Mediumism and Channeling - Two faces of the same coin

Today mediumism is such a strong phenomenon. In fact much stronger than it was during the time of the Foundation of the Theosophical Society in the 19th century. Allan Kardek is not the only one responsible for the proliferation of mediumism, but misinterpretations of theosophical teachings also has lead man into such a practice.

A common and more modern term used for mediumism is channeling. In fact channeling and mediumism are two faces of the same coin. H.P.B. give us some light upon this theme when she said he following: “There are thousands of shades of mediumism, and they cannot all be enumerated in a letter. All the ancient philosophers knew this, and shunned mediumism to such an extent that it was strictly forbidden to admit mediums to the Eleusinian and other Mysteries….(1).

We know that one of the most arduous works of H.P.B. was her struggle against mediumism. IN fact the need to approach this subject nowadays is even stronger than it was at the time of Blavatsky. After the publicity of H.P.B.’s communication with the Mahatmas, many were those who tried to contact them, through channeling or any other way. As a natural result, many were and are claiming to be in contact with them. Though none of the claimers were - or are able- able to offer any concrete evidence, they managed using the names of the Mahatmas, to found schools, to have thousands of followers around the world and in fact to make a very high profit out of it.

Between such persons we find Alice Bailey and Elizabeth Clare Profit (pardon me Prophet), also other persons who may charge two thousand Euros to give you a message from the Mahatmas; and persons we may know from our everyday life claiming to see the Maitreya at their living room and the Mahatmas at their backyard. The result of all this mess is that serious students of theosophy became very skeptical to such claims.

This skepticism born between serious students of theosophy is necessary to keep us on the right track. But is this skepticism really a good thing? In fact we know its not. But currently we have no other option. At the same time, we shall not shut out intuition and close our eyes to our latent powers. We do must exercise discernment and its only through deep study and self-knowledge that one maybe able to comprehend any phenomena, when having to deal with it.

(1) The Letters of H.P.Blavatsky, Letter 82, p. 307.

Erica L. Georgiades