8 - Channelling On Special Issues

You can heal in the present everything from the past,
and indeed you can heal your future too.

(Ortan)

Past Lives

In this chapter I am going to focus on channelling about certain specific topics, starting with past lives. Each of us is a soul who has chosen to incarnate in a human body. But this is not the first time you have lived in a human body, and it probably won't be the last either. There are several techniques that you can use to find out about past lives, and channelling is only one of them; other techniques include meditation and hypnotic regression. For channellings that talk about past lives see pp.136 and 148.

Ortan and I are often asked to channel for people about their past lives. Channelling in this way is really no different from any other reading you can do. However, there are a few things you need to consider before embarking on this technique.

Don't Neglect The Present

Sometimes you will not get anything through at all that relates to past lives. If this happens don't worry: your guide will explain to your client what is happening and will also point out that it is clearly something in this life that will help them, not in a past life. At times we conveniently choose to attribute our present-day difficulties to past life karma and unresolved issues, but this can be a way of avoiding facing up to what we really need to work with, perhaps because it is uncomfortable or difficult for us.

It is also important not to over-emphasize the importance of past lives - we are born into this life to learn our lessons in the present. When we take on the physical incarnation the veil of forgetfulness conies down to cloak our memories so that we can be here in the present. Our soul chose this set of circumstances as being the environment that would most facilitate this learning. Therefore past life readings, whilst often deeply revealing, should not be given too frequently, particularly to the same person.

The Time Must Be Right

Ortan explains that it is not always the right time for us to remember a past life. Idle curiosity, he adds, is not an especially high motivation, and we will be given past life information as and when it will help us in our growth. This very rarely happens in a reading, because people simply don't come to a reading if it is not their time to have the experience. Nowadays I trust the guides to take care of this for me - if someone books in for a past life reading I know that if they are supposed to be here they'll arrive and if not they won't. Ortan always says that we don't need to worry about these issues as the energy will take care of it for us. Another lesson in trust!

Conducting The Channelling

The most effective method for channelling on past lives is to ask your client to focus on a situation in their present life about which they would like some insight - past life readings often throw an immense amount of light on present life problems and experiences. You don't need to know all the ins and outs of the present-day situation; just let your client focus in, and then become very open to what comes through for you. For me the past life readings are intensely visual. It is like watching a film - the picture suddenly comes up and Ortan gives the commentary. Often I have absolutely no idea why we are seeing the scenes until the end of the reading when he pulls it all together. I find these readings extremely interesting, as through them I have learnt a tremendous

amount myself. The best piece of advice I can give you is to stay detached and just let it all run on. Often the clients are very moved by the information; just stay in the channelling space and trust your guide.

When you want to channel for yourself just go into a meditative state, focus on your present-day problem and be very open as you connect with your guide. Remember, you won't always get past life information - it will come if it is appropriate.

Relating Past And Present Lives

Often Ortan will talk to people in some detail about their past lives and the impact of these lives on their present lives. One lady who came to us for a reading had had a past life in India. When we first tuned into this life she was a boy of about fourteen, taking a pair of oxen down a dusty road to a water-hole to drink. The boy was a Hindu who had fallen in love with his employer's daughter. But under the caste system he had no hope of any kind of a relationship with her and he kept this love a secret. The reading moved on to the scene of his death in a hut with his sister holding his hand. He was only seventeen and had wasted away after the girl he loved was married to a man who lived far away and he knew he could never even catch a glimpse of her again. The boy died with his secret locked away.

In her present-day life this lady was unable to let go of her emotions and had consented to an arranged marriage. She did not really love her husband, although she felt that he was a good man. She had carried over from her past life her belief that her real feelings could not be expressed or she would be punished. Once she realized where this came from, Ortan was able to take her back in time to heal herself as that young boy, forgiving him and allowing him to release his secret love.

Another lady who came for a reading asked about her relationship with her present-day husband. Ortan told her that she had been in a previous life with her husband in Edwardian times. Her mother had died and she lived with her father and two brothers. She worked in a publishers, and her present-day husband was her boss in that past life. She had been very fiery and feisty and had never married or had children.

Her present-day husband had been very successful. In this present-day life he had decided to be much more laid back about making money. She too in the past life had been quite well off. Her ideas about money had sprung both from her present-day upbringing and from leftover beliefs from that past life, in which she felt she didn't have to take responsibility for financial matters as her father had always done that. In the past life she had found that her boss (present-day husband) was very responsible and she felt safe with him, because she always felt he would take the right decisions. In the present-day life she and her husband had accumulated a very large debt because of these beliefs.

