Channelling
Channeling refers to an activity in which a person seems to be possessed by another consciousness, spirit, force, or entity that uses the person to communicate or interact with the physical world. Popularized in the early 1970s, the word comes from the notion that, under the right conditions, some people can act as a channel, or conduit, through which an unseen entity communicates with the physical world. The method of communication employed by the channeled entity varies. It might speak in the channeler’s voice or in its own voice, or it might take over the channeler’s hands in order to write messages, a phenomenon known as automatic writing. Alternatively, it might possess a person not in order to send a message, but to heal, supposedly using psychic powers to eliminate illness in people who come to the channeler. In any case, the channeled entity means its host no harm. This is what distinguishes channeling from demonic possession, in which the spirit’s intent is to destroy its host. One of the best-known and most controversial channelers of modern times is J.Z. Knight, who claims to be regularly possessed by an ancient warrior, Ramtha, from the lost world of Atlantis. When channeling Ramtha, Knight talks and walks very differently from her normal voice and gait. To her believers, this transformation is so profound that they are convinced her words about Atlantis are genuine, but skeptics dismiss her as nothing more than a gifted actress.
SEE ALSO:
- automatic writing, art, and music;
- psychic healing;
- Ramtha
SOURCE:
The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning
