Automatic Writing – What Is It?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines Automatic Writing as: “Writing performed without conscious thought or deliberation, typically by means of spontaneous free association or as a medium for spirits or psychic forces.”  It is a form of mediumship where the medium allows his or her body to be used to write messages from spirits.  Automatic writing is well entrenched in the early history of  what is called modern spiritualism. Automatic writing first largely appeared in the early spiritualist movements (between 1850-1860) in America.

How Does Automatic Writing Work?

A medium can be in trance or semi-trance state, or at a minimum, in a meditative state allowing the mind to settle.  With a clear mind, the medium allows a spirit to control his or her writing arm, and the spirit literally uses the brain, arm and hand of the medium to write a message.  Generally, the words come very quickly and the thoughts are written as a continuous sentence.  Many times there are no paragraphs or punctuation in automatic writing.  Most importantly, the medium has to establish a “rapport” , or proper conditions, with the spirit entity.  This was a critical factor in the development of James Padgett as a medium.  Often, spirits would begin to write messages, but because of a lack of proper rapport, the automatic writing could not continue.

Sample of Automatic Writing through James E. Padgett

Padgett received nearly 3,000 of these hand written messages from hundreds of spirits.  Below is a sample of just one of the over 200 messages James E. Padgett received from Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus of the Bible.  (Click on the image to examine the full-sized photo).

In this example of automatic writing from the collection of The Padgett Messages, you can see the yellowing of the notebook paper, making it difficult to read the messages that was written in pencil.  However, upon closer examination (which you can do by viewing the full-sized image) you can see how the pencil never seems to lift from the paper, except to move to the next line.

This was the first page of an automatic writing message from Jesus, on April 14, 1916.  James Padgett received many multiple-page messages, and frequently, he received many of these messages from several spirits in one sitting.

Because this does use the energy of the medium, very often you will read that Mr. Padgett was too tired for the spirit to continue with the automatic writing session, and the message would come to an end.

Automatic Writing Today

Automatic writing is still widely used today, and many people who are looking for a connection with their spirit self, are turning to automatic writing as a method of connecting with their spirit guides or higher self.

Automatic Writing Videos

Watch the videos below to see modern-day mediums receiving messages using automatic writing.