Medium Channeling

I'm reading a book called "Handbook to the Afterlife" (Pamela Rae Heath and Jon Klimo, North Atlantic Books 2010), and in the sections that deal with describing the afterlife experience, they gather the "literature" that's been provided by a variety of mediums from Swedenborg in the 18th century to present day mediums who are working with active spirit guides. What I find striking - and they make note of it as well - is that the afterlife process and general environment has adjusted with the culture of the mediums that are channeling the spirits.

Swedenborg and his contemporaries were receiving afterlife descriptions that aligned with the Christian biblical notions of their day - very authoritarian-esque and readily identifiable with biblical tenets - while the newest channelers are describing a much more egalitarian experience for newly arrived souls, that almost seems like the spa scene in the Wizard of Oz. As if you arrive to a whole industry of spirits who pamper you into the afterlife and heal all your wounds, and then it's off to life-review and pedicures.

I’m beginning to suspect that mediums and spirit channelers are either making this stuff up, imagining this stuff, or the spirits themselves are goofing on everyone about what’s awaiting us. I mean, how could it be that the hereafter is subtly adjusting to how our “spiritual” communities have adjusted over the decades – from hard-core religious/conservative to space-shot progressive - unless someone’s making stuff up without checking on the over-all consistency of channeled information as a whole. It’s not as if the hereafter would or should be changing in this sense. Not if it’s actually timeless and eternal.

Any suggestions?

Well, according to other wiser people, your deepest earthly beliefs stay in the afterlife, so whatever u excpect to experience or want to experience, you will experience. But stuff like the life review and reincarnation process seem to be quite similiar and always happen the same way.

Also, if you are enlightened and know u create ur world, the afterlife is pretty much like a lucid dream: whatever u imagine, is instantly manifested. The only thing that can limit you are your beliefs.

[edit on 8-5-2010 by vunkster]

Originally posted by vunkster
Well, according to other wiser people, your deepest earthly beliefs stay in the afterlife, so whatever u excpect to experience or want to experience, you will experience. But stuff like the life review and reincarnation process seem to be quite similiar and always happen the same way.

Also, if you are enlightened and know u create ur world, the afterlife is pretty much like a lucid dream: whatever u imagine, is instantly manifested. The only thing that can limit you are your beliefs.

[edit on 8-5-2010 by vunkster]

So, you don't think that anyone is faking anything or that there are any "spirits' that are lying about things? Some of it's pretty silly. The spa stuff especially. Seriously. There's a spa on the other side and spirits who work in those spas. I wish I was making this up, but the spirits being channeled are sometimes these spa workers. They have shifts. It's part of their "spiritual work".

[edit on 8-5-2010 by NorEaster]

Originally posted by NorEaster

Originally posted by vunkster
Well, according to other wiser people, your deepest earthly beliefs stay in the afterlife, so whatever u excpect to experience or want to experience, you will experience. But stuff like the life review and reincarnation process seem to be quite similiar and always happen the same way.

Also, if you are enlightened and know u create ur world, the afterlife is pretty much like a lucid dream: whatever u imagine, is instantly manifested. The only thing that can limit you are your beliefs.

[edit on 8-5-2010 by vunkster]

So, you don't think that anyone is faking anything or that there are any "spirits' that are lying about things? Some of it's pretty silly. The spa stuff especially. Seriously. There's a spa on the other side and spirits who work in those spas. I wish I was making this up, but the spirits being channeled are sometimes these spa workers. They have shifts. It's part of their "spiritual work".

[edit on 8-5-2010 by NorEaster]

Well, it does seem silly, but i'd say not impossible, nothing is impossible in the spirit world. Also, why should spirits lie about such things? For teh lulz? Im sure the "spa" has some sort of different purpose than in the physical world meaning. Maybe spirit cleansing? I don't know, havent read the book. Was there any more about the spa written in the book?

Originally posted by vunkster

Originally posted by NorEaster

Originally posted by vunkster
Well, according to other wiser people, your deepest earthly beliefs stay in the afterlife, so whatever u excpect to experience or want to experience, you will experience. But stuff like the life review and reincarnation process seem to be quite similiar and always happen the same way.

Also, if you are enlightened and know u create ur world, the afterlife is pretty much like a lucid dream: whatever u imagine, is instantly manifested. The only thing that can limit you are your beliefs.

[edit on 8-5-2010 by vunkster]

So, you don't think that anyone is faking anything or that there are any "spirits' that are lying about things? Some of it's pretty silly. The spa stuff especially. Seriously. There's a spa on the other side and spirits who work in those spas. I wish I was making this up, but the spirits being channeled are sometimes these spa workers. They have shifts. It's part of their "spiritual work".

[edit on 8-5-2010 by NorEaster]

Well, it does seem silly, but i'd say not impossible, nothing is impossible in the spirit world. Also, why should spirits lie about such things? For teh lulz? Im sure the "spa" has some sort of different purpose than in the physical world meaning. Maybe spirit cleansing? I don't know, havent read the book. Was there any more about the spa written in the book?

Spas and "heath centers" (spiritual health). Apparently if you die violently or by suicide, you require a lot of recovery. Other channelers insist that if you die quickly like that, then you don't need recovery, but if you die of disease or old age, then that's when you need the spa treatments. No one really seems to agree on much, so it can be a little confusing as to what the deal actually is.

The older channelers agreed on the notion of hell and eternal damnation, whereas the newer channelers reject that notion entirely, and even terrorists are counseled and rehabilitated back into being included into the "spirit community", although no one says that it's a quick process. Like I said, the difference between then and now is pretty stark.

Personally I feel channeling is sketchy at best. If one believes in a higher self, which I do, I feel those claiming to channel are really channeling themselves. Maybe that is why these so called reports are changing with time and beliefs as ones beliefs change.

