How To Perform A Séance
Séance. That word conjures up a variety of meanings to different people: Creepy, Ghostlike, Witchcraft, Comforting. No matter how one views the word, one thing cannot be denied, this is a spiritual practice for those who believe. Séance is a word, derived from the French, that means communicating with the spirits. This can be done in a variety of ways: within a religious context (e.g., a faith healing), via a medium (a person with the ability to contact the deceased), or simply performed by a social network of those interested in the occult. No matter the context in which the séance is performed, there will be a medium.
This person has the specific ability to be given messages from the deceased. The medium may be fully conscious, or fall into a trance-like state as he/she is receiving these messages. In the latter, there is usually an assistant to the medium who will take notes during the session since, most times, the medium will not recall what happened while he/she was in the trance-like state. Another way to communicate via a séance is to use a Ouija board. This is a flat board with numbers, letters, and symbols written on it; and it comes with a “planchette,” a small object pointed as an arrow, and held up on three legs.
All participants place two fingers on this and the appointed “medium” of the séance will ask questions of the spirits, and the planchette will move in “answer” to these questions. This may all seem cryptic and archaic, but in actuality, a form of séances are happening in modern-day society, although perhaps not by the same name. People use the terms “sitting” or “circles” to try to modernize this practice. Through modern television shows (e.g., Medium and Ghost Whisperer), spiritualism has gained more of a following. People seem to be drawn towards this mystery, in hopes that they can communicate with those long gone, and find comfort that there is a life after death…perhaps a better one.
