Sender:       Parapsychology Discussion Forum 
From:         Jake Thompson 
Subject:      Channeling.

    WARNING: This is a long message.  It covers a lot ot ideas
      and personal interpretations.  This topic has been long
      in the coming, but better late than never.  The ideas
      represented are my own, and to a certain extent disorganized.
                                JT
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Topic : Channeling
Spacifically : Divination Divice.

         Picture a scene...
                Six young students; four women and two men.  Ages
ranging from seventeen to twenty-three.  All are sitting in a small
dormatory room.  One male sits on a bed near the door nervously
watching the group.  Two of the women sit on another bed; nearer to
the action.  One of these women wields a pen, busily writing down
the letters that the members of the group call out.  Within arms-
length two females and one male sit around a small table.  Thier
eyes transfixxed on a small glass cup which upon each one has a
single finger resting.  The table is divided into many sections;
The alphabet lay scattered about in organized chaos surrounding
and crossing through words such as Yes, No, What, and Why, among
others.  The room's lights are slightly dimmed.  Even though
no one says it out loud, there is a great feeling of expectancy.
Each of the six has a hidden reason for attending, yet all are
curious to play with toys that they were never encouraged to play
with as childred.
     Channeling a neither something new nor something old, it is
something that has always been.  The above scene is a picture
from memory.  Many times I have seen postings on this group and
others describing channeling as being demonic.  Now I'd like to
take a moment and describe my knowledge of channeling.  Hopefully,
this knowledge may open a few minds and give a new perspective to
an unaccepted social practice.

Basics:
       The diversity of channeling devices is astounding.  Almost
anything can be used to channel.  A channeling device is anything
that is used in conjunction with oneself in order to better
understand the messages one recieves.  Some of the more known
devices are tarot cards, Ouija boards, divination rods (the
common name escapes me for the moment), and autowriting.  There
are thousands of other devices used in conjunction with channeling.
No device has been proven to be effective in the interpretation
or amplification of channeled messages. (Professor Reich's
device excluded - as I've never read a proper report on it yet.)
     To narrow down a bit, I'll stick with the device commercially
called a Ouija Board.  The history of the board can be found either
on a boxxed set of the game or within the backlogs of the forum.
I'll stick to the name Ouija Board hereafter, even though many
channeling boards are nothing like the game set.
     A ouija board can be of any size or dimension.  It can contain
words, numbers, letters, symbols, or anything else for that matter.
The commercial set uses a plastic pointer with felted bottoms to ease
it's abilty to slide on it's board.  Some people refer to the pointer
as a planchette.  The pointer can be almost anything that will easily
slide on it's board's surface.  Glass vessels are often used.  Most-
likely this is due two one of two reasons: 1) the crystaline
properties inherant to it's structure or 2) it's a handy item that
most people have around.   As to the board design; there are
many.  Some people tend to stick to the commercial set, while
others design hand-carved wooden tables with polished glass
tops.  Blood is also used by some who believe that once one
becomes part of the board then they can master it's power
more easily and control it's forces better.

Preliminary Ceremonies:
     Sometimes a cloth is kept with the board to wipe it clean of
spiritual residue before and after the board has been used.  Mostly,
it's a good idea to keep one's board free of dust so the pointer
can move freely.  Another practice is to dim the lights and light a
candle(s).  A prayer of protection is also used often to protect
the channeler from evil forces.  Many practices are used,
as there are too many theories and too few facts to give people.
Most people are afraid and will do anything that they think will
aid and protect them.

The Act Itself:
    Initially a session begins with a number of people grouped
around a board.  The number commonly varies between two and four
members.  A common belief is that a person will be open to
a spirit's will if the person maniplulates the board alone.
The initial cerimonies are preformed and each member of the
group places a finger or two on the pointer.  If there is no
table then the board is placed so that it touches the knees
of each of the members.  Usually a caller is determined, a person
who is either experienced with channeling or one who has a strong
will.  Hereafter the session can go in a multitude of directions.
Common practic is for the caller to ask if there are any spirits
in the room.  If there is no caller, then the channelers take turns
asking questions of the spirit; either verbally or mentally.

