Automatic Writing

[WakingLife]

hey! I just found out about 'automatic writing' which is where you channel a spirit to write their message. I was wondering if anyone had any input in this, and to let others know. I read this story by Irma Slage and found it quite interesting.

How I Started Automatic Writing | Phases of Life After Death

Has anyone ever done this perhaps?

[blossom]

I've had times where I knew I had to write down something that was coming from some sort of being and that it was probably important...although, at the time, I had no pencil or pen on me, and was quite depressed and simply lacking the energy and will to carry through with it...sounds lame I know, but that's where I was at!

[Arlina]

I channel symbols in the same way some people write - automatic drawing?! Its the same basic thing really, its just not in english!

[Philemon]

"Automatic Writing" verges on "stream of consciousness writing"; you simply dismiss your logical mind and write down whatever comes through. Determining the origin of that information (your consciousness or an outside entity) that would take some time.

There are many successful writers--Jack Keauroac and Virginia Woolf to name two--who adopted stream of consciousness writing. I would start there and then maybe move into automatic writing.

I suppose what really matters are your intentions. Are you pursuing automatic writing for creative purposes, to learn about yourself, to learn something about the world. Depending on your intentions, you may choose one approach or the other.

[blossom]

Stream of consciousness writing really interests me. I have tried it before, but find it difficult to get past a tendency of mine to think too much about what I want to write instead of just allowing whatever comes up to surface. It's a control thing I think? Strangely though, I have no problem, when I paint, allowing myself to just paint without any concept in mind, and some pretty interesting things are revealed to me this way! Is there some technique on how to help with this? I do meditate and know how to breathe so as to relax...are there other suggestions you can give to achieve this Philemon?

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Philemon

"Automatic Writing" verges on "stream of consciousness writing"; you simply dismiss your logical mind and write down whatever comes through. Determining the origin of that information (your consciousness or an outside entity) that would take some time.

There are many successful writers--Jack Keauroac and Virginia Woolf to name two--who adopted stream of consciousness writing. I would start there and then maybe move into automatic writing.

I suppose what really matters are your intentions. Are you pursuing automatic writing for creative purposes, to learn about yourself, to learn something about the world. Depending on your intentions, you may choose one approach or the other.

That's one of the best descriptions of automatic writing that I've read. I wouldn't necessarily differentiate stream of consciousness writing from automatic writing, unless you're perhaps talking about people who enter into a "trance" where something other than their conscious mind is aiding the movement of their hands while they write or type (for me, it's always been a conscious process--I can always stop, or edit and alter things as I'm doing it).

This has been my experience of automatic writing: you have something flow to you, and you, as the unique being that you are, translate that "stream" (or "download"; whatever you might like to call it... the terms aren't literal descriptions, but instead, are pointers) using the abilities, knowledge, understanding, intentions/goals/focus, and way of being that is unique to you.

You might translate this energy "stream" using writing, or by speaking, or by just getting the thoughts and not expressing them (and then maybe later expressing, in your own words, the thoughts you see). You could also draw, paint, and much, much more depending on you--your preferences, your current abilities, your intention/goal/focus, etc.

For example, my father used to be a mechanic and, if I recall correctly, he said he would just "know" what area or part of the car he was working on needed repair or attention. (Some people might refer to this as claircognizance, and I wouldn't disagree, but I think the clairs aren't the most effective way to describe the experience people have. I think they can validate a lot when you first learn about them, but once you become more aware of your own experience, I feel a more personal description is useful).

He was doing the same thing as what people were doing when they automatic write (or automatic paint, etc)--translating.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by blossom

Stream of consciousness writing really interests me. I have tried it before, but find it difficult to get past a tendency of mine to think too much about what I want to write instead of just allowing whatever comes up to surface. It's a control thing I think? Strangely though, I have no problem, when I paint, allowing myself to just paint without any concept in mind, and some pretty interesting things are revealed to me this way! Is there some technique on how to help with this? I do meditate and know how to breathe so as to relax...are there other suggestions you can give to achieve this Philemon?

