OuijaBoard

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From AMAZON.com … ‘Editorial Reviews’

"Time-waster, party game, fake divination device, staple of urban myths, horror movie trope, conjurer of the dead, devil's gateway -- these terms indicate the extraordinary variety of opinions inspired by the ever-controversial Ouija Board. Part fascinating history and part practical manual, this engaging guide takes the position that the Ouija Board is indeed as powerful as its detractors claim. Author J. Edward Cornelius shows how anyone armed with the proper knowledge can use the Ouija to communicate with invisible beings and other worlds. Drawing on the writings of Aleister Crowley, aka the ‘Great Beast,’ and other magicians who advocated the Ouija's use as an occult tool, Cornelius examines the long history of "talking boards" and the power of the planchette, an ancient symbol believed to act as an invisible doorway. Entertaining and enlightening, Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board reveals the dark secrets and hidden truths of this curious, enduring game.”

The following blurb by J. Edward Cornelius appears on the Thelemic News and Culture website LASHTAL.com This is the home of The Aleister Crowley Society (England)

“Advocates who scream that the Ouija board is dangerous will most likely find this the most contemptible book ever written. They will ague that the Ouija board is well known for causing obsessions, possessions, unleashing poltergeists and creating hauntings; claiming it to be a portal into Hell. But what they fail to realize is that these tragedies prove beyond a shred of a doubt that the board is capable of bridging the invisible world with our own. Instead of fearing this concept why not learn to use it more effectively? One of the greatest ceremonial magicians of all time, Aleister Crowley, actually advocated the Ouija board’s use. If it were only a child’s game would he have given the implement any consideration at all? He strongly believed that the board utilizes the same principles which were practiced by the famed Elizabethan magician John Dee. He used a crystal ball as a means of skrying or seeing into the invisible realms. Within these realms Dee encountered entities who communicated their messages by pointing to one letter at a time on huge boards of letters. According to Crowley, the same principle holds true for the talking board but, instead of going within the invisible realms, we summon the entities into our world in order for them to move the triangle from one letter to another to spell out messages. One of Crowley’s earliest students, Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones), had great success when using the Ouija board. In fact, Crowley was so pleased with the outcome that he wrote, “You see how very satisfactory it is, but I believe things improve greatly with practice.” We agree and this book will attempt to show how anyone, with the proper knowledge, can bring invisible beings through an Ouija board. It’s actually quite simple, often so simple that it eludes people. Magicians have long known that the triangular shape of the planchette is a unique magickal symbol that automatically acts as an invisible doorway. In fact, it’s so unique that when someone places their hands on the triangle and asks, “Is Someone there?”, it enacts a simplistic but never-the-less magical command for an entity to be summoned through the portal. This book will teach you how to cast open the invisible gates and you’ll learn for the first time anywhere the truth about dark secrets regarding the talking board which have only been whispered behind closed doors for centuries."

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board by J.Edward Cornelius

Reviewer: Andrew Drylie, noted author and Crowley scholar (England)

A Crowley Cross-Index by Will Parfitt & A. Drylie (Agape 1976)

and numerous other books and pamphlets ...

Anyone interested in occult matters, psychic phenomena or paranormal activity will pursue that interest largely through reading and, perhaps after some initial trepidity, attempting experiments. The field is too broad and various to try out, or even properly look at, everything. It doesn’t take long to realise that most of what is written is idiotic trash, churned out, rehashed, embellished, intrinsically implausible, repugnant to common sense and very light on proof. Submersion in nonsense can be injurious to self-respect. Life is short, books are fat and money doesn’t grow on trees.

These are my reasonable reasons for treating ouija boards hitherto with utter disdain. I also had a few unreasonable reasons. I felt I already knew all I needed to know about ouija boards. They were the tool of loony old women who didn’t even realise they shoved them about themselves. They were the toys of borderline psychotic teenagers too dim to work out for themselves the best route from balcony to car park. This sort of background wisdom comes free if you live long enough and involves no investment in active investigation.

How wrong I was and the clues were there all along. Firstly Christians abhor ouija boards and this alone is usually a strong indicator of merit. And then there are those in favour including, for me at least, a few surprises. Dee and Kelly led the way albeit without the modern gadget. Aleister Crowley, bastion of decency and diligence in all areas arcane, surprised me most but he’s there with chapter and verse as is his erstwhile sidekick Frater Achad.