Some Facts About the Spirits:
    1.  Spirits do not know everything.
    2.  Spirits are mostly common folk.
    3.  Spirits cannot predict the future, although some would like to.
    4.  Spirits do lie.  They welcome the chance to chat and will
          tell a person anything to keep them on the 'line'.
    5.  People who channel often will have a greater following of
          spirits.  The reason being that spirits hang around hoping
          to chat; to somehow get a piece of what they miss while
          in thier non-corpral state.  This also extends to thier
          efforts to steal one's strength.  This can work for or
          against the practitioner.
    6.  Each living person has a soul mate.  The purpose of this soul
          mate is unknown.  Maybe it is the guide that leads one's
          soul from thier body when one dies.
    7.  Most spirits are weak powerless entities.  Most 'evil' ones
          are good at scaring the channelers, somehow deriving
          pleasure from thier fear.  Very few of these have the strength
          to do anything more than talk.
    8.  Spirits are just like people; good, evil, neutral.  Most border
          on neutral with good tendancies.  Like others have expressed
          in this forum; people are not good or evil, only shades of
          grey.  Most spirits one meets while channeling meet this
          criteria.
    9.  Any spirit that must go through a channeler in order to come
          in contact with the living will be virtually without
          any strength.  This doesn't mean they will be powerless,
          it does imply that a spirit's strength in the living world
          is proportional to the strength (will) of the caller.
   10.  Most spirits talk of a corridor and that they cannot truely
          see or feel, but they can tell whether another entity is
          around and if the other entity has malicious tendancies.
   11.  Entities if asked about god, heaven, or hell will often either
          make no response or give a response of unsuredness.
   12.  Most entities can't spell very well.
   13.  Entities who have been "out of touch" for a long period of
          time will have problems relating to the living.  They
          tend to forget who they are, what it feels like to be
          alive, even what it means to be alive.  In essence they
          tend to forget that which they have little or no use for.

Observations:
     Devices such as Ouija boards are no better or worse than
any other such device that a practitioner uses as a focus.  For
once someone has mastered the ability to focus thier attention,
such devices will not be needed again.  Granted, no one likes to
abandon the one tool that most aided them on thier path of learning.
Initially a person begins as a student, learning the basics; like
how to feel and how to tell the difference between feeling true
forces and non-true forces.  A true force is one that is physical
and can be measured (assuming one had the equipment or resources).
Non-true forces are those that come from one's imagination.
    The second level is when one can not only feel, but also hear.
Usually one has to teach oneself to hear.  To hear one must open
thier mind to the speaking voices.  When one begins channeling
they cannot feel nor hear so thier limbs must be forced
to move a pointer on a board.  Breaking words down to thier
components (letters) is not always an easy task.  It is much easier
to hear a whole word then wait for the board to spell it out
for you.  Mostly what one needs to do is listen for the words and
guess at thier meanings, but never force the pointer to letters.
If you're guess is correct then good, if not just keep at it.  If
your ability good enough or the spirit strong enough, you will
hear it's words of frustration when your guess is wrong. Once you
can hear words, sentences will not be far behind.
     The last level (surely not the last) is when the channeler
puts down thier device and no longer needs it.  When this
happens, the channeler can now see.  Like the other levels,
seeing is an enhancement of one's existing abilities.  To
see one needs to have found thier focal point.  To say it is
a point of great power is to under estimate it.  For each person
the exact point is different.  Once one can see, this ability
will stay with them, even if they give up the pratice of channeling.
Seeing covers many areas; it is the visualization of auras, second
sight, travel, among many other things.  This level is a spring-
board point from which the channeler can easily move on to other
psi-related areas.

Expectations:
     Why does a ouija board directly/indirectly contact spirits
whereas tarrot cards only seem to flirt with spirits who know
the future and past?  The reason is that our expectations of
these devices are different.  When one uses a ouija board they
expect to contact a spirit (or non-tangable force).  If one
thinks they will come in contact with the devil, then maybe
they will.  It's an internal force that one deals with then
channeling.  For this reason, a novice can easily interpret
a subconcious effort for a true spiritual confrontation.
One's fears of meeting the ultimate evil or one of his dimonions
can easily force one to perceive fantasy for reality.  Likewise,
if one expects that they will be possessed by a spirit, then it
may just happen, but it will be a force of the mind rather than
an exterior force.  These possessions can be easily fixxed by
giving the subject something positive to focus on.  Many times
self-induced possessions are the result of depression.  Once the
person has announced that they have been possessed they will
recieve companionship and the attention of thier peers.  Given
this attention most cases will disapear.


