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The process through which a medium communicates information from spirits and other non-physical beings, such as angels, deities or guardian spirits, by entering into a trance or some other altered state of consciousness.

The urge to communicate with the spirit world is as old as humankind itself. In primitive cultures certain individuals – priests, shamans or medicine people – would seek out the wisdom of the spirit world. The ancient Egyptians and Romans, as well as the early Chinese, Babylonians, Tibetans, Assyrians and Celts, all channelled spirits and entities, and holy men and women of Judaism, Christianity and Islam received divine guidance.

Divination and healing are forms of channelling, as is possession, when an entity seizes control of an individual. In the Middle Ages possession was seen as demonic rather than divine. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when spiritualism was at its height, channelling grew in popularity. The Fox sisters, three young women from New York, first brought public attention to channelling in 1848 when they announced the arrival of spirits in their séances.

One famous medium of the mid-nineteenth century was Nettie Colburn, a trance channeller whose spirit guides advised President Lincoln. Between 1861 and 1863 Mrs Lincoln called her to the White House to use her skills to advise the President on a wide variety of subjects – advice he was known to have followed. For example, Colburn channelled advice about how Lincoln could raise morale among the Yankee troops, and her advice worked.

After spiritualism declined in the early twentieth century, channelling did not receive widespread attention again until the early 1970s, when Jane Roberts published the Seth books, which were allegedly channelled to her by a non-physical entity called Seth. Channelling is no longer a hot topic, but popular interest remains to this day.

Different mediums have different ways of channelling. Sometimes it happens when the channeller falls into a sudden trance-like state, or it can be induced. Methods to induce channelling include meditation, prayer, hypnosis, fasting, chanting, dancing, breath exercises, sleep deprivation and taking hallucinogenic drugs.

Direct voice channelling occurs when another entity or personality takes temporary possession of the channeller’s body, often using voices and mannerisms different from those of the channeller. The channeller may be unaware of what is being said or done and may not recall anything afterwards. Mental channelling, the mediation of thoughts, words, images and feelings, is also done in a state of light trance, but this time the channeller is aware of the process. The channeller’s voice may or may not change, and he or she may communicate through automatic writing, a Ouija board or similar device, or even sleep or dreams. Physical channelling involves physical effects such as psychic healing, apports and levitation. In the wider sense of the term, channelling could also include intuition, inspiration and imagination, and as such it becomes a way for everyone to connect to a higher source of wisdom.

A number of theories have been put forward to explain channelling. The simplest is that channellers do actually get in touch with the spirit world. Others believe that channellers engage in deliberate fraud or that it is symptomatic of multiple personality disorder. The trouble with the latter argument is that mentally ill people do not tend to have control over their communicators, but channellers typically do. The view advanced by some psychologists is that channelled entities are not separate entities but part of the channeller’s subconscious that takes on the personality of an entity in order to express itself.

Many psychics believe that channelling is a skill anyone can learn and that it shouldn’t just be the preserve of professional mediums. It’s important to remember that everyone will have a different experience of channelling, and the insights received may come in any number of different forms. It is up to the individual to translate and interpret.