Ouija

[DrewATX]

My sister told me that her 17 year old son has been spending a lot of time with a friend of his "playing" with the kids new ouija board. i know there is quite a bit of controversy about these things. I kind of feel that regardless of whether or not you actually contact something or not, its the INTENT that is dangerous. If you are doing this thing with a purpose of contacting SOMETHING......its risky behavior and satan recognizes that. its a way in. anyway, i feel the need to talk him out of it. does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? are there any trusted factual resources out there that i can share with him? my sister and her family are not catholic so a simple "Because the Church says so" isnt going to cut it here.

[Anastasia13]

The one and only time someone I know joined in using one of those boards, she had her hand on it and asked the name of the person she would marry. She had her hand on it for all but one letter of a name. She thought maybe one of the letters was wrong, but it actually ended up being only one letter short of the first name of the person she ended up marrying. Perhaps she would have gotten that letter if she had not decided to take her hand off of it. Sometimes at least, there is something to it.

This is my answer from more of a Protestant/generic perspective. If you are going to use a spiritual device/being for information or to make decisions based on, you should know who that spirit is. Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. I would suggest praying and asking God for guidance or help rather than a board. That way you know what sort of spirit you are tapping into, and God, if you believe in Him, is powerful enough to do much more in ones life than answer a question, but you need to be aware of Him to hear Him sometimes. Praying and listening to what happens next can help us do that.

Some verses that speak against the occult, if she is any branch of Christian are:
Leviticus 19:31
Deuteronomy 18:10‑12
Galatians 5:19‑20

May God guide her in recognizing true sources of power and discerning where her and her family should and should not listen.

Edited January 18, 2011 by Light and Truth

[Nihil Obstat]

Ouija boards are deathly dangerous in any and all situations. Use of one is in many ways an implicit, and many more ways an explicit invitation to Satan and his angels to attack. If you want to inform yourself as a Catholic, Gabriele Amorth's two books (An Exorcist Tells His Story, and An Exorcist: More Stories) are wonderful. They are entirely factual and to be honest, rather frightening in a few ways.
You are quite right to want to discourage him. The question is how to do so from a non-Catholic perspective. Is he Christian? Does he believe in the devil?

You could tell him that in nearly all cases of demonic oppression and possession, the victim was either directly or indirectly involved in the satanic. Indirectly this may be cases of a malefice or 'hex' placed on them by a satanist or occultist, or it could be their proximity to an object that has been associated with the satanic. Directly, many of them dabbled in occultism via Ouija boards, Black Masses, tarot readings, etc..

If you happen to come across that board, I think you'd be well within your authority as a Catholic to destroy it if you have the chance, but it might be tricky to do so, because I wouldn't be willing to bring it into my home, even for the purpose of destruction. Burning would be best, then burying the ashes. You can't take chances with evil like this.

[rhetoricfemme]

How close are you to your sister's son? If you're in a position to speak to him, and he's the type to care about such information, you could simply tell him that there are people in his life (his mother, perhaps?) who care very much about him, and are very concerned about the potential danger the board could bring into his life or theirs. Even if he views it as just a game, if he understands that there are people close to him who sincerely believe in the harm that could come from it, maybe he'd be less inclined to use it, if for no other reason than out of respect of his loved ones.

If you're not in a position to say these things to him, maybe let your sister know that she could also say something of the like.

I'll be praying about this, please keep us updated!

[BG45]

Pretty much everyone else has already said what I would say. But it bears repeating, does this kid believe in God and the Devil? Is he Catholic, Protestant, some other religion?

These boards are nothing to fool around with, and I know personally it took me years to get rid of my tarot decks. But between the prayers of a dear friend, converting to Catholicism, and getting rid of them I've not had the same sort of nightmares for a while as when I did have them. To hold on to things that are intrinsically related to the supernatural is to invite an attack upon oneself, if not demonic possession or oppression. Like Nihil said, if they want to bring it over for anything other than being destroyed, make it stay in the car or something.

[AudreyGrace]

the original "Exorcist" story from the movie had to do with a boy, not a girl. And the boy became possessed because of playing with his Ouija board.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='AudreyGrace' timestamp='1295324373' post='2201245']
the original "Exorcist" story from the movie had to do with a boy, not a girl. And the boy became possessed because of playing with his Ouija board.
[/quote]
I'll back this up, because I trust Gabriele Amorth, and he said the same thing.
According to him, the only differences between the movie and the real story are a) the gender of the victim, b) the names (obviously) c) the location, and d) the boy's head didn't turn a three-sixty.