Misconceptions:

        If you channel, you can easily be contacted by one [evil
    entity] and not know it. [...]  Ouija boards are gateways for
    entities, they especially are contacted by nasties because
    it's an easy gateway for them to get through.  Remember,
    evil entities will not seem evil all of the time - thier goals
    are to get to our world and manifest.


 This is a clear case of the misconceptions that, unfortunately, are
 taken as truth.  There are indeed such things as evil entities, but
 channeled spirits are not always evil.  It is just the evil ones
 that people find most worth noting.  One thing that should be
 remembered is that a Ouija board is nothing more than a device, you
 are the medium through which the entities converse; the gateway is
 you.

Invitations:
 The invitation of entities may not be wise, for it releases many
 forces.  A free entity, unless controlled, will most often express
 it's presence in unexpected ways.  It's not that freed entities are
 neccessarily evil, it just means that they have been cooped up with
 no way to express themselves and thus tend to be bit over-zellous.
 This in no way confirms the existance of entities, it just means that
 there are forces at work that we do not fully understand.  As stated
 before, one's expectations can be an extremely powerful force.  When
 one expects an entity and truely believes in it's existance, they may
 indeed fabricate one from thier own will.  Whether this is a concious
 or subconcious force is not clear, but it is believed that a person
 can induce telekenetic forces from thier own will.

Poltergiests and Entities:
 One of the more famous encounters with forceful entities is detailed
 in the Warren's book, The Demonologist.  The case tells of a teenaged
 girl who took up playing with an Ouija Board.  The girl encountered
 an entity that claimed to be a sixteen year old boy who had once
 lived near her prior to his death.  The girl, being lonely, made
 contact with this spirit on a nightly basis, trying to find out
 more about him.  She became romantically attached to the spirit.
 She told the entity that she wanted to meet him and in doing so
 invited him to her world.  After this calling her life and her
 family's was in constant termoil.  In essence she had called
 forth a poltergiest; an entity of mischief.  The Warrens were
 called in and after a couple of weeks they persuaded the
 entity to leave the family alone.

 In this case there are a few factors that stick out and may have
 enhanced the encounter:  a) The girl's loneliness and possible
 depression,  b) The age of the girl.  Emotions such as loneliness
 and depression express themselves as darkened areas (voids) in a
 person's aura (or bio-magnetic/electric field).  When a person
 channels, they open themselves to the entities.  If a void exists
 in one's aura it is not difficult for an entity to merge it's
 energies with those of the channeler's.  The more a person uses
 such a channeling device while in this state of mind, the more
 chances the entity has to work itself into one's own field; in
 essence it anchors itself and burrows in.  Once an entity is
 "attached", it can do several things:  a) Possession,
 b) Gateway through,  c) Bind.
    A possession occurs when an entity is able to burrow down
 far enough to attempt to gain control of a person's internal
 electrical relays.  Possessions have to be allowed, even asked
 for in order that they may occur.  Living beings have what one
 would term as "shields".  These shields protect one from being
 attacked by low energy bursts (psi) or continuous low intensity
 fields (entities).  When a person becomes depressed they begin
 to internally weaken thier shields, thus inviting attacks by
 entities.  One thing to note is that while one lives they cannot
 fully drop all thier shields (unless trained).  Like any well
 constructed machine, the human body has many redundant fail-
 safe guard systems.
    The second possibility is gating.  A spirit, if given
 enough oppertunities, can gate itself.  Gating of this manner
 relate to the entity's ability to passthru the channeler's
 energy field(s) and roam about the living world as they please.
 There's one major flaw to a spirit gating itself; the entity's
 energies are linked with the channeler's.  If the channeler
 works hard enough to rebuild and strengthen thier aura,
 they can in effect banish the spirit.  While linked to
 the channeler the entity cannot roam far, and it's roaming
 range is severly limited.  Since the entity would rather stay
 in the world of the living it may try to prevent it's host
 (the channeler) from rebuilding his/her aura.  If an entity is
 desperate enough it will try almost anything to keep it's host
 distracted and if possible try to drive the person into greater
 depression so that it may establish a greater link.  Gatings of
 this nature are usually the result of incompatible host/entity
 relations.  When an entity and it's host are compatible they
 establish what is termed as a "link".
    A link is more complex than a gating because it involves
 a willful merging of both the entity's and the channeler's
 auras.  A link involves the sharing of energies as well as
 knowledge.  Compatibility of entity and host is essential because
 a link boarders on gating and possession, but it requires
 cooperation whereas the other two require force.  Links can
 lead to greater understandings and manipulations of one's own
 psi-related abilities.  [ Actually, when one channels, they
 are in essence establishing a link.  Although a channel link
 differs in that the link is less successible to coruption. ]
     The age of a channeler plays a strong factor in the stability
 of one's connection.  Teenagers who dabble in channeling usually
 do it based on an ulterior motive.  This most often being due to
 the need for speaking to someone who understands what they are
 feeling or experiencing.  It's also a time in one's life that they
 seek to experiment and defy authority.  In essence it's a time of
 great change, and with change comes much burden of thought.  For
 some teenagers, channeling is a way to find a friend.  For others
 it's a means of expressing thier inner feeling, even some that they
 are not aware of.

