Tag: Afterlife

Let’s Talk Witch – Ouija Boards

Let’s Talk Witch – Ouija Boards

The Ouija board is what many believe can be used to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Although there is no scientific proof to support this belief it should be pointed out it is not a game and many people have suffered many psychological problems. This is not to say that it is purely in the minds of those that have been exposed to Ouija boards as always the power of the mind and its’ capabilities are still as yet unclear when dealing with spititual matters.

The name “ouija” comes from the French and German words for yes, “oui” and “ja.” There are many different types of Ouija Boards all have different layouts and are made from different materials. The board usually consists with the letters of the alphabet, 0-9 in numbers and the words, “Yes” and “No.” The user or users of the board then lightly touch a pointer (sometimes called a planchet) and the pointer moves and spells out the answers to questions asked of it. Usually this pointer is mounted on castors to help it move freely about the board.

They became very popular in the 1960’s being sold in many countries as a board game although they were eventually withdrawn from main shopping outlets because of the stigma that was attached to them by the media.
Some believe that the Ouija offers proof as to life after death. Others, though, believe that the answers to the ouija come from the unconscious mind of one or all of the sitters. In a similar type of way in which Tom Lethbridge argues that dowsing works.

It must be stated that persons of a nervous disposition can be frightened easily when using a ouija board and it is suggested that they should therefore avoid them. It must also be pointed out that there is no scientific proof that they actually work, although there have been many claims over the years. The Ouija board is not a game and should be treated with care, preferably there should be a medium/psychic who has experience present at all times.

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Let’s Talk Witch – The Summerlands

Let’s Talk Witch – The Summerlands

All religious systems have a place where the soul ascends (or descends) when the physical body can no longer function. In Craft belief, we call this place the Summerland. This is the resting place- the way station, if you will- for souls to recover, and categorize information and lessons we have learned. We have no Hell, or place of terror or damnation.

Reincarnation- the logical process of living, dying, and living again on the earth plane. Some religions also believe in transmigration, where an individual’s soul may enter not only the body of a human, but the body of a plant or animal.

In most Witchcraft Traditions, reincarnation is the accepted theology for dealing with the subject of death and rebirth. We move with the seasons, the cycle of the Wheel, the turn of birth, death, and rebirth. That part of it usually isn’t questioned because it is logical.

What is questioned is the space between the living experiences, the number of lifetimes, and the reasoning for going through each one. Also intriguing is “who we were,” with whom, and when.

Reincarnation is one of Wicca’s most valuable lessons. The knowledge that this life is but one of many, that when the physical body dies we do not cease to exist but are reborn in another body answers many questions, but raises a few more.

Wicca teaches that reincarnation is the instrument through which our souls are perfected. one lifetime isn’t sufficient to attain this goal; hence, the consciousness (soul) is reborn many times, each life encompassing a different set of lessons, until perfection is achieved. No one can say how many lives are required before this is accomplished.

In Wicca, we seek to strengthen our bodies, minds and souls. We certainly live full, productive earthly lives, and we do so while harming none. The soul is ageless, sexless, non-physical, possessed of the divine spark of the Goddess and God. Each manifestation of the soul (i.e., each body it inhabits on Earth) is different. No two bodies or lives are the same.

What happens after death? Only the body dies. The soul lives on. Some Wiccans say that it journeys to a realm variously known as the Summerlands, Land of the Faerie, the Shining Land, and the Land of the Young. This realm is neither in heaven nor the underworld. It simply is- a non- physical reality much less dense than ours. Some Wiccan traditions describe it as a land of eternal summer, with grassy fields and sweet flowing rivers, perhaps the Earth before the advent of humans. Others see it vaguely as a realm without forms, where energy swirls coexist with the greatest energies- the Goddess and God in their celestial identities.

The soul is said to review the past life, perhaps through some mysterious way with the deities. This isn’t a judgment, a weighing of one’s soul, but an incarnational review. Lessons learned or ignored are brought to light.

After the proper time, when the conditions on Earth are correct, the soul is reincarnated and life begins again.

The final question- what happens after the last incarnation? Wiccan teachings have always been vague on this. Basically, the Wiccans say that after rising upon the spiral of life and death and rebirth, those souls who have attained perfection break away from the cycle forever and dwell with the Goddess and God. Nothing is ever lost. The energies resident in our souls return to the divine source from which they originally emanated.

Because of the acceptance of reincarnation, the Wicca don’t fear death as a final plunge into oblivion, the days of life on Earth forever behind them. It is seen as the door to birth. Thus our very lives are symbolically linked with the endless cycles of the seasons which shape our planet.

Reincarnation is as real as a plant that buds, flowers, drops its seed, withers and creates a new plant in its image.