Recently, I participated in a discussion about opening chakras workshop. Beside arguing with pagan neo-conservatists who treated esoteric subjects as religious and cultural stuff, and not as practice, I’ve learned one thing. New Age is everywhere, and it takes different forms. One of these forms is called channeling. And what hurts, is that channeled teachings are more popular than the wisdom of the ancients.
Today, I would like to rant a bit. Because for some reasons, people are more interested in learning suspicious knowledge from astral planes, than trusted knowledge from ancient masters.
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Channeling is a process, in which a medium channels information from astral entities. It’s often used for bringing messages from those who passed away. But recently, channeling become a tool of bringing messages for the entire mankind. Mediums and psychics from all around the world communicate with different wise entities, and then they publish books and DVDs with great, spiritual knowledge. And yet, I see nothing spiritual and wise in most channeled messages. At least there is nothing new in these messages. Everything has been already said in ancient Buddhist or Taoist texts. Not mentioning the knowledge from ancient India.
Yet, today we observe more and more books with wisdom of astral entities. And you know what’s really bad? The fact that most people prefer to use the channeled knowledge for their own development, whether it’s spiritual or psychic, rather use the knowledge that worked well for last few thousand years.
You know what? I could have publish my book, Psychic Development Simplified, with minor modifications, and promote it as “psychic development teachings of the Angel Emilianis, channeled by Nathaniel“. This is how I call my spirit guide, Emily :). Ah, the great spiritual wisdom of angels, I can already see the number of sales! It would be awesome, and I would be a rich man! But I won’t do this. Because I believe that lying to people is wrong, as my knowledge has not been channeled from any angel or higher spiritual being. My knowledge is based on the teachings of Taoism, Buddhism, Hindu schools and Theosophy. And it works damn well. It worked damn well for my teachers, and it works damn well for everyone who learns it.
Of course, I do channel. As every single psychic out there. I do receive messages through my intuition, and some of them comes from what I call ‘Emily’. But these messages are meant for me, not for teaching you :). Like they more personal and they are meant only for my own growth. My guide does not tell me that I have a mission; or that I need to publish a book with very important messages; or that I’m the savior of the world. And when I need advices regarding some aspect of psychic phenomena, then my guide points me to people and books.
I get advices, I get guidance during psychic readings or Reiki session, I get support, I get inspirations. But I’m not being turned into messiah with a mission to save the world. I’m just a guy. To receive information through your intuition, and to receive messages from your spirit guides; such things are different than channeling wise, almost ‘godlike’ entity that wish to share wisdom with the world.
And now I ask – why do people have the problem with accepting the fact, that the knowledge of the ancients is more useful than the knowledge channeled by people from some higher beings? As far as I know, ancient masters really achieved something, while (so far), channeling have proved to be a great way of making money, only. I have no problem with positive messages meant for individuals. I have messages meant for entire mankind.
For some reasons, people think that if the book is “channeled”, and the teachings come from some higher spiritual entity, then the teachings are worth more, than the teachings of mere humans. After all, books written by mere humans are meant only to feed their ego and their wallets – it’s all made for money. And you know what? You’re damn right! But do not forget – it’s a human being that writes the book, not the entity. And people really want to make more money, or be admired, or grow their ego, or even be worshiped. This is something I often observe within esoteric community.
There is no way of knowing if the entity that is channeling information have good or bad deeds. There’s no way if the entity even exists, maybe the whole book that was channeled is just meant to make more money by writing about useless things, or mixing the knowledge of the ancient times with modern stupidity? There is one thing that I have learned so far – if the entity is truly spiritual and good, then it won’t tell you to write the book in its name, as channeled wisdom for the entire mankind; the entity won’t tell you that you’re next Avatar or next Messiah; the entity won’t tell you that you’re ill or depressed because you feel the pain of the Earth.
And yet, psychics and esoteric practitioners follow this idiotic trend of channeling. Some people truly believe they’re channeling the wisdom of powerful entities (good or evil, and it doesn’t matter for most people since they can’t even distinct both types). Some people consider it bullshit, but they do write books and create courses – based on other books, and their own fantasies. And finally some people, who are legitimate psychics who share good knowledge, simple decide to promote their works as “channeled”, because they know that otherwise, the book won’t sale.
