Angels-CHANNELING

Channeling is a more recent term for what spiritualists traditionally
termed mediumship—an event or process in which an individual “channel” is able to transmit information from a non-ordinary source,
most often from a non-embodied spirit. While some channels retain
full consciousness during their transmissions, most of the prominent
New Age channels are what spiritualists refer to as trance mediums—
mediums who lose consciousness while a disembodied spirit takes over
the channel’s body and communicates through it. These spirits frequently
claim to be spiritually advanced souls whose communications
consist of metaphysical teachings.
As vehicles for communication, channels are merely the most
recent manifestations of a phenomenon that can be traced back at
least as far as archaic shamanism. Ancient shamans mediated the relationship
between their communities and the other world, often transmitting
messages from the deceased. Modern channels also sometimes
view themselves as being in the tradition of ancient prophets, transmitting
messages from more elevated sources. With respect to this
teaching function, contemporary channels can be placed in the tradition
of Western Theosophy.
A number of popular New Age books have been produced by
automatic or inspired writing, including those authored by Ken Carey
and Ruth Shick Montgomery. Other than Montgomery’s books, the
most well-known “channeled” book is probably A Course in Miracles,
which claims to be the New Age teachings of the historical Jesus.
Some channelers are primarily psychics who give private readings to
individual clients. Others conduct workshops and lectures for large
groups, and have become quite well-known in New Age circles.
As a movement without a set doctrine or without religious
authorities to determine what new ideas should be admitted or excluded
in the New Age belief system, the New Age subculture has shown a
remarkable permeability with respect to new notions. This relative
fluidity has been reflected in the channeling phenomena, so that
channeled entities tend to speak about whatever is the current hot
topic of interest within the subculture. With respect to angels, however,
the tendency has been for New Age mediums to start channeling
angels, rather than for them simply to speak about them.
While the present explosion in angel channeling reflects a new
fad, it should also be noted that angel channeling has a number of
important precedents upon which the current rage builds. In particular,
in certain strands of the theosophical tradition a number of people
claimed to have received messages from the devas (the theosophical
term for angelic beings) even before the New Age came into being as
a distinct movement (which has been dated as emerging in the early
1970s). For example, Mark Prophet, the founder of Summit Lighthouse
(the predecessor organization to Elizabeth Clare Prophet’s Church Universal and Triumphant), was receiving dictations from the
archangels over two decades ago. It should also be noted that Findhorn,
the well-known (in New Age circles) community in Scotland,
claimed that its remarkable vegetable garden was built on a cooperation
between devas and community members, and some people in the
community channeled information from the devas (though the term
channeling was not in vogue at the time).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, contemporary channeled angels (in contrast
to the earlier angelic messengers of Findhorn and the Prophets)
who are riding the crest of the new angel fad have relatively little to
say that has not already been said by earlier channeled entities. The
core theme of new age philosophy is the dictum, derived ultimately
from new thought, that we create our own reality and hence are
responsible for everything that we experience. If we are unhappy with
our lives, we need only change our mind and the world we experience
will change accordingly.
An example of a contemporary channeler is Elaine Regis out of
Beverly Hills, Michigan. Regis is a painter who, during an average
two-hour session, opens herself up to an individual’s guardian angel,
and through a kind of automatic painting, is capable of capturing on
canvas what the guardian looks like. Regis claims that spiritual guides
offer comfort and direction to the individual, but stresses that they are
not there to dictate specific action. “Everyone has a free will,” according
to Regis. The picture of your spiritual guide is meant as a source of
meditation, for an individual to explore their inner consciousness.