Her relationship with her husband was that of a brother and sister. She had no children and told me later that in this life she was a successful writer who had published three books. It was interesting to see how some of her past life skills had been carried over to this life, and also how the past life information made so much sense to her when she looked at her current relationship with her husband.

Physical Health And Well-being

Let's look now at another way of focusing your channelling - on health issues, chakras and auras. Working with your guide, you will find with practice that you can assess the state of another person's energy simply by scanning the chakras and the aura. This scanning involves tuning into the energy of the other person whilst you are connected with your guide.

Guides' Interest In Physical Matters

You will first need to check with your own guide that this is an area in which he has an interest. Ortan is passionately concerned about physical health and well-being, but my other guide, Shalaya, has no interest in these matters at all. Ortan often shares physicality with me - he likes to go for walks, to do yoga, to dance. Through me he explores how the body operates, how the energies flow and don't flow, and he has come to his own understanding of all this which he now uses to assist other people in readings.

Shalaya, on the other hand, is dismayed by the experience of physicality. When I first channelled Shalaya he transmitted a deep sadness at my being trapped in this dense field of matter. By doing this he liberated my awareness in a new way: I felt a deep understanding that this experience of being in a physical body is a transitory one and does not express anything like the full range of my potential as a being.

At first sight it may seem very strange that a guide who is nonphysical should take any interest in physical health. But Ortan has explained this to me, focusing on two main ideas. The first is that some guides, simply because they are non-physical, find the whole area of manifesting, of being at this vibration that we resonate at, fascinating precisely because it is a different vibration from their own. The second reason is that guides realize it can be very difficult to focus on spiritual growth, meditation and spiritual exercises if your body is not working well. This does not necessarily mean that you need perfect health to be spiritual -indeed, many spiritual lessons can be learned through being unwell.

The Purpose Of Illness

Interestingly, many mystics and spiritual people have experienced a great deal of illness, often in childhood. At these times they were forced into isolation and contemplation by their physical condition. This was the case for me: much of my childhood was spent in illnesses that kept me in my bed, thinking, reading and communing with the higher realms. Later in my life cancer too brought many lessons.

It is my belief that ill health is another route to spiritual growth. I have met many people who started on their path of spiritual growth and personal development because they were ill. Finding that conventional medicine was unable to help them, they turned to alternative or complementary approaches. On that journey they learned many things, one of which was the importance of taking responsibility for one's own health rather than just handing the problem over to a doctor. Even our language reflects the way we think about health - many people talk about being 'under the doctor'.

A Word Of Caution

One word of caution before you go further - unless you are a qualified doctor you should never attempt to diagnose a person's illness. Always suggest that your client first visits a properly qualified doctor so that they may make informed decisions about the types of treatment they choose. Once they have the diagnosis they may or may not tell you what it is. In a sense that doesn't matter, for you are reading their energy, but don't make any further claims than that.

Subtle Anatomy: Chakras And Auras

Before you begin to work with your guide to view what is called subtle anatomy - chakras and auras - let's start by being clear about what these are. Everybody has seven major chakras in the body, and 122 minor chakras. The major chakras are roughly aligned down the etheric spine, which runs down the etheric body. This 'body' is like a sheath of energy around the physical body and constitutes the first layer of the aura. The minor chakras are found at the joints. The chakras are centres of force and are located throughout the auric layers/bodies. When you are looking at another person's energy fields you may 'see' both major and minor chakras or only the major chakras. Your guide will know what is important for the reading, so just go with it.

Before you begin to read chakras or auras I strongly recommend that you spend some time working with these energy centres yourself. The benefits of doing so are tremendous and will help you enormously with your channelling and spiritual development. When we decide to work with the chakras, we decide to work to discover ourselves at many levels and in new and unfamiliar ways. Meditation is the route to this work - the symbols and information we have about the chakras serve as the basis of visualizations and as a focus for meditation.

Yoga too can be used as a route to awaken the chakras, but mainly as a preparation for the deeper meditative work.

The yoga postures not only give physical strength and flexibility but also have an impact upon the nadis, the channels which circulate the subtle energies. These subtle energies are very responsive to breathing - prana, life force energy, can be directed by controlled breathing exercises or pranayama.

