All About Automatic Drawing
In the world of art, psychic #automatism is often used as a tool by #surrealists. This non-idiomatic improvisation allows the artist's subconscious to guide their hand, creating something other-worldly both in nature and appearance. In an occult capacity, automatic drawing and writing are used by the medium to bring messages or images of the other realm
into this dimension for interpretation.
#Psychic automatism was engineered as both a conceptual model and a technical technique to address the issue of how to convey a thought free of societal constraints.
André #Breton (1896-1966) first introduced this concept in 1924 with his Manifesto of Surrealism. According to #Surrealism, the subconscious operates freely, and thoughts should be expressed just as they are. In psychic automatism, the term "psychic" was carefully chosen by Breton since he was trained as a physician, and the "automatism" was derived from the knowledge he gained in this subject area. The method had been used in parapsychological and psychiatric research before it was announced in the art world.
Automatic Drawings occur involuntarily when the subject's attention is directed elsewhere, when the subject or artist is awake or hypnotized, usually during a séance. Words or sketches may be produced, and even well-organized images. It was generally believed that automatic writing and drawing came from supernatural forces during the late 19th century, when interest in automatic writing and drawing was at its height. However, since then, the source of inspiration for automatic writing has been assumed to be completely internal, and in line with theories of personality that postulate both unconscious and conscious motivation.
During the rise of the #Spiritualist movement, mediums developed mechanical devices for receiving messages, such as the planchette, the #ouija board, and more complex tools like the Pytho Thought Reader; such devices joined artist and machine, transforming the former into a mere conduit. In both the #Spiritist movement, and in the development of telegraphy, the human body is seen as an apparatus for communicating "messages" across time and space.
If you're familiar with Tyler Henry's Netflix series Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry, then you may have seen some automatic drawing, and you probably noticed that there isn't much other than a bunch of scribbled lines on the paper during one of his sessions. This isn't to say he's a fraudulent charlatan, it is to say this kind of "drawing" is unlikely to make sense to anyone else but the one with the pencil or brush in hand. Or...quill, whatever.
Anyone can do automatic drawing, nowadays often referred to as "psychic drawing". While there are classes available online offered by institutions like The College of Psychic Studies, you can also simply sit in a meditative space with a blank canvas and an instrument of your choice and let whatever happens happen.
Some warn that the use of automatic writing, drawing, and other #occult tools allows the practitioner to directly communicate with actual, live, #demonic spirits. Perhaps even worse, one may unwittingly invite malign spirits into their lives. That opening the door to occult forces is putting one's soul at risk. The Church categorically condemns practices such as automatic drawing, considered a form of divination, for they "conceal a desire for power over time, history and, ultimately, human beings. They contradict the honor, respect and loving fear we owe God alone." (Catechism No. 2116)
But as with any spiritual pursuit or practice, you have to determine what is in your own best interest.