot glass held at the base between the index and middle fingers, with an arrow drawn on the edge to indicate the letters. There are commercially available tables that include a pointer with a hole in the centre to help frame the letters. However, you are also free to create your own table by drawing letters and numbers on a sufficiently large sheet of paper or a wooden board.
As explained in the practice with the pendulum, the hand used to guide the planchette must be prepared and cleared of any astro-mental components to facilitate communication with the desired entity. Once contact is established and a trance-like state is maintained by accessing one’s depth point, questions should be formulated mentally. If everything is prepared correctly, the pointer upon the planchette will spell out the words that form the answers. Once the session is complete, the astro-mental components are reintegrated with the physical body.
There isn’t much more to add that hasn’t already been mentioned in the previous exercises on passive communication. Whatever the tools used, they are only facilitators that favour contact with our higher Self or with other entities. The attitude of listening, or intense emotional states, can spontaneously trigger this type of communication, which generally manifests itself as a flash of understanding later translated into words and thoughts of complete meaning by cerebral processing.
The term used in science to describe these phenomena is the ideomotor response. In this response, the subject exhibits seemingly involuntary muscular movements; however, these movements are actually controlled by an unconscious reflex. This description aligns perfectly with situations often encountered in passive communication, where individuals are led to believe they are communicating with other entities or higher planes of existence, without realising that they are unconsciously influencing the outcome of the practice.
This should not be a cause for discouragement. Passive communication, as the name implies, primarily serves to cultivate the ability for receptivity or inner listening. It serves as a preparation for invocation, establishing a passive medium for communication with a spirit guide. Some failures must be expected during this process.
Additionally, passive communication is a necessary prerequisite for developing the ability to perceive an entity objectively, meaning the skill to distinguish between subjective self-projection and genuine contact with a separate entity that is not oneself. The next stage in this process is reached through evocation, the active form of communication, as described in Bardon’s second book, The Practice of Magical Evocation.
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