Channelling
by Donna Thomson
Channelling is the ability to channel energy, whether that energy is healing or love energy, guides, spirits and even your own higher self. You become a conduit or vehicle for that energy, allowing it to come through you. There are several ways the energy can be channelled e.g. in the case of healing the energy most often radiates from the hands. When channelling spirits or guides the energy can come through your spoken word as if you are passing on a message. The words can pop into your head or you might hear them and you relay that message. Channel-writing is basically the same but instead of speaking the message you write it down.
Some people have the ability to trance channel which means you go into a deeper state (a trance) and basically 'move aside' so the entity can speak directly through you. This type of channelling is rarely necessary and requires additional precautions and knowledge of what you are doing. It is not recommended for the beginner or 'just out of curiosity'.
Aside from healing, the main reason people channel is to receive messages from their own guides or higher self, so that is the focus of this article. Of course channelling is an ability like any other and may or may not be a strong area for you. Know that your guides are with you and will communicate with you in many ways so do not be disheartened if you have trouble channelling.
Preparation
Protect your energy - visualising a barrier around yourself or asking your guides for protection.
You need to get into a relaxed, focused state. If you are used to meditating, allow yourself to do so for 5 or 10 minutes. You can have your eyes open or closed. I started out by examining and gazing at a painting of my spirit guide until I became so relaxed that the colours melded together and I actually was able to visualise my other two guides in the painting. I also found holding an amethyst crystal to my forehead helped me open my third eye. I found that a large amethyst point or cluster worked better than a tumbled stone. You might find humming or chanting helps you get 'in the zone'. Whatever you do, the aim is to remove yourself from your usual busy mind. The deeper you can allow your mind to drift, the easier it will be to channel without your mind interfering. Do this for as long as you feel is necessary and you'll find over time that you won't need as long to get focused.
Set your intention
Ask that your guide or higher self come through to give you a message. You could ask "What do I need to know right now?" or be more specific, "How can I move on from this relationship?" for example. It's recommended that you keep it broad and basic for the first you attempts and try not to have particular expectations.
The process
This is actually very simple yet it may not seem so to start. The easiest way to start out is to channel-write as it helps to keep your mind from interfering and questioning what comes through - you can just grab a pen and paper and write everything that comes to mind. As your personal thoughts come through or you find yourself questioning what you are writing, let those thoughts drift away. Be in the mindset that you will just write and not pay attention to the words. You can read it all back later. If it doesn't make sense then don't worry about it. You are not writing an essay…this is a personal writing experience that no-one else need see. Just let it flow without any judgement.
Channel-writing is also a good idea if you don't have someone else with you to receive the message or record it for you. When you channel you are 'in the zone' and will often be surprised when you read back what you've written or listen to a recording of what you said.
Picking up the message
When you receive a channelled message it is not like hearing with your ears. Sometimes you may pick up the qualities of a voice or particular enunciation when channelling. For some people who have a talent for clairaudience, the 'hearing' side of the ability may be more pronounced. More commonly, it is more like thinking and this is perhaps the hardest aspect of channelling for our logical brains to deal with. We struggle with the "is that just me thinking or is it a channelled message?" question.
It may help to know that you should feel some sort of change or difference in how you think when you are channelling. There also tends to be an 'energy' related to channelled messages due to the presence of the guide or your higher self.
You can see why it's important to be as relaxed and focused as possible before beginning, to give yourself time to tune-in energetically and tune-out mentally. When you start to channel you will come out of that relaxed state slightly but you should be able to speak or write whatever pops into your head. When your critical mind wanders in, take a deep breath or two and clear your mind again. If channel-writing, it can help to skim over the last sentence to reconnect with what was being written, but don't read it and start judging it or thinking about it too much. When you think about what has been written or said, your mind starts analysing, forming opinions and linking to what it knows about the subject and this may reduce the purity of the message.
What it feels like to channel
You might feel tingling, heat or other sensations in the middle of your forehead. This is your third eye opening up to allow you to channel - this is your psychic connection point so to speak. It could be quite a subtle and somewhat indescribable feeling or quite strong. This doesn't necessarily reflect how well you are channelling.
You may feel other sensations throughout your body, especially if your energy increases its vibration. It could feel like waves, a shiver or just an unusual but not unpleasant feeling. Other possible sensations could include heat or tingling in the hands, a sensation of vibrating quickly, general warmth or coolness, or you may feel very little at all.
As you channel or prepare to channel, you might find yourself taking deeper, slower breaths. I've caught myself doing this without realising it and sometimes it has been the first sign that I'm channelling.
