E. A. Koetting - staticfly.net

CHAPTER TEN SPIRITS OF THE DEAD
it is shared by all people throughout time and space, is in a
way omniscient. Supposedly, tapping into this universal
mind through the above mentioned gadgets will allow the
individual to consciously access specific information that is
true and always relevant. The great fallacy in the belief that
the ideomotor effect as a tool of omniscience is the fact that the
brain itself is the relay between the universal mind and
microcosmic conscious awareness. Often, just as with ouija
boards, the Dabbler is in some portion conscious of the
movement of the pen, and manipulates those movements to
meet what he would like to hear from the "spirits," or
sometimes projects onto the paper that which he fears he will
be told. At the very least, he will find that turning off the
mind is not as simple as turning on the television, and cannot
keep his attention from the pen squeezed in his hand or the
paper that keeps rustling on his lap. The few that have been
able to use automatic writing or other forms of ideomotor
communication effectively and consistently swear by that
Art, and although in the worst case some important messages
may be scribbled on the paper (some of which may even
originate with the dead, transferred to the paper via the
subconscious mind), such communication is vague, open to
far too much speculation and interpretation, and is only a
flake of ice resting on the very tip of the iceberg.
4. Reflexology is a technique that has gained momentum the last
few decades, considered by its adherents to be an absolutely
infallible, "scientifically proven" method of divination. In
the first experiments with reflexology, also known as "muscle
testing," the querent holds his arm out to his side, parallel to
the deck. An assistant asks a predetermined question, such as,
"Are there any spirits in this room?" The questions asked always
demand an affirmative or negative reply, and the reply given
by the querent is always in the affirmative. At the statement
of the affirmative answer, the assistant pushes down on the
querent's arm, the amount of force used supposedly being
consistent throughout the interrogation. If the answer was,
indeed, "Yes," the querent's arm will not move, or if it does,
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