Observations:
  1.  There are many perconcieved ideas reguarding Ouija boards.
      Some hold truth, while others are merely superstitious
      bull.
  2.  Women tend to participate in psi-related activities more
      than men.
  3.  The longer one practices channeling, the greater one feels
      they understand.
  4.  The after effects of channeling are sometimes more vivid
      upon reflection than when the event occurred.
  5.  "Seeing" does not necessarily mean vision, it implies
      understanding as well.
  6.  Insanity is a broad term that society lables paranormal
      activists; he who strays from the norm and delves in
      unexplained activities must have a few loose screws.
  7.  Generally, people enter into paranormal activities in hopes
      of finding out what it is exactly that makes them special.
      Everyone has a feeling that they have a special inner talent,
      something that is utterly astounding.  But, life comes with no
      manuals, no guide books to tell you what is life and why you
      are here.  You are intelligent and must figure that out on
      your own; no one will tell you or give you the slightest hint.

Conclusion:
   If one approaches channeling with an open mind they will have
 little trouble understanding it.  Yet, one who has an open mind
 is not one who is easily persuaded, it is just a person who can
 look at all things as though they  are new.  Looking at thing
 without preconcieved ideas is not an easy task, but it can
 be learned and once mastered one can see beyond most learned
 hatreds and fears.
     Channeling is an art.  It is an ability that one must strive
 towards.  It can be reached many ways including meditation; which
 I haven't discussed.  And like most other psi-related abilities,
 channeling is something anyone can do.  There are many factors
 that can inhibit a person, the foremost being that of thier
 programming.  From the point of conception, a child is burdened
 with programming from it's parents, from society, and from many
 other sources.  One theory is that children shy away from thier
 inate psi abilities in favor of the positive reinforcements from
 thier parents.  As people grow older and begin making decisions
 for themselves, they tend to experiment to see if they can gain
 back the abilities that they loss.  The bond between mother and
 child may be a good example of this; the way a mother can sense
 when her child is in danger.

Afternote:
    When I mention auras I am referring to a general term.  A
    living person is nothing more than a glorified machine that
    changes matter into energy.  Basic laws of physics say
    that energy can never be loss, only transfered.  The human
    body is constantly changing matter into energy and although
    a good bit of that is used for the body, there is an amount
    of it that escapes the body in the form of radiated energy.
    Some of this energy stays near the body in a concentrated
    form while other bits extend out into fields.  There are
    several fields, some very distinct, while others are widely
    dispursed and somewhat amorphus.  Based upon dispurtion,
    the layers differ in color and magnitude.  To say a person's
    aura is a certain color is incorrect.  It is more to correct
    that one's field is comprised of a greater amount of one color
    than the other.  Either that, or people are referring to the
    outter field.  The inner field is a great display of a multitude
    of colors and shades.  It's this field that I'd guess healers
    look at to see illnesses.  By way of comparrison one could look
    at the reflection a gasoline gives, but an aura's colors are
    better organized and filled with less darkness.  I'm sure many
    will disagree, even say I'm completely wrong, but in my defense
    I can only say that this is what I see.