Most everyone is interested in seances and spirit boards when they first get introduced to witchcraft and the occult. This is perfectly normal, I myself have dabbled with devices like the Ouija Board when I first started out. But at some point in your spiritual journey you need to learn how to trust in your own intuition and put the spirit board down.
I personally have never had a bad experience with a Ouija Board but taking note on what is going on with a friend of mine is the reason why I'm posting this.
Whatever his reason is he started dabbling in the occult after using a Ouija Board with me one day. He was impressed with the results and answers he got from the spirit board so much that he went out and bought one himself. He also bought a copy of Summoning Spirits by Konstantinos and has been trying to communicate with the spirits within that book with his spirit board.
Working with the spirit board and implementing the spirit sigils he had acquired in his book he started getting the answers he was looking for. A spirit claiming to be Michael told him the girl he liked and was afraid to talk to would fall in love with him if he just gave himself over to that spirit's will. Against my own advise he agreed to do this anyways.
Within a week the girl he liked broke up with her boyfriend and started dating my friend. Immediately after they started dating everything started to go wrong in his life. He got evicted from his house and found himself on the verge of loosing his job. Not to mention the girlfriend's ex started stalking the both of them and leaving them death threats on her voice mail. His life started spinning out of control and the more it seemed to do this the more he became obsessed with his spirit board.
He started hearing voices in his head and found himself unable to sleep because of this. I don't know if he has a history of mental illness but it seemed like he was exhibiting signs of oppression. He was angry because he couldn't get in touch with Michael anymore on his spirit board. He said a spirit named Zazel was the only thing that would talk to him now. He claimed that this was the spirit in his head and it was making him extremely angry all the time.
I told him that he needed to get rid of the Ouija Board and to quit treating it like a telephone. I was genuinely concerned for him. He needed to ground himself and banish the thing that was tormenting him. Him being a dabbler and not doing any real research on witchcraft and the occult he found himself unable to understand the importance of this. He felt that the one book he read was all he needed to know and I was being condescending to him. He claimed the spirit was telling him this and he said that the spirit wanted him to fight me. After arguing with the guy I kicked him out and he hasn't talked to me since.
Here's the lesson. Due to ignorance the guy didn't know what he was dealing with when he started talking to spirits through his Ouija board. He never took any precautions like banishing or shielding, he just dove right in. Whether or not this being was a spirit or a figment of his imagination he gave this entity power over him by giving it permission to work through him. It used his desire and lust against him so it could trick him into submitting his will over to this spirit. The spirit rendered him powerless so it could ruin his life.
The interesting thing about this situation is how the Ouija Board drew him in. He became obsessed over it so much that it became an addiction. I don't care who you are if your going to dabble, make sure you understand the basics and do your research before hand. Messing with spirits can cause you a great deal of harm if you treat them like someone you can text or call up on the phone. If your going to work with spirits you need to develop a sense of self discipline and respect for otherworld so that you don't become a victim like my friend. Work with a system that establishes some core beliefs and utilize the knowledge you've gained from it to correctly practice divination, evocation, invocation and magick. Laziness begets weakness. Knowledge and research is key if you want to successfully work with spirits.