Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

AUTOMATIC WRITING

Writing executed by a Medium whilst in a Trance or Altered State of Consciousness.

It is believed that automatic writing is the product of communication with a spiritual being; Psychical researchers believe it emanates from the writer's own subconscious, or perhaps through ESP. The writer is usually unaware of what is being written.

Typically the process is much faster than ordinary handwriting and the script is larger and more expansive. Automatic writers have also produced mirror script and backwards writing, starting from the bottom right of the page and finishing at the top left.

At the height of Spiritualism automatic writing was common in seances, where it was adopted as a superior method of communicating with the dead than Rappings or using a Planchette..

Automatic writing was supposedly invaluable in the Psychic excavations carried out at Glastonbury in the early 20th Century. Automatic writing has also been used by psychologists and psychiatrists in the investigation and treatment of mental illness.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc