I don't know an English word for that. "Seance" is the word for an attempt (usually in a group) to talk to spirits. I think most Americans are used to seeing t

I don't know an English word for that. "Seance" is the word for an attempt (usually in a group) to talk to spirits. I think most Americans are used to seeing the commercial-style boards with the teardrop shaped indicator, not a drinking glass, so that idiom would not translate. Is it used as a shorthand for anything spooky? "We are doing science here, not glass-displacement!"