AUTOMATIC WRITING

Automatic writing is the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. The writer's hand forms the message, and the person is unaware of what will be written. It is sometimes done in a trance state. Other times the writer is aware (not in a trance) of their surroundings, but the actions of their writing hand.

Therapy - Automatic writing is used as a tool in Freudian psychology and in related "self knowledge" studies, where it is seen as a means of gaining insight into the mind of the automatic writer through their subconscious word choices.It was primarily used by Pierre Janet in France, and later by Morton Prince and by Anita Muhl in the United States.

Religion - Automatic writing is used in Spiritualism and the New Age movement as a form of channeling. One of the best-known automatic writers was Helene Smith, an early 20th century psychic who felt that her automatic writing was the attempt of Martians to communicate with Earth. She claimed she could translate their Martian language into French.

The ideas of Helene Smith influenced the Surrealist movement. Andre Breton, leader of the Surrealist movement, pioneered its use within the movement and produced several important pieces of automatic writing, most famously, Soluble Fish. The Surrealists dubbed her "The Muse of Automatic Writing"; in the Surrealist deck of cards, Smith is the "Genius of Knowledge." Automatic writing became a part of the Surrealist's repertoire of games, and it soon developed into a number of other Surrealist games and tools that greatly influenced the movement, such as automatic drawing, automatic palimpsest, and a variety of marker-word games. Free writing later gained popularity with writers and poets, both as a means of stimulating creative thought and as a technique for overcoming writer's block