I would recommend that you read your old books, like Nelson’s “Phantom Mindreader”, or Bob Cassidy’s great publication, “Pseudo-Mentally Yours.” Each describes the use of a piece of Magic Slate used in a stack of envelopes, that I have had very good luck using – a mini-clipboard, in effect. It’s not great for a long wordy question, but for a crude drawing, a single name, a date, or an astrological sign, it’s great!
Table Tipping
This is one of those things that’s so old, it’s new again. In my father’s youth, tipping tables was all the rage. (What the hell, they had no computer games or DVD’s. . .) He and his family saw this phenomenon as proof of spirit
communication, so it was extremely serious stuff. It finally peaked in popularity as sort of a parlor game and everyone was doing it. I am surprised at some of the modern day ladies who have not only never tried it – they’ve never even heard of it!
In a way, that’s great! I cannot describe accurately the sense of astonished awe some of these ladies exhibit upon having my small table move by itself!
I saw some small tables in a store some years ago – assembly required. Only slightly more useful than a candle stand, they had the magick requirement: three legs!
I bought two! As I assembled them, I was able to use strong adhesives at every joint, which has made them quite sturdy.
The three-legged feature is actually not 100% necessary, but for nearly guaranteed success, I would use nothing else. The simple fact is that a three-legged table will tip far easier than a four-legged one.
If you are also young enough not to have been exposed to table tipping, let me explain it to you, and give you a few tips and hints.
You seat a few people around a table (I am assuming it has only three legs) and have them rest their hands on the table top, preferably toward the extreme outer edge. With suggestion, you can get the table to lean a few inches to one side or another. It will reach a certain point in its movement, and then tip back to its original position. Upon this return movement, it will audibly rap on the floor (hence the alternate name: table rapping.) It’s all unconscious pressures – ideomotor response – moving it, exactly as in Ouija boards or your pendulum, only it’s bigger and is a larger group effort!
In your parents’, or grandparents’ time, this was often seen as a way to communicate with the ‘dearly departed.’ One person would act as record keeper and sit away from the table, pencil and paper in hand. She/he would slowly recite the alphabet aloud, and when the table rapped as a particular letter was spoken, she
would write that letter down. It was a long and tedious process, but messages, of a sort, could be obtained. One rap could be used for ‘No’ responses, two raps for ‘Yes.’
Some tables had the alphabet written on the top of it similar to a Ouija board, and the record keeper would point to them, rather than speak aloud.
What strange times. They would seriously gather together and sing hymns for a while, to get in the mood, and then would take hours to get confused, often
jumbled messages from the table. And they’d be thrilled! However, it is still a very strong bit of magick, especially now that most people aren’t very familiar with it.
I once hung a pendulum from a small, bent coat hanger framework placed on a table, and the people were all resting their hands on the table and focusing on moving the pendulum by ‘mind power.’ (It was long ago – I was younger and
somewhat more foolish . . . it was the hippie Sixties, what can I say?) I had expected – and was right – that the combined force of a number of hands on the table would easily get the pendulum to swing. I got a flash of creative insight, and realized that this would be the perfect introduction to table tipping – the mechanism is exactly the same!
I usually choose only those women who have had excellent success with the pendulum. Sometimes, for personality reasons, some untalented lady will almost demand that she sit at the table. If the others at the table worked the pendulum very quickly, then I allow it. I am hoping, of course, that they will be able to move it even with a questionable sitter amongst them. It works most of the time.
To my mind, the goal is to secretly work toward imbalance. The tables I have are very small; four people are very tightly crowded around them. I think this
awkward crowding helps. I attempt to arrange them so that large women are across from tiny women, creating more imbalance. If there is a male present, I like to sit him among the ladies, hoping his upper body strength will imbalance the women’s. I have them place their hands, palms-down, on the table top, their hands spread apart, at least even with their shoulders. If possible, I have them touch little fingers with the sitters to the left and right of them: “A circle of hands around the table.”
The suggestive lines go like this:
“Is everyone comfortable? Are all of your little fingers touching? Everyone relax and whatever happens, do not be frightened. I don’t want your hands resting heavily on the table top – just lightly. A slow, deep breath. In a moment or six, this is what is going to happen. One side or another of the table is going to raise up slowly . . . like this.”
