Modern-day Spiritualists don't usually spew ectoplasm out of their ears or make large oak tables
stand up on end. These are tricks Spiritualists liked to perform at seances during the early 1900's.
When a psychic or channeler communed with the dead, the event was usually like a circus sideshow,
complete with a large group of onlookers. These days, Spiritualists are harder to pick out of a crowd.
Martel Eli, a psychic and Spiritualist, conducts her business out of her home on Shelburne Road. The street
is no tranquil cemetery. The cars speed by with reckless abandon, but if Eli listens closely, the spirits
generally make themselves heard.
Martel Eli is the only Spiritualist listed in the yellow pages. That's not to say there aren't more of
them around… Occasionally, a story will make it's way around town of someone who went to "a lady who
reads tarot"… and word of mouth for spiritualists is perhaps the best form of advertisement. Not everyone
in the business has their own infomercial. Eli prefers to keep a low profile in town. Her presence is a
subtle spirit in itself, offering quiet guidance to those who listen. And I'm lucky to be listening. Eli
doesn't give many interviews.
"I just turned down a radio interview last week." She tells me.
When I set up my small tape recorder I catch her frowning at me thoughtfully. I explain that I need
to record her so I can go back later and choose the parts I want to use. This is the way I interview.
She seems to relax and begins talking about her clientele.
"I get my regular tourist crowd because I'm on the way to the Shelburne Museum," says Eli, "The palm readings are popular with the
younger crowd who want to know what's going on with their love life."
A more serious trick of the trade is "channeling" which Eli describes as "a form of deep meditation… allowing a spirit to enter your physical
body and to speak through you or write through you. The spirit is given an open door into our world."
This is not something to be tried at home, kids.
"It's a pretty threatening thing and not something to be toyed with", she says.
For many, though the Spirit World represents something intriguing and tantalizingly out of reach. Like walking on the moon, reaching the
spirit world has been a fantasy for people through the ages. The ouija board, the first known channeling toy, was introduced in 1899 by a smart
American guy whose momma must have encouraged her son to play with evil spirits. William Fuld claimed his tool allowed anyone to
communicate with the spirit world, in the comfort of his or her own home. Spiritualism was rising at this time, led by the respected author
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was an avid supporter of the Spirit Movement. The ouija board was seized by thousands of people who had lost
loved ones in the war and desperately wanted to reach them.
These days the "toy" is still passed around at parties. It comes with simple instructions like a game of Monopoly, and bears that familiar
Parker Brothers logo, but psychic-wanna -bes should BEWARE that pretty package… Even Pandora's box looked harmless at first glance.
"Ouija boards allow any spirit at all to enter and nine times out of ten you get negative ones," says Eli, " I don't trust them. My clients come
in and tell me things that they've done and seen from them. They're always negative. I don't like them to practice things like that. It's on the
same level as opening a door for something they're not educated enough to deal with. If it is a negative thing, they won't know how to pull back
or change it till it's too late."
Indeed, Spiritualists have been competing with the ouija board since it was first introduced. The easy way to meet spirits usually wins in the
end. Which are you more likely to introduce to your Halloween party, a psychic with an hourly rate or…the old stand-by; the ouija board you
got when your big brother left for college?
The difference between a ouija board and a psychic? It's like mom always said, "Close the door--what'dya live in a barn?" The danger for an
inexperienced ouija board user is not letting in a cool draft, but inviting in unwanted spirits. Eli says, "When a channeler taps into a negative
thing they can always change it or turn it off, so to speak. It's a way of reversing-or closing the door."
Channeling, she explains "is very physically draining"—even for an experienced spiritualist. "It's hard to summon the exact person. It's
easy to get a spirit to come to you but it's not always the spirit you're asking for. It has a lot to do with the person you're doing the reading for.
If [they] have a lot of positive energy they're easy to read, open to receive. I get a lot more information. If they're a person who's emotionally
cluttered …it's more difficult."
While channeling for a nineteenth century spiritualist meant gathering an eager group of people for a seance, Eli prefers to conjure up
spirits in solitude.
"I light a candle and meditate." She says. The person trying to contact the spirit is encouraged to do the same and then go to sleep.
Messages often come to us dreams because as Eli points out, "while sleeping the spirit is in a state of limbo and is more susceptible to believe."
The two will then meet the following day and compare notes on the meditation.
What is it that gives Eli the ability to see and communicate with spirits? Why do some of us seem to have a "gift" and others go their whole
lives without seeing evidence of the spiritual world?
"It's something everyone is born with." Says Eli, "I've been able to cultivate it and nurture it because my mother was a professional psychic
and spiritualist. Being involved with spirits, seeing things and feeling things to me was perfectly normal. Whereas, other children are taught
not to believe…not to see what they see. We don't teach our children it's something to nurture."
Remember that make-believe friend you had when you were five, who used to watch Batman and Robin with you?
"Imaginary friends are sometimes spirits or angels." Eli says, "We teach our kids 'no they're not there.'"
Animals though, we cannot train to stop seeing.
"Animals go a little berserk when they see spirits," Eli observes, "They get scared because they can't decipher whether it's a good thing or a
bad thing."
Eli's teeny Yorkshire terrier dives into her lap and I wonder how many spirits this poor pooch chases in one day. Must be tough being a
spiritualists' pet.
As the end of the interview approaches, I reach toward my small tape recorder to push the stop button. I notice the wheels on the cassette have
stopped turning but the 'play' and 'record' button are both still pushed down… I pull out the tape and inspect it. It has stopped on its' own
accord, half-way through. Muttering an apology to my gracious hostess, I rewind it a bit and press play…. listening closely. Silence. The
wheels are turning but it's as if I have been recording dead air for the last hour. Hmnnn.
"Jeez, something happened to my tape recorder." I say.
"I totally understand why that didn't work." Eli replies, matter-of-factly.
"They pull away from my energy."
I feel the spirit of Skepticism escape me…as I reach for pen and paper.
What To Do If You Attract An Evil Spiritas advised by Martel Eli
1. "Burn incense,
2. spill holy water,
3. do blessings."
Then put away that God-forsaken ouija board.
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