Le Livre des Esprits

[or]der of each letter, one thus arrived at formulating words and phrases answering the questions posed. The accuracy of the answers and their correlation with the question excited astonishment. The mysterious being who answered in this way, when questioned about its nature, declared that it was a Spirit or genius original: "génie." In the 19th century, this term often referred to a guiding spirit or a tutelary deity rather than high intellectual capacity., gave itself a name, and provided various pieces of information about itself. This is a very important circumstance to note. No one, then, imagined Spirits as a means of explaining the phenomenon; it is the phenomenon itself that reveals the word. In the exact sciences, one often makes hypotheses to have a base for reasoning; however, that is not the case here.

This means of correspondence was long and inconvenient. The Spirit—and this is another circumstance worthy of remark—indicated another way. It was one of these invisible beings who gave the advice to adapt a pencil to a basket original: "corbeille." This refers to a small wicker basket used in early experiments to facilitate writing. or to another object. This basket, placed on a sheet of paper, is set in motion by the same occult power that moves tables; but, instead of a simple regular movement, the pencil traces of its own accord characters forming words, phrases, and entire discourses of several pages, treating the highest questions of philosophy, morality, metaphysics, psychology, etc., and doing so with as much speed as if one were writing by hand.

This advice was given simultaneously in America, in France, and in various countries. Here are the terms in which it was given in Paris, on June 10, 1853, to one of the most fervent adepts of the doctrine, who for several years, and since 1849, had been occupied with the evocationThe practice of calling upon spirits or souls of the dead to communicate. of Spirits:

"Go into the next room and take the little basket; attach a pencil to it; place it on the paper; put your fingers on the rim."

Then, a few moments later, the basket began to move and the pencil wrote this phrase very legibly:

"What I am telling you here, I expressly forbid you to tell anyone; the next time I write, I shall write better."

The object to which the pencil is attached being only an instrument, its nature and form are completely indifferent; the most convenient arrangement was sought; this is why many people make use of a little planchetteA small, heart-shaped wooden board on wheels, used as a tool for automatic writing before the invention of the Ouija board..

The basket, or the planchette, can only be set in motion under the influence of certain persons gifted for this...