This book by Jerry Cornelius is not only thorough and competent; it is friendly. The author respects and trusts his readers. The history is well researched and digs up some surprising and amusing material. The practical section proposes methods that are safe, coherent and based on experience rather than theory. This book could well change minds. It is neither fat nor expensive. Buy it.

Magickal principles applied to the "talking board

Reviewer: Chuck Furnace, noted occult author.

Wethersfield, CT

http://members.cox.net/chuck418/index.htm

November 29, 2005

If your interest is strictly in the Ouija Board itself, the 1st 2 chapters will give you the history of the Board, the Game and it's media press. But this book is really about applying consistent control in all forms of divination to focus the type of Spirit called. Rather than repeat well worn (and well published) truisms, the author seems to have concentrated on what Aleister Crowley and his disciples actually DID, whether it was thru Tarot, Astrology, Ceremonial Magick or Enochian. The common factor was exerting their Will and concentration to calling forth specific Results. Remakable.

Destined to be an occult classic

Reviewer: Kenneth Robinson

Easthampton, Massachusetts

December 4, 2005

It is appropriate that an important contribution to occult literature is to be found in a slim volume with an unassuming and quirky title.

The author presents sufficient theory and practice that will allow even a neophyte to access in a reasonably safe and suprisingly convenient manner the astral realms. Quite an accomplishment. But this is by no means only a book for beginners. Advanced practitioners (assuming they have an open mind) will find a great deal to ponder and benefit from in this volume. Anyone serious about magickal practice or even just magickal theory should acquire this book and consider its contents carefully. They will be well repaid for their efforts.

Aleister Crowley was the baddest of bad boys. He made great advancements in the magickal realm while sending shock waves through the clubby and largely ineffectual grade system of traditional occult fraternities, It is no small irony that the magickal orders that profess to be Thelemic are as full of pretentious poseurs as those that Crowley blasted with his extraordinary talent and application. I suspect that his book will not be well liked by those in authority in Crowleyian magickal orders. The author reveals too many secrets for comfort. I believe Crowley would have approved of this book that captures the spirit of authentic Thelemic magickal theory and practice.

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Frater Adonus-ai 854

New York, New York

December 5, 2005

Bravo! It is about time someone gave us a real book on ‘Objective Magick’ and stopped filling our local bookstores with subjective rehashed old drivel. Thumbs up for having a spine!

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Keith Richmond, noted Crowley scholar and author of such works as:

The Rites of Eleusis by Aleister Crowley, Introuction by Keith Richmond (Mandrake 1990),

The Forbidden Lecture, Gilles de Rais by Aleister Crowley, Intro by Keith Richmond (Mandrake

1990).Three Macabre Stories by Rosaleen Norton, Edited & Introduced by Keith Richmond

(Typographeumc 1996) Progradior & The Beast, Frank Benett & Aleister Crowley by Keith

Richmond (Neputune 2004) The Magical Record of Frater Progradior by Keith Richmond (Neptune

2004) etc & etc ... (Maine)

December 7, 2005

As befits a book that makes frequent reference to those notorious ethereal tricksters known as elementals, Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board is not at all what it might at first glance appear to be. Readers familiar with the book’s author, J. Edward Cornelius, would most likely recognize him as the co-publisher and principal author of Red Flame, a journal that has brought both scholarship and innovation to the study of Aleister Crowley, his works and circle. Given this, and the title of his new book, one might expect the work to be an earnest, theoretical discussion of the Great Beast and his thoughts on the Ouija Board.

Instead we find what would once have been termed a grimoire: an occult textbook, in this case carefully composed for aspiring students by a modern-day ceremonial magician. The book is not devoid of theoretical discussion: Cornelius provides an interesting overview of the history of the Ouija Board, and a thoughtful analysis of the different schools of thought about the nature of the forces that respond to the summons to move the planchette, but the core of the book consists of practical instruction in the use of the board.

Not surprisingly the approach to the Ouija outlined by Cornelius is very different to that of the Spiritualists who first brought fame to the implement. Drawing from his own practical experiments – and some little know writings on the subject by Crowley – Cornelius suggests that sitting with the Ouija should never be a passive undertaking. To be safe it should only ever be performed as a serious magical operation, with the practitioner in total control of the situation, paying utmost attention to every detail of the process, and remaining fully focused on his or her goal. This need for rigor and control naturally extends to knowledge of the nature of the entity or entities summoned, and Cornelius examines this in detail, in the context of the Enochian system of magic articulated by the Elizabethan magus John Dee.