If you are writing, you may find that when you are really in 'the zone' you write almost faster than you can think and as soon as you try and focus on the words it can stop the flow.
You might feel the presence of the guide. This could mean you feel loved and more accepting of yourself than you normally would. You might feel that it is a male or female guide, old or young, and other personality or physical characteristics might come to mind as you channel. Guides can be anything from serious to humorous, authoritative to cheeky. When you finish channelling it can be a good idea to take note of everything you can think of about the guide.
You may also see images in your mind's eye that give extra information or help to make a point. If this happens you could try to record any of that additional detail after bringing through the message.
Knowing when to finish
When you start out trying to channel it may be best to keep the sessions short. Indications of when to end a session can include finding it difficult to write any more, feeling very discontent with what you've just written and repeatedly trying to start the sentence again, or your higher self or guide might have a way of 'signing off' such as saying or you feel "That is all". It could also be like signing off a letter with something referring to love, light, peace and so on.
Sometimes you will be distracted by children, a tweeting bird or a phone call and won't be able to get back into the 'zone'. This can be frustrating so do what you can to reduce the likelihood of such interruptions in the first place, such as taking the phone off the hook, locking the door, telling your family not to disturb you for half an hour. Try not to be too disheartened if you were 'on a roll' and had to stop. There will be other opportunities to continue or try again.
Grounding yourself
When you finish channelling, take a few deep breaths and take in your surroundings. Your head has been in the clouds so to speak and you need to come back down to earth. Take things slowly, have a glass of water. If possible, go outside in the sun, stand or sit on the grass or place your hands on the ground. You'll feel a bit spacey and may find it hard to hold a conversation for the first 5 minutes or so. Don't try and drive until you feel you are well-grounded again.
Grounding crystals can help you come back down to earth more quickly - crystals such as smoky quartz, black tourmaline, black obsidian and other dark crystals. Something with a point facing down is useful, such as a carved arrowhead, a crystal point or pendant. Hold it in your hands or wear it around your neck. You might also find placing such a crystal at your feet helps draw the energy downward. Another useful trick is to amplify the effect of the grounding crystal by holding a clear quartz with it. Clear quartz is a natural amplifier and I've personally found this combination works very well, especially after a heavy channelling session or when someone knocks at the door and you need to ground quickly!
Other ways of grounding that come to mind visualising your feet going down deep into the earth. Imagine that you are a tree and your roots and reaching into the earth. If you are familiar with yoga, or even if you're not, you can use your physical movement to bring your energy down. For example, stand tall, outstretch your arms and bring your hands together high above your head. Lower your hands down in front of you to about chest height then move your hands so they now point downward. Continue to move your hands down until you reach the ground. Place your hands flat on the ground if you can or face them down at the lowest position you can achieve. Take a few deep breaths, imagining your energy travelling down and out your hands into the ground. You could do anything of a similar nature, whatever feels comfortable for you, to represent your energy moving downwards.
What else you might notice
After channelling you might be surprised to find that what felt like 5 minutes has actually been half an hour, as time often seems to pass quickly while channelling.
It's common to feel quite tired after channelling too because you've been using your energy much more than you normally would. So you shouldn't try to do too much at once, not only because of the effort it takes, but because the longer you channel, the more likely you are to go 'off track' and the message may not be as 'pure'. To help you re-energise, try holding a clear quartz cluster or largish crystal point for a while and or sit in the sun for 10 minutes or so.
Reviewing the message
Perhaps you'll be eager to read what you've written or listen to what you've recorded straight away, or you might be so nervous that you've done it all yourself that you hesitantly peek with one eye closed or hover your finger over the 'play' button! Personally I tend to leave the message for at least a couple of hours, sometimes a day or more. One of the reasons is that I want to go get some fresh air and won't be able to concentrate anyway but the more important reason is that I know that if I read it straight away I can be too judgemental.
You might be surprised to find that it's very hard to remember what you wrote or said after channelling - uou may have vague ideas about it but find it hard to recall anything specific. This is a common side-effect of channelling and one of the better indicators that you have in fact channelled. If you do find that you are going over specific things you've written or said, this could indicate that those areas have come more from your own mind and opinions, though this may not always be the case.
So you get to the point where you are reviewing the message...you'll know you've channelled if you find yourself thinking...
"Where on earth did that come from!!??"
"That doesn't sound like me at all!"
Or just..."Wow!!"
There should be elements that indicate this is not how you usually speak, there may be words or terms you wouldn't normally use, and especially when channelling guides you'll find there is so much meaning in each and every sentence. They have the ability to say so much in so few words!