There are many, many factors that, relative to my experiences and how I understand this, might explain the difficulty you have when you write.

I find when I translate, it's like I get impulses through, and I always have a feel for the best way to translate them. Usually this is via writing (i.e. typing with a PC keyboard), although sometimes what comes through would be too difficult to translate using writing--either because it's too complicated, or coming too fast. When that happens, I just let it stream through in the way that feels natural.

Right now, I'm using my awareness of energy to write this message, as I do with almost everything I write or express. I'm not exactly sure of what energy I'm picking up--I think there's a bit of mine in there--but I use it to guide me. I find the experience flows more for me when I allow it to flow. That's how I started with this, without noticing it was happening at first. Now, if I try to apply a process to it, I actually become less effective.

You might have the opposite experience, but if I were you, I'd heed your feelings. You probably have a good idea of what is natural to you and what isn't, and what you feel inspired and called to explore and what you don't.

Perhaps you could try to "translate" with writing what you get through when you paint (either while you're doing it, or maybe after--you'd have to feel what would work for you), seeing as you seem to already seem to be in a state of allowing when you paint. Stewart St. John, an intuitive composer, is able to translate energy into music (he plays what he gets through on a keyboard--i.e. a music keyboard, not a PC keyboard), as well as what he calls the "word equivalent." So, what that looks like is that he plays music, and as he's playing, he translates ("brings through") words and messages that relate to the music he's playing. They're sort of like guided meditations that are "given" to him.

When I do any translating, I focus on what allows me to develop more of an effective, experiential relationship. There are lots of exercises and processes out there, and if I ever use any of them, I allow them to bring me closer to my unique experience--to enhance my experience and allow it to flow more easily, according to what feels natural and right to me, and what resonates with my desires. Some processes help with this; some hinder. Some help temporarily, but after I've used them, much like a boat you use to cross a body of water, I leave them behind. I feel it's awareness of your process that is what's important.

[Bruce Achterberg]

One last thing I'll mention:

What's really been helpful to me is hearing about other people's experience, but any time I try to emulate their experience, it starts not feeling right to me.

I think what's helpful about hearing about their experience is that it helps to validate, raise awareness of, and relate to my own experiences. Often I might hear them label something or use an analogy to describe something that, previously, I had no way of describing (although, eventually, I tend to leave those labels and analogies behind as I learn more about my own experience and begin to describe my experience in my own way).

Most people tend to talk little about their own experiences, but one person who I feel describes his experiences well--someone who has helped me with his discussion of his experiences--is Slade Roberson. Ultimately, though, I've left behind (or at least, partially internalised some of) the instruction he offers and specific labels he uses because I find they take me further away, not closer to, my own experience with "all of this." I'm not saying they're bad--quite the opposite; Slade's been really helpful--but processes and labels are sometimes sort of like training wheels on a bicycle--eventually you don't need them, or at least, as you practice and gain experience and awareness, you adapt or create other processes and labels. It's an evolution, really, so nothing is good or bad, just relative. Understanding where you stand and what is helpful to you is helpful, and you can usually tell by how you feel.

[blossom]

Yeah, what you said does make alot of sense to me. Only thing is that now I think I've stopped trying because it always seemed to come up the same for me...zero! I did think that if I could just transfer the same feeling I get when painting I'd be fine, but it didn't seem to be that easy when I made attempts to, and so I guess I've avoided it out of frustration.

I did just join an excellent community for artists and writers called redbubble...I highly recommend this place for all creative people here to go and check out if you want to , it's so inspiring how much talent is out there, and it's a very supportive site. So I decided to submit a story the other day, just to get back in the flow of writing...and have been inspired to try poetry...though I do come up with some pretty cool stuff every now and then, I want to get into a habit of writing something at least once a day or a few times a week if possible, now that my work situation is so good and I have heaps of spare time to use creatively, which was my intention to create.

So I will read over your posts again and put your ideas to good use...thankyou. Overcoming blocks is a real challenge at times!

