Claire Goodchild - The Book of Séances: a Guide to Divination and Speaking to Spirits

Copyright 2022 by Claire Goodchild

Cover design by Kirin Diemont

Cover illustrations by Claire Goodchild

Cover 2022 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

Voracious / Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group

1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

littlebrown.com

twitter.com/littlebrown

facebook.com/littlebrownandcompany

First ebook edition: October 2022

Voracious is an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Voracious name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591.

ISBN 978-0-316-35344-1

E3-20220924-JV-NF-ORI

For believers

Like many of you, I had a paranormal experience at a young age that solidified my position in the great Are ghosts real? debate. Thats usually how it starts, isnt it? Something happens that you truly cant explain, and you spend the rest of your life looking for answers. Lucky for us, we are living at a time when the belief in the paranormal is not only accepted but increasingly popular. Paranormal stories and resources are abundant, and while this information provides an avenue for advancement in spiritual research, it makes it even more important that you not blindly believe everything you see or hear. Use your intuition and critical thinking skills during every step of your spirit communication journey.

For nonbelievers

Like you, I also have a healthy dose of skepticism toward all things paranormal. Even though we may be on opposite ends of the spectrum of belief, I feel like there is a lot to be learned from one another. Of course, I dont think this is the book that will convince you that ghosts are real, and I quite frankly didnt write it with that purpose in mind. However, I do think you will enjoy the history of divinatory tools I have included, along with the folklore and paranormal stories that have helped shape the human relationship with spirit communication and the great unknown. And if you feel up for it, give some of the divination methods a try. You never know what might happen.

Warning

Spirit communication should not be attempted if you suffer from delusions, hallucinations, or any type of untreated mental illness, including depression or anxiety.

There are many challenges to researching and writing a guide about how to communicate with spirits through different methods of divination.

For one, psychics and mediums can feel like their gifts are being mocked, making them less likely to share their secretssomething that has happened repeatedly throughout history. Likewise, paranormal investigators can be cagey, unwilling to share their methodologies except with those who adhere exactly to the strict parameters of their prescribed scientific procedures.

The truth is that communion with the spirits lies at the crossroads of spirituality and science.

I believe that we are at this moment collectively embarking on a new journey in terms of spirit communication and paranormal investigatingone with more room for a range of spirit communication techniques and an array of different ideas about ghosts. Some techniques will be scientific, and some will be spiritual. This journey will be more about building connections with our loved ones than about proving their otherworldly existence to the masses. I feel that this balanced approach allows everyone to participate and decide what is real for themselves.

A large part of working with the other side effectively is about understanding your own belief systems. It is about taking stock of what approaches do and dont seem credible to you.

Chances are this is not your first divination book, and maybe its not even your first spirit communication book.

I dont claim to know everything. I am only sharing what I have learned from years of research, personal experiences, and experimentation. I am a practicing witch, and many of my beliefs about death and spirits are rooted in folk magic practices.

There may be things in this book that contradict what you have previously learned. There may be things in this book that dont speak to you, and there may be things in this book that you really connect with. My aim has been to provide you with one or more pieces of the puzzle to show you new ways to build your relationships with people on the other side.

You dont need to be a full-time paranormal investigator, or a medium, or even a witch in order to communicate with spirits.

You just need to learn how to use divinatory tools and interpret the messages you receive.

As long as you have patience, dedication, and compassion, you can hold your very own sances.

This book will teach you how.

Claire

This is a question we carry around with us every single day. Because we are aware of our own mortality, death influences the choices we make, whether we are actively thinking about it or not.

As human beings, we automatically do what we can to hold off death as long as possible. We seek out food, water, and shelter. We live together in communities and protect one another. And sometimes we even inflict death on others in the hope that we can avoid our own.

To be dead means that we are not alive, and staying alive is our most basic instinct.

The irony is that when these survival needs are met, we are freed up to ponder death. Secure in our safety, we begin to focus our attention on understanding why death happens, and where we go when it does.

Death gets the full biological and spiritual examination.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT DEATH?

It is universal: Everything that is living dies. For some creatures, like mayflies, life and death happen in a span of twenty-four hours, while other creatures, like Greenland sharks, can live for hundreds of years.

It is irreversible: Everything that dies stays dead (except in cases of medical revival). As far as we know, you cant be dead for thirty years, and then come back to life in your body and resume living the way you did before.