Automatic writing, also known as psychography, is a skill some people claim allows them to write words without actively thinking about it. People who practice automatic writing hold a writing tool, such as a pen or pencil, and let supposed spirits guide their hand to write. The tool used may be a regular item, like a pen, or a special device, such as a planchette or a ouija board.
Some religious and spiritual traditions have used automatic writing, such as practices in Chinese folk religion called Fuji and the Enochian language linked to Enochian magic. In modern times, automatic writing is connected to Spiritualism and the occult, with famous individuals like W. B. Yeats and Arthur Conan Doyle having practiced it. Claims about automatic writing are hard to prove or disprove, and some examples have been explained by the ideomotor phenomenon, which is a physical reaction that happens without a person realizing it.
History
Spirit writing, later known as Fuji (扶乩/扶箕), has a long history in China. People believed that messages from gods and spirits were received by spiritual guides, or mediums, as early as the Song dynasty. In the 19th century, messages from spirit writing helped create several Chinese religions focused on saving people. The spread of Chinese cultural skills, such as printing and painting, brought spirit writing to Japan, where Zen monks from the Ōbaku school practiced it. These monks were said to communicate with an ancient Taoist sage who is credited with creating the kung fu system.
In the 13th century, Spanish Jewish mystics called Kabbalists used automatic writing, a method that may have been used to write the Zohar, a religious text. Joseph Karo (1488–1575) had an angelic teacher who communicated through automatic writing at least once, dictating rules for a Jewish ritual called Kiddush levana.
Another early Western example is the Enochian language from the 16th century. This language was supposedly given to John Dee and Edward Kelley by angels and was important to the practice of Enochian magic. The language is described as very detailed and complex in its grammar and rules. Dee also claimed that the Enochian instructions included information about the elixir of life found in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. Some scholars believe that the process Joseph Smith used to write the Book of Mormon involved automatic writing.
Parapsychologist William Fletcher Barrett wrote that automatic messages can occur in different ways, such as a writer holding a pencil on paper, using a planchette, or a "ouija board." In Spiritualism, it is claimed that spirits control a medium’s hand to write messages, letters, and even books. Automatic writing can happen during a trance or while awake. Some researchers, like Thomson Jay Hudson, argue that spirits are not involved and that the subconscious mind explains the process.
Paranormal investigator Harry Price discovered that automatic writing at Borley Rectory was actually the work of a housewife who tried to hide an affair.
A famous example of automatic writing is the Brattleboro hoax. After Charles Dickens died in 1870, he left his novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished. According to T. P. James, a traveling printer, Dickens’ spirit was so upset that it used James’ hand to finish the book. This process supposedly began on Christmas Eve 1872 and continued in sessions every three weeks until the novel was completed.
Practitioners
Automatic writing as a spiritual practice was described by Hyppolyte Taine in the preface to the third edition of his book De l'intelligence, published in 1878. Fernando Pessoa, a writer, said he experienced automatic writing. He mentioned feeling "owned by something else" and sometimes felt his right arm move without his control. Georgie Hyde-Lees, the wife of poet William Butler Yeats, also claimed she could write automatically. Sri Aurobindo and his follower, The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), regularly practiced automatic writing.
Catalan artist Josefa Tolrà wrote poems and included messages in her drawings. She said these messages were written by something or someone guiding her hand.
After marrying Georgie Hyde-Lees in 1917, poet W. B. Yeats became influenced by her work with automatic writing. In his 1918 book The New Revelation, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote that automatic writing comes from a writer’s subconscious or from external spirits. Doyle and his wife once held a séance with Harry Houdini, during which Lady Doyle wrote 15 pages of messages claimed to be from Houdini’s mother. Houdini later said the messages were fake.
In 1933, André Breton wrote an essay titled The Automatic Message, which discussed automatism. Breton and Philippe Soupault used automatic writing methods in 1919 to create Les Champs Magnétiques (The Magnetic Fields). In 1997, a book with the same title collected surrealist writings, including an English translation of Breton’s The Automatic Message. David Gascoyne, a poet, translated the work and helped spread surrealism in English-speaking countries. Surrealist poet Robert Desnos said he was skilled at automatic writing. Artists like André Masson used automatic methods in their art, letting their unconscious minds guide their work. Before the Surrealists, Dadaists like Hans Arp used similar techniques with chance operations.
