Help Aleteia continue its mission by making a tax-deductible donation. In this way, Aleteia's future will be yours as well.
*Your donation is tax deductible!
During the month of October one of the most popular party games is the Ouija board. While it might seem like an innocent and fun way to scare your friends, in reality it is a game that has serious spiritual dangers.
Here are a handful of helpful articles that detail the spiritual risks you take in playing with a Ouija board, leading you down a dark and deceitful path.
Playing with Ouija boards is form of divination
While someone using the board may not have the intention of calling a demonic spirit, the act of using the Ouija board is a form of divination (discovering hidden knowledge through supernatural means) and is very real.
To make an analogy, you may not believe there is someone on the other end of the phone connection and may talk into it, thinking no one is listening, but the fact is that someone is listening and can communicate back.
The spiritual dangers of playing with a Ouija board
The author of The Exorcist discovered the reality behind Ouija boards
William Peter Blatty acknowledged in a 1972 interview with British journalist Ray Connolly that while finishing his book The Exorcist, he had a personal experience with a Ouija board that convinced him that he was communicating with some kind of spirit.
Blatty told Connolly that after experimenting with the Ouija board, strange, unexplainable things continued to happen.
What happened when the author of ‘The Exorcist’ played with a Ouija board
Catholic exorcists warn against using Ouija boards
Exorcists have repeatedly warned against using Ouija boards, and explain that “demons will masquerade as departed loved ones as a means of gaining possession.” Even paranormal investigators are leery about using them, knowing what kind of spirits can be invited into a person’s home.
Are Ouija boards an ‘Origin of Evil’?
Houses can become “haunted” after a Ouija board is used
A house can become “haunted,” though it is not usually inhabited by a ghost as we commonly picture it in our minds.
Most of the time when a person thinks their house is haunted, it is possible that a demonic spirit is present. This usually happens when someone invites a demon into their lives through various means, such as playing with a Ouija board.
Demand for exorcisms is on the rise
Father Lampert [an exorcist priest] said that many people have contacted him saying, “We were playing with a Ouija board and all of a sudden our friend starting speaking in this crazy language that we didn’t understand. And strange things started happening – things moving in the house.” Half of the requests for exorcisms are from non-Catholics, and Father Lampert explained that “only one out of every 5,000 requests is someone afflicted by full demonic possession.” Most cases are concerned with various ways that a demon is oppressing someone.
Demand for exorcisms rises while Christian faith in the US declines
And today we celebrate...