Spirit Writing For The Ungifted

by Bob Olson

If you're the type who can't predict tomorrow's date with a calendar in your hand, have never had a dream visitation from a deceased loved one, or wouldn't recognize a sign from spirit if it knocked you over, Spirit Writing might be for you. Similar to Automatic Writing, but without the "automatic," Spirit Writing is a method of communicating with spirits through writing (with a pen, keyboard, crayon or any writing tool you prefer).

I’d like to begin by telling you the story of how I began Spirit Writing myself, explain some of the lessons I learned along the way, and then I will teach you how to do this yourself in 7 simple steps. 

I began my spiritual journey about five years ago as a stubborn cynical skeptic. In January of 1999, I stumbled upon a gifted psychic medium who basically blew my mind and turned my world upside down. The reading I had was so powerful that it convinced me to write my next book about mediumship. Of course, having been a skeptic all my life, I needed to do a lot of research and investigation before I was ready to begin writing. I didn’t complete the book until five years later. 

Having met some extremely gifted spiritual practitioners during my five year research, I have realized that I might be the most ungifted person in the world. I’m sure that it doesn’t help that my tendency is toward skepticism until I can prove to myself that something is legitimate. Yet, this has been a concern of mine since I believe strongly that no one should become dependent upon another person for his or her spiritual connection. Hence, my search for a method that I could use to link with spirit on my own. 

I finally found that method when I learned about a technique called Automatic Writing. In its most basic form, Automatic Writing involves sitting down with a pen and paper, or at your computer keyboard, and letting your hands and fingers begin writing messages from spirit automatically. This technique is directed toward those gifted few who are able to link with spirit so powerfully that spirit literally takes control of their hands and fingers and writes or types out these messages. As you might expect, I gave it a shot without any success; that is, my hands and fingers didn’t even twitch. 

Teachers of automatic writing insist that persistence is the key to success; so I continued trying it fairly regularly. Nothing happened. I read that it helps to meditate with some relaxing music first; so I tried that too. Again, nothing. Then I learned that it can help to ask a question first and wait for an answer; so I asked a question and waited. Still, my hands seemed frozen in time. 

I was beginning to give up, but someone told me that I should begin writing imaginary answers to my question as a way to get my hands moving. Then, if a connection with spirit takes place, the spirit can just take over the writing. So, one day, I decided to simply type the first thing that came into my mind so that I would have something to write. So, after typing out my question, I typed the first thoughts that popped into my head. 

Interestingly, an answer to my question was right there at the forefront of my mind the second I asked the question. So I typed it into my computer. Then I typed out another question as if I were having a conversation with myself. And, once again, an answer popped into my head; so I typed it. What I realized was that I was typing frantically, faster than I could process the information. In other words, I was typing so fast that I didn’t have time to consciously think about and judge the answers I was writing. Instead, I was purely having fun with it. I wasn’t worrying about typos or mistakes; I just typed like a maniac. 

Because I’ve always been the eternal skeptic, I felt a little disappointed when the voice I was hearing in my head was my own. And this made me doubt that what I was writing was coming from spirit. Yet I continued until I had a couple pages written just to see how it all came out. When I was done, I read what I had written. Cowabunga! This didn’t read like anything I had ever written before. In fact, it was too full of wisdom to be something I would ever write. It was slow and melodic in rhythm and tone. As you can see, my writing isn’t like that at all. So this got my attention and I continued to practice Spirit Writing two or three times a week. 

One day, I was working with a psychic medium I was working with for my book on mediumship, and I told her about my automatic writing, that is, without the automatic part. This is when I began calling it Spirit Writing, since my hands and fingers were not typing automatically. The medium immediately told me that my uncle was in the room claiming to be the one who was coming through in these writings. Now this uncle had never come through in a reading before so the medium knew nothing about him. I was skeptical, as always, so I tested the medium. I said, “If this is really my uncle, you’re going to have to prove it to me. There is something about my uncle that identifies him specifically, something you could never guess. If you can tell me what that is, I’ll believe that it’s him coming through in my Spirit Writing.” 

Sure enough, the medium guessed that my uncle had a tattoo on his foot. So I was given the evidence that I needed that indicated to me that my Spirit Writing was truly coming from spirit, not just from my own mind. 

For the ungifted, especially people like me who spent most of their life as a skeptic, trusting that your Spirit Writing is really coming from spirit is the hardest part. Since our hands and fingers are not moving on their own, developing this trust is even harder than learning how to do it. It takes practice, testing and a whole lot of faith. But eventually you realize that there is no way that you could be writing this stuff. For me, I realized that there is too much wisdom coming through in these writings. If I had this incredible insight inside of me, I wouldn’t need to be Spirit Writing. 

