AUTOMATIC WRITING
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Automatic writing is a form of divination. It is similar to channeling. The difference being that
through channeling, answers are spoken verbally, whereas with automatic writing answers are written
by the one channeling. In some cases, it is done by people in a trance state. In others, the writer
is aware (not in a trance) of their surroundings but not of the actions of their writing hand.
Automatic writing is used as a tool in Freudian psychology and in related "self-knowledge" studies.
Some psychologists argue that we can gain insight into the mind of a person who is purportedly doing
automatic writing through their subconscious word choices. It was used by Pierre Janet in France, and
later by Morton Prince and Anita Muhl in the United States.
Free writing later gained popularity with writers and poets, both as a means of stimulating creative
thought and as a technique for overcoming writer's block.
Automatic writing is very simple to do. Sit at a table and relax your mind. Better results may be
achieved if you first induce some sort of self-hypnosis. Lightly hold a pen and place it on a piece
of paper. Next, either ask a loud or think a question. Concentrate on the question, but not the answer.
The pen will then begin to write.
Automatic writing does not always occur in written form. Sometimes images are drawn.
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Time Line:
In the late 1800s, William Stainton Moses, a priest and teacher, experimented with automatic writing.
His beliefs were orthodox Christian, but he claimed that the messages from his automatic writing took a
more undogmatic view, to which he converted over time. He believed the message originated from higher
spirits.
John B. Newbrough was a New York dentist who claimed that he wrote the book Oahspe through the process
of automatic writing on the newly invented typewriter in 1882.
Rosemary Brown was an English housewife who claimed that she automatically composed music.
She could play the piano, though not very well. She felt that great composers were writing through her.
Elsa Barker in 1914 published a collection of letters that she claimed that she had produced by
automatic writing. She claimed the letters came from the deceased Judge David Patterson Hatch.
Her book was reprinted in 2004 as Letters From The Afterlife: A Guide to the Other Side.
Helene Smith, an early 20th-century psychic, claimed that she did automatic writing that was the
attempt of Martians to communicate with Earth. She claimed she could translate their Martian language into French.
George (Georgie) Hyde-Lees, the wife of William Butler Yeats, claimed that she could write automatically.
In 1975 Wendy Hart of Maidenhead claimed that she automatically wrote about Nicholas Moore, a sea
captain who died in 1642. Her husband did research on Moore, and he claims that this person had
resided at St Columb Major in Cornwall during the Civil war.
Nergal of the Blackened Death Metal band Behemoth claims to have written the song "Libertheme"
from The Apostasy through Automatic Writing.
Associated Subjects:
The Pendulum
The Ouija Board
Channeling
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