Also agree with poster that your next realm is what one can imagine, and your imaginings manifest into ones reality. If one can imagine it, it will be.

Really though, I don't think anyone knows the absolute truth on this.

I just think people who claim to channel confuse THEIR own thoughts (which I feel come from your higher self) to them being given to them from someone else. Hope that made sense.

Peace to you

When I was a teenager I practiced channeling for a little bit, but it was never a good experience. I believe it was because at the time I was into satanism, so what I channeled followed what I was "believing" or practicing and it was not a good thing.

I am much older now, and no longer a satanist. Looking back on the experience I believe it was me channeling my subconcious desires. It was not my higher self, but the part of me that believed in what I was doing at the time in my subconcious mind.

I am now almost 40, and never tried channeling again, but have done mediumship, and that has shown me that the afterlife does indeed take on the form of what you yourself want and believe the most, at least at first. After a few years or lifetimes worth of years, it is my understanding that you either reincarnate, come back, and do it all over again or you move on to another learning experience somewhere else. The physical world and reality is a learning and training ground for the universe as a whole.

During the time you are away, you are placed into a reflective period of time where you learn and examine what you did in your previous lifetime.

At least this is what my "higher" self and experience with people who have crossed over tells me. Just my 2 cents and ponderings on the matter, but I guess we will never know until we die.

[edit on 8-5-2010 by Darkblade71]

I also have doubts about channeling. Experiences on the other side, seem to reflect the beliefs held by the person. How can we explain this ??

is it possible that there is some period of time after death, before they fully pass through the veil ?

Meditation is the only way you're going to find convincing answers to those questions. Virtually impossible to be convinced of it, if you haven't seen it.

Once you see over that mountain top, most of your questions will disappear.

Either see it now, or see it later. And you know what 'later' means.

[edit on 8-5-2010 by Visitor2012]

I've been a tarot reader for almost 40 years, and in that time, I've discovered that the cards can only show you the likely result of how a specific issue will work out if it continues to progress along the same trajectory that it's on at the time of the reading. What that means is that the cards can't determine the future. They can only reveal the established trajectory of the situation at the moment that the reading is done. Kind of like in baseball when they use IBM's "Tale of the Tape" program to determine where a homerun would've landed by mapping the arch of the ball's flight. This is important to note, since it impacts this question concerning channeling and mediumship.

The querient, who should always be the one shuffling the cards (I use a "public deck" for reading other people's card layouts), knows the intimate details of the question better than anyone else does, even if they're consciously biased or clouded by emotions or poor judgement concerning the best course of action to take in the situation. Subconsciously, however, they know the best course of action, and what the cards do is "channel" their subconscious mind through physical manipulation of the cards and reveal the proper answers to the experienced reader.

Some people play psychic and only use card layouts to give themselves a running narrative while they "cold read" the querient, but these readings are rarely useful in any real sense. The most powerful readings are always the result of the querient taking a mental snapshot of the relative placement of the cards in the deck before the shuffling, and then being the only one to shuffle or cut the cards after that.

In essence, the queriant is answering his/her own question, in the same manner that the "channeler" is explaining the hereafter to him/herself in a "message" that is revealing exactly what they'd expect it to be - with perhaps a few cosmetic differences. At least, this is what I have begun to consider after posting this question and mulling over the issue for the last few days.

I will admit that I do believe in an afterlife and I do believe in ongoing dynamic intelligent beings, so my notion of a self-fulfilling revelation isn't to suggest that I think that spirits are imaginary. In fact, I am convinced that they are real, that they do contact the living, and that they have awareness and conscious personality. I don't believe that they have infinite knowledge or even a real handle on the nature of their own physical nature. After all, what does dropping dead actually teach anyone? Other than what it feels like to drop dead, that is.

I was watching a show the other day about a woman that has DID, which is dissociative identity disorder, or multiple personality. She has 15 personalities. It actually reminded me a lot of people who channel. The woman has to close her eyes, nod her head a bit, and allow the other personality to come through.

If you have ever seen a channeler get ready to channel, it looks like they are doing the same thing!

Originally posted by Blanca Rose
I was watching a show the other day about a woman that has DID, which is dissociative identity disorder, or multiple personality. She has 15 personalities. It actually reminded me a lot of people who channel. The woman has to close her eyes, nod her head a bit, and allow the other personality to come through.

If you have ever seen a channeler get ready to channel, it looks like they are doing the same thing!

This is a really good point, and I have been thinking a lot about the similarities between the two. Same with "past life regression" therapy, and even "demon possession".

reply to post by Blanca Rose


Yes, and when swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung exposed her cousin who was claimed to be an medium, he found out that she had multiple personalities disorder and was unconsciously fooling people.

Expressed in very short, I believe that most paranormal / numinous experiences are based on our psychology. Very few of them may be explained by external factors.

-v

Personally, I think a spirit/soul/energy force IS a personality. So if it's been proven that mediums have personal personalities then it'll actually make me more of a believer.

When I read posts on medium channeling or channeling in general, the one person that makes me believe that this is possible is Edgar Cacyes work. I have read most the books written about him and his healing work by channeling an entity to get the information not to mention channeling the information about the person that needs the help when they are far away from him. In my mind Edgar Cayce was a master at medium channeling. In one of the books "The Edgar Cayce Companion" by B. Ernest Frejer, part 3 ' Meditation and the Mind', part 4 ' Reincarnation, Karma and Astrology' and part 5 'Evolution of the Mind and Matter' covers some of the things already covered so far in this thread. Another book of his that has really opened my eyes about the mind is " Edgar Cayce on Mysteries of the Mind" by Henry Reed. Hope this helps.