This book has many charms, not least of which the easy-going authority with which it is written. Cornelius has been a ritual magician for most of his adult life, and the elementals, angels, and other entities of which he writes are as much a part of his daily world as the sky above him or the pavement below his feet. Clearly he does not feel it is his task to persuade doubters as to the reality of his observations. Rather he is intent on chronicling them in a way that will allow other aspirants to set forth firmly, and safely, on their own journeys of exploration. This he does with the simple but powerful conviction of one who knows.

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board is not a book for skeptics, but it is a fascinating and valuable resource for anyone with an interest in the theory and practice of ritual magic.

Jingle Books, Have yourself a literary holiday

with some unusual small-press publications

Artcile by Jarret Keene, Tucson Weekly, Arizona, December 8th 2005

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Books/Content?oid=oid:76291 (read the entire article)

"When it comes to getting your stocking stuffed, it's hard to top an iPod, the ultimate high-tech gift item. But not everybody has a few hundred dollars lying around to ensure Aunt Edna enjoys the latest Madonna video. So why not go low-tech this holiday season with an array of Gutenbergian splendor? And we're not talking about what the big publishing houses in New York want you to buy (although Kim Cattrall's new book, Sexual Intelligence, looks so yummy, we can't blame you for picking it up). Instead, we're talking about the small presses in America that consistently produce the tastiest writing, especially compared to today's rather bland mainstream offerings. .... Feral House is simply one of the best publishing houses in America--period. Their books are beautiful-looking and always fascinating. If you enjoy outré subjects like black magic (Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board) and black metal (Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of Satanic Metal Underground), then Feral House has your deviant fix. Their 2005 catalogue is rich ..."

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Grant Chamberlin

P.O. Box 129

Greenwich, CT 06830

Grant717@gmail.com

December 25, 2005

Mr. Cornelius,

I trust this letter finds you in good Spirits on this Winter Solstice! Upon reading your book " Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board" as received complimentarily by Mr. G. v. S., I thank you for the inscription, and to show how grateful I am for this link with your work, my impressions follow.

This book is 'delivered from the lust of result' and into the hands of a true practitioner of the very arts as described in " Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board." After reading the whole 'pros and contents', I found your work encompassing so many diverse threads of the 'prater-human' connections that embody all the magical arts, that I fear a public outcry for a book burning and the Ouija board along with it! This is a compliment, mind you. I hope not to steer readers away, but to put your book where it belongs – in the hands of strong souls fit for astounding leaps of evolution. I consider this book as an instant classic for its exposure of the true empowering powers that one can evoke through this and other similar arts. Your book is a green light on the Aethyric highway, one that is littered with psychic roadkill whom have fallen for every type of phenomena, no matter good or bad just something that startles them…like the 'deer in the headlights' look seen so often in students of these 'hidden arts.'

I digress, and seek to distill my impressions as succinctly as your book professes. " Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board" is a highly laden strata of information for the layman and true worker alike. Finding faults in its depth is my only critique, for it leaps like a goat up the mountain heights of its Ouija history only to encourage one's own leap of faith into the abyss of the very real spiritual realm all around us. Pondering deeply into the real reason for its publication, I found within its pages published information not generally read anywhere. It regards the legitimacy of the Ouija arts, as deserving careful recognition. And a careful warning is never out of place, as Mr. Cornelius scatters throughout the text, for I fear a Ouija board under every Christmas tree ready to be opened like Pandora's box on the eve of salvation!

No, "Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board" does not go that far, but I do see the glimmers of Mr. Crowley's 'Star Sponge Vision' of eternal connectiveness whisking only a few 'Christians to the Lions.' Mr. Cornelius has a superb grasp of the responsibility his craft requires, and this is clear, for his words will ring true to those ready to hear, and to others it will be 'pearls before swine.' Secrets hidden in plain sight are more powerful when seen plainly, and " Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board" is filled with such lead turned into gold.

To sum up this book, I have been a student to the esoteric arts for a number of years, and will neatly confirm that what Mr. Cornelius writes of is true. The effects of ritual and the responsible use of the Ouija board combine a potent workable personal ascension towards that hidden realm we are all inhabitants and heirs to. Find a discipline in the regular use, and record your findings, you will enthuse your self and infuse your soul with a great inheritance, one that finds You as your full self hidden in its depth waiting to smile back at you.

Bah Humbug! one may say. But along with the spirits of eternal pasts and spirits of eternal futures that I have connected through the Ouija Arts, I humbly respect Mr. Cornelius for his contribution to this mystery. "Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board" it is a cornerstone in the enigma which also humbly states;

' Ouija…is only a game…isn't it?"