[rhetoricfemme]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1295324676' post='2201251']
I'll back this up, because I trust Gabriele Amorth, and he said the same thing.
According to him, the only differences between the movie and the real story are a) the gender of the victim, b) the names (obviously) c) the location, and d) the boy's head didn't turn a three-sixty.
[/quote]

Did he do the backbend walk down the stairs? Cause that's what visually horrified me almost the most.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' timestamp='1295324847' post='2201253']
Did he do the backbend walk down the stairs? Cause that's what visually horrified me almost the most.
[/quote]
Well that isn't in all versions of the film, and I don't know which version Fr. Amorth has seen.
I agree that it was very horrifying. IMO the most disturbing part of that movie was the blasphemy involving the statue of the Blessed Mother, and the blasphemy involving the crucifix later on.

[southern california guy]

I tried a Ouija board once but all I got from it was gibberish... Maybe I didn't know how to use it right..

But "The Exorcist" was a pretty scary movie!

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/English_ouija_board.jpg/300px-English_ouija_board.jpg[/img]

Here's a little about it from Wikipedia.

A Ouija board (pronounced "wee-gee" or "wee-ja" and possibly derived from the French and German/Dutch words for "yes", oui and ja),[1] also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with letters, numbers, and other symbols, supposedly used to communicate with any spirits. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance. The fingers of the séance participants are placed on the planchette, which then moves about the board to spell out words or become physically manifest.

Ouija is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by Parker Brothers.[2] It has become a trademark that is often used generically to refer to any talking board.

Following its commercial introduction by businessman Elijah Bond in the late 1890s, the Ouija board was regarded as a harmless parlor game unrelated to the occult until American Spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.[3] Mainstream Christian religions and some occultists have associated use of the Ouija board with the threat of demonic possession and some have cautioned their followers not to use Ouija boards.[4]

While Ouija believers feel the paranormal or supernatural is responsible for Ouija's action, it may be more parsimoniously explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer, a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect.[5][6][7] Despite being debunked by the efforts of the scientific community, Ouija remains popular among many young people.[3]

Edited January 18, 2011 by southern california guy

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='southern california guy' timestamp='1295326059' post='2201267']
I tried a Ouija board once but all I got from it was gibberish... Maybe I didn't know how to use it right..

But "The Exorcist" was a pretty scary movie!

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/English_ouija_board.jpg/300px-English_ouija_board.jpg[/img]

Here's a little about it from Wikipedia.

A Ouija board (pronounced "wee-gee" or "wee-ja" and possibly derived from the French and German/Dutch words for "yes", oui and ja),[1] also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with letters, numbers, and other symbols, supposedly used to communicate with any spirits. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance. The fingers of the séance participants are placed on the planchette, which then moves about the board to spell out words or become physically manifest.

Ouija is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by Parker Brothers.[2] It has become a trademark that is often used generically to refer to any talking board.

Following its commercial introduction by businessman Elijah Bond in the late 1890s, the Ouija board was regarded as a harmless parlor game unrelated to the occult until American Spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.[3] Mainstream Christian religions and some occultists have associated use of the Ouija board with the threat of demonic possession and some have cautioned their followers not to use Ouija boards.[4]

While Ouija believers feel the paranormal or supernatural is responsible for Ouija's action, it may be more parsimoniously explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer, a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect.[5][6][7] Despite being debunked by the efforts of the scientific community, Ouija remains popular among many young people.[3]
[/quote]
The Ouija board is a disgusting and evil object. Even using it once is gravely dangerous in a variety of ways. If you still have it, please burn it now and bury the ashes. Maybe mix the ashes with holy water first.

[DrewATX]

thank you for all the input so far. a little extra background. 1. the family is Methodist. 2. hes a very bright kid, but a kid nonetheless. 3. i am close to both my sister and nephew, so i do plan on talking to him. 4. the board itself belongs to the friend

[Nihil Obstat]

Rats. Destroying it would be completely awesome in a more literalistic Church Militant kind of sense.
Does he personally follow the Methodist religion as well? As far as I know Methodists tend to believe in the demonic, although I may be getting confused with other denominations.

[Anastasia13]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1295326760' post='2201277']
Rats. Destroying it would be completely awesome in a more literalistic Church Militant kind of sense.
Does he personally follow the Methodist religion as well? As far as I know Methodists tend to believe in the demonic, although I may be getting confused with other denominations.
[/quote]
Most Protestant groups should have some belief that the demonic exists.

[DrewATX]

they attend church as a family and his parents are extremely grounded people. yes the methodist faith believes in demons and such, but in general i think most would take more of a skeptic approach to the realism of things like this. meaning, he probably doesnt take it serious. my sister thought it was just a "silly toy" and was alarmed when i freaked out and told her it was not silly and it most definitely is not a toy.