CHANNELLING AND BEYOND
Sylvia Shanti Vowless
Why does channelling still continue to fascinate - and challenge - so many spiritual seekers? To be able to receive communication from non-physical entities or energies is often considered to be the best way of hearing or reading otherwise unattainable spiritual wisdom - but is this always so? And many feel that until they themselves can channel they can’t advance very far along their spiritual path - is this so? The short answer to both questions is no, neither is necessarily true! Let’s look at these beliefs that so many are now querying and uncover the facts from the popular misconceptions.
It’s necessary to first be clear about what the channelling phenomenon is all about, and the many levels or sources that we may tap into. To quote the researched definition in my metaphysical dictionary, the Melchizedek A - Z: “......... channelling is when a physical person enters an altered state of consciousness which allows them to be used as a transmitter or voice for a non-physical entity or energy to communicate through them from its level or plane of existence to ours. This in no way implies that channelling is necessarily from a higher or more spiritual level. This is the reason why discernment is imperative. One must always ask ‘What value is there in this?”
In other words, just because something is channelled does not automatically mean that it’s valuable - or even true!
This is the challenge particularly today with so much to choose from - to be discriminating.
So what guidelines are there to help us? The Bible states: “By their works shall ye know them,” which refers both to the information and to the instrument. Are both the channelled material and instrument loving? Loving means without criticism or judgement, without making fun of anything or anyone, without an overpowering ego but with humility and a quiet inner power instead . Do they leave you with a sense of peace? If anxiety or fear of any kind is created then I’d burn the written material or head for the nearest exit!! Are they working for the highest good of all rather than just appealing to the egos of only a certain few, or worse still, ‘the chosen ones?’ No-one is better than another nor privy to ‘exclusive’ information if it’s truly of a spiritual nature. Do they offer information not readily available from the normal physical consciousness? The only valid reason for channelling and channels is, broadly speaking, to reveal wisdom and knowledge that would normally be unavailable to us or hidden from our physical senses, to receive and share higher teachings and information which will enlighten and empower us, or to offer understandings, techniques and ways that will help us grow and evolve spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.
And what about the instrument, the channel? The purity and level of wisdom brought through any channel is in direct relation to the level of consciousness and purity of the channel, and their corresponding ability to connect and access the higher mental and spiritual planes. We are on the third dimension, so the easiest and lowest plane to access is the astral, whereas the Ascended Masters are on the seventh dimension and higher. All channels filter the information through their own belief systems and perceptions to some degree, and this is the reason why all channelled material does not necessarily agree. Plus the fact that any channel can only receive information from the level of vibrational frequencies they are able to access, rather like having to match an instrument’s voltage with the corresponding voltage output! In other words, clear communication from God through the Christed Ones, the Ascended Masters or even one’s own I AM Presence/Higher Self, cannot reach us when we’re in a low vibrational state simply because we can’t ‘hear’ it! The lower vibrations create what we may term ‘static’ rather like on an untuned radio. Which is why meditation is such a vital and necessary discipline for all of us, but especially channels. More about that shortly.
Some channels connect with the entities on the astral or lower mental plane, those who have shed their bodies through death. While being discarnate does not make them immediately enlightened, it can be of great value and comfort to those left behind to be able to make contact with them through a medium and know their loved ones are not totally gone. But if we’re seeking wisdom then the astral plane of illusion is unlikely to be of much help, especially as those who stay there do so because they’re not ready - or willing - to move on to the higher planes. Unfortunately the astral is the easiest level to connect with, and there are many ‘tricksters’ or ‘con-artists’ on the astral, just as there are on the earth plane! These entities delight in communicating with the unwary. They appeal to a person’s ego and to try and make themselves convincing, call themselves by the names of the Masters, Archangels, or whatever the human ego hopes to hear! Communication with them is, at best, simply a waste of time, a distraction of mostly useless information or platitudes, although sometimes sprinkled with the truth in order to convince. At worst, they mis-guide us, give mis-information, or interfere with an unaware person’s life, thoughts or actions even to the point of ‘taking over’ the channel.
This kind of interference is one reason why the Masters now warn us that trance channelling, the first stage of channelling which was mostly used in the previous two centuries, is no longer used by Them. Today the channel must be present and conscious in order to check and refuse any such interference should it become necessary, for we are responsible for what and how the material is received. And as listeners or readers, it’s absolutely essential that we don’t take on face value who the material is said to be channelled from. As channels ourselves we must determine the validity of the supposed source – we don’t just leave the door open for any entity to walk in! - and all reliable channels will know their source. Sadly it’s easy to forget that even though the channel may think their source is the enlightened Being they name and whose words they are accurately relaying, as the song goes “It ain’t necessarily so!” It’s usually quite easy to discern when a channel’s own opinions surface – and sometimes their beliefs or interpretations are even found sprinkled through a quality channelling. Most channels really do do the best they can and endeavour to be reliable instruments, but we must never stop using our discernment and let ourselves be dazzled by the purported name of the source no matter how grand it may sound!
