Automatic Writing

Ever since I watched 'the Sixth Sense' [last Saturday] again for the fourth time, I am intrigued by this phenomenon called automatic writing which was mentioned at some point by Dr. Malcolm Crowe [Bruce Willis]. Automatic writing is a technique of free association: one of Freud's psychoanalytical theories.

It's not something new to me; when I started my brief study [Psychology] I also studied Freud and these theories. It seems to be stuck in my head now and I have been looking into it. I've found some interesting theories online and will investigate some more...

To give you peace of mind: I'm not in auto mode, writing this blog, thank you... but I wonder if one could do the same using the keyboard instead of taking pen and paper. This is where modernisation and technology kicks in...

'A phantom? We'el enough,
Prove thee, thyself to me;
I say, behold, here I be
Buskins, kirtle, cap and pettiskirts,
And much tongue!
We'el what has thou to prove thee?'

~The Case of Patience Worth

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Excerpt from:
Automatic Writing © 2003 - 2007 Troy Taylor
Communication from the Spirits?

Since the early days of Spiritualism, automatic writing has been accepted as a way for trance mediums, and sometimes ordinary people, to receive communications from the spirit world. Man has always longed to communicate with the spirits and thanks to the founding of the Spiritualist movement, he now had a method of doing so. The original communications, like those of the Fox Sisters in Hydesville, were little more than knocks and raps that spelled out long and elaborate methods. Most became frustrated by such slow methods of communication and began looking for something faster -- and much more direct. Not long after, the art of "automatic writing" was born.

Automatic writing is essentially writing that is done in an altered state of consciousness that is attributed to spirits of the dead. It is believed by some that the spirits literally manipulate the writing utensil in the hands of the medium to communicate, as the writer is often unaware of what is being written and often even scrawls out text in handwriting that is markedly different than his own. Others believe that perhaps the spirits may also communicate by forming messages in the mind of the medium, which reproduce on the page. Most likely though, the medium is writing unconsciously and messages are formed from material in the subconscious mind or from a secondary personality that is gifted with extrasensory perception. One of America's most famous mediums, Leonora Piper, thought that perhaps her uncanny abilities came from such a personality, which manifested in automatic writing later in her career.

Some documented incidents of automatic writing include other aspects of the supernatural. In the early 1900's, famed society belle Marguerite Du Pont Lee began claiming that she was taking eerie spirit photographs at the direction of messages that she received through automatic writing. Lee, the daughter of the Delaware Du Pont's, was of impeccable lineage, spotless reputation and apparent good sensibilities. After her friend, Episcopal minister Kemper Bocock died in 1904, Lee began having episodes of automatic writing that she credited as coming from Bocock. The writings told her to take up photography and she did, usually placing a portrait of herself or Bocock in a chair and taking pictures of it. Some of the resulting photos showed inexplicable blobs of light and spectral faces, some blurry and others distinct. Some of them looked like the dead minister.

Other forms of automatic writing go beyond mere messages and include drawing and painting and even music that is allegedly inspired by the dead. In some cases, mediums or individuals with little or no artistic training will suddenly feel compelled to paint or draw in distinctive, professional styles. They fell guided by a spirit, as if another hand is guiding their own. In some cases, the paintings are recognizable in the style of a famous artist.

In England, medium Rosemary Brown became renowned for musical compositions that she claimed were dictated to her by famous composers. Her mediumistic abilities manifested in childhood and at age 7, in 1924, she received communications from late composer Franz Liszt who told her than when she grew up, he would return and bring her music. In 1952, Rosemary married Charles Phillip Brown, a freelance journalist with chronic health problems. He died young and left Rosemary to care for their two children in 1961. A few years later, in 1964, she suffered several broken ribs in an accident and was forced to convalesce at home. To pass the time, she sat down at the piano, even though she had not played in more than 12 years, and suddenly became aware of the spirit of Franz Liszt beside her, guiding her hands over the piano keys.
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