It would appear that Ouija boards are fast becoming one of the “coolest” and “must-have” Christmas gifts of 2014, but the church has fiercely criticized the trend calling it “absolutely appalling,” and strongly warned people to “not let this darkness” into their lives. - Source
Christmas and the occult.
First of all, I would strongly urge people to avoid Ouija Boards entirely. It's not a game. It is a portal to the occult and very dangerous. Its influence clings to you like pitch - believe me. Exorcists have warned about such 'games' and dabbling in the occult, seeking to communicate with the dead - something clearly condemned by Scripture and the Church. Like so many other prohibitions, this too is often ignored by those who blow off Catholic teaching on this or that issue.
My mother gave us a Ouija Board for Christmas one year - I was in grade school. My brother and sister and I played with it - but they were clearly manipulating it to freak me out. They soon bored with it, but I remained fascinated and toyed with it alone - nothing happened however.
Reminiscing about that reminded me that my mother had a fascination with the occult. Evidently when she was little, her mother and dad gave the kids a Ouija Board too - which is one reason why my mom bought us one. She said it was just a game - but she was also curious to see if it 'worked'. She also believed in fortune tellers.
Before she knew she was pregnant with me, she had her fortune told and the reader told her she was pregnant - sure enough - she soon found out she was expecting. Whenever my mom told the story, she always added anecdotes of other accurate readings the fortune teller told those who were with her. I always wondered if that brush with the occult had any detrimental effect upon me - the foetus in her womb? Likewise, since she was a fallen away Catholic, was my mother a target for some sort of infestation of the demonic type? Without going into detail, she endured a great deal of evil and was also felled by some very serious sins and compulsive behavior, as well as severe depression.
That said, as a teen, my friends and I also fooled around with the board, and though weird things happened to others who used it - nothing significant happened to us. Although we freaked ourselves out with creepy stories. Nevertheless, it led me to dabble in the occult, getting into astrology, fortune telling, and all of that kind of stuff - it was also a trendy thing to do, along with drugs and Eastern spirituality.
When I suggest these things cling to us, or embed themselves in the memory, what I mean by that is sometimes an experience we believed was true can 'obsess' a person. When I was in high school I asked the board when I would die, and the cursor moved to two numbers. I have been tempted all my life to attribute some truth to that. Intellectually I disregard it since the devil is the father of lies - nevertheless, my memory is not fully purified of the thought.
If that is the worst story I have, I suppose it seems harmless to play around with the board - but it is not. The exorcists have real stories to tell. My point is that Ouija and the Tarot and astrology opens the soul to dark influences and forces - principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world. The memory and all the faculties can be stained, our judgement, our discernment clouded - perhaps the greatest danger is simply to be anaesthetised to the diabolic delusion that pervades the world at this time.
To be sure - it is not a game.
Arise O Lord and let your enemies be scattered,
may those who hate you flee before your Holy Face.
Art at top: Edward Gorey
We used to play with the Ouija when we were kids, goofy stuff, (wow, you are brave Terry to ask the date of death question, we were too "scared," to ask.) We would always try to contact Lizzie Borden or something and it never worked or one of us would push it to spell out things and we would get bored and go outside and ride bikes. The best part about it was the cover on the box..(is it still the same..) my Mom kept it in the basement of all places and I used to like to go down there and look at the cover in the dark of the guy in the shroud pointing out at you...(I know, a weird kid.) That was the most scary the whole thing was.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I agree that messing with this stuff is bad. All those ghost chaser shows have people that are so frightened and fixated on the things going on in their house that they become obsessed with it. Just ignore it. That stuff is real..my brother has weird things going on in his house, and had the priest come and bless it. I took pictures on my cell phone to scare him(thinking some dust would look like orbs) because, well, I like to tease him.Well, I got more then I bargained for in a clear picture of a "thing," with a face coming out of the damn ground! Lesson learned..don't go looking for stuff or it will find you.
By the way, I just finished reading the Exorcist again and it really is a very good story about faith...the head spinning and green vomit are just sideshows for the real lesson.
I was in the Carmelite Novitiate when the Exorcist came out and the Novice Master took us to see the film on Holy Thursday - I was so freaked out by it I couldn't sleep and sweat poured out of me in buckets. The film still creeps me out.
DeleteOh! Oh! - In high School there was a story going round that some kids tried to speak to Anne Frank through the Ouija and suddenly they heard terrifying cries and moans. I doubt the story - but it was fun to get freaked out by it. And there is the attraction, really. Kids love to get scared - which is why haunted houses are so fun.
The Ouija is dangerous though.
Look behind you Mack! NOW!
Scared yet?
I LOVE the Exorcist movie..if only to compare Chris McNeal potty mouth to the demons to see who was worse. Plus in the 40th anniversary edition of the book we find out Fr. Dyer comes by his flaming queen status honestly, he IS gay (though non practicing as far as we see.) There is a hint that Fr. Merin is too..the book is really, really good and expands on Fr. Karras crisis of faith and Chris' slow move toward belief at the end.
DeleteI love the Anne Frank story. Coming from a town with a lot of farms around it we used to hang out in country cemeteries on weekends...nothing destructive just a little high school/college fun....(and you know all that this involves..) Yes, it sounds like the start of a bad 80s horror movie..well, it was in the bad 80s...anyway there was one of those stone chairs there which legend had it was a "death," chair..that thing scared the hell out of us as people would try to push you into it. Oh, and said cemetery was supposed Satan Worshipers hang out..though every where back then was supposed to be. Now come to think of it we deserved to meet Jason. It also sounds like I lived in Harmony.
And you make fun Terry but I have the picture of that thing in my brothers back yard and yes, I keep it on my phone to scare my brother ..."Done any yard work lately...bwahhhhaaaha."