Table Tipping

The various theories about the rationale of table turning parallel those for the phenomena of dowsing and radiesthesia. This is where there is meaningful movement of a water-witching rod or a pendulum or similar indicator. The force moving the indicator is still a matter of controversy. Table turning is a form of psychic phenomena in which a table rotates tilts or rises completely off the ground by the mere contact of the fingertips of an individual or group of individuals. In exceptional cases tables have been known to move or even levitate without direct contact. The familiar form of séance in table turning is that in which the sitters place their fingertips on the table. The table then moves without conscious exercise of muscular force. By relating the raps or tilts of the table to the alphabet it arguably becomes possible to receive intelligent messages.

During the early 1900’s, when professional mediums all over the country were claiming to communicate with the spirits, ordinary people developed in interest in psychic phenomena. Most of these people had no means or access to professional mediums so many of them developed home circles. The home circles were small collections of family and friends who would get together and attempt to contact the spirit world. A number of the home circles began to believe that their attempts to communicate with the spirits were successful. Their amateur séances were actually connecting with ghosts and the spirit world. Others were not so sure. Many of the members of the circles quickly began to realize that what was causing the planchettes of Ouija boards to move, tables to tip and mysterious rappings sounds was not the work of ghosts but the collective work of the human mind. The energy created by a group of people together who were intent on a single purpose could produce some amazing results.

It was reported that with a powerful medium the movement of the table could occur at any time and display a tremendous force in operation. In experiments conducted by psychical researchers in the 1920’s found powerful and rhythmic vibrations of tables were obtained. On one occasion, after violent movements of a table, it suddenly snapped. The top broke into two pieces and the legs broke off.

Table tipping in the early part of the past century was really considered little more than a parlour game. The basic technique behind it is quite simple. The group of people sits around a table with each person resting his hands flat on the top surface of it. If everyone is patient enough and prepared to possibly do this for several sittings, they will almost always be rewarded with some sort of phenomena. When starting out, it’s likely that the sitters will be startled by rapping and knocking noises but as the experiments continue, the table will possibly vibrate and eventually will begin to move. As the number of sittings increase, the group will increase in power and the phenomena will increase along with it.

It’s also possible that the table will behave as with some intelligence. Once the group has begun to experience strange effects, it will be possible to ask questions and receive knocks, raps and event tilts in reply. When you experience this, it will be easy to understand why people believed the phenomena was caused by ghosts. Just remember that the power of the human mind is a tricky thing, especially when you have an entire group focused on creating energy. You should remember that the energy created can be pretty amazing at times. It has been documented by some table tipping groups that they have literally experienced tables that are so charged with energy that the table moved about with all four members of the group sitting on top of it.

Some have attributed the subconscious mind and the movement of the table without contact as well. If a table moves when no one is touching it, this is perhaps no more likely to have been effected by a spirit than a sitter. We cannot tell how one could move it but then we cannot say how he could not move it either. It is commonly assumed that unconscious muscular action or nervous energy plays a significant part. It is unclear clear how information on underground water, minerals, or buried objects is conveyed to the mind, or from the mind to the indicator.

In modern times, table turning is a laborious method of establishing contact with unseen intelligence. Planchette and ouija boards are more satisfactory and faster. While a number of prominent mediums began their career with Ouija boards they quickly moved beyond. Messages obtained by such methods are often misleading or false. The communications received at circles tend to reflect the general interest level of the sitters.

Historical Background
Table-turning is the simplest and oldest form of communication with extraneous intelligences or the subconscious self. In ancient times tables were used for purposes of divination as Mensa divinatoriae. In fourth Century Rome, Ammianus Marcellinus described a table with a slab, engraved with the letters of the alphabet, above which a ring was held, suspended by a thread. By swinging to certain letters, messages were spelled out. Tertullian appears to have been one of the first who knew of table communications with the unseen world.

Table-turning in modern Spiritualism dates from the mid-nineteenth Century and seems to have originated in America soon after the Rochester rappings of 1848. At that time, there was considerable interest in animal magnetism or electro-biology, stemming from the mesmerism of Europe.

