In channeling, one establishes contact with a higher level entity and allows that entity to use the vehicle of the body to express itself. The medium or channel is like an iceberg, just a part of the complete whole, receiving guidance and teaching from higher level inner beings who are not in physical embodiment.
The medium is like the ground connection of an electrical circuit, grounding the vision, inspiration and guidance of the inner adept in form. Occasionally unusual people are born who possess the ability to contact the higher realms naturally; However, becoming a channel normally requires extensive training.
Open lines of communication
Before channeling, we must learn how to contact and communicate with these higher level teachers. Because our level of consciousness is generally quite mundane in nature, and theirs is based on a much higher level of intelligence, in order to communicate at all, we must learn to raise the level of our own consciousness to theirs.
Just as miners build a tunnel through a mountain by drilling holes at opposite ends, we on our side must establish a path of contact, while the inner adepts do the same on the other side. If our calculations are accurate and our efforts consistent, then we will meet in the middle and establish a communication path.
Another way to explain this process is in terms of frequency. The inner plane adepts could be understood as transmitting on a particular high frequency radio band. We can imagine our own consciousness as a radio, tuned to the lower frequency of sense perceptions and the gross physical world. To receive the information broadcast from the inner planes, we need to change the dial and retune to another station so that we can receive the desired waveband.
So becoming a channel means that you can raise consciousness at your own discretion. This requires exquisite concentration and strong focus, for you must be able to withdraw your attention from the physical world and the body in order to hear the music of the celestial realms. One must be able to shift the focus of consciousness from the objective sphere to the subjective sphere. Contacting higher entities also requires an open heart, for the frequency of unconditional love is the waveband in which these entities reside.
The vibration of astral guides
By withdrawing consciousness from the objective world, the ego is freed from the limitations of the physical senses and the brain, and thus can begin independent activities on higher planes. In order to perceive the subtle impressions of these more delicate areas, it is necessary to suppress the stronger impressions of the physical senses. For this reason, mediums usually require darkened rooms and may lie down or place themselves under warm blankets. A channel must be completely relaxed and comfortable, for anything that draws attention to the objective world interrupts the concentration of attention on the subjective world and thus prevents clogging of consciousness and trance.
Once on the higher waveband, one can tune in precisely to the identity of a particular inner contact, for there are many individualized beings on the higher levels.
Making contact with a certain guide or teacher is done by finding the “feeling tone” of this guide. Beings on the inner plane have a tangible presence, characters or energy threads by which they can be recognized. Certain words or images that evoke the essence of the guide sought can be helpful here. The channel can remember pictures of the guide or recall information or words that evoke the feeling of his or her energy.
Once the channel has made contact with a guide for the first time, the channel can remember the feeling of this abstract energy and use it as a touchstone for future contact, scanning the waveband to find the familiar feeling.
Being on two planes at once
After contact is established, the channel can engage the guide by asking questions and receiving answers. This, too, requires subtlety and skill, because in order to ask questions or repeat the answers given to someone in the room, the channel must reestablish contact with the physical body from which he or she has withdrawn. It takes a lot of practice for a channel to learn how to stay present and in control while participating in two different levels at the same time.
The typical worry when you learn to channel is the creeping suspicion that you are making it all up to yourself. How do we know that we are really channeling something outside of our own psyche, and how can we be sure that it is a benevolent or truthful source?
A good rule of thumb is found in the old saying, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” That is, we know if we are really channeling, firstly by the quality of the experience of the channeling itself, and secondly by the quality of the content that emerges.
The frequency of higher level teachers is extremely high and thus the channel will feel an intense heart opening upon genuine contact with them. This is a distinctive and unmistakable experience that the channel intuitively knows is real. After communication ends, a “residue” of this high-frequency state remains, as if someone has been “touched,” and a sense of a connection of unconditional love with that inner being will live on.
The quality of content that comes through will have a similar numinous quality or at least a high moral quality. When you are first learning how to channel, you need to judge the content that emerges with level-headed objectivity. If the supposed communication consists of nonsense, information the student was already familiar with, or involves an action of questionable ethics, more practice may be needed.
