How to Do a Seance

I am sure all you people out there who are great horror movie buffs, have seen the TV series "The Haunting" on Discovery Channel. These are true stories about how some people are tormented by spirits, both good and bad. Many people either call for an exorcist, or some carry out a seance; pronounced (SAY-ahnce). When you are trying to communicate with the spirit, wanting to know why they are here, why they still haven't crossed over, or why they are haunting a person, that is what you call seance. How to perform one, if you are facing the same problem, is something which we will learn now. But make sure that whatever you do, you should do it with the help of an expert who has the knowledge, otherwise the consequences could be bad.

What is a Seance

In simple terms, seance is actually the session which is organized where spiritualistic leaders communicate with spirits. This is said to be one of the most productive methods for communicating with spirits. The origin of seance goes back a long way, that is, to the 19th century. During the 1840s, the Fox sisters, Kate and Margaret, were being haunted by a spirit at their Hydesville home in New York. So what Kate did was, she started communicating with the spirit. She asked it to reply to her snapping of fingers and to her surprise, the spirit did. Slowly, by improving the process of communication, the sisters found out that the spirit was actually that of a man who had been murdered in that very house where they were staying. Slowly, the sister's fame of communicating with the spirits spread and thus, seance was born. Everyone wanted to talk to or communicate with the ones they had lost or with the spirits by whom they were being haunted.

How to Go About It

In the movie "Sixth Sense", the spirits used to come to the young boy, easily with all their unfulfilled desires. There are some people who can see the dead easily, but communicating with the dead is always not that simple. For carrying out a proper seance, you need a good medium, patience, positive nature, common sense, alertness and a loving heart.

Decide What to Ask
Before you start off with the seance, make sure that the list of whatever you are going to ask the spirit is ready. First calling the spirit and then deciding amongst yourself what to ask them, is not the correct way of seance. How to make the process easier without delaying much time, is something which you should know.

The Proper Atmosphere
To call the spirits, you need to have the right surroundings. You have to choose a place that is free from any kind of disturbances. The room temperature should be normal and as for the lights, you should avoid strong lights. You should create a 'spirit friendly' atmosphere by burning incense (of course make sure that people who are attending the seance, are not allergic to the smoke of the incense). Play some soft music, vocal or instrumental. Keep the method of communication such as a glass, or a pen and paper or an ouija board using which, the medium can communicate with the spirit, at hand. Before doing the seance, how to use them, is something which you should know. Make sure that once the seance starts, no one should leave their places and no one should enter the room.

People
Make a list of all those people who you want to ensure are present at the seance. Make sure that a family member of the spirit with whom you want to communicate, is present. Sometimes this is not possible, mainly when the spirit is of a person who was there hundreds of years ago. In that case, if possible, keep an object which had belonged to the person with you. Many times, it's due to worldly attractions that many spirits come to this world. Make sure that the place where you are doing the seance, is not crowded. You need some magnetic energy to bring the spirit down to earth. If the number of people is more, then the energy will be absorbed by others. Also, the people whom you are inviting for the seance, should have an open mind and a positive attitude. Negative vibes from 'non-believers' can act as a hindrance in the path of the spirits. Make sure that you have a person in the group who will be able to empathize with the spirit and also put in love in the entire spiritual process. Love is something which helps the medium to communicate with the spirit.

During the Process
The next step is to decide on the seating arrangements beforehand. Usually people sit around in circles, around a table, on straight back chairs. You have seen in movies that people are asked to hold hands. But that's not important since the process takes sometimes hours to complete. Hence, your hands might start aching. So just keep your hands, facing down on the table and also your knees should not touch others. Start off with a hymn or prayer or chant asking the spirit to come down and communicate. While doing this, make sure that there are no disturbances. The process might take hours but make sure that you do not carry it out for more than two hours. If at all, an extension is needed, then stretch it for maximum 1 hour. Do not be too hard on the spirits. Just like we have problems in communicating with them, even they face similar situations. Be gentle and patient.

Ending It
After the seance is over, remain seated with your eyes closed and try and recollect the loving moments you had with the spirit. Remain like this for at least 20 minutes and then open your eyes and share your experience with others if you want to.

Sometimes, it might happen that some unwanted spirits also turn up. Do not get scared. Ask them why they are here, hear them out and then politely ask them to leave. If the spirits refuse, then stop the seance right then. When you are done, bid the spirit a polite adieu. Just like you would do to your guests in a party, welcoming them politely, talking to them and then bidding them farewell, treat the spirits in the same manner. It's advisable that you do not do these things alone as if you do not know the correct way of doing a seance, you can get into major trouble. Always have an expert at hand while doing a seance.

Communicating with the dead is no joke; and you shouldn't treat it as one too. So, the next time you are performing a seance, how to carry it out and what are the precautions that you need, this information should be at your fingertips. Also, be careful of phony mediums who say that they can communicate with spirits but the only thing that they can do is cheat the believers. There are many people who really do know how to communicate with the spirit world, so try and ask for their help. Also do not try this alone if you are not an expert as the consequences might be bad.