Yes, you can receive a message from astral entity – sometimes it’s useful, and sometimes it’s a waste of time.
You know what? I refuse to follow this idiotic, New Age trend. I am a result of the teachings of the ancient world. The works of Taoist masters, the Buddhist sutras, the wisdom of Shinto religion, the body and mind arts of Hindu schools of Yoga and Tantra. Some of my practices looks very “ancient”, some are very modern – but every of my exercises can be traced back to its origins somewhere in the ancient world. I do not require teachings of channeled beings that I have to share with you. The messages I get through Emily is meant for me, and it’s a subject for strict testing, not to be published as great wisdom of great entity. I do not care about “wisdom” of some alien civilizations. Everything I need for my psychic and spiritual development is already here – the books were written thousands of years ago. And they’re good, the ancient knowledge works.
There are different sources of knowledge regarding psychic development:
Of course, I don’t mean that you should read original ancient texts that would be difficult. There’s a lot of modern books and modern systems based on ancient teachings and practices. Your task is to find the good stuff, really. Because to re-write the knowledge, to stick to the essential, to simplify things for the modern society – it’s a huge responsibility, and hard work.
Once, I engage conversation about my book, Psychic Development Simplified. My interlocutor complained that I did not explain so many things regarding energy work or chakras, and everything else is too simple. Another time, a young man approached me (through email) and complained that the tutorial for spoon bending is too short and too simple to teach telekinesis.
Hey, the name is not an accident, it is, after all, Psychic Development Simplified! I do simplify many things in the book, by sticking to the essential. If I would write about every single detail, then my book would be made of 20 tomes, 700 pages each. But no, I provide simplified knowledge that allows everyone to develop psychic abilities for real. And if anyone has additional questions, he’s free to contact me, and I will explain things in details.
Yet, every single exercise and point of the book can be trace back to previous books, and further, into ancient times. Even the exercises designed in the modern time are based on knowledge that existed thousands of years ago. The rules of the game haven’t changed, they just evolved. And as everything today, became simplified. This way, everyone can become psychic, without worrying about the complex energetics or chakras operations.
Do not think that the knowledge of the ancients is old and outdated and that it doesn’t apply for the modern world. The knowledge still applies. It never gets old, because it is based on the same principles that worked thousands of years ago, and still they work for this day. Think about psychic development teachings like about normal science. Science evolves, from basic theories into more complex systems. The same thing applies to psychic teachings; the basics have been defined thousands of years ago and the knowledge evolves. But what we really miss is a way of analyzing the evolved knowledge.
Not every modern practice or system is worth it. Simple because it’s hard to tell, really, if the system evolved from something, or if someone created it from scratches – or worse, from the author’s imagination. This is where a bit of trust and cross-referencing comes in. Let’s take New Energy Ways, the core of my book’s energy work chapter, a creation of Robert Bruce. It’s very modern energy work system, and at first, it doesn’t seem to be rooted anywhere. Was it ‘imagined’ by the author? Not really. If you will take your time, and explore other, older sources for energy work, you will learn quickly, that New Energy Ways is based on Taoist teachings. It’s a mixture of Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan that was sprinkled with a famous Taoist saying: energy follow thoughts.
Cross-referencing and searching for sources is a normal, scientific procedure. You just need to read more, or consult with more experienced practitioners than you are. They can at least share some light on additional sources, which you can check in your studies. Finally, you can also use your intuition. If something doesn’t feel right for your practice, then don’t practise it. It’s that simple.
Of course, I don’t want to say that all New Age and modern esoteric books are wrong. I just want you to be careful when it comes to channeled messages. Really, you never know is the knowledge truly accurate (there are many masters on the astral planes that want to share knowledge honestly), or is it an esoteric mambo jumbo meant only to create more worshipers that will feed the entity. Always be open minded, yet skeptical.
