A PPENDIX A Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques automatic writing. A Spirit uses the medium’s hand to write replies to any number of questions posed; also practiced by amateurs as a way of strengthening their spiritual powers. As an added feature, a magic pencil sometimes floats. In such instances, the Spirits are asking the medium to begin writing. How it is done: The pencil hangs on thin metal or glass wires. clairgustance or clairlience. A taste or smell associated with the Spirit. For example, if you are trying to contact your mother, who was fond of gardening, a waft of rose water might be introduced. How it is done: aromatherapy. dermography, also known as skin writing. The Spirits literally write words or pictures on the medium’s flesh. How it is done: Invisible ink, likely lemon juice, is used. When held up to a candle, the ink grows increasingly visible. ectoplasm. A pale, filmy materialization of the soul, produced by the medium when in a trance state. Likely invented by Leah Fox (circa 1860). The last manifestation of ectoplasm seems to have taken place in 1939. Cambridge University has a sample; it looks and feels like cheesecloth or chiffon. Female mediums sometimes stuffed ectoplasm in their vaginas, necessitating strip- searches. See also soul and Spirit’s progress. lampadomancy. Flame reading. The messages might be conveyed by changes in flame intensity, color, or direction. How it is done: Chemicals can be added to a segment of the candle to make the flame flicker or change color. On the direction of the flame: a small hole in the table may allow 164 Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques for a flue to affect air- current. A turkey baster, for example, might be used. See also pyroscopy, scrying, and tasseography. magic box. Sometimes a curtained area from which the Spirit emerges or behind which clients could caress Spirits; sometimes a large trunk, like a magical cabinet used by magicians. Another version: a small, television- like box in which only a face or a miniature body might appear. The latter is likely a trick of projection. See also soul. medium. The human conduit for spiritual communication. There are three forms of mediumship. The first is deep trance, in which the medi- um’s body is possessed. In this state, the medium generally wakes some- what groggily and without any knowledge of what transpired. Another form is light trance, in which the medium is aware of what is being said while it is said, but has, once the trance is broken, no knowledge of it. The rarest form of trance mediumship is called “trumpet mediumship,” in which the medium relates messages and retains full knowledge of the communication. How it is done: simple acting. Mesmerism. The use of magnets or “universal fluid” or “Odic force” to cure the living or to contact the dead. Founded by Anton Mesmer. mirror writing, also known as mirror scripting. Writing backward from right to left or from bottom to top. When reflected in a mirror, the text is decipherable. The idea is that the Spirits exist in an opposite world, like a film negative. How it is done: practice. See also scrying and spirit photography. Ouija board. Consists of a board with yes and no written on opposite corners. In the center of the board, letters of the alphabet are laid out in a fan-like display. Messages— “yes,” “no,” or the spelling of words—are pro- vided via a small, heart-shaped piece of wood or movable indicator, called the planchette or traveler. The first Ouija board was patented in 1853, though David Fox, brother to the Fox sisters, invented a verbal form of this technique about a decade earlier. The word Ouija and the technique itself have been variously linked to ancient Egyptian and Chinese forms of divination. Game dynamics aside, Ouija is likely a simple combination of the French oui and the German ja— both meaning yes. Ouija Board manufacturers insisted that their device was a religious item and therefore not subject to taxation. The IRS disagreed, labeling the Ouija board a mere game. Court cases ensued in 1920, 1921, and 1922, in all of which Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques 165 the Courts either sided with the IRS or refused to overturn earlier deci- sions. In 1966, the toymaker Parker Brothers brought out a game version of this so- called religious tool that outsold even Monopoly. How it works: The person attempting to contact the Spirits holds the traveler, which “magically” moves across a board covered with letters. The faithful believe that the Spirit spells out replies; the less credulous might suspect fraud or autosuggestion at play. See also spirit rapping and planchette. pellet reading. A medium holds up a sealed envelope to his forehead and allows the Spirits to divine the question contained within and to respond appropriately. How it is done: The medium picks up the first envelope and says, for example, “Someone has an uncle named Fred who is ill; he will recover.” He opens the envelope and reads, “Will Fred recover from surgery?” A stranger in the audience then comes forward to say that he wrote that message. This person is actually the medium’s assistant, and the question has been preset. The envelope the medium has just opened is not the one supposedly written by the secret assistant, but the next question, which reads, “Will I make money?” The medium then holds up an envelope and says, “This person is worried about money.” He thus stays one step ahead of the audience. Many North Americans of my age bracket might recall Johnny Carson doing a version of this vaudevil- lian trick in his recurring Tonight Show role as “Carnac the Magnificent.” planchette or traveler. A magical device that allows the Spirit Guide to spell out messages. Sometimes it is a mini table, with two legs on roll- ers. A third leg holds the point of a pencil or pen. The planchette is usu- ally heart shaped but is sometimes round. Some can be utilized by a single medium; most planchettes require two mediums working in tandem. The planchette may be used to answer yes or no, or to spell out various mes- sages. See also Ouija board. prayer healing. This sometimes involves Mesmerism or simple group prayer. How it is done: autosuggestion or hypnosis provides temporary benefits. psychometry. Emotional impressions of humans left on inanimate objects. How it’s done: The questions begin generally. The medium holds an object and says, “First impression . intense excitement of the per- ceptive organ . of the intellect.” The answer cannot be wrong. The object must have an emotional connection with the departed or it would not have been brought to the medium. The medium might continue by 166 Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques saying something about the considerable excitability and anxiety of the person who owned the object, or by stating that the person was somewhat harassed and overtasked with the details of business, or by stating that the person who owned the object was active in industry or of great resolution, and so on. Depending on the answer, the medium slowly zeroes in on the traits of the person in question. pyroscopy. Candle reading. A candle is covered in blessed olive oil, lit, and allowed to burn for some time while the petitioner asks the Spirits a question. The candle is then blown out and placed on a white sheet of paper and rolled like sushi. The paper is then unrolled. The soot of the candle should leave some impressions on the paper, which can then be read like tea leaves. See also lampadomancy, scrying, and tasseography. scrying. Reading Spirit messages in crystal, glass balls, mirrors, polished copper, or what the Renaissance mystic John Dee termed the “shew stone.” More recent versions include transparent plastic balls. The medium gazes into the ball and concentrates on a Spirit or a question. Many mediums report a mist or smoke, which then clears, revealing a picture. How it works: self- hypnosis or sheer fantasy. See also automatic writing, mir- ror writing, and tasseography. slate writing. Consisting of a writing slate placed under the table, held in place with the hand of the medium, whose thumb remains visible on the upper surface of the table. After a time, writing is heard and, follow- ing three otherworldly knocks, the slate is produced and the Spirit mes- sage examined. How it is done: Either a trap door beneath the table opens and an assistant secretly switches the plate with one that has an appropri- ate message, or the medium uses sleight of hand to distract the observers while he or she scrawls a message. soul. The essence of the person, still recognizable to the living. The age of the immortal image seems to vary. People usually see their parents as old, though generally in good health. On the other hand, G. Wilson Knight reported that his aborted brother existed as an adult in the Spirit Realm. Shakespeare seems to be eternally in his mid twenties. People missing limbs or otherwise wounded are healed and whole in the Spirit Realm. See also Spirit’s progress and Spirit wavelength. Spirit Guide. The medium’s contact in the Spirit Realm. Sometimes the Spirit Guide speaks or spells a message to the medium; sometimes the Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques 167 Spirit Guide possesses the medium. The Spirit Guide is usually an ethnic minority of some sort. While this might have much to do with colo- nialism, it is more often associated with an affirmation of multicultural- ism.