It is so easy for someone to claim that they've channelled a spirit or a divine being. Who is going to argue with them? The delicate subject of whether or not someone is a freaking looney tune or whether they are actually an open channel for spirits and divine beings is a subject that most people in the magickal community want to avoid. I mean really, there are enough non-pagans who want to tear us apart for our beliefs, why would we want to turn on each other and start that?
But the truth of the matter is that we need to verify and authenticate our seers. Not in some public, process-bound, manifest way... but in a heartfelt, spiritually authentic way. In short, do you FEEL the presence of the divine or of otherworldly creatures when the seer is channeling? Or do your instincts tell you that they're consummately full of crap and creating a very well crafted act of being possessed or channeling the spiritual energy?
Those of us who have been in the presence of a true seer can FEEL the presence. The energy in the room changes. It gets very cold, or warm... you feel as though someone with a lot of personal energy has just entered the room when no one new is present... and when the seer who is channelling turns their focus to you, you feel like a small child whose teacher has just asked them a question... or someone who is suddenly aware that they're being looked at by a very attractive person.
When we start learning to channel, the biggest challenge is moving our own ego out of the way. This is why it's so important to be around people who are successful mediums beforehand. It is about feelings, and about what is left behind. As mediums or seers, we need to be aware that we are not in control nor will we be while the spirit is present. NOTE that this is drastically different from a trance medium or spirit medium who speaks to the ancestors or those who have crossed over. Those mediums work and spend years honing their craft to be able to speak FOR the dead but remain in control. A seer or prophet works to allow the divine to come through without controlling them. They must allow the God\Goddess to use their bodies, their voices.. their senses to guide the interaction with the participants.
As someone who has channeled dieties, I can tell you that it's not easy and it's frightening at times. Dieities are strong spiritual entities, they do not apologize for their words or actions, and you must learn to release any attachment that the channeling experience has to you. You are a tool, a doorway through which they speak. Nothing more. There is no glory in being a channel, the glory goes to the diety who has blessed the group with their presence. There is no power in being the channel, for the power goes to those who speak with the diety and offer their gratitude and service in exchange for wisdom, guidance, and protection.
Having Saturn in Pisces in my 10th house, and my 8th house ruled by Capricorn it took me a long time to come to channeling successfully. I constantly berated myself for every failed attempt to channel. I finally took a course from a successful spirit medium who is also a Capricorn and her tough love style of teaching guided me away from the eternal critic to a place where I could authentically and confidently channel spirits. The tools she taught me help me channel diety as well, but I'm learning that diety is much more about my emotional state than whether I WANT to channel.
Diety comes through a medium when they are called or needed. Unlike Goetic or Thelemic work where a precise and complex ritual is followed to draw the demon or angel into a space for the purpose of control, channelling diety is more about a relationship that is nurtured with a diety over time, and through that relationship an emotional bond is formed that calls the deity forth and into the medium. This is about respect and love, not command and control. I have no judgement or care for whether one way is better than the other, I see them as separate processes that each serve those who engage in them.
We work to find value in our sacrifices, we work to find wisdom in our lessons, and we are often rewarded by unpredictable results that shock and amaze us when they finally materialize.
Never doubt that a willing medium will be able to successfully channel a spirit or divine energy, but always question whether the medium is truly willing.
