Consumerism Meets Spiritualism. The Ouija Board.
The air is chilly and it seems as though the atmosphere itself is cast in grey tones and orange hues. Fall is here, making decay look decadent as brilliant leaves hang from the trees.
This is the time of year we cannot help but feel the presence of the realm of the dead. Are the spirits with us? Do they haunt us? Do they have a message for us?
The scene I just painted is a Halloween rite of passage. These curiosities and questions were an entire state of being during the Victorian Era. With these questions came the movement known as Spiritualism. The Victorians were plagued by disease and high mortality rates, making them obsessed with death and the spirit world.
Humans don’t change as much as we’d like to think. Our habits are cyclical, and with human curiosity something else emerges… a market, and things to sell within it.
Today, we are going through a similar shift. But instead of ghosts, our obsession is focused on spirituality itself. We are curious about witchcraft and its many tools and practices. With our desire to learn more about the craft, we have also seen a boom in witchy consumerism. Witchy pins, tees, cleansing kits, and tarot decks abound. Crystals are everywhere.
One relic of Victorian consumerism has remained with us. It’s now a source of debate, fear, and skepticism. It’s the Ouija board.
The Ouija board was patented by Elijah Bond and was sold and distributed by the Kennard Novelty Company in 1891. People within the Victorian Spiritualist movement were already using handcrafted talking boards, but the Ouija board was the first widespread commercial creation.
Elijah Bond was a lawyer and an avid inventor. Aside from his Masonic membership, Bond was not deeply involved in spiritual pursuits. The intended goal of the Ouija board was not to find a way to communicate with the dead, but to make money off the people who did.
The most curious part about the Ouija board, it worked on both counts. The board is still a massive material success, and many of us have stories to tell involving this infamous talking board.
Our collective belief in the efficacy of the Ouija board is what makes it work. Alternatively, after reading about the history of the board… I realized something truly fascinating. Our collective perception of the board shifts which spirits emerge from it. Upon its invention and the the first half of the 1900’s, the Ouija board was downright wholesome. It was used by families and was even depicted by Norman Rockwell.
This all changed with the release of the film The Exorcist in the 1970’s. In this classic horror movie a young girl is possessed after playing with the board. As the movie solidified the sinister image of the Ouija board another collective shift was brewing, the Satanic Panic.
Everyone was afraid of the Devil, and the Ouija board became his official tool. Ever since, the Ouija board has been the stuff of horror and cautionary tales. Admittedly, even I get a bit on edge when I come into contact with one.
After learning the history of the Ouija board as a practicing occultist, instead of encountering it as a nervous 13 year old at a slumber party… it really got me thinking. Do magical tools born out of consumerism work differently? And if they do… as I stated humanity is cyclical… will their nature change with our next ‘Satanic Panic’?
Will we see horror films about ‘demonic’ tarot decks? Will books emerge about evil crystals? (looking at you moldavite) Will they become so popular they will become a universal legend cautioning us all of the evils which lurk within the tools?
And will the nature of the tools themselves shift with the collective mindset?
Only time will tell.