[WakingLife]

wow great input guys! Do you remember the first time you tried it? How did you realize it was automatic writing or from an outside source?

I think I might take a stab at this and see how it goes, but I might have trouble identifying it as .. working.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by WakingLife

wow great input guys! Do you remember the first time you tried it? How did you realize it was automatic writing or from an outside source?

I remember when I first started doing it. I was writing forum posts for this forum.

Usually writing forum posts was a very conscious process. One of the first thing I noticed when I realised I was doing something different from what I usually did when I wrote was that I'd get things flowing through me and sort of write without really know where I was going with what I was saying--it was like the words were being "given" to me, and the more I went with that flow that I could feel, the more it would continue to flow. The more I allowed it to happen, the more naturally it unfolded and eventually, I'd end up with a post that, at least from my perspective, was pretty good. My posts became different to the posts I used to write, and then I knew something was happening, and I continued to experiment with it as I wrote more posts.

It wasn't until many months later that I came to understand what I was actually doing. Looking back, it was a very natural unfolding, and I get the feeling that, even if it didn't happen in that context, it would have happened anyway. Inspiration tends to find, as Abraham-Hicks puts it, path of most allowing--in other words, the crack of least resistance.

To be honest, I don't make the differentiation between it coming from me or "outside of me." I don't really feel such a division exists. I know that might be frustrating to hear, heh, but in my experience, you're an extension of that which you channel, or translate, or get through, or get inspired by or with. This process is sort of a blending of perspectives, but they're all your perspective (i.e. "eyes" you can look through)--you're just usually focused on one more than the other so when you do start "seeing" from it--i.e. when you're automatic writing, or translating, and it feels like it's coming from a different perspective--since you haven't looked through that perspective before (or at least, consciously), it feels like it's from "outside of you" because all you're used to feeling is "you." (And I'm not saying that you lose your awareness or focus of your perspective, but I will say that at least in relation to my experience with this, eventually I become more accustomed to different perspectives flowing through me.)

[Bruce Achterberg]

One thing I want to say about all of this process of automatic writing, or translating of any kind: try not to look at it as such a linear process--i.e. something that you just "switch on" and you can do it, and that it's either on, or off, or you have it, or you don't.

I'm exaggerating it a bit by saying it like that, but I think people tend to look at things like psychic ability, automatic writing, intuition, etc, compare themselves to others who can do it--people like Erin or Slade who do it for their profession--or even to their strong desire to do it and then say "well, relative to other people who can do it, or relative to my desire, I'd prefer to have bigger, better results." I can relate to that desire. But in my experience, at least when you look at other people, it's sort of like looking at the ending scene of a movie--you see a person who has overcome all of the challenges and reached the victorious climax of the "movie." The beginning scenes and portions of the "movie" aren't always evident from looking at them or their work or their site (although I feel Anna Conlan, Erin, and Slade do a good job of sharing their journey). I'm not saying that it has to be a path of struggle or anything, but the experience does have to unfold.

My experience with this evolved gradually, as my desires relating to it (and other things) continued to evolve. E.g. When I first started writing, I felt my posts weren't making the sort of impact I wanted, and so my desires evolved. Then I started getting in the flow and my posts started feeling more like the type of posts I desired--I felt I was sharing things that were more helpful. Then I desired other things in relation to other areas, and those desires manifested, too. Not all at once, mind you--and at the time, I didn't even realise that some of my desires had unfolded (I was mainly too focused on new desires, or the absence of their manifestation in my experienced ). Even this realisation that I'm sharing here is coming about now as I write this--this place of understanding that I haven't been before that's flowing through me as I express this to you.

Life is more of a very interesting unfolding, rather than a series of goals you reach. So my point is, relax and enjoy the unfolding. If something isn't working, that's okay. Enjoy what is working--and there are so many things that are working. In my experience, my desires to tend to slip through the cracks when I'm least focused on making them happen--when I'm in a state that allows them to happen (such as when I was writing posts for people, not at all trying to manifest any of my desires, and first noticed I was doing "this"--"automatic writing"--which was indeed an aspect of a desire I didn't consciously realise I had at the time).

