What do you think of Ouija boards and other occult fads?

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There is a topic on World News about a schoolteacher bringing an Ouija board to class and telling scary stories to little kids. There was also recently one about a group of witches claiming they were going to cast a spell on President Trump to prevent him from harming people. Well, the answers from Catholics on those topics are interesting. Some just laugh at such stories as irrelevant, others seem to take them seriously, then get accused of being superstitious by those who don’t.

I personally would not play with an Ouija board and I certainly wouldn’t contribute to any Wiccan project to cast spells on anyone, not because I think they definitely would work, but because the risk of opening up doors to demons doesn’t seem to be worth it. Certainly not for entertainment value (such as the Ouija board).

On the other hand, I read all the Harry Potter books and saw most of the movies, and I didn’t see any problem with that because the magic is fantasy magic, not real. I also read LOTR and ASOIAF and I don’t think the magic depicted in such stories is reason to avoid them. (ASOIAF does have sexual content that could be problematic, but I think there’s more risk of being tempted to gluttony than being tempted to lust from reading the books, the author spends much more time in depictions of “food porn” compared to depictions of the other type. I only speak of the books here, not the HBO show).

Anyway, since it seems different CAFers are attracted to different sub-forums, I was curious as to what people on this one thought, compared to those who frequent World News.
 
I think some people over react to certain types of fantasy books but at the same time I wouldn’t mess with Ouija boards or tarot cards and I don’t think other people should either. I have had friends that have been involved in Wicca that sincerely regret it for a reason so there’s that too. I will tell you a demonic manifestation doesn’t always have to look like something out of movies.
 
I remember a scene from a movie a few years back, one of the characters told his son after he snuck out to see a horror film, “the real problem is you can’t get those images and ideas out of your head, they will taint you for a long time…” From my point of view, better safe than sorry!

Likewise I don’t drink much alcohol, never done illegal drugs, or smoked marijuana…
 
The Occult, and New Age, which has the same roots, have been around for a long time. None of it is a fad. Ouija boards, tarot cards and other forms of divination are right out. No one should consider this play.

Popular fiction can encourage some people to seek out other, similar things.

Ed
 
Avoid anything to do with the occult, including depictions of fantasy magic such as HP.
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I clicked on this thread to defend Hewlett-Packard, but never mind.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
I clicked on this thread to defend Hewlett-Packard, but never mind.
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Sorry for the confusion. 😉 I actually would have typed out “Harry Potter”, but that would have exceeded the character limit for the poll choices.
 
There is this denial, especially prevalent today where people, mostly secular, but still some Catholics, even in here, that the occult, including Ouija boards are just parlor games. Many also believe that Satan is just something out of the Bible and so on.

Several exorcists, including well published Vatican exorcists discuss this denial, and the very real danger occult practices present. The Bible talks a great deal about the devil and even mentions occult practices. I have finally just accepted the fact that there are people that just don’t take any of these threats seriously as the effects of secularism on our Church and in society.

The devil encourages this type of denial. It makes his job much easier. If your prey doesn’t believe your there, so much the better for him. It boggles the mind how easily Catholics, of all people, just chuck all these teachings, even the words of recent Popes such as Paul VI right out the window, and mock the very ones who try to warn them right here on this very forum.
 
esieffe said:
The devil encourages this type of denial. It makes his job much easier. If your prey doesn’t believe your there, so much the better for him. It boggles the mind how easily Catholics, of all people, just chuck all these teachings, even the words of recent Popes such as Paul VI right out the window, and mock the very ones who try to warn them right here on this very forum.
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We don’t even have to go back to Paul VI. The current Holy Father, Pope Francis, has tried to warn the world about the dangers of “dialoguing with the Devil”.
 
I’m sorry, but I have an issue with the wording of the poll. It says “Avoid most occult themed games such as the Ouija boards, but fantasy magic such as HP is OK.”, but fantasy magic isn’t the occult at all. It’s no more “occult” than Star Wars, or Jaws. It’s fiction: it’s fake. 🤷

Real occult stuff on the other hand should be doused in lighter fluid and turned into a big heap of ash before being thrown into outer space. :mad:
 
ToeInTheWater said:
There is a topic on World News about a schoolteacher bringing an Ouija board to class and telling scary stories to little kids. There was also recently one about a group of witches claiming they were going to cast a spell on President Trump to prevent him from harming people. Well, the answers from Catholics on those topics are interesting. Some just laugh at such stories as irrelevant, others seem to take them seriously, then get accused of being superstitious by those who don’t.

I personally would not play with an Ouija board and I certainly wouldn’t contribute to any Wiccan project to cast spells on anyone, not because I think they definitely would work, but because the risk of opening up doors to demons doesn’t seem to be worth it. Certainly not for entertainment value (such as the Ouija board).

On the other hand, I read all the Harry Potter books and saw most of the movies, and I didn’t see any problem with that because the magic is fantasy magic, not real. I also read LOTR and ASOIAF and I don’t think the magic depicted in such stories is reason to avoid them. (ASOIAF does have sexual content that could be problematic, but I think there’s more risk of being tempted to gluttony than being tempted to lust from reading the books, the author spends much more time in depictions of “food porn” compared to depictions of the other type. I only speak of the books here, not the HBO show).

