After buying a gorgeous board from Handcrafted UK, I kept it in my “sacred” area but never used it. I don’t know why … probably because I was intimidated by the unknown and I was unsure as to what to expect, especially on my own. I heard so many horror stories when growing up as a child, I am sure you have heard them all too, and to be honest with you this beautiful board frightened the life out me.  However - my passion and lust for necromancy was far more dominant than my nerves.

My mother came to visit over Easter - a powerful witch all her life and had acquired the nickname “white witch” from friends and colleagues over the years.  It is only in the last 10 years that my mother has truly embraced her abilities and accepted them rather than dismissing her psychic gifts as coincidences or chance.   She saw my board and asked if I had used it, “No”, I replied sheepishly and she said, “Right then dust it off and lets give it a whirl”.  It was still light outside but we were alone and we sat opposite each other, fingers resting lightly on the planchette.  I was hopeful that something would happen but not surprised when nothing did.

After about half an hour my back was aching and I had had enough and we stopped.  She said that we should try later tonight by candlelight after my children are in bed asleep.   That night when all was quiet I lit up a few candles and we sat down opposite each other with the board on our laps.  Nothing happened for ages so we decided to “warm up” the board a bit by moving the planchette around the board.  We then placed the planchette back to the centre of the board and I asked if there are any spirits in the room with us.  The planchette whizzed to YES.  My legs were shaking, but mainly out of excitement that contact had really been made.  The planchette moved a few more times around the board, going to a few letters and then stopped.  The board then remained silent.  We closed it down and said we shall be back the following night.

The next evening came and I was really looking forward to it.  I “felt” something all evening in my room and somehow knew that we would have a successful evening.  We both sat down and right after I asked if anyone was with us, the planchette immediately moved to YES.  We tried to figure out who it was but instead of putting the letters through the hole of the planchette the spirit tried to just point, which was useless as I have a rounded planchette. 

After explaining how they must use the planchette, it worked better.  Unfortunately, the letters on the board were really hard to read with the gothic font and being too dark; especially by candlelight it was becoming frustrating.  We finally managed to work out that it was my Grandfather’s sister who came to speak to my mother.  Her name was Elsie but everyone referred to her as Kay (apart from my mother who called her Elsie) and the planchette kept moving to “K”.  When we asked if it was Elsie, the planchette moved to YES.  My mum told her how much she missed her and loved her and the planchette kept moving to L and then going to my mum so far and fast that it almost fell off the glass .. after a while I asked if L meant LOVE and it moved to yes.   

My mother and Elsie were very close, closer than she was to her own mother.  My mother was a little dubious that this really could be Elsie because during her physical life she was a total Atheist and denied any possibility of spirits or life after death.  We continued a short while after but didn’t wish to push it with too many questions - making contact with our family was already such a big step.    I said goodbye to close the board but the planchette moved to NO.  At this point I started shaking, this time out of fear .. why won’t the spirit say goodbye.  I boldly asked “Why won’t you go, Who are you?”.  The planchette moved to “I” “E” “B”.  Oh My GOD!!! This was my grandfather as well.  “I” “Ernest” “Bradshaw”.  My mother and I just stared at each other.  I said “Grandad, is that you?”, the planchette moved to YES.  My mother asked “Dad, is that really you?”, again the planchette moved in a little circle around YES.  I asked if my Nan was there too, but he didn’t answer.  During their lives, my Nan and Elsie really didn’t like each other at all, so this was probably the reason - although I always assumed that people leave their “feelings” behind when they leave their physical body.  But it would explain why Elsie and my Grandad were both with us without my Nan.  

We didn’t push the board any more that evening. I was exhausted, my mother was in a pleasant kind of shock and when we said goodbye again the planchette moved to Goodbye and we closed down the board, thanking them for joining us and told them we would do it again the following night.  Now that we made contact we wished to try and find out if it really was them.  

The following day I printed out big clear letters and used some white tack to hold them in place over the original lettering.  It looked a bit amateurish but I didn’t care - the board was frustrating and draining with such difficult lettering that this was the best option.  The glass covered the board and lettering and so the planchette could still glide effortlessly over it.   That evening we sat down, and again, almost immediately, we received contact. However, this was different and not the same.  The board was sluggish, slow and we couldn’t get any sense out of at all.  We knew we had someone else but it felt as though many spirits were fighting over who to control the planchette. 

The air was thick with activity, although it was a hot evening outside, it seemed to get very cold and the whole room was filled with tapping, knocking and candles making strange noises.  Despite my annoyance at the spirits not using the board to communicate I ignored their attempts of attention and I asked if my Grandad was with us.  Suddenly the board came strongly alive, YES. To be sure I asked what the first letter of his name was.  The planchette moved to “E”.  I also asked if his sister was with him, YES was the reply.  I said what is the first letter of your sister’s name that my mum called her by, “E” was the reply (for Elsie).  I started reminiscing with my Grandad about when I was little and the things we used to do - I kept it simple mainly with just YES and NO answers - for some reason they were not too good at spelling and seemed only to be able to give us the first few letters of each word, which is almost impossible to decipher. 

My mother asked some questions but my Grandad ignored her, he only wished to speak to me tonight.  I was getting tired and although I wanted to ask much more I did ask if he visits me often, YES he said.  That was enough for me now I was drained and I didn’t want to push my luck.   We closed down the board, said our goodbyes, thanked them and wished them peace.  But the residual energy remained thick. 

Spirits were still lingering and so I told my mum that I don’t want to touch the board now for a couple of weeks until I feel the air is clear.  I didn’t realise at the time that the more you use the board the more spirits it attracts.  For the next couple of nights I would lay in bed and see shadows, lights moving around my room and hear knocking and tapping… the tapping especially, which sounded like someone tapping on the glass of my board.  I ignored it all apart from telling them to leave.. and after a couple of days the residual energy was clearing and spiritual activity was ceasing.  

Since my mum is back home, I have tried a couple of times to use the board on my own but I haven’t had any luck as yet.  Probably because I am more weary of it, being on my own, and also because I am too tired in the evenings.  I do have a spiritual friend coming around on Thursday evening so I think I shall ask if she would like to use the board with me then … it will be interesting to see who comes forward to speak with us.   *** Anyone attempting to use a board, please read up on how to protect yourself and how to close down the board properly.  I cannot stress this enough. The link to my article is HERE ****