Who Are the Channelers

Who Are the Channelers

Who are the channelers? Channelers come from all walks of life. They include clerks and scholars, artists and businessmen, truck drivers and PhDs, scientists and grade school dropouts, business executives and housewives. They come from all races, nationalities, cultures, and creeds. Some are atheists (initially); others are religious. Except when in a trance and possessed, they look and act normally.

Channelers often channel more than one spirit. Well-known channelers and their main spirit guides include the late Jane Roberts and “Seth.” “Seth,” through Roberts, produced some 25 different books, which together have sold millions of copies. Another well-known channeler was the late Helen Schucman. Schucman and her spirit guide “Jesus” are the authors of the bestselling A Course in Miracles, which boasts over a thousand study groups around the country. Although an atheist at the time of her channeling, she “was brought up mystically inclined” (her father owned an occult bookstore) and was influenced by various mind science groups.^[1]

Another channeler was Ruth Montgomery,^[2] author of A Gift of Prophecy. Her spirit guide was “Lilly.” They have written over a dozen bestsellers on New Age and spiritistic topics, including Here and Hereafter, Aliens Among Us, Threshold to Tomorrow, Companions Along the Way, The Walk-Ins and A World Beyond. Another is Kevin Ryerson^[3] and his spirit guide “John,” one of Shirley MacLaine’s favorite channelers.^[4] Ryerson is one of the more articulate channelers and has appeared on dozens of radio and TV shows. On these shows he offers live interviews with his spirit guides.^[5] Another channeler is J. Z. Knight, who channels “Ramtha.” Knight, who claims to be a former fundamentalist Christian, has sold over a thousand hours of “Ramtha’s” videos and audiotapes. Like many channelers, she is now a multimillionaire,^[6] although she has also been the focus of much criticism. One more popular channeler is Jack Pursel, who channels “Lazaris.” He runs a multimillion-dollar corporation entitled “Concept-Synergy.” This corporation is dedicated to making Lazaris’ teachings available to the public.^[7] Lazaris’ teachings have been especially popular among Hollywood movie stars^[8] but are not restricted to Hollywood. Such diverse groups as Mennonites, Mormons, and Catholic nuns also testify to following Lazaris’ teachings.^[9]

Elwood Babbitt was greatly influenced by the medium Edgar Cayce and today, according to his biographer Charles H. Hapgood, channels between 100 and 150 individual spirits.^[10]

Occupied throughout his childhood with the spirit world, he often played with spirit children rather than with his peers. While serving in the military, his psychic gifts were often manifested…. [Babbitt] reports that his own spirit leaves his body and another one then takes possession…. Babbitt’s voice and facial expressions change. At the end of the trance, Babbitt has absolutely no recall of what has transpired.^[11]

Alexander Murray^[12] channels a variety of guides: American Indian, Hindu, ancient Greek, Oriental, and others. During 20 years, he has conducted over 4,000 trance channeling sessions and been the subject of a large number of research projects. He is also one of television’s most frequently taped channelers. Once as a guest of the Parapsychology Society he gave 20 trance demonstrations at the United Nations. He was also taped in trance for ABC’s morning show and also for ABC’s “Eyewitness News.” NBC was sufficiently impressed, and they hired him as a consultant for their daytime soap opera “Search for Tomorrow.”^[13]

Mark Venaglia channels an entity called “Benjamin “ He offers monthly group sessions in his New York City apartment, which draw hundreds of people. According to Venaglia, “we have thousands of New Yorkers turning to channeling.”^[14] Venaglia’s spirit guide, who seems to have a special affection for homosexuals, channeled one transcript that purports to be a cure for AIDS. Indeed, several of those who have allegedly been cured were scheduled to appear on ABC’s “20/20” to talk of their recovery.^[15] His spirit guide also speaks of the AIDS-infected homosexual population in glowing terms. “Those with AIDS must come to be thought of as healers…. Those that manifest AIDS are a blessed race, descended from the island of Crete and Gettys,… southwest of the Atlantian continent; an entire civilization of healers and nobles.”^[16]

When Sanaya Roman was still a teenager she visited a psychic who told her she would one day be a channeler. After graduating with highest honors from University of California Berkeley and then entering the business world, she one day decided to study the Seth books of Jane Roberts and as a result, began to experiment with the Ouija board. Eventually, she became a channel for an entity called “Orin” and has published the bestselling text discussed earlier, Opening to Channel: How to Connect with Your Guide. This book is coauthored with channeler Duane Packer, a scientist with a PhD in geology-geophysics. Both channelers have formed a company, LuminEssence Productions,^[17] which is in the vanguard of the channeling movement. Together they have taught several thousand people to channel through their weekend channeling courses, which cost $575 per person.^[18]

