I am sure that you have seen movies where a person tries to strike a connection between the living and the dead. He/She does this by being the host in which the spirit resides temporarily. Then the host answers the queries of the people who want to know the answers to certain questions. That is essentially called seance. So, in this excerpt, we will discuss what is a seance and does it account for any paranormal activity or not.
Seance is not something that is scary or perfidious. It is the means by which a living person communicates with the dead. By dead I mean, the spirit or the ghost.
Even when paranormal investigators perform EVP, they are actually performing a type of seance. When they ask a spirit to move something or tap on something, then they are conduction a type of what we call a seance. Seance is one of the most vital instruments an investigator has. He uses this to do things that help him to establish contact with ethereal beings.
Types of Seance
Now that you know what a seance is, let us discuss the different types of seance.
Table Tipping – Oldest Form of Seance
Table tipping is known to be one of the oldest forms of a seance. It is also regarded as one of the most popular. While performing table tipping, a small group of people sit around a table and place their fingers on the table.
Then the group or one person in the group asks questions to the spirit to determine paranormal activity. If they are able to establish contact then the spirit responds by making small vibrations on the table.
However, it is not that every time that people are able to establish contact. Sometimes nothing happens. Table tipping is conducted when there is still a strong energy field of the deceased exists in this world. Hence, most people use this technique when their loved ones or someone they know has died recently and there is still a strong aura of them around the place where the seance is conducted.
Ouija Boards
Ouija Boards are very popular and well-known when it comes to establishing contact with spirits. We all have seen them in moves and popular TV shows. An Ouija board is basically a wooden board that has numbers and alphabets inscribed on it. It also has a wooden pointer on which the person asking questions or conducting seance places their index finger. When the people ask questions, the pointer moves according to what the spirit wants to convey.
Many people are of the view that Ouija boards are gateways for treacherous spirits to come into our universe. But then there is no research conducted to prove that this theory holds any validity. Paranormal activity through it is wholly based on a person’s belief system.
The ideomotor effect is something for which Ouija Boards fall victim for. A Planchette is dependant upon the responses by the subconscious mind. Ideomotor is something that is solely dependant upon hypnosis. But when a planchette moves without the ideomotor then it can be said that a paranormal being is responsible for the same.
Channelling – Common Form of Seance
In India, channelling is the most common form of seance. It involves a sort of partial possession by the spirit. In this, a human being gets possessed by the spirit and then answers questions like him. During this, the medium goes into a partial trance-like phase and does not have control over his choice of words.
It is a very popular form of spirit communication in which the medium is able to channel the spirit through him. Channeling is usually conducted by a group of people as it is not recommended to perform it alone.
Automatic Writing
This is another very popular form of seance practised in India. It is a type of channelling involving the use of pen and paper.
In this, the medium is partially possessed and passes information by writing. The spirit does not have total control over the medium but since it has partial control, it is able to transfer information through him/her.
People conduct it to get answers from the spirit and is mostly done by the family of the deceased. Sometimes people die under suspicious circumstances and the family wants to know the reasons behind the demise of their loved one. Hence, this procedure is used as it is considered safe and many people have used this successfully to find what they want to know.
