Exploring the Unknown: Tools of the Trade

Raise your hand if you remember playing “Light as a feather, stiff as a board.”…but wait until you put her down first😜

As kids, our idea of a séance was a bit different than that of an adult. I recall slumber parties where we played Bloody Mary (that game scared the crap out of me!), Light as a Feather (AKA She looks dead) or told ghost stories. Light as a Feather was a game where someone would lay on their back, the participants would surround them, and they would all place two fingers beneath the ‘victim’, head to toe. The ‘dead’ person would close their eyes and cross their arms over their chest in repose.

The room would be black as pitch, with only a single candle flickering in the dark. Spooky😱👻

Then, the chanting would begin. Each person, in a round-robin fashion, would say ‘she looks sick.” Next, ‘she is sick,” etc and so forth, with each person reciting it. The last line was something like, “She is dead; let her spirit rise.” And everyone would lift, using just their two fingers, and the victim would, supposedly, levitate effortlessly.

Nah, not so much. Although I do recall once where a bunch of us panicked because it was soooo easy to lift our friend. As an adult, I realize it’s all about leverage and timing, but I swear—when we were twelve or thirteen years-old, my friends and I had some kind of secret power!

That being said, I also know now that, as a kid, I wasn’t very bright. Oh, I don’t mean the crayon-eating, window -licking kind of dopey child who mistakes litterbox poop for a castle in the sand. I mean that I fooled around with stuff I didn’t understand, knew nothing about, and had no business messing with.

Take the Ouija board, for example.

Okay, okay, I know. Half of you think the Ouija has gotten a bad rap, that it’s only a piece of wood whose planchette is moved by the participants playing the game, not by some occult force. The other half of you are dangerously close to having to change your shorts just by hearing me bring up the name ‘Ouija.’

And, for you believers, God help the poor sap who parades a spirit board in front of you, or horrors of horrors, brings one to your home!

So, which side of the coin are you? Who is right here? Well, as always, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. No, I don’t believe the board itself is possessed or contains magic (except if you are Hasbro and making a killing—no pun intended—on sales at Halloween. Then, there’s magic in profit 😉) However, I do worry that its reputation puts people in a certain frame of mind that can invite some nasty stuff into their lives.

The mystery is not so much in the tool, but how it’s used.

Take a Kitchen-Aid appliance, for example. My owning a five-hundred dollar blender isn’t going to make me a great cook, but it’s gonna make me think I’m a great cook. 😉( By the way, I don’t own a five-hundred dollar blender, just to be clear lol) Similarly, playing with a spirit board, (which, just so you know, is sooo not a toy) can create the illusion of power along with an obsessive need to explore the other side, opening doorways that you have no idea how to close.

Way to go, Crayola breath.

My advice? Back away, quickly, from ‘friends’ who invite you to play.

So, what of the other tools out there? (No, not him. I’m talking divination tools 😜). Tarot cards and tea leaves and dowsing rods. Even astrology is considered a tool of the paranormal or occult, although that will be a blog unto itself someday. As for the others, let’s take a look, shall we?

Everybody loves a good Tarot reading. Darby Harrison, Katie Callahan’s best friend in the Shadow Sisters Trilogy, loves the cards and has been known to do impromptu readings. But, are they truly a predictor of the future? Gaze into my crystal ball (just kidding…all I have is a Magic 8 Ball, whose usual answers are ‘Very doubtful’ or ‘Ask again later.’)

To which I reply, well, what if there is no later, Mr. Eight ball? What if I’m asking a life or death question?

A response that cements the idea that I truly am not very bright, and that, somewhere, a village is missing their idiot.🙄

Where was I? Oh, right, the Tarot. The Tarot deck is divided into two sections, the major arcana (things in your life of great importance) and the minor arcana (the rest of the fluff in your life.) Before a reading, the cards are shuffled and laid out in a pattern. The person getting read asks a specific question, and the cards, to believers, provide an answer.

Each card has a picture and can mean several different things. For example, the Death card doesn’t have to mean physical death. It could mean a transition, the end of a relationship, or even that a bad force will enter your life. The whole thing is subjective, really, and up to the interpretation of the card reader.

Kind of like a cold reading from a psychic, you will cram the bits of the puzzle however you can to fit your situation. It’s basic human nature. My thoughts? It’s a fun way to pass the time, but I wouldn’t take it to heart.

The same goes for Tasseograpy. What, you ask? Since I always want you to walk away from this blog learning something, I threw this one in. It means reading tea leaves!

Nope, I never heard of the word either! And I will probably never use it again.

Reading tea leaves is a fading art, I fear. Taken over by psychics on stage and Tarot readings at carnivals and carrying crystals for emotional and spiritual health. But…if you like tea, and are willing to do some research, tea leaf reading is sure to be a hit at your next party!

Much as everything else we discussed here, reading tea leaves is all about interpretation and our inner, passionate belief that whatever the leaves tell you is gospel. The person being read, called the ‘querent’, drinks a cup of tea and then asks very specific questions they need answered. The tasseographer then assesses the pattern of the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup, discovering the answer to their question by how the tea leaves are arranged.

Out there? Perhaps. But what a cool parlor trick!

Finally, we have the dowsing, also known as divining, rod. As early as the sixteenth century, people have used dowsing rods to locate water, minerals, or precious metals (although sometimes in secret as it was thought to be a form of witchcraft). Using either Y-shaped rods from a tree branch, or metal L-shaped rods, the theory is the dowser walks the land and, when the target is below the rods, the instrument will dip (as in the Y rods) or cross on itself (as in the L shaped rods) indicating the treasure they seek lies below them.

But does it work? Sadly, all of the studies I looked at say no. It seems that the devices ability to locate water or minerals, whether a Y or L rod, is just as accurate as finding it by chance.

Bummer. I could’ve used a set of dowsing rods to locate the missing items in my home…grandma’s candy dish, the tub of butter I know is in the fridge, the socks gone missing on the trip from the hamper to the laundry room.

Alas, I am forced to find them alone…sockless, nibbling on dry toast and peppermint candies from a bag.

Like a savage.

So, there you have it! Everything you wanted to know about paranormal divination tools but were afraid to ask! Or, in my case, you asked and the Magic 8 Ball told you, “Don’t count on it.”

Until next time, my Mighty Quinnlets!

—Q