Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board
by J. Edward Cornelius

J. Edward Cornelius’s Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board explores the history of Ouija Boards (or talking boards), traces them back to John Dee’s Enochian workings, and likens them to other ancient divination tools. Along the way Cornelius also details the history of of automatic writing and Enochian magic and delves into the theory of evocation and invocation. He devotes only one chapter to practical application, as Crowley noted, “A few simple instructions are all that is necessary.”

Cornelius’s lucid, but dry, writing will appeal to people interested in the history and theory of magic but may leave some readers yawning. His prose and constant warnings were tedious, but the connections he drew between different strands of history fascinated me. Most importantly, he persuaded me of his thesis: that talking boards are not just children’s toys, but potentially useful magical tools.

The method he gives at the end of the book is indeed simple. He provides a refreshingly simple, Thelema flavored opening ritual and a few basic scripts for calling on Enochian earth elementals. From there, it’s mostly a matter of confirming you got the right elemental, and using the board in the usual way. I decided to test this method.

I made my own board by drawing the Enochian alphabet, along with the basic watchtown sigils, on a piece of foam board. Beside the Enochian letters, I also wrote the corresponding Latin character in small print. In leiu of Cornelius’s opening ritual, I used my own banishing ritual. And since I was working on a deadline, instead of using the 2 person method of talking board skrying, I worked alone. Otherwise, I followed his instructions.

The results were a bit rough. I asked the elemental, NANTA, for some advice on helping a sick friend. I moved the planchette (a triange I cut out of an index card) around at random on the board, trying to sense when it was best to stop. I ended up with some fuzzy messages, but I think I was able to get some advice. Time will tell how useful this information will be, but at this point I’m skeptical. Further experiments are necessary.