So here are the 7 Simple Steps for Spirit Writing: 

1.       Sit down with a pen and paper, or at your computer. You can also use a crayon, marker or a piece of chalk if you want—whatever writing tool you enjoy most.

2.       Write down a question that you would like answered. It can be about a relationship, your career, or health—wherever you need some guidance.

3.       Some people like to begin with a prayer of intent and protection. Pray to your Source or spirit guides that only “advanced, higher-energy beings who are in the light and love of God” come through in your Spirit Writing.

4.       Relax and/or meditate for ten or fifteen minutes. Listen to a meditation CD or audiotape, if you have one. What I like about using music to relax is that I use the same music all the time, so my mind knows that I’m going to be Spirit Writing the second I turn it on, which immediately sends me into the right state of mind. If you listen to your music with headphones, it also helps to block out distractions.

5.       When you are ready, ask your question. You can read it out loud or silently to yourself.

6.       Now begin typing the very first thoughts that come into your mind. Do not hesitate. Do not judge or consciously think about what answer you are getting. Just try to write or type as fast as you can to record the answer. And don’t worry about typing mistakes, misspellings or any errors; just keep writing. Also, it doesn’t matter if you do this with your eyes open or closed. That’s a personal preference. Try it both ways and see what you prefer. And, finally, don’t expect it to be someone else’s voice in your head. The thoughts are “inspired” by spirit, not spoken in the spirit’s voice.

7.       If you are having trouble when you try Spirit Writing for the first time, just make up an answer. Write what you think a higher being might say to you if they were giving you advice on your question. You might be surprised to recognize that what you are making up is actually inspired guidance. 

Here are some further tips to help you: 

1.       Answers from spirit will always be loving in nature, never having a tone of being hurtful, vengeful or negative. This doesn’t mean you will always like the advice being given, but the advice will be for good, not bad.

2.       Don’t ask for choices. Spirit won’t make decisions for you. Instead, ask for advice and guidance. This means avoiding yes or no questions. Since we all have freewill, spirit can only lead us toward the best choice, not tell us what choice to make.

3.       Don’t test your guides or loved ones in spirit by asking details of which you already know the answer. Spirit Writing is a sacred experience and should be treated as such.

4.       To get over your skepticism or lacking trust in the process, a third-party practitioner such as a medium, psychic or meditation teacher might be able to help you at the beginning, like when the medium told me my uncle was coming through in my Spirit Writing. But the point of this exercise is to learn how to communicate with spirit on your own, without having to rely on a third-party practitioner, so don’t become dependent upon someone else for your Spirit Writing.

5.       Don’t think that you need to know who is coming through in your Spirit Writing. It’s the advice and guidance that matters, not always who is giving it. Sometimes, it might even be more than one spirit. So don’t get caught up in the “who,” because it’s the guidance that matters. Some people like to think that the messages coming through are from their “Higher Self.” As long as you say your prayer of intent and protection, only advanced, higher-energy beings will be coming through.

6.       In my experience, Spirit Writing is a personal experience. While you might be able to connect with your friend’s spirits after you get good at this, I believe it is better to teach your friend how to do this on their own, rather than have them rely upon you for all their spirit communication.

7.       Some people like to begin Spirit Writing for a set period of time, ten or twenty minutes. If this fits your personality, or if you only have a limited amount of time to do it, set an alarm so that you aren’t looking at the clock or worrying about the time.

8.       Think ahead to avoid interruptions. Ask people not to interrupt you for twenty minutes. Use the bathroom if necessary. Unplug the phone. Anticipate noises and potential interruptions that will disrupt your Spirit Writing, and do your best to avoid them.

9.       Try to do your Spirit Writing at the same time each day. Not only will your mind be better prepared, but your loved ones in spirit and spirit guides will know that every day at ten o’clock is when you’ll be doing this.

10.   After a Spirit Writing session, don’t read what you’ve written immediately. If you can, put it aside for a few hours, or even a day, before reading it. And have someone else read it to you so you can more easily recognize that it doesn’t sound like your voice or writing, provided you don’t mind that person reading your private messages. You will be amazed at how different your Spirit Writing reads in comparison to your normal voice and writing style.

This article resulted from a chat seminar Bob Olson was invited to do on James Van Praagh's website. For more information about James Van Praagh's chat seminars, visit www.VanPraagh.com

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BOB OLSON is a former skeptic and private investigator who has researched evidence of life after death for approximately eight years. He now shares the spiritual insights, extraordinary experiences and gifted individuals he has met along his journey in order to bring hope, comfort and peace to the grieving. Bob is the author of Win The Battle, co-author of Understanding Spirit, Understanding Yourself and editor of GriefAndBelief.com, OfSpirit.com Magazine, & BestPsychicMediums.com.