My own original inner planes’ training which prepared me for my past twenty-plus years as a conscious voice channel for the energies of the Ascended Masters and higher planes, not only ensured interference-free communication but is also the basic formula for our ongoing, joyful evolutionary journey (summarised below)! Although I now use the direct “telethought communication” process and thus very rarely need to channel another entity like a Master, each day I still use the extraordinarily powerful
I AM
I AM all that I AM
IAM one with the Infinite Mind
I AM one with the Source of all life
I AM on with all life forms and they are one with me.
I AM LOVE ……………… I AM LIGHT ………………. I AM PEACE ……………… I AM
In that which I AM, I invoke only the Light of the Masters and Teachers of the Higher Mental and Spiritual Planes and beyond; and I refuse all communication which originate on the Astral Plane or is not working in the Light of God and His Divine Plan. I AM.
Briefly, the formula for our spiritual advancement can be summarised as:
* developing mastery and focus of one’s personality mind and thoughts through the discipline and practice of meditation. This then overflows more and more into your everyday life so that you’re able to keep focussed, your lower personality mind clear of clutter, aligned and receptive to the Divine Mind and Divine Will through your own Higher Mind. This is essential for spiritual evolution as well as channelling. How can we become aware of our higher purpose and inner voice, or relay the quiet higher wisdom if our self-talk and the busy thoughts of our personality mind are ‘jamming’ the lines of communication? When channelling, you have to learn how to move your conscious mind and ego to the side to allow information to come through as purely and as free from your own thoughts, beliefs and ego as possible. This only becomes possible through attaining a certain level of mind mastery.
* working on raising one’s vibrations through continuous aware living - living more and more in the loving Buddhic or Christ Conscious way of right thought, right feeling, right words, and right actions;
* and refusing to connect with anything not from the higher mental and spiritual planes or dimensions. This includes phenomena that is purely psychic - psychic abilities or phenomena are not necessarily spiritual! They can be a real distraction and even dangerous, for example the ouija board.
Meditation is therefore an essential part of spiritual advancement. This is attested - and more importantly proven - by all pure spiritual traditions and paths both ancient and modern, from the Bible to A Course in Miracles, the Keys of Enoch, the I AM Discourses etc, and of both east and west. The western mind often doesn’t find the eastern methods and concepts entirely applicable although the truth underlying them is the same. Meditation is so often misunderstood though, with confusion arising from forgetting that we have several minds! Although our conscious or personality mind is the one we’re most aware of, we also have a subconscious or unconscious mind that needs attention as it has great influence on us – but that’s a study in itself and more than can be dealt with here!
Both our brain and mind are part of the Mind of God, but unless we learn to still or train the lower personality mind through regular quiet, reflective times we cannot possibly hear the ‘still, small voice of God within’ to guide us. This is why it is often said that prayer is talking to God or Spirit, and meditation is listening to God. As the Bible says: “Be still and know that I AM God.” Nor can we consciously align with the creative Divine Mind and know the Wisdom and Will of God, or even achieve peace of mind if our lower mind is filled with busy, uncontrolled, unfocussed thoughts. Sai Baba so aptly calls our personality mind the ‘monkey mind’ because it’s so undisciplined and all over the place! Meditation is not about emptying the mind of all thoughts. As well as developing our higher faculties of inner listening and GodSelf alignment, meditation is also learning to evaluate and discipline our everyday thinking so that we are able to selectively focus the creative power of our thoughts to create the life and consciousness we desire.
BEYOND CHANNELLING
Becoming a writing or voice channel is not a necessary step in our spiritual growth. Everyone can channel in some way of course - healing, inspiration of any kind, the arts - but only a few have it in their soul’s blueprint to channel via the voice or writing. Indeed, there are now more and more finding that they’re beginning to become aware of the next step beyond channelling. I call this telethought communication. You could liken it to a kind of telepathy where one is able to raise one’s vibrations and have a high enough level of mind mastery to be able to have two-way communication between your disciplined, open lower mind and the Divine Mind. It’s like receiving thought or information packets, a downloading of whole concepts which when translated into words take many pages. I have found that while you’re receiving such revelations you can almost feel the neural pathways of your brain firing and linking together what before had been seemingly separate pieces of information or unrelated understandings - very exciting! You could use the analogy of finding the centre section of a giant jig-saw which connects all the other completed sections all around it.
In my understanding - and as confirmed in “The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch” by Professor J.J. Hurtak - telethought communication is the beginning of the Language of Light and is the next goal during this stage of our human development. We shall eventually evolve to using this again, the language of ideographs and energy, instead of words.
So if channelling is not for you, then while continuing your spiritual practices you can focus on developing telethought communication. Channelling still has its place however, as I was told when I thought I no longer needed to channel seeing I now receive the information and revelations through telethought communication. It’s valuable for example, in my meditation/spiritual guidelines groups because the Ascended Master energies have an overview of what the folk in the group - and people generally - will find most helpful at this time. This means that the discourses are always extremely potent and applicable to where we’re ‘at’ and so empower us in highly practical ways.