[Philemon]

A quality discussion happening here - - thank you for the kind words, Bruce.

I will add a simple idea: just write. Start writing and go as fast as you can. Whap the urge to resist the flow because you are creating the flow. In the act, who knows what you will stumble upon. Forget words as words. Let WHOOP KLO out. SKIFF SHIMBLE RAVE. Have a sour apple slurpy even with Hawk lever slick ships swaying you beneath the volcanos. whatever you sense. good luck.

Perhaps we someone would like to give it a shot for a while and post the results here--an experiment of sorts. I'll have to do mine later.

[rei]

Originally Posted by WakingLife

wow great input guys! Do you remember the first time you tried it? How did you realize it was automatic writing or from an outside source?

I think I might take a stab at this and see how it goes, but I might have trouble identifying it as .. working.

most of the time when i participate in this process, i don't realize it's happening until afterward... other than how i realize i am not as present as usual - that's a giveaway but even then i don't notice until it's over, because there is less presence. then once the moment is over, the way i know it wasn't me writing, is bc i don't remember coming up with the ideas or the phrasing. it's like i will look over the writing and think, did i really write that? and then sometimes i am still fully present, but my style changes... and i realize in that moment i am allowing the energy to express itself through me. a couple of my friends know about this process, and even they can recognize when it isn't 'just me' communicating.

WakingLife, i suggest that you be sure you are spiritually protected before you try this. you'll know it works by the way you don't remember expressing what is on the page or the screen.

[blossom]

Awesome inspiration Philemon!

I do need to get past that tendency. I also can't stand spelling errors and disrupt the flow too much, so I would like to work on changing that. Thanks.

[Jon Tore]

Well, I once wrote two entire default word pages in one single sentence, and I made it all up as I wrote it down. I guess my intention was to make it as silly, quickly and randomly as possible... at least I didn't end up with some prophecy I hope o_o

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Jon Tore

Well, I once wrote two entire default word pages in one single sentence, and I made it all up as I wrote it down. I guess my intention was to make it as silly, quickly and randomly as possible... at least I didn't end up with some prophecy I hope o_o

I imagine prophecy requires a fair bit of practice to receive and translate.

[WakingLife]

philemon, that'd be a cool idea ha i like your advice also
rei too, that makes sense

(btw i lucid dreamt the other day, finally! i couldn't really change very much though)

[ethereal]

I've had lots of experiences of automatic writing. Kind of like channelling in a way, but instead of speech it's through writing and hand movements.

Unfortunately, almost all of it came from negative sources, designed to trick me off the spiritual path or cause damage to myself in some way. Dangerous stuff you guys are playing with! If you can keep a rational mind and realize that it's probably negative entities interfering with your life, then you might not get sucked into it. But if you believe they are positive and try to follow their advice...beware! Positive entities usually have no interest in "guiding" you through automatic writing. They don't want to control you in one way or another. But negative entities on the other hand, have a great interest in "guiding" you.

So just a caveat if you do decide to play around with this -- don't trust what comes through.

[WakingLife]

Originally Posted by ethereal

I've had lots of experiences of automatic writing. Kind of like channelling in a way, but instead of speech it's through writing and hand movements.

Unfortunately, almost all of it came from negative sources, designed to trick me off the spiritual path or cause damage to myself in some way. Dangerous stuff you guys are playing with! If you can keep a rational mind and realize that it's probably negative entities interfering with your life, then you might not get sucked into it. But if you believe they are positive and try to follow their advice...beware! Positive entities usually have no interest in "guiding" you through automatic writing. They don't want to control you in one way or another. But negative entities on the other hand, have a great interest in "guiding" you.

So just a caveat if you do decide to play around with this -- don't trust what comes through.

wowww scary! how did you know it was negative?

[blossom]

Does that mean that EVERYONE who experiments with automatic writing will experience the same as you Ethereal?