Trust your feelings above all else! Do you feel it is a guided message? What rings true to you? This might not happen for many people, but I tend to feel the presence of the guides when I read or hear a channelled message, like it's message of importance - there is 'guide energy' around the message. This also helps me determine what doesn't feel guided...the bits that don't hold any particular feeling may be where the person's mind had jumped in with its own input. This is a natural thing to do and only through practice and trusting the process can you get your mind to stay out of it more and more.
In essence, you can trust the message if it touches your heart in some way. With the words on the paper comes the energy of the guide reaching out to you in addition to the message itself. It is just as much an energetic connection as it is a a spoken or written communication.
What a channelled message can look or sound like
Written - In terms of the style of writing, it can vary depending on the individual guides or your own expectations. Some guides are very poetic and others are more straightforward when they speak. Most of my channelled messages have tended towards the more poetic style and only in the last 6 months or so have I been able to ask questions of the guides and have more straight-forward language, especially when it is business-related. I still do bring through messages that have that 'universal wisdom' feel but I now realise that this way I can more easily distinguish what is from the guides and what are my own thoughts. Because the style of communication is different it helps my mind recognise when my own mind might be trying to jump in. This doesn't mean that I am making the message come out a particular way. Rather, the guides know that I prefer to be able to distinguish what they are saying and will oblige (thankyou guides) in how they pass on their messages. This has not been a conscious thing on my part but I see how it is useful.
On the more physical side, there can be some evidence of channelling in your handwriting. As you really get into it your writing might be quite scribbled from the increase in speed or it could take on different characteristics, possibly from the guide him or herself.
Spoken - Similarly, the language can come through differently just as it might through a written message. Rather than noticing handwriting changes though, it's possible you'll notice a change in your voice or you might not sound like yourself at all!
When to channel
I recommend that you let your guides know that you would like to receive a message and tell them that you'll wait for an indication of the right time. This can help to reduce the pressure of just sitting down and saying "now I'm going to channel". Go about your day as usual and have a recording device or pen and notepad somewhere handy. You might get a feeling that "now is the time" which might be fleeting but go with it and see what happens. Or, it might be a stronger feeling that keeps popping into your head, even while you're washing the dishes! If you find the thought repeating, go with it. You might have a feeling, the desire to write, an image of your pen and paper or your recorder might pop come into your head, and so on.
Any sort of sign is possible and will be personally significant to you, especially if you know something about your guide already. For instance, one of my guides, Red Eagle, is often symbolised by a feather. One day I intended to channel a message for someone else and went about my day knowing that there would be a right time for the message to come through. Only 10 or 20 minutes later I walked to the kitchen sink and when I looked out the window there was one significant cloud in the sky in the unmistakeable shape of a feather. You might say that lots of clouds are feathery, but I couldn't have drawn a better feather if I tried - it was surreal! I knew that was my sign and went off to channel the message. When I finished I returned to the lounge room to find eagles on the television! It was a day of signs! (Note that these sorts of signs don't happen often and seem to been more common at the start of my experiences - like the flowers you receive on your first few dates but rarely thereafter!)
Channelling for others
You may at some stage be drawn to channel messages for others. I'm not speaking about professionally, but sometimes we are guided to pass on a message to another, even if it is a once-off. However, do not let others pressure you into it if you don't feel it's what you should do. It may just be a case of you having developed your ability to channel enough that the guides know they can use your ability to get a message to someone more directly.
The same guidelines apply when channelling for others as you would do for yourself, but it may help to have a photo of the person to focus on and connect with. If you know the person, visualising them might be enough. It's also a good idea to remember and reinforce that you are just the messenger, sharing what has come through. I used to see myself as a telephone line allowing a message to pass from the guides to the intended person and this, afterall, is what a 'channel' is!
It can be nerve-wracking to pass on a channelled message to another person but it's a nice reward to receive positive feedback - when the person has found the connection in the message. It's also a confirmation that you are indeed connecting. Sometimes our guides will bring us such an opportunity just to show we are on the right track.
Oh, and just because you can channel does not mean the messages necessarily need to be shared. In most cases these will be personal messages and insight for you, from your guide.
Now, to reiterate the key points of channelling are...
- Protect your energy
- Still your mind
- Set your intention to channel your guide or higher self
- Let it flow, writing or speaking without expection or judgement
- Ground yourself
- Connect with your message and feel for the accuracy and truth in it
Please see our other articles on Guides in the "Our Guiding Friends & Neighbours" section to learn what your guides will and won't do for you.
I hope you get the insight you are looking for!