|
Oct / Nov 2007
Altered States of Communicating
Being a Psychic, a Medium, a Channeler, a Sensitive, an Empath, an Intuitive or a Clairvoyant...
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
by Margaret Jang
Setting It Straight
amalgam fillings
by Dr. Hal Huggins
Influenza Vaccines: What’s In That Needle?
from the book: FOWL! Bird Flu: It’s Not What You Think by Dr. Sherri J. Tenpenny
Regular Columns: Horoscopes for
October and November
by Laura
Angel Guidance
with Judy LeBeau
Marketing for Healing Professionals
How To Increase Traffic To Your Website
by Juliet Austin, MA, Marketing Coach
Nutrition
Initiating a Deeper Connection with Your Food
by Lisa Marie Bhattacharya (Whitaker)
Yoga
YOGA FOR WEIGHT CONTROL
by Yoga Teacher Sheri Kauhausen
Inspirations - Magic Doorways
We Are What We Watch
by Devrah Laval
Advertorials:
Struggling with a Serious Illness?
Battling Chronic Pain?
Touch for Health
at our Thanksgiving Dinner
Battling Chronic Pain?
Feng Shui and self actualization
BootCamp for the Brain
Brainwave Biofeedback
Reconnect To Your Soul
Spiritual PhytoEssencing
|
Altered States of Communicating
Being a Psychic, a Medium, a Channeler, a Sensitive, an Empath, an Intuitive or a Clairvoyant...
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
by Margaret Jang
There are so many ways to describe a person who, while in an altered state of awareness, uses their natural inner senses to tap into the spiritual realm to receive and decipher information. Sometimes the many descriptions create confusion leaving people wondering how to tell the difference or wondering if there is a difference.
If you browse through advertisements or scan the Internet, you probably have noticed a variety of titles that professionals use. Some practitioners call themselves “a sensitive”, “a psychic”, “a channeler”, “an intuitive”, “a medium”, “an empath” or “a clairvoyant” or they may even tack several of these descriptives together. But no matter what title a professional is attracted to use, ultimately the goal is the same - to connect with the spiritual realm in order to receive information, inspirations, higher knowledge or wisdom from a divine universal source.
I illustrate terminologies, as depicted by dictionaries, to give you better understanding about the most popular descriptive titles. Keep what works for you and then let the remainder go or better still, continue to investigate.
A Psychic
According to Webster’s dictionary, “a psychic is a person (as a medium) sensitive to non-physical forces.”
Everyone is born with psychic abilities to varying degrees. We all can call ourselves “psychic.” These are not God-given gifts or special powers, as some are led to believe, but are actually part of our natural human physiology. Our natural inner or psychic senses go beyond our five main physical senses. The only difference is that some of us are born with well developed inner senses, while others must painstakingly practice to develop them. Also, one inner sense may be more dominant than the others; therefore practice is required to strengthen our ability to use our weaker ones. All information received through these inner senses does not come from a physical source, but rather the source is innately spiritual.
The inner senses that I am referring to are:
Clairvoyance - clear seeing
Clairsentience - clear sensing/feeling
Clairaudience - clear hearing
Claircognizance - clear knowing
Clairalience (or clairaroma) - clear smelling
Clairambience (or clairgustus) - clear tasting
In some cultures it is believed that psychic gifts are handed down from one generation to the next to which the rest of the community is not privy. Alas, this type of outmoded thinking only spawns a demigod status. But then there are those who shy away from using the word psychic because they fear being labelled “weirdo” or having the stigma of a “charlatan” and worst yet, being confused for perhaps being a “witch”.
A Medium
According to Webster’s dictionary, “a medium is a person through whom others seek to communicate with spirits of the dead.”
Mediumship is better known within the circles of the Spiritualist’s movement. While I do not propose to delve into the long history of mediumship dating back to the British Isles, here in North America it was first introduced around 1848 in New York State.
The main purpose of a medium is to bring closure and comfort to the bereaved - where a loved one is tragically and suddenly taken, thus leaving an unanswered gap and often causing insurmountable grief.
There is an ongoing debate as to the differences between a channeler and a medium. Although the words are quite often used interchangeably, die-hard mediums will emphatically point out that they are definitely not the same, maintaining that mediumship is a specialty and much harder to learn, plus attain. While this may be true about “physical mediumship”, when it comes to “mental mediumship”, I feel that the gap closes drastically.
When learning mediumship, it is divided into specific classifications, physical and mental, with precise learning techniques for each. Generally you will learn “mental” mediumship before “physical”, that is if you are drawn to learn the “physical” at all; it is not everyone’s cup of tea.
|
Physical Mediumship – this uses a deep, focused trance state (low theta to low delta 4.89 to 3 Hz) in which the medium vacates the physical body to allow spirit to temporarily use it.
Physical mediumship can also encompass phenomena such as: apportation, direct voice, ectoplasm, levitation, materialization, rapping, table tipping, telekinesis or teleportation.
Mental Mediumship – is the more commonly used form of communication where information is received from deceased loves ones. A medium may go into a light trance state (low alpha 9.89 to 8.2 Hz) with eyes closed (or some may prefer open), while remaining in a slightly altered conscious state of mind. But in all cases the medium remains in full control over their body. It is this type of mediumship that channelling is often interchanged with.
Some teachers teach a traditional method where they have their students work directly with various spirit guides, who act as “middlemen”, while other teachers teach an informal, more modern method in which they bypass the “middleman” or “spirit guides” and have their students communicate directly with deceased loved ones.
Information may be received through such means as: automatic writing/drawing, clairaudience, clairsentience, clairvoyance, inspiration, etc.
A medium primarily connects to deceased loved ones in order to bring forth messages, but not just any message; the medium must also provide proof of source or proof of survival, such as by describing the deceased person or specific particulars that will validate any further meaningful information for the client (or sitter).
A Channeler
At Dictionary.com: “this is a person that serves as a medium for (a spirit guide).”
A channeler works with spirit, but usually doesn’t make a distinction about directly contacting deceased loved ones as does a medium. A channeler’s purpose is really about bringing forth information, but doesn’t focus on precisely how it is obtained.
A Sensitive
At Dictionary.com: “this is a person who is sensitive; a person with psychic powers; a medium.”A sensitive’s dominant inner sense is clairsentience (clear sensing/feeling), but if a sensitive is a person with psychic powers; a medium, according the dictionary interpretation, then the other senses are also used, except they aren’t as noticeable.
An Empath
According to Dictionary.com, “this is any fictional character that has a paranormal or psychic ability to sense the emotions of others.”
This is a person who is highly sensitive to picking up or absorbing energy, vibrations or information from their environment and individuals.
An Intuitive
In Webster’s dictionary: “this is a person who immediately knows or understands something without conscious reasoning or without the effort of the mind.”
A Clairvoyant
In Webster’s dictionary:“this is a person held to have the power of clairvoyance (or clear seeing).”
Of course we are all born with this ability, except it is a stronger, more natural inner sense with some people. Upon developing the inner senses through daily practice, everyone has the potential to “see clearly”.
This article is seriously condensed. The full article can be read at Margaret’s web site: www.onesourcelearn.com. Those of you, who believe that there are extensive distinctions among the above descriptions that was missed, you may feel free to write or email Margaret or the editor with your point of view.
Margaret Jang is a poet, writer, healing facilitator, designer and teacher of a number of alternative modalities. Margaret and One Source Learning Centre are in Vancouver at:
604-879-7201 and www.onesourcelearn.com
|
|
