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You know how I go out of my way explaining to people that praying for a specific thing is the same damn thing as magick? I do that because the sort of Christian that generally goes around praying for things like a new car is also the sort of Christian obsessed with how evil magick is. As you can see browsing through the rituals on this site, the way I usually do magick is to call on angels by the corresponding godnames, conjure them, and charge them with specific tasks. This is literally no different than calling on God and his angels to bring you something. "I pray to get [a certain thing] in the name of Jesus is a spell, albeit a sloppy and inefficient one.
I bring this up thanks to this ridiculous new product, the "Holy Spirit Board." It's ridiculous because it's a freaking Ouija board with so Christian iconography. This is not the first time I've talked about a Christian Ouija board here on Augoeides, such as this article from 2019. It is the first ioteration of a Christian Ouija board, though, that actually advertises itself as talking directly with Jesus. I would expect the folks who actually know the Ten Commandments and understand the meaning of the word "idolotry" should have something to say about that, and I expect some of them do. I just haven't seen it so far.
Because the "Holy Spirit Board" is literally idolotrous. Ouija boards work because a phenomenon called the ideomotor effect. This consists of small, unconsicous movements in the fingers. Those movements make the planchette slide, and if you have a bunch of people working the board together, the motion can seem mysterious. In fact, the inventor of the Ouija board and other spirit communication devices from the same period likely wouldn't disagree with any of that. When a Ouija board works - that is, provides you with accurate information - it's because your psychic senses are activated and your psychic impressions are translating into those small, unconscious finger movements.
It's not impossible that a person could use a Ouija board to communicate with the Christian God, Jesus, or angels. Deities can be contacted in this way. The problem is that without psychic development, psychic senses are usually likewise undeveloped. That means that what is translating to the board is usually not viable psychic information, but rather one's own thoughts. And THAT means that anyone using this device to talk with Jesus might be getting legitimate communication some of the time. But the rest of the time they are literally communicating with their own thoughts and treating those thoughts as if they were those of Jesus. The latter case is practically the definition of idolotry - which they accuse us magicians of all the time.
Personally I'm a Thelemite and honestly couldn't care less if Christians want to make use of magical or psychic technology. Good for them! I just wish they would wake up and realize what they are doing when they use the tech, but then rail against people of other religions for doing the same. Either Ouija boards are evil or they're not. Idolotry is idolotry, no matter who's doing it. Most of all, I wish they would just leave us alone to practice as we will. We are perfectly happy to extend them the same courtesy, so long as they don't enact their beliefs in a way that threatens our basic human rights.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