Pierre L. O. A. Keeler, a medium, claimed to receive messages from Abraham Lincoln, which are displayed at the Lily Dale Museum. Skeptics, including Joe Nickell, found the writing did not match Lincoln’s handwriting and called it fake.
Dorothy Martin, a former Scientologist, led a cult that believed an alien ship would rescue them from a flood on December 20, 1954. When this did not happen, Martin said she received an automatic writing message from God canceling the event.
In 1975, Wendy Hart of Maidenhead claimed to write automatically about Nicholas Moore, a sea captain who died in 1642. That same year, the CIA tested remote viewing through the Stargate Project. In 1989, Angela Dellafiora, a member of the Stargate Project’s remote viewing team, said spirits guided her hand to write about a missing DEA agent. Skeptic Joe Nickell later said the case did not prove anything and showed the weaknesses of anecdotal evidence.
Conspiracy theorist David Icke said he learned he was "Son of the Godhead" through automatic writing. Vassula Ryden claims to receive messages from her guardian angel Daniel, Jesus, and Yahweh. These claims have caused debate among Catholics and skeptics. Other people who claimed to use automatic writing include Joseph Smith, Patience Worth, Aleister Crowley, Jane Roberts, Helen Schucman, and author Neale Donald Walsch. For example, Crowley collected writings that included The Book of the Law and transcripts of visions.
Scientific analysis and skepticism
Scientists and skeptics believe automatic writing is caused by the ideomotor effect. Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell explained that automatic writing happens when a person is in a dissociated state, which is a type of unconscious muscle movement. Neurologist Terence Hines wrote that automatic writing is a mild form of a dissociative state. In 1900, Swiss psychologist Theodore Flournoy studied the French medium Helene Smith, focusing on her handwriting during seances. He concluded that automatic writing results from self-suggestion caused by self-hypnosis, which creates a secondary self.
Paranormal researcher Ben Radford wrote in his 2017 book Investigating Ghosts that there is no way to confirm if automatic writing comes from outside the body. He said people must rely on the writer's statements because the source of the information cannot be proven. Mediums often claim to receive messages from famous dead people. For example, Susan Lander said Betsy Ross told her, "I am gay and I fly the flag of pride and liberty for all of us." Historians, however, say there is no proof that Ross designed the American flag. Radford argued that automatic writing should make it harder, not easier, to communicate with spirits because writing requires more effort than speaking.
In an 1890 paper on hypnotism, Morton Prince wrote that automatic writing is not a purely unconscious action but is influenced by a person's conscious mind. He said the hand writing during trances is controlled by a different hypnotic personality. In 1894, physician Charles Arthur Mercier criticized spiritualist explanations of automatic writing, stating that spirits are not needed to explain the phenomenon and that believing in them shows a lack of scientific understanding.
Psychology professor Théodore Flournoy studied the claim by 19th-century medium Hélène Smith that she wrote messages in Martian language. He found her "Martian" language closely resembled French, her native language, and called it "romances of the subliminal imagination" from forgotten sources, such as books she read as a child. He created the term cryptomnesia to describe this phenomenon.
In 1927, psychiatrist Harold Dearden wrote that automatic writing is a way to access the unconscious mind and is not mysterious. In 1986, A.B. Joseph studied two women who showed signs of ictal hypergraphia, a condition involving excessive writing during seizures. In 2012, researchers Dilek Evyapan and Emre Kumral found automatic writing behavior in three patients with right hemisphere brain damage. A 2012 study using brain imaging showed differences in brain activity and writing complexity during trance states compared to normal writing.
Pop culture and media
Automatic writing is mentioned by medium Bonnie Page in a Sentinel and Enterprise article as a way to use claircognizance abilities.
Automatic writing is shown in a 1961 episode of Perry Mason, titled The Case of the Meddling Medium, and is also shown in the 1980 film The Changeling and the 1999 film The Sixth Sense. In the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, automatic writing is mentioned as a method of supernatural communication used by the character Harold "Ox" Oxley.
It is said that parts of Van Morrison's album Astral Weeks were inspired by dreams, daydreams, and automatic writing.
Czech director Jan Švankmajer claims he created the screenplay for his hybrid film Insect (Hmyz) during a moment of automatic writing.
William S. Burroughs described his book Naked Lunch as "automatic writing gone horribly wrong" and believed his subconscious was taken over by a hostile entity.
In an interview with GQ, David Byrne said he was interested in automatic writing because of the influence of Brian Eno.