Mesmerism established the convention of groups of individuals arranged in a circle with a variously named magnetic fluid linking them. After the phenomena of rappings in the presence of the Fox sisters became widely known, groups gathered around other individuals who possessed the same ability to generate raps.

Table turning and rapping spread like an epidemic throughout America and was brought to England by professional mediums such as Maria B. Hayden who came to London with a lecturer on electro-biology in 1852. An advantage of table turning was that it did not require a paid professional medium. Amateur groups could sit around a table and obtain the intelligent rappings which had first been manifest only to talented individuals such as mediums.

In 1852 afternoon social invitations to tea and table turning were common. Table turning was even more successful in France, with its tradition of mesmerism and animal magnetism. One widespread joke was that people no longer asked after each other's health but asked instead how the table was.

Mesmerists welcomed table turning as a demonstration of animal magnetism or odic force, while Fundamentalist ecclesiastics denounced it as due to satanic actions. Scientists and doctors thought that the new craze would be a danger to mental health and a committee was formed to find a non-Spiritualist explanation for the phenomenon. They reported in the Medical Times and Gazette on June 11, 1853, that the motion of the table was due to unconscious muscular action.

A few weeks’ later chemists and physicists reported experiments with a simple apparatus to demonstrate that the movements of the table were due to unconscious muscular action by the sitters. The sitters were by implication the automatic authors of the messages claiming to come from the spirit world. The apparatus used to test this consisted of two thin wooden boards with little glass rollers between them. The equipment was bound together with rubber bands and so demonstrated that the slightest lateral pressure on the upper board would cause it to slip a little way over the other. A scrap of paper served to indicate any motion of the upper board over the lower.

The conclusion drawn from these experiments was that when the sitters believed themselves to be pressing downward they were pressing obliquely in the direction they expected the table to rotate. Other investigators also held the expectation that the operators had much to do with the motions of the table. Some argued that someone generally announced the direction they expected the table to turn before it moved.

Among the earliest investigators of the phenomenon of table turning were Count Agenor De Gasparin and Prof. Marc Thury of Geneva. They held séances and were satisfied that the movements resulted from a force radiating from the sitters to which they gave the name of ectenic force.

The public generally ignored the conclusions of many investigators and preferred the more popular Spiritualist explanation or the pseudo-scientific theories of electro-biology. Other explanations offered included odic force, galvanism, animal magnetism and the rotation of the Earth. Some investigators claimed to have experienced a feeling of fatigue after a table turning séance as though they had been hypnotizing someone. They reported a tingling sensation in their fingertips. Others claimed vaguely that spirit rappings might be caused by a disengagement of Zoogen (an unidentified force in nature) from the System.

Various Evangelical clergymen insisted that table turning was Satanic. Some Reverend’s held séances in which the spirit confessed themselves to be either spirits of worthless persons of evil inclination or devils. Both spirits confessions caused the reverent men to denounce the whole practice of table turning.

Some researchers claimed that the simple rotation of the table is due to an unconscious impulse given by the operators. Other movements of the table while the fingers of the sitters rested upon it were due to similar causes. The tilting of the table on the side furthest away from the operator was explained by muscular action. The vibrations in the wood of the table, its levitation under the fingers, or extent of its rotation without contact of the operator's hands, was said to be due to a force emanating from the body. In the latter case, the operator was capable of acting at a distance by means of ether-waves. This was the result of a cerebral disturbance and was greater than that of the muscles, as is seen by the levitation of weighty tables that the combined muscular strength of the operators would not be enough to lift them. The dictating of messages and other intelligent manifestations possibly originated from the subconscious will of the operator.

It is possible that some fraud may have crept into the séances investigated in some cases. There are also those among the most qualified of psychical researcher that finds the hypothesis of unconscious muscular action or deliberate fraud a satisfactory explanation of the phenomena.

The Mechanics of Table-Turning
A common procedure followed by those engaged in table tipping began with those in attendance forming a circle around the table. They placed hands lightly, with fingertips touching, on the leaf, and with lowered lights or in complete darkness and waited for the manifestations. According to reports, if someone with psychic powers was present the table might show signs of animation. The first such sign was often a quivering motion under the sitters' hands. It increased until the table pulsated with a mysterious energy. The wooden surface appeared to some to act as a reservoir of externalized nervous force.

