The Art of Table Tipping

 “Table Tipping: the lifting or manipulation of a table during a séance attributed to the agency of Spirits.” 

Working with Spirit comes in many forms, some more obvious than others. I like to embrace as many different experiences as possible on my spiritual journey, so this is how I found myself at a table tipping session, chasing a Spirit control coffee table around a room.

Otherwise known as Table Moving or Table-Turning, table tipping is when people sit around and place their hands on a table, and Spirit is invited to move it. The light in the room is dimmed to near darkness, or a red lightbulb covered with a cloth is used (I won’t point out the obvious fire hazard).

My Experience

I was apprehensive and a little scared as I sat in this dimly lit room. Three people were around the table: me, the Medium and Bob (not his real name). I didn’t know Bob, but he seemed friendly and eager enough. The Medium running the session called me that morning; she didn’t have enough people to run it and asked if I would like to come along. As I was in the area, I said why not.

Although familiar with the room, I didn’t know what to expect. There is something about a dimly lit room with minimal furniture that I find creepy; seeing a Spirit standing in the corner was fine, but it put me in a semi-empty room, and I started to panic.

The Medium told us to place our hands on the table and only remove them when told to do so. No problems there; I should be able to manage that. As we waited, I tried to calm myself down with mindful breathing… and then the table began to move. I felt the energy in the room change. 

They had arrived – I could feel our guides step in.

The table began to slowly move from side to side. I strained my eyes to see if one of my two companions was moving the table, but I couldn’t see any tension in their hands. The Medium asked the Spirit who they wanted to speak to, and the table “walked” towards Bob. I used the term walk because the table didn’t slide; it rocked from side to side as though it was walking. 

The next Spirit was for me, and it made the same movement toward me, and then it started to walk around the room. I say walk, but it was more of a jog. That table was moving so fast that it took some work to keep up with it. We had to get up from our seats to follow the table around the room. If anyone had walked in, we would’ve looked like a bootleg version of Beauty and the Beast.

Ever sceptical, I kept looking at their hands. I was familiar with the table and the room, so I knew no wires or magnets were moving it around. This went on for approximately thirty minutes.

History of Table Tipping

Table tipping became popular in Victorian England between 1852-53 as part of the general rise in the interest in spiritualism. Whether the movement is caused by spirits or the collective energy of the sitters has been debated. To convey messages, Mediums would recite the alphabet, and the table would move to spell out the words; think of it as a verbal Ouija board. Depending on how talkative the Spirits were and how many people were around the table, these sessions could go on for many hours.

Sceptics believe the movements are down to ideomotor phenomenon whereby the person motions unconsciously, causing the table to move.

It’s not practised widely nowadays because there are objectively quicker and more comprehensive ways to communicate with Spirit. That being said, I enjoyed my session and believe the Spirit was behind the movements, but I can see how easy it would be to fake the movements with a sleight of hand or a Rube Goldberg-type contraption. If I hadn’t trusted the Medium, I would have searched every inch of that room for wires and pulleys. 

As I said above, I had fun and saw more of what Spirit can do, but it left me with one question… what was the point? I’m not sure what I got from it, apart from confirming that Spirit exists or, in its simplest form, an unknown and unseen force can be used to move inanimate objects, but maybe that is the point. It was just an exhibition of Spirits’ many talents.

Sources: 

• Table-turning. (2022, May 5). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table-turning
• https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/table%20tipping
• https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/table-moving-its-causes-and-phenomena