CHANNELING
(by Paola Pierpaoli)

Channeling is the possibility to contact our Spirit Guide. Who is the Spirit Guide? "In spiritualism, according to the vision of many mediums, including Edgar Cayce, the Guides are considered as well defined entities who once lived on the earth, and they now have the task to help us spiritually. Generally it is believed that this help is part of their own growth path and that the relationship between men and Guides has the aim of bringing mutual benefits. It is possible to have relationships with many Guides : some of them have specific responsibilities and duties, while others appear from time to time or for determined periods. Only one of them always stays in the same place. The name of Guardian Angel is often given to this Guide. It is a permanent Guide who links the terrestrial reality of man and the spirit world and the non ordinary realities, a sort of guardian of the door between the two worlds." * Nothing to do therefore with spiritism, as this practice seeks contact with the souls of the dead. The Spirit Guide, or Guardian Angel, is a being of light beyond the chain of reincarnations. At the same time he/she is our Superior Self, as at this level we are not separated from the Divine.

Many of us have had the feeling in some difficult moments of the life, that an invisible friendly hand brought the situation into balance. Someone has been miraculously saved from an accident. In both cases our Guardian Angel intervened, but we were not aware of it. It is often meant for channeling the possibility to speak to our own Spirit guide through a medium, that is the channeller. This way of proceeding creates a dependence on the medium who operates as an intermediary. Through a particular kind of channeling, which uses some shamanic techniques, it is possible to autonomously contact one's own Spirit Guide, see him/her and speak to him/her to ask advice every time we feel the desire. (A Spirit Guide can be male or female, for ease of reading from this point on I will refer to the Spirit Guide as he/him.) It is possible that at the beginning you need a facilitator, that is to say a channeller, but, after a few sessions, his help will no longer be necessary. It is also possible that, following the technique presented in these pages, you will be able to enter into contact with your Guide alone.

The counsel of the Spirit Guide is a counsel of light, which sometimes doesn't coincide with what we would choose by ourselves, but which always, if we decide to follow it, improves our life and the life of people surrounding us. Work relationships or private relationships that we would of course have interrupted because we didn't manage to find the correct way of interacting, through the counsel of the Spirit Guide become suddenly easy. In the same way, if we are going through a very difficult period, the Spirit Guide will show us the best way to solve our problems. We shouldn't delude ourselves that everything is easy : the Spirit Guide shows us the way, but the actual journey is our task. The greatest resistance, when we start to experience the contact with the Guide, can be to accept his indications when they don't coincide with our convictions.

In the beginning it is normal to not follow whatever counsel is given to us but to learn a little at a time to trust our Guide, as we realize that following his suggestions makes our life improve.

What is important when we seek contact with the Guide is the sincere desire that this contact occurs. It must be a wish from the heart, not a curiosity or the latest fashion. When we are in the presence of our Spirit Guide we always experience sensations of peace, love and well-being, and this gives us the certainty that we are really in the presence of our Guardian Angel.

If we instead experience neutral or unpleasant feelings, it's a sign that a false guide has found his way to us. False guides are the results of our doubts and for this reason we must not fear them because they don't really exist, but ask our true Guide to indicate the kindest way to free ourselves from them. True Guides always give answers which better our existence (remember however that at the beginning they prefer that we make contact with them without asking questions), but sometimes it is necessary to learn to distinguish when the Guide is truly answering or when we are giving ourselves answers. The key to understand this is always the same : for instance, if you ask a question about something which worries you, and therefore you are in a state of mind not completely happy, even if the answer of the Guide completely surprises you and is different from the solution you have thought about, or even if you will not follow his counsel, you will experience in any case sensations of well-being, peace and harmony. If you don't experience these sensations, you have not received the Guide's answer but your own answer.

Through the following meditation , you can try to experience the contact with your Spirit Guide on your own, even if it is probable that sooner or later you will need the help of a facilitator.

Remember that the Guides never show their faces clearly, but you can see their figures and the outlines of their faces. The answers to the questions (that you shouldn't ask before three months after the first contact with the Guide) can come in the form of images, words or physical sensations, through dreams or even through the word of a friend. During the three months that you spend before asking specific questions, continue to contact the Guide, starting from what has struck you more during the previous contact, or, if nothing happens, starting the meditation from the beginning. In this period you can ask the Guide for a general help, a support for your present difficulties, and it is not improbable that the Guide will give you his suggestion of light, even if the time indicated to have the Guide's answers has not passed.

Light incense, possibly pure incense, and a white candle. Buy (in the specialized shops) a cassette or a CD with shamanic drums, since these sounds help in the journey that you are about to undertake.

Sit down in a comfortable position, that allows you to keep your back erect, in front of the lit candle and play the music.

Put your hands on your heart for a moment and connect with your ideal of the Divine.

Visualize an entrance ( a cave entrance, a castle door, an opening in a tree, etc.). This place must be a place you have seen at least once in your life.

Go into this entrance, and walk through the tunnel that leads to the exit. From the first moment that you enter imagine the bright exit of the tunnel. If you encounter any obstacles in the tunnel, pass by them always staying to the left.

Once in the open, wherever you are, visualize a tree. Your Guide is waiting for you at the foot of the tree, and during a period of about three months he wishes most of all to establish with you a relationship of friendship, of trust, of confidence. For this reason take his hands and let him take your hands, embrace him, and remain sitting in his presence as if you were old friends. If you lose contact, recall the most pleasant image that you have had of your Guide, and continue from there. Normally after about three months you can ask questions, but your Guide himself will tell you or make you understand when it is possible. When you visualize him, ask him if he really is your Guide. If he is, he will nod his head, and you will experience a sensation of well-being and of being loved by the Guide. Ask him his name, and accept the first name which arrives. Your Guide himself will tell you when you have been in his presence for long enough or you will understand it yourself. Go back through the tunnel and go out of the opening that you entered from.

Request a channeling session.

* Franco Santoro "Introduzione all'astrosciamanesimo" ed. Mediterranee