The Encyclopedia of Crystals, Herbs, and New Age Elements: An A to Z Guide to New Age Elements and How to Use Them - Adams Media 2016

Channeling
The Power of Insight: Divination Systems, Tools, and Practices

ORIGINS

Channeling is the practice of serving as a medium through which a spirit communicates with a living person. This can take two forms: In the first, the medium serves as the middleman in a conversation between a spirit and a client (often a bereaved relative or spouse). In the second, the medium goes into a trance wherein he or she vacates his or her physical body and allows the spirit to use it to communicate directly with the client. In the latter case, the medium may not be aware of the conversation taking place.

HISTORY/LORE

Attempting to communicate with the dead is an ancient practice found in many cultures. Shamans and witch doctors traditionally contacted the spirits. Channeling gained widespread popularity through the rise of Spiritualism, a nineteenth-century religious movement in the United States and the United Kingdom. Spiritualism is based on the beliefs that the spirits of the dead both desire and are able to communicate with the living, that spirits are more advanced than the living, and that spirits can give the living useful knowledge that they can apply in their lives.

USES

You can try your luck with a Ouija board, but if you’re serious about contacting spirits, you should consult an experienced and respected medium. If you hope to contact the spirit of a deceased loved one, it is advised that you let some time pass before visiting a medium. This is to allow your grief to subside a bit (overwhelming expressions of grief could disrupt the medium’s process) and also because spirits are not always ready to communicate shortly after death.