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Aisha Kelly

Berkeley, California

December 25, 2005

" ... brilliant. It sheds the trickery and fraud of spiritualism by bringing the Ouija into the light of practical application whereby anyone can explore the Kingdoms of God. I thought the board a silly toy but I now see that I was wrong."

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Rey De Lupos, noted writer, occultist and ceremonial magician

http://www.geocities.com/kundal/

Lamy, New Mexico

December 25, 2005

"It is about time that someone took this magical implement seriously enough to write a tome that could shed some well-researched light upon the subject of the Ouija Board, also known as the Talking Board. As we discover through the second chapter, much of its history was fabricated to create the illusion of an archaic inception. However, we also discover that there is an ancient history to the Ouija board in similar tools equated to divinatory and shamanistic practice throughout many, if not most of the world's shamanic and magical cultures.

It is as if a modern tool was inadvertently created to capture what has been shared through indigenous cultures for millennia and then made commercially available to all. Is this a good thing? Time will tell… so far is has been benign enough, however, with the advent of this book, the talking board is being given a fighting chance at resurgence!

Images of three silly guys in jumpsuits carrying laser rifles running through the streets of New York come to mind, as spooks and specters fill the city with ectoplasm. Is this our future?? Hmm...

It has truly been a delight to read this book in which is explored occult material that has been duly revealed by the scholarly skills of J. Edward Cornelius, who shows us the birth of the board and it use within the culture of the spiritualists, magicians, mystics and most intriguingly through the culture of film.

The Ouija board has been a media from which a diversity of spiritual [astral and elemental] phenomenon can be birthed forth upon our material plane and to which a distinction is duly noted within the introduction and to which I quote, "Spiritualists often pride themselves in exerting no conscious control over that which they are channeling. Magicians, on the other hand, perform rites consciously, deliberately and the full intent of their Will."

It is such simple admonitions that mark this book as a technical journal for the right use and operation of the talking board and toward that faculty of Abrac, which is mentioned in later chapters. As Grady McMurtry use to warn, there is no such thing as "just rehearsing" and granted this was in regards to working with Enochian spirits, nonetheless the same applies here when dealing with any form of spirit communication. To intend the appearance of an astral or elemental entity is to 'call' it forth - and they will come if the call is clear enough.

For me, the real beauty of this book is found in the modes and methods of dealing with ourselves and the symbiotic relations we can share with those beings of astral and spiritual realms. For the most part it reads like a textbook rich with the wizened words of someone who has actually applied themselves to its use beyond theory and into practice. For me this is an excellent introduction on a tool that has been ignored by many within the magical community or simply used as a plaything for amusement.

In this book you will see how it can be applied in a multitude of setting and purposes constantly guided by the author with perspectives that can only help in clarifying the potentiality and dangers of this potent implement.

The Ouija board is more than the sum of its components, it is a device from which the doorway to the Sun can be opened and entered into and in which a deeper journey into our own inner sun can bring to communication that which every magician aspires, Knowledge and Communication with one's Holy Guardian Angel.

And as J. Edward Cornelius so eloquently states, " We must learn to recognize our own unconscious creations and not fall sway to them as if they are Divine Guidance. This is a valuable lesson that everyone must learn when attempting to use a Ouija Board…The greatest danger is not found in the images of an unconscious wish fulfillment from an often-failed reality, which tempts you into a false sense of importance… the goal is not to wallow in either of these shadows, but rather to utilize that which creates them, the sunlight or solar currents, in order to reach our Holy Guardian Angel."

To these profound words I offer kudos to Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board and to its beneficent author, J. Edward Cornelius.

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Paul Hohlt

Berkeley, California

December 27, 2005

"... the historical perspective is comprehensive, illuminating and intriguing. You truly represent a broad overview of the subject while faithfully giving the particulars their due. The Morman stuff is great. I due believe you and Feral House have a winner. Very readable and just crammed full of nuggets of goodness."

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Bryan Olson, noted Crowley scholar and author

http://www.star-splendour.org/

Antelope, California

December 31, 2005

So much Thelemic writing in recent years has been fluff with a suspect agenda or fully-footnoted rehash that it's truly refreshing to find a book that attempts to move Thelemic thought forward. Not only does Alesiter Crowley and the Ouija Board do just that, but it does not shy away from the objective reality of other-plane entities. The current trend seems to be to focus on the subjective, psychological aspect of such creatures and while it's the other side of the same coin, both sides must be examined to get a well-rounded picture. For those who would like to redress this balance in their own studies and practices, this book is for you.