Tam Mossman channels an entity named “James.” As an assistant editor at Prentice Hall Publishers, he became involved in channeling through editorial work done on Jane Roberts’ “Seth” books. One day while making an appeal to a salesman for Roberts’ The Nature of Personal Reality, he decided to give a mock portrayal of Seth taking over the body. Instead, Mossman himself was taken over; what he intended as humor became reality: “When I began to do the Seth bit, I felt this great rush of energy—different from anything I had ever experienced before in my life.”^[19]

Within three months Mossman was channeling “James,” which he describes as an experience similar to the dream state, although he characteristically has no memory of what happens in trance. Mossman has also graduated to prominence with the channeling community, founding the journal Metapsychology, which focuses on the best and latest in trance material, commentary on the entities, and other areas of occult interest.

Ron Scolastico^[20] has a PhD in humanistic psychology and has been channeling a number of spirit guides for well over a decade, giving more than 10,000 readings. Darryl Anka channels an entity called “Bashar,” who claims to be an extraterrestrial from the constellation Orion. Anka first became interested in UFO’s and occult subjects from a UFO close encounter. He then developed a keen interest in mediumship, seeking out the advice of channelers, which eventually resulted in his being contacted by “Bashar.”^[21] Paul Norris McClain offers channeling advice to thousands of clients out of his Miami, Florida, home. He channels literally hundreds of guides, spending most of the day in a deep trance.

Shawn Randall^[22] channels an entity named “Torah.” As a writer suffering writer’s block, she joined a class in mediumship taught by Los Angeles channel Thomas Jacobson in order to work through the problem. While meditating near the end of the course, she began to experience extraordinary sensations of energy in her heart and head. She engaged the process of automatic writing to discover what was happening. The answer was given that she was being prepared by the spirits to become a channel. The first entity to contact her was “Martha,” followed by “Charles,” and then two weeks later “Torah,” who became her principal spirit guide. As an articulate spokesperson for channeling, Randall has channeled on radio shows, appeared on numerous cable television reports, and network news broadcasts, including CBS’s “West 57th Street.”^[23]

Kathy Reardon became a channeler through the influence of yoga, Jane Roberts’ and Shirley MacLaine’s books, and by attending a lecture by a psychic, who invited the class to witness her (the psychic’s) own trance channeling. During the session Reardon was spontaneously taken over. “Something strange happened to me while she was trance channeling. I felt different. I suddenly became unable to follow what she was saying. She looked far away and fuzzy….”^[24] She now channels “Moira” and “Arkon,” who hail from the Pleiades,^[25] as well as others. She thinks “channeling and possession are nothing alike,” and she describes her voluntary possession as “a healthy relationship based on trust.”^[26]

The above is only a brief list of the several thousand channelers now operating throughout America. Various New Age directories list hundreds of organizations devoted to channeling, many of which offer courses and workshops designed to teach others to channel.^[27]

NOTES

1. ↑ . Jon Klimo, Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources (Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1987), pp. 41-42.
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Montgomery.
3. ↑ http://www.kevinryerson.com/.
4. ↑ Mark Vaz, “Psychic!—The Many Faces of Kevin Ryerson,” interview, Yoga Journal, July/August 1986, p. 27.
5. ↑ Klimo, Channeling, p. 45.
6. ↑ Ibid., pp. 43-44.
7. ↑ Ibid., pp. 48-49.
8. ↑ e.g., according to Merv Griffin on “The Merv Griffin Show,” July 26, 1986.
9. ↑ Klimo, Channeling, p. 49.
10. ↑ Robin Westen, Channelers: A New Age Directory (NY: Perigree Books, 1988), p. 114.
11. ↑ Ibid., p. 115.
12. ↑ http://alexandermurray.net/
13. ↑ Westen, Channelers, pp. 123-24.
14. ↑ Ibid., p. 140.
15. ↑ Ibid., p. 141.
16. ↑ Ibid.
17. ↑ http://www.orindaben.com/pages/home/aboutlumin/
18. ↑ Westen, Channelers, pp. 145-47.
19. ↑ Ibid., p. 153.
20. ↑ http://www.ronscolastico.com/
21. ↑ Westen, Channelers, pp. 170-71.
22. ↑ http://www.shawnrandall.com/
23. ↑ Westen, Channelers, pp. 177-79.
24. ↑ Loyd Auerbach, Reincarnation, Channeling and Possession: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook (NY: Warner, 1993), p. 188.
25. ↑ Ibid., p. 193.
26. ↑ Ibid., p. 204. She has written an article about psychic attack at http://www.mindreader.com/info_self_defense.html.
27. ↑ Westen, Channelers, pp. 185-219.