The yoga master Iyengar says that through the practice of pranayama kundalini will be awakened. Kundalini refers to the awakening of the energy that is said to lie curled within the base chakra, often represented as a snake or a serpent. When awakened, the energy rises up through the seven major chakras. If you are not ready for this experience it can be very painful and extremely disorienting. For this reason, breathing exercises are not recommended without specific teaching from an experienced teacher.

Chakras

The chakras are like wheels of energy - the word chakra is Sanskrit for wheel or circle. The chakras are always turning, but how fast they turn depends to some extent upon the well-being of the individual. The size, shape, amount of movement and intensity of each chakra are all related to the individual's well-being and level of personal development. Dowsing can be used to ascertain the current state of the chakras: you hold a pendulum above the relevant chakra and let it begin to swing with the movement of the chakra. Barbara Brennan (see Bibliography) explains this technique well.

Each chakra can be stimulated or quietened through the use of meditation, chanting, yoga, colours, crystals and fragrances. By bringing the chakras into balance and alignment many positive benefits can be achieved. Each chakra enhances certain qualities -physical, mental and spiritual. Keeping the chakras open and balanced ensures a free flow of energy in the body, which will bring positive feelings and good physical health.

As you work with the chakras and the aura you may come to understand that these concepts are crucial. It is energy which determines our level of health - both the energy that we have running through our chakras and aura, and the energies we are exposed to and thus have to transmute. Duane Packer's guide DaBen has some useful words of advice: he always says that there is no such thing as negative energy - just energy that you cannot handle yet. By working with the chakra system you will increase the range of energies that you are able to transmute and reduce the impact that energies that are not compatible with your own will have on you at all levels.

'Seeing' With Your Guide

When you share sensing with your guide you can develop your ability to perceive. You begin to be able to perceive auras and chakras, even other people's thoughts in some instances. In short, you become a lot more sensitive.

When you view chakras three main things can be 'seen. You can observe the direction of the spinning or rotation of the chakra, its shape and diameter. When you look at someone in front of you, facing them, the chakras spin clockwise in healthy people who live above the equator. (In people who live below the equator they spin counter-clockwise, according to Rosalyn Bruyere.)

Energy is drawn up into the first chakra and then moves up in a serpentine movement, into the first chakra and out again, up into the second chakra, out of the third chakra, into the fourth chakra, out of the fifth chakra, into the sixth chakra and out through the top of the seventh chakra.

It is the clockwise spin that draws the energy up to the next chakra. It is useful to remember that the chakras work as a whole system and need to be 'read' together, as they impact on each other all the time. Each chakra has a polarity, based on whether the energy is moving in or out of it. Ortan often mentions the importance of polarity in our world. The polarities of Yin and Yang, mentioned in the table below, describe energy: Yin is female/passive, Yang male/active. In the chakra system the polarities are as follows:

In the table above, negative refers to the flow of energy and does not indicate a negative experience. All these energy fields are electromagnetic in nature: when electrons flow in there is a negative charge, and when they flow out there is a positive charge. Notice also from the table that there is a relationship between the chakras, based on whether they are negative or positive. If you want to manifest changes in your energy you need to work specifically with the positive chakras from which energy flows.

If you want to maintain a certain energy set-up you need to work with the negative chakras to keep that set-up. Thus by energizing certain sets of chakras we are able to influence our experience, and of course if you work with other people at an energy level you will be able to influence their experience, too, through working with the chakra system.

When a chakra is round, spinning in a clockwise movement and matches the other chakras in diameter, then it is most probably absolutely fine. However, as you work with other people you will observe different shapes and rotations. If the spin is counterclockwise it usually means that energy is being drained from that chakra instead of sending it up to the next chakra.

There are exceptions to this, however. The first is, as mentioned above, that if you are below the equator the spin is reversed. The second is that a counter-clockwise movement is commonly observed for about nine days a month in both men and women. All of us are subject to influence from celestial bodies, and the moon is a very important influence on our physical energy.

Women have a 28-day menstrual cycle with some of the chakras spinning anticlockwise on about nine days of the month. Usually every other chakra will exhibit this change, and this needs to be borne in mind when working with women. It can be pinpointed by the pairs of chakras exhibiting counter-clockwise movements. This happens because the central energy meridian reverses direction during the menstrual cycle, and can be seen as the way that we eliminate incompatible energies. It is not, therefore, a sign of damage. Interestingly, men too seem to have this change every month.