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Clive Harper, noted writer, Crowley collector and authority.

England

January 11, 2006

I greatly enjoyed the book and found myself using the phrase "the faculty of Abrac" on several occasions! … I think it is very important that modern-day magicians do not let themselves be bound by unacknowledged limits. "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" is parroted by many Chaos Magicians, yet I well remember being told that utilising the structure of a Christian Eucharist was ‘unacceptable’. Similarly, some magicians have doubtless shied away from any contact with the ouija board, lest they be considered uncool. Your book serves as a timely reminder that although the board may normally be associated either with little old ladies or young dabblers in horror films, it has a long and worthy history as a magical tool and should not be dismissed without proper consideration.

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW (Oregon, WI USA)

January 11, 2006

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board presents the fascinating true history of the ouija board, a device purported to facilitate communication with spirits, back to John Dee, Queen Elizabeth's advisor, who allegedly used it to contact angels and codify the Enochian Alphabet. Of especial interest is the true story of twentieth-century magician Aleister Crowley, who made effective use of the ouija board and even attempted to create and sell a version of the device. An absorbing examination of the history, current usage, and future of a mysterious and mystical device, cherished by some as a magical tool, and condemned by others as a gateway to the devil, and dismissed by skeptics as a hoax.

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: Caradoc Elmet

England

January 16th 2006

Dear Mr. Cornelius,

In your recent book, Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board, you give the origin of the word 'Ouija', saying that the originators of the modern board actually used the board to divine its true name. They were told that the word 'Ouija' is an ancient Egyptian word for 'good luck'. You go on to say that modern Egyptologists will tell you there is no such word known from the ancient language.

I mentioned this to a friend and he had a really interesting idea that I'm almost annoyed I didn't come up with myself. Could not the word Ouija be a version of the word variously translated as udjat, utchat or Wedjat: the eye of Horus?

It's an interesting thought. The eye is a symbol of active protection and is a fairly common talisman still in use today. There is also the Goddess Wadjet, protectress of Lower Egypt, represented as a serpent. The serpent and the eye are, of course, connected.

In your book you are very concerned that the talking board should be used in a protected environment. Invoking this protection by actually having the word of protection, Ouija by the manufacturers' spelling, printed on the board itself would be a great idea. The word is the thing it represents in a magical sense. It's easy to see how this concept could have been described to the receivers of the original message as representing "good luck," or at least how they might have described it to others as such.

I posted this idea on the Thelema Coast to Coast forums after listening to your interview on the programme (very interesting by the way) and another poster, going by the name of Frater Novae Res, responded with the question, "As for the eye, might there be a connection between the Eye in the Triangle to the design of the planchete?"

I would be interested to hear your thoughts, unprovable though these ideas may be.

Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board

Reviewer: PoTO Books & Herbs Company

375 Redondo Ave #148

Long Beach, CA 90814

http://poto.com/item181835.ctlg

Ever since it was adapted by Parker Brothers into a massively popular board game for young people, the Ouija Board has been a lightning rod for controversy. For decades, waves of preachers, teachers and parents have condemned the game as a devil's gateway to perilous obsessions and spiritual possessions. While these claims recall a special brand of witch trial-era hysteria, master occultist and Aleister Crowley expert, author J. Edward Cornelius, affirms that many of these accusations are founded in truth.

In Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board - part fascinating history and part practical manual - Cornelius culls wisdom from the Great Beast and offers a compelling course of action: "Tragedies prove beyond a shred of a doubt that the board is capable of bridging the invisible world with our own. Instead of fearing this concept, why not learn to use it more effectively?"

The greatest ceremonial magician of the twentieth century, Aleister Crowley advocated the Ouija board's use as an occult tool. He strongly believed that the board utilizes the same principles that were practiced by the famed Elizabethan magician John Dee, who used a crystal ball as a means of "skrying," or seeing into the invisible realms. Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board shows how anyone, with the proper knowledge, can communicate effectively with invisible beings through a Ouija board.

This book reveals for the first time in print many dark secrets regarding the talking board, and protected truths that for centuries have only been whispered about behind closed doors.

J. Edward Cornelius is a leading authority on ceremonial magick. A member of Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis, he is best known for the series of research journals called "Red Flame, A Thelemic Research Journal," regarded as the definitive study of Crowleyanity and Magick. Mr. Cornelius lives in San Francisco

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To read Master Therion's (Aleister Crowley)

article which appeared in The International

Vol. XI No. 10 October 1917 ... click HERE