Automatic writing


 * For the article about Surrealist automatic writing, see Surrealist automatism.


 * For the article about the album by Ataxia, see Automatic Writing (album).

Automatic writing is the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. The writer's hand forms the message, and the person is unaware of what will be written. It is sometimes done in a trance state. Other times the writer is aware (not in a trance) of their surroundings but not of the actions of their writing hand.

Case stories
Sometime prior to 1900, William Stainton Moses, a respected priest and teacher, experimented with automatic writing. His beliefs were orthodox Christian, but the messages from his automatic writing took a more open, undogmatic view, to which he converted over time. He believed the message originated from higher spirits.

John B. Newbrough was a New York dentist who wrote the book Oahspe through the process of automatic writing on the newly invented typewriter in 1882.

Rosemary Brown was an English housewife who automatically composed music. She could play the piano, though not very well. She felt that great composers were writing through her.

Elsa Barker in 1914 published a collection of letters that she had produced by automatic writing. She claimed the letters came from the deceased Judge David Patterson Hatch. Her book was reprinted in 2004 as Letters From The Afterlife: A Guide to the Other Side.

George (Georgie) Hyde-Lees, the wife of William Butler Yeats, is said to have been able to write automatically.

Use in spiritual movements
Automatic writing is used in Spiritualism, Spiritism and the New Age movement as a form of channeling. One of the best-known automatic writers was Hélène Smith, an early 20th-century psychic who felt that her automatic writing was the attempt of Martians to communicate with Earth. She claimed she could translate their Martian language into French. Another well-known author, Neale Donald Walsch, wrote the book series Conversations with God, claiming to have used automatic writing to speak with God. The Brazilian medium Chico Xavier was probably the most prolific medium in the 20th Century and possibly of all time, with more than 400 books written by him.

Use in therapy
Automatic writing is used as a tool in Freudian psychology and in related "self-knowledge" studies, where it is seen as a means of gaining insight into the mind of the automatic writer through their subconscious word choices.

It was primarily used by Pierre Janet in France, and later by Morton Prince and Anita Mühl in the United States.

Use in stimulating creativity
André Breton pioneered the use of automatic writing within the Surrealist movement and produced several important pieces while using the technique, most famously Soluble Fish. The ideas of Hélène Smith, the so-called "Muse of Automatic Writing", also influenced the Surrealist movement (in the Surrealist deck of cards, Smith is the "Genius of Knowledge").

Automatic writing became a part of the Surrealists' repertoire of games, and it soon developed into a number of other Surrealist games and tools that greatly influenced the movement, such as automatic drawing, automatic palimpsest, and a variety of marker-word games. (See Surrealist automatism.)

John Frusciante dedicated an entire musical album to the process of automatic writing, claiming that "music is just there and we, as musicians, are sucked into it's swirling energy". 

Free writing later gained popularity with writers and poets, both as a means of stimulating creative thought and as a technique for overcoming writer's block.

Nergal of the Blackened Death Metal band Behemoth claims to have written the song "Libertheme" from The Apostasy through Automatic Writing.

Criticism
Skeptics such as James Randi note that there is little evidence distinguishing automatic writing claimed to be of supernatural origins from a parlor game that is little more than sparks of creativity in the minds of the participants. They assert that there is no evidence that there is anything more than the subconscious of those performing the writing influencing their actions and that there is no solid evidence that any messages are coming from anywhere other than the minds of the person holding the pencil. This is referred to as the ideomotor effect.

As there is no scientific evidence regarding the use of automatic writing in psychotherapy, its usage to release repressed memories is suspect as well. While unconscious ideas are expressed in automatic writing, skeptics question the likelihood that they are any more profound than the writer's conscious thoughts. Skeptics argue that there is no evidence that the "true self" lies in the unconscious any more than there is for it to lie in normal consciousness.

Psychography
In Spiritism, Spiritualism and similar religions, Psychography is a technique for "channeling" written messages from what is believed to be a disembodied spirit. The usual approach to Psychography is to relate it to a special ability, inate or developed, called medianimity, which not everyone possesses at a useful degree.

Types of psychography
The most extensive treatise on Psychography is Allan Kardec's Mediums' Book, one of the works comprised in the Spiritist Codification. Kardec recognises two basic types of psychography: indirect and direct.

Indirect psychography
This type of Psychography depends on a material device, like an Ouija board, operated by one or more persons. This type is cumbersome and not useful for large communications, frequently producing gibberish.

Direct psychography
Direct psychography is the most conventional type, in which a person, the medium, writes under the alleged influence of the spirit. It is called "direct" because the relationship between the medium(s) and the spirit is not by means of any mechanical device.

This type depends on medianimity alone and is subdivided into five subtypes, depending on how the spirit's message is committed to paper:

 Mechanical psychography In which the spirit takes control of the medium's arm and writes independently from his awareness (the medium may pass the time paying attention to something else while his arm writes autonomously). Considered to be the most reliable and extraordinary type. Communications thus obtained are thought to be completely free from the interference of the medium's conscience. Semi-mechanical psychography In which the medium writes keeps relative control of his limb, but still feels a foreign influence on its movement. Unlike mechanical psychography, the medium knows all that is being written and can stop to rest or to turn the page whenever he sees fit. Reliability is almost as high as in mechanical psychography. Chico Xavier was this type of medium. Intuitive psychography In which the spirit communicates with the inner self of the medium (subconscious), resulting in him writing what is on his mind, though it is something different from what the medium would normally think. Sentences come formed, but the medium can amend them with richer vocabulary or a better syntax before writing them down. This is the most common type, but is less reliable and is usually marred by the interference of the medium's conscience. Inspirational psychography In which the medium receives vague notions in his mind, which he will write in his own words. This type of psychography is very difficult to tell apart from the regular thinking process, especially in people with a literary talent (a careless analysis would have most writers fall into this category).</dd> Presentient psychography</dt> In which the medium receives a communication before he is able to understand it. Not really a type of psychography, but an important category because, if proved, can be a strong evidence for Spiritism.</dd> </dl>

Literary merit
Even considering the authorship as really belonging to a spirit, psychography does not guarantee the literary merit of the works produce, which can range from good to atrocious depending on many circumstances. Mediums who produce good works are likely to keep a high tone throughout their lives.

Books alleged written by this method

 * The Spirits' Book contains large sections obtained by psychography.
 * The Urantia Book
 * A Vision is based on the automatic writings of William Butler Yeats's wife George.