1. OUIJA BOARD: A GAME OR A GAMBLE? OUI IN FRENCH JA IN GERMAN BOTH MEAN “YES.”

2. DIVINATION Any activity that seeks to obtain hidden knowledge or information from sources outside the material world, such as angels, demons and deceased humans. Occult- means hidden or secret. Differs from prayer, it goes outside the natural ways God reveals His will to us; takes short cuts around God’s plan, to obtain answers w/o going first to God (or the angels and saints who intercede for us.)

3. BEGAN IN ANCIENT TIMES-- Popular methods today: Ouija board, séances, palm reading, tarot cards, fortune telling, witchcraft, magical incantations(chanting), sorcery(spells), astrological horoscopes.

4. WHAT DOES THE CATECHISM SAY? 2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. 48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone. 48

5. GOD HAS ALREADY REVEALED… Everything we need to know about our present and future through Divine Revelation and the Church. Anything else God wants to tell us, He communicates to us through prayer and spiritual discernment(judgment, understanding). Divination, even if done in ignorance or for fun, is a way of stepping outside God’s plan for us. If done deliberately and with full knowledge and consent of the will, the offender is guilty of grave sin.

6. DEMONS-- Spiritual creatures, who maliciously rejected God’s loving offer of eternal life and now dwell in eternal separation from Him in hell. Intense hatred for God Incapable of giving or receiving love(cut off from Love itself, God) Humans are the beings most hated by demons. When a person divines, a door or portal opens between the material world and the spiritual world. Once a demon, gets their “foot in” resealing that portal can be remarkable difficult.

7. WHO WANTS TO DIVINE? Some people want to contact a deceased family member or relative. -Once a person dies their soul goes to heaven, hell to purgatory. Humans have no ability to communicate with the material world apart from their bodies. Departed souls would not use divination to contact the living. Some think it is a harmless game. Just for fun.– How do you know no harm has been done?

8. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF DIVINATION HAS OCCURRED? Don’t assume you haven’t contacted the spiritual world just b/c there is no visible evidence. Stop all divination immediately (along with friends who have done this too). Go to the Sacrament of Penance Receive the Eucharist. Satan both hates and is terrified by Christ, especially in the Eucharist. Stay close to Christ. HE will protect you. Satan may tempt you to Divine again.

9. TURN TO THE LORD AND THIS BECOMES HIS BATTLE. YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR.

10. SCRIPTURE REFERENCES Lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6,27 1Sam. 15:23 2 Kings 17:17; 21:6 2 Chron. 33:6 Jer. 27:9-10; 29:8-9 Ezek. 12:24 Gal 5:19-21