I firmly grab the table edge and slowly tilt the table to show them what it feels like. I think that this is important, because it shows them what to expect! It also
allows me to see if they are pressing downward on the table too hard. If there is a lot of resistance, I know I’ll have to go over the “lightly resting your hands” lines again.
“When you see and feel the table beginning to move – do not be frightened and do not resist! Don’t hold it down. Allow it to move as it wishes.”
I drop the table back to its original position:
“It will then drop back down like this. Now it may be this side that levitates up; you never know, but one side will do so, if you are all relaxed, focused and serious.”
I have emphasized that it will work, and implied that if it doesn’t, it’s their own lack of concentration and seriousness.
I have a straight-sided glass bottle (in fact, it was a tall, slightly tapered mustard container!) with a pendulum suspended from the inside of the cap. I
sometimes put this in the center of the table and begin by having them focus on the pendulum, and will it to move. For a small table surrounded by those who have had good luck with the pendulum earlier in the evening, it’s not a problem to get the pendulum in the bottle to move.
“You know that each of you can get a pendulum to move. Together, I am sure that you have enough force – enough energy – to move this table, as well. Let’s breathe some deep breaths in unison for a moment; it will help.
Air in . . . and out. In . . . and out. In . . . out. Focus on the center of the table. Allow the energy to travel down through your arms to your fingers.
Visualize the energy from all of your fingers moving the table. Don’t resist it, allow it to move. Will it to raise up. One side . . . which side will it be? One side is getting lighter, beginning to raise up. Focus on it. Allow it to move . . .”
It will move! Only rarely have I had to trade people at the table to get it to move. I like this done in my usual candlelight, of course. There are a number of things you can then do with this moving table. You can decide on two raps for ‘Yes’
and one for ‘No’, and ask questions. You can do the alphabet spelling stuff – however, this is slow-moving action. I prefer to have them rocking the table for a moment or two, and then on the count of three have each of them raise their right hands. The table instantly stops, of course.
Then it’s the second group’s turn to try it. The second group can always do it easily and almost instantly, now that they’ve seen it done. I try to get as many people to try it as would like to do so. In a house party setting, this is usually only a few
times, and they don’t strictly need me there at all, now that they have seen how it’s done. I can be in the other room giving short readings while they play with
pendulums, drink coffee, chat and tip tables! It’s quite satisfying to hear them squealing with shocked amusement in the other room as I read.
Suggestion and mood is all it takes. It helps immensely if you have chosen your participants from those who have excellent luck with a pendulum, of course, or those who have good results with a Ouija board, or those who have been successfully hypnotized in the past. I use the “frightened” line a couple times, having found that some of them are very spooked by the moving table! So I mention it, and hope that it will suggest fear to some who may not have thought of it. I don’t mind at all if it spooks them a little; they will tell others about this magick for years!
Don’t overlook table tipping! It’s pure suggestion magick you can’t be ‘caught’
at anything. Using the proper table and tested sitters almost guarantees eventual success, and the impact on the people is very strong indeed. Of course, you don’t strictly need a three-legged table, and you don’t need pendulum-tested sitters. You could set this up under a lot of different conditions, but be aware that your success rate will drop off. It may take a lot of suggestion before it moves. I usually toss one of my tables into the back of the van as I head for a Tarot party. I may use it, or I may not, but I have it at hand. I may set it up next to my reading table with a candle on it. The mustard jar/pendulum is in my luggage bag, though I don’t always use it, even when I do think table tipping is a good thing to try that night.
An extraneous note: Many years ago, a group of fellow wizards and I sat around in a late-night chat session. These were people whom I respected as knowing about all there was to know of psychic wizardry. The question had been raised, “If you were to go back in time a few hundred years, what three bits of magick would you use to become a great, powerful – and wealthy – wizard?”
The discussion went on for a very long time, as there was much to consider (the lack of modern technology, for one thing.) The list finally boiled down to the pendulum, hypnosis – and table tipping!
Today, I’d throw in Tarot readings – or readings of some sort – too. I still think that the above list is accurate, and can gain the same results here in the twentieth century.
Here is an example of how even an inexpensive computer and printer can help make your stuff look better. You can make table signs on good-quality paper, using various typestyles. You will look much better than the majority of readers, who typically scrawl their signs on a piece of an old box with magic marker! You can add dates, times, and places to create promotional flyers.