Maybe you were particularly open to negative influence at the time?

Maybe it would be better to encourage people who try it, to be detached with the outcome and question whatever does come through, rather than just following blindly what is told!

[ethereal]

Just to add something interesting, it not only came through automatic writing, but automatic typing too

wowww scary! how did you know it was negative?

It would tell me that it was Jesus Christ or God or some other spiritual teacher that I had faith in, and it would tell me to go kill myself because I was a threat to humanity or that God's Will wanted it to be done or something of that sort. Other times it would be less dangeorus, but it would tell me spiritual falsehoods like other people weren't real, the world isn't real, and thus encourage me to mistreat other people. My spiritual teacher told me later that some of these negative spirits were trying to cause me to go insane. Sometimes they would tell me I'm already enlightened, and that I should quit the spiritual path because I was "done" when I was clearly not.

Does that mean that EVERYONE who experiments with automatic writing will experience the same as you Ethereal?

Maybe you were particularly open to negative influence at the time?

Maybe it would be better to encourage people who try it, to be detached with the outcome and question whatever does come through, rather than just following blindly what is told!

Hehe, good point. I'm just particularly biased against it due to my own experiences. I've had what I believe were positive entities guiding me through automatic writing/typing, but almost all of the information that came through, I already knew beforehand, and was quite useless. So it's just my opinion that it's not so great to get involved in this, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits by far.

[blossom]

Hmmm...yes, those things can come, but not just via automatic writing. I've experienced these "voices" telling me stuff in my head...I guess it's called "schizophrenia" in the world of psychiatry...and yes, it is VERY scary!

But these things have no power over you unless you give into them...unless you attribute to them power...they are just suggestions that you can either listen to or ignore. I ignore them, or tell them to bugger off whenever they come...and they do! They can't MAKE you do anything you don't want to do.

[ethereal]

Hey blossom, me too!! I used to hear voices in my head all the time. And guess what, the psychiatrist diagnosed me with schizophrenia, and they force me to take all these useless meds that don't do anything. I'm on a mood stabilizer/anti-psychotic that takes away my ability to feel happiness. How lame...

So the moral of the story is, don't tell anyone if you do hear voices, it's a normal thing, just handle it by doing your spiritual work and purification. If you do tell people (especially your parents or something), they're going to send you to the psychiatrist or worse, the mental hospital.

[blossom]

I've never told anyone that I did until today, for just that reason.

My strategy is just to tell them to bugger off or say, "well, I don't think I like the sound of that so I'll have to pass on killing myself, but thanks for the option...and adios" ...and then distract myself with music or watch a comedy or something positive.

Wherever the voices come from, they have no control over you unless you allow them to.

Is there anyway you could speak to your psych about weaning off the meds, if they are blunting your emotions...as they do? He/she may try to dissuade you, but it is YOUR choice not theirs!
You can learn to manage the voices without drugs...believe me!
Whatever you do though, it would be very bad for you if you just stopped taking them abruptly! I've done that before and my behaviour became VERY aggressive and even violent. Your brain needs to adjust to not having what it is used to having over a period of time...cut it off cold turkey, and it'll flip out...you won't recognise yourself!

[Bruce Achterberg]

Note: for the record, my post addresses intuition and dialogging with Spirit (what you might call "psychic ability"), not the topic of schizophrenia (schizophrenia being something I don't know enough about to address in a meaningful way). Please consult with the appropriate people if you wish to address the topic or condition of schizophrenia.

Originally Posted by blossom

Wherever the voices come from, they have no control over you unless you allow them to.

Indeed.

Whether it's through your action (i.e. whatever you're doing) or the vibration you offer, you invite what you experience into your experience (or, in other words, your experience is a reflection of your vibration... always, no exception--or so I feel and believe).

To use an analogy from Abraham-Hicks, just because you can read, doesn't mean that every book you can read will be good for you. The same with your ability to interpret energy (whether it be non-physical or physical energy).

Ultimately you're the one who "sets your tuner."

