unless you have the proper training and exceptional physical/mental/spiritual health you should not be able to properly execute an Ouija board session on your own. Having a minimum of three people whom are all in proper mental health is a top priority in needs of safety, but the rest would depend on the reason for use/entity contacted. Ouija boards are no way "safe" and are frowned upon even by professionals. I would recommend not using one unless absolutely necessary. Happy to help if further inquiry would be desired
Ouija boards were once marketed by Elijah Bond and eventually marketed and sold by Hasbro for Children, the practice using Spirit Boards or 'Talking Boards' goes back many years before that - but not in the form we see them now.
They're about as safe as any other divination tool you would use to Contact Spirits - such as Pendulums, Tarot Cards, Oracle Cards etc or as safe as any other method of Spirit Communication such as Invoking, Journeying/Soul Flight, Possession/Riding/Horsing.
Always put in place the proper protections etc when using them incase you do something wrong, understand how to banish unwanted guests, cleansing a space and reapplying protections.
I'm going to take a moment to address the comment above which states 'Frowned on by professionals' a lot of the 'boo ha ha' over Ouija Boards comes from mainstream media - since Spirit Encounters makes for excellent television and movies - such as the feared demon 'Zozo' who apparently turns about around Ouija Boards a lot is just a large egregore that was created from the movie 'Zozo'.
A lot of psychics and witches/occult practitioners avoid Ouija for this reason, the hype and hysteria created from the media about occult practices, so whatever 'bad juju' people say about Ouija comes from this sitting at the back of their mind and their imagination ruining wild during a session.
At the end of the day, not just with Ouija etc you can contact spirits using what you find in the trash, or using any household supplies - just put up proper protections and understand methods of Banishing, Cleansing and Reapplying Protections.
Weatherwax makes some excellent points [also love your avatar btw] Ouija Boards have gotten a pretty bad rep thanks to pop culture. the fact of the matter is Ouija Boards are a divination tool, and should be used as such if you wish to communicate with anything. [otherwise it's just a toy kids play with] you need to cleanse, bless, and charge the board, then it's up to your energy and mental state. it is wise to cleanse yourself and the room before and after [not necessary, but a wise choice if you feel uncomfortable after] using the board since it acts as a spiritual magnet attracting nearby spirits, you might run across the occasional negative one [think if it like people, you have chatty people, shy people, mean people so on. spirits are the same]
best way to be respectful is to say hello, please, thank you, and of course, goodbye when they wish to leave. don't keep them longer than they wish. if a spirit wants to go, say 'thank you for your company, goodbye' i've used Ouija boards for years, and have spoken with many spirits with and without a board, and the best advice i have is to be respectful [just like you would meeting someone for the first time] the more you get to know the spirit [like with your friends] you can figure out some wiggle room to joke, but first encounter, don't start arguing and making demands. one friend yelled at a spirit [so funny, the planchette stopped and we all stared at her in shock] the spirit decided to follow my friend around for a few weeks to teach her a lesson. so moral of the story is, no matter how annoying the spirit might be, don't call them names lol.
IMO if you need to ask you aren't ready, some say they are harmless, some say they are dangerous, I tend to believe they are dangerous. I would absolutely recommend you not trying the board. To me no matter what you do you cant be 100% safe with it.
Best advice when using a ouija board is use extreme caution be nice when contacting the spirits and if in case you if you a demonic spirit ask your questions and be sure to properly dispatch the spirits before removing your fingers from the board
I won't do it because my mom had bad experiences when she was a child. She had a ouji board and used it. I'm not sure if she got any results. But they eventually threw it away. When it was time to move though, they were unpacking boxes and it was in there. After that they got an axe and hacked at it