After the vibratory stage the table might jerk, tilt, stumble about and eventually become levitated. There was believed to be intelligence behind these movements. If the letters of the alphabet were called over in the dark, the table, by tilting, knocking on the floor or tapping, indicated certain letters that spelled out a message. They often claimed to come from someone deceased. The intelligence that manifested had personal characteristics. In repeated sittings it was soon noticed by observers that the skill with which the table was manipulated or the eccentricities of its behaviour were indications of the presence of the same entity. The strange, stolid or clumsy behaviour of the table immediately denoted that a new visitant was tampering with the contact.

The table might disclose much more than that. Its motions could express humour, personality and emotion. It might climb up into the sitter's lap as a mark of affection. It might chase others all over the room in a hostile manner. As an additional means of communication, the table could begin creaking. When the table moves under contact there is an obvious possibility for the subconscious mind or a secondary personality to display ideas by unconscious muscular pressure of either a medium or the sitters.

The material from which a chair or table is made seems to make no difference once there is enough energy available for the spirit to was manifest. The reason why a table was used for spirit communication was convenience as it was piece of available furniture which allowed contact around it for a large number of people. Some Spiritualists thought the table surface acted as a receptacle for the generated force and compared the space underneath the table to a medium's cabinet. They believed this to be even more the case if it was surrounded by a deep hanging table cloth. In the early days of Spiritualism, they often used a table with a hole in the middle through which objects or hands could be poked through.

Some mediums will only use a wooden table as it absorbs magnetism. The colour of the table makes no difference. Some mediums claim that there are advantages to covering the table with a white cloth that is light in texture. Some mediums also claim that tables that are fastened with wooden pegs should be used as some mediums are extremely sensitive to metals.

WANT TO TRY THIS FOR YOURSELF?
1.To start off with you will need to select your group for the sessions. The best number to start with is usually the same number that you would need for an investigation which is 4 or 5 people. Make sure that all of the same members can be present for each session and also make sure that they are willing to continue with the experiments for an extended period of time or at least until you have achieved the desired effects for your experiment.

2. Choose a location for the experiments. It should be a place where everyone can be comfortable and relaxed. You will also need to choose a table to use as well. A small wooden table that can seat everyone comfortably but is not too big or too heavy is best. Experimenting with a gigantic, oak dining room table is not recommended if you want to see results any time soon.

3. The lighting in the room will be important. Table tipping seems to work best in near darkness.

4. Once you sit down to experiment with this, be sure to maintain a casual and relaxed atmosphere. Be sure to talk normally, make jokes and just try to relax. If you are too uptight about things happening, it’s not going to work. Simply relax and try to avoid concentrating on getting the table to move at first.

5. Make sure that everyone’s hands on the table all the time. As things start to occur it’s liable to become exciting but no one should move their hands if at all possible.

6. While nothing at all may happen in the initial sitting, it is bound to get more interesting as time progresses. Make sure the group meets regularly, once or twice a week if possible. To succeed, the group needs to be dedicated and willing to sit through several uneventful sessions before phenomena actually occurs.

7. Make sure that the meetings are always free from interruption and do whatever it takes to prepare for this. Turn off the televisions and radios in the house and take the telephone off the hook if you need to.

8. Interestingly, faking phenomena sometimes encourages real phenomena to appear. In one experiment, a sitter experimented with this and found that he was able to induce real rappings from the table after he faked rapping noises or moved the table. He was never seen doing this as the sittings were conducted in near darkness. His view of why this occurred is because people have an inherent disbelief in this type of phenomena. The disbelief might be deeply buried but it is almost always there. Faking the phenomena seems to bypass the problem and allows the mind to work. In short, it seems that once people have been led to believe that something faked is true then it actually occurs. This is possibly because their resistance to real activity has been broken down. This is something to consider in your own experiments. Faking paranormal activity during an investigation is not encourages but this is merely an experiment and not designed to try and "contact the spirit world" anyway.