If I "listen" to my intuitive channel and all I get is negativity, or if I'm not feeling good, while I might listen, I don't invest too much in what I hear. These days, though, I've come to remember what it's like to experience the flow of helpful, positive, uplifting communication--guidance and information.

One thing that isn't spoken about much by intuitives and psychics is the importance of feeling good. I'm still exploring this area, but at least in my experience, the most powerful, resonant Insight comes to me when I feel good. I can still hear good stuff when I'm not feeling good, but it's like I'm not "on the channel" enough to fully hear it--like not being fully tuned into a station on a radio (which results in a mix of signal and static). Additionally, I find that the context I consider guidance from--the perspective I see from--when I don't feel good (but somehow manage to receive guidance, anyway) is never quite as expansive and leading-edge as the context I resonate with when I feel really good.

I'll mention that when I feel really bad (for whatever reason), often I experience not-very-nice thoughts, which really used to bother me, but I've come to relax about it. To use another Abraham-Hicks analogy, if you go to a library and pick a book up randomly and it has content in it that displeases you, you don't beat yourself up for choosing such a terrible book with such nasty, unpleasant content--you just acknowledge that you weren't choosing very deliberately, and proceed to choose with more conscious, deliberate intent.

That's all those not-very-nice thoughts are: a vibrational match to the "station" you're currently tuned to--a station I bet you didn't reach by deliberately tuning yourself to it (I bet you sort of went there because you became angry, frustrated, or annoyed, or fearful in response to something). As soon as you change your "station"--your vibration--the thoughts you have access to (and the ones that pop into your awareness) will shift with it.

(Test this if you want: try to think fearful thoughts when you're ecstatically happy--when you're on top of the world. I bet, not only will you not want to--you'll probably think "why would I want to do that?"--but you'll also have trouble, or at least, fearful thoughts will feel--seem--more distant. That distance is the vibrational difference between your current state and the vibration of that thought.)

A thing I keep in mind is that guidance is almost always uplifting. It can challenge you, it can create contrast, and sometimes it's not exactly what you want to hear (e.g. "this thing you've invested lots of energy in isn't what you really want anymore; your desires have evolved" is not always fun to hear), but I don't feel it's ever critical or negative. If it seems to be, just switch to a better-feeling station.

And also, when it comes to hearing things that are positive in nature, although challenging, contrasting--not what you want to hear--keep in mind that you can't hear an answer to a question that you haven't asked. The context you're assigning to the guidance or insight--the way you interpret it--is very relative to the questions you ask.

E.g. If I address my "spirit guides" as singular with my intent--e.g. if I ask "What is your name? What is your gender?" and any other questions that make certain assumptions--they will (usually) respond in the context of my question. Usually, though (or at least more recently) I experience Spirit as a we--a greater collective on a certain, or at least similar, frequency. Singling them out is like muting all but one member of a choir, or restricting an orchestra to only one instrument… it's just (in my experience) not very desirable. Anyway, my point is, if I only ask questions that address Spirit as singular, I'll get answers in that form. (Which isn't a bad thing--

Perhaps a better example of this pretty-tricky-to-convey concept is this: if I'm considering doing something and I hear "don't go!", it doesn't always mean that there's something inherantly bad about what I'm considering, or that doing it would be wrong. Quite often "don't go!" is the best I can hear--the best I can interpret from what is being offered--and, in my actual life experience, what "don't go!" usually means is "there's something else that is even better for you. It's not that what you're considering is bad, we just have something else arranged that you'll enjoy more."

Guidance is often--scratch that; guidance is (probably) always--about calling you towards joy, rather than guiding around what is unpleasant (although it does that, too, but again--consider that in context, and you'll realise it's more so about joy--about experiencing and resonating with your desires in the moment, or even being immersed or guided to the manifestation of them). It's helpful to remember that, and the idea "the context you interpret intuition from influences your interpretation of it."

Postscript

Here's a good thread on the topic of psychic self-protection: Psychic self-defense, yes or no?