Anyway, since it seems different CAFers are attracted to different sub-forums, I was curious as to what people on this one thought, compared to those who frequent World News.
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While I personally don’t believe in any of this stuff, that is, evoking demons, the Ouija board, tarot cards, and the like are explicitly counter to the biblical tenets of Judaism and Christianity, so I wouldn’t participate in this activity even for fun.
 
Melodeonist said:
I’m sorry, but I have an issue with the wording of the poll. It says “Avoid most occult themed games such as the Ouija boards, but fantasy magic such as HP is OK.”, but fantasy magic isn’t the occult at all. It’s no more “occult” than Star Wars, or Jaws. It’s fiction: it’s fake.
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I personally agree with you, but I also know many on CAF do find HP to be occult, or even if they don’t think HP itself is occult they think it could serve as a gateway (as in “gateway drug”) to actual dangerous occult practices. I just checked, so far 3 people have picked the option that would avoid HP.
 
Melodeonist said:
I’m sorry, but I have an issue with the wording of the poll. It says “Avoid most occult themed games such as the Ouija boards, but fantasy magic such as HP is OK.”, but fantasy magic isn’t the occult at all. It’s no more “occult” than Star Wars, or Jaws. It’s fiction: it’s fake. 🤷

Real occult stuff on the other hand should be doused in lighter fluid and turned into a big heap of ash before being thrown into outer space. :mad:
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Fantasy magic may sometimes encourage people to look for New Age materials. The New Age has a market. I work in book publishing and you’d be surprised what people think. There is no warning label on material that is New Age, and pre-internet, the world of fiction was just the Great Lakes. Now, it’s all the oceans combined. There is real evil out there.

We are also faced with the promotion of non-facts. Fake news, fake stories and even fiction that is not what it seems.

Ed
 
Pick up a book called “An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels.”

Just finished reading it myself, loved it, think the author (Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s Chief Exorcist) has it right on all counts, everything just makes sense and lines up with most everything else I have read.

He specifically addresses the occult, magic and Harry Potter among many other things. No I will not ruin it for you, but I’ll tell ya this, I learned a lot, and absolutely recommend it to everyone!!!
 
I don’t think that items like Ouija boards are themselves demonic, but the things that they are used for can definitely lead to spiritual attacks.
 
Polls polls polls. Are you writing a college paper or something?

Anyway, Ouija and all forms of occult are the surest manner of inviting the demonic. Ask any exorcist.
 
edwest2 said:
Fantasy magic may sometimes encourage people to look for New Age materials. The New Age has a market. I work in book publishing and you’d be surprised what people think. There is no warning label on material that is New Age, and pre-internet, the world of fiction was just the Great Lakes. Now, it’s all the oceans combined. There is real evil out there.

We are also faced with the promotion of non-facts. Fake news, fake stories and even fiction that is not what it seems.

Ed
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The problem is not, I think, the fantasy element, but the mindset the author brings to his books. There’s a huge difference between Tolkien and Philip Pullman, who wrote a fantasy trilogy about killing God. Both, however, are different from actual attempts at divination and the like, which indeed is forbidden in the Bible.
 
ctb95 said:
I don’t think that items like Ouija boards are themselves demonic, but the things that they are used for can definitely lead to spiritual attacks.
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It is divination or else it is deception. There is nothing good about a Ouija board.

Wiccans…I think they are spiritually thirsty people, often well-meaning (they intend “white magic,” usually), but in the big scheme of things those who in any way believe they are manipulators of the spiritual world would be better off getting into a wheelchair blindfolded and having a spin on the Autobahn. (“Wow, look at how smooth this surface is…seems made for wheels!”)

We were not given the powers given to the angels for a reason, and it is not the same reason we weren’t given literal wings. We have the faculties necessary to figure out the physical world, but we are vulnerable and blind to the powers that prowl and do battle in the world of spirits.

As for Harry Potter, the concept of magic plays a bit of a different role in mythology and story-telling than attempts to exert personal mastery over spiritual powers do in real life. I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know what kind of mindset those books foster. It is the mindset of a work of fiction or fantasy, however, and *not the specific plot devices used *that make the book spiritually profitable or perilous. The Narnia books are full of magic, but the mindset in which magic is used as a plot device is appropriate.
 
EasterJoy said:
It is divination or else it is deception. There is nothing good about a Ouija board.

Wiccans…I think they are spiritually thirsty people, often well-meaning (they intend “white magic,” usually), but in the big scheme of things those who in any way believe they are manipulators of the spiritual world would be better off getting into a wheelchair blindfolded and having a spin on the Autobahn. (“Wow, look at how smooth this surface is…seems made for wheels!”)

We were not given the powers given to the angels for a reason, and it is not the same reason we weren’t given literal wings. We have the faculties necessary to figure out the physical world, but we are vulnerable and blind to the powers that prowl and do battle in the world of spirits.

As for Harry Potter, the concept of magic plays a bit of a different role in mythology and story-telling than attempts to exert personal mastery over spiritual powers do in real life. I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know what kind of mindset those books foster. It is the mindset of a work of fiction or fantasy, however, and *not the specific plot devices used *that make the book spiritually profitable or perilous. The Narnia books are full of magic, but the mindset in which magic is used as a plot device is appropriate.
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A perfect, logical response!
 
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