Writing accomplished without the writer’s effort or consciousness, sometimes with the aid of an instrument such as a planchette. Often the writer is in a trance state; sometimes he or she has simply “emptied” his or her mind in order to be receptive to messages that allegedly come from the spirit world, with the writer acting as a tabula rasa medium or channel.
Automatic writing was especially popular during the Spiritualist movement of the 19th century. It featured heavily in many seances and other meetings between client and medium. Generally the medium would be the automatic writer, although in some instances the medium encouraged the client to allow himself or herself to receive “automatic” messages.