And I want you not to be so very skeptical about books that have been written based on experience, practice and previous knowledge that originates, as everything, from the ancient times. Be open minded, and do your homework, but don’t consider every “human” book to be worthless. Answer yourself to this question:
Why do you seek teachings from some higher planes of existence, even if you can’t learn the teachings from this plane?
Finally, do not be afraid of your spirit guide. But do not try to seek him (or her) at the beginning of your practice. Once your psychic intuition will be developed enough, you will be able to distinct your guide from other entities. Until that happens, stick to more earthly sources, it’s much safer. And remember, a true spirit guide will not play God, or an entity with a great message for the entire mankind. A true spirit guide is here for you, and only for you. If something looks like worship, then quit it, as soon as possible.
New Age movement creates a lot of paths that lead to wrong places, misleading those who want to grow. One must distinct between New Age, and real esoteric knowledge. And as always, one must be skeptical, yet open minded. After all, not every New Age book is useless, and not every esoteric art is meant to be practiced. In the end, what you’re left with, is cross-referencing, studying sources and trusting your intuition. My intuition tells me “stay away from channeled messages”, what does your intuition tells you? Maybe it can guide you to channeled messages that are worth something? After all, everything happens for some reason. Maybe I just can’t understand what this reason might be.
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I get your point. I wish I didn’t see this cheep fad version of a profound life changing art I both love an cherish. The truth is most people just want the ‘been there done that’ badge, they don’t really care if it means a thing.
“Always be open minded, yet skeptical.” Agreed on that.
Surprisingly one of the first things that I developed was channeling and I did pay a price for it to blindly channel beings. In the end I did learn a lot from it, but there are a lot safer ways to do it.
Personally I use both now, Ancient and channeled knowledge, seeing as I learned really soon after the whole thing to read the beings. Both sources are there for me and if something feels off intuitively I simply cross reverence or look where my guide points me. I mostly only channel “her” and an ever greater being that has really helped me a lot.
I really like channeling but I think of it more as a conversation, and I rely on my own common sense and intuition to incorporate the learnings that I may find relevant into my own life. It can often help you see things from a different angle, and they’re as valuable as conversations with “real life” friends and teachers that you might go to for advice. At the end of the day though, you’re in control of your life and have full responsibility for the decisions and the outcomes.
We’re all CEO’s of our life, and our friends, family, coaches and spirit guides/beings can be likened to a board of directors. Each person might have an area of expertise that they advise on, but the CEO is in charge and responsible for the decisions and the outcome. Sonia Choquette talks about this in one of her books, we need to be careful not to surrender our personal power to external agents, human, spirit or ideological. It is just as dangerous to follow a politician, and ideal or a religious leader with blind faith. That’s how we end up with tragedies like the one at Waco, Texas.
Nice post Nathan … I wouldn’t rule channeling out altogether, but I would urge people to be conscious about how they approach it. Also, messages that are channeled specifically for one person can be very empowering.
I agree, I don’t understand the channeled messages. It sounds like so much gobblydygook to me and makes my head hurt. I noticed that some new things are being produced and, instead of selling them based upon their own merit, the author knocks down others doing the same thing (“my product is better and theirs stinks”). This is so transparent, and it makes me feel like they are in it only for the money or they still have their own issues – either way, I stay away. In the end the truths haven’t changed.
I would truly like to distinguish something very quick. I have been recently researching a lot of magical practices lately and I have decided to dedicate myself to a Chaotic branch of Hermeticism. And through my research I have noticed the words “familiar”, “servitor” and spirit guide has been used a lot with the modernization of shamanism. I would like to know if a familiar from old lore, stories, and magical texts is normally the same thing as a spirit guide. And is the spirit guide a true seperate entity or is it a spirit or pouch of formed (insert preferred term for “energy” here) unconciously made because of our want for the entity?
-Kurt
*EDIT
When I said spirit or pouch of formed energy made unconciously I was referring to a servitor or similar being.
My apologies,
-Kurt
Personally, channeling makes me nervous. There are some stupid people who hear about it and are willing to just plop down and say ‘Hey, anything around, my head’s welcome!’ Not a good thing at all… I can see plenty of negs taking advantage of foolish people that way.
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