The counter-clockwise spin of a chakra can also indicate damage or pathology in the organs associated with that chakra.

If the spin of the chakra is elliptical is usually means that there is something wrong energetically. It could be tiredness or it could be a malfunction of the endocrine system related to the chakra (see table on pp. 102-3). Finally, it could be a problem with the lymphatic system in the area of that chakra.

To become adept at viewing chakras with your guide, practise as much as possible. If someone is unwell, look at their chakras to compare them with the way they look when they are healthy.

Some channels and psychics 'see' the chakras as funnel-shaped, almost like flowers blossoming. The back of each flower is attached to a central stem (the sushumna, one of the many nadis or subtle channels in the body) which runs straight up the centre of the physical body from the first to the seventh chakra and connects them all. This is the channel up which the kundalini will rise, hence its name - channel of fire or Sarasvati.

The awakening of the kundalini occurs rarely in the West. It is the awakening of power, symbolized by a coiled snake lying in the first chakra which, when it awakens, rises to the sixth chakra. In ancient Egypt the ability to see and the awakening of psychic powers which this stimulated was sometimes depicted in a headdress with the head of a snake - the symbol of wisdom in that culture - facing forward over the third eye or sixth chakra.

As the kundalini rises up through the chakras it changes their vibration to a higher frequency, and the experience is of great bliss if the person is ready and able to surrender to it. The kundalini will not stay at the sixth and seventh chakras unless a great deal of preparation has been carried out. Sometimes it just rises through some of the chakras and falls back; it can then be very difficult to generate again for some time.

Kundalini is frequently described as generating a great heat or fire in the sushumna, accompanied by trembling, uncontrollable shaking and sometimes, fear. The arousal can produce great healing if the person is open to it, but often it is traumatic and dramatic. The complete rising to the seventh chakra is said to bring enlightenment and liberation.

Around the sushumna are coiled two other nadis, the Ida and the Pingala. The Ida exits from the left of the base chakra whilst the Pingala exits from the right. They weave through the chakras forming a symmetrical pattern as seen on the caduceus, the wand of the healer, and meet at the sixth chakra, where they merge and continue upwards. If you observe a lack of symmetry in these nadis it indicates an imbalance and almost certainly a physical illness.

Exercise: Scanning The Energy Of The Chakras

If you can find a cooperative friend, ask them to sit in front of you for a few minutes so that you can practise scanning their energy. Begin to relax, close your eyes and bring in the energy of your guide. When you can feel the guide fully present, begin to focus on the energy of the person seated before you. Spend a few minutes pretending that you can see out of your third eye, the sixth chakra. Just focus your attention on that centre, ask your guide to open and align the centre, and then ask him to use your ability to scan to give you information about the chakras of your friend.

If you are confident in your verbal channelling begin with the first chakra and tell your friend your feelings about it, moving up from chakra to chakra until you have finished. Now ask your friend to spend a few minutes in meditation with you, focusing on the chakras and bringing them into alignment. You could use a guided meditation tape or just visualize the appropriate colour for each chakra in turn, at the same time asking the healing guides to bring the chakras into alignment and balanced function. Now scan your friend's energy again. What do you notice?

There are many variations which you can use to develop this sensing. For example, ask your friend to focus on one chakra and then deliberately bring it into balance while you scan it. Play! Practice is the way to become good at this.

You could use our tape set Channelling for Healers or our taped course Working with Your Chakras to assist with this exercise.

Auras

The spinning of the chakras creates the aura or auric field, and the amount of energy which is generated by a particular chakra or group of chakras creates the colour of the aura. The colour of the chakra itself is created by the energy which is produced by its spin - that is, its frequency. The aura is composed of layers of colour -when viewed it is like looking at a rainbow with many layers of colour, not like the aura photographs which you often find being taken at New Age fairs. However, it is important to note that this is my experience and may not be yours. Take these notes as guidance but not as direction. Each of us has our own way of perceiving subtle energies, and there is no wrong way to do it. Find your own truths and trust them.

The Layers Of The Aura

These layers correspond to different levels of your being. The first layer, the etheric body, is close to the physical body and you can see this in what is known as Kirlian photography. This technique was developed by a Russian scientist named Semyon Kirlian. The effect created by this technique is to show a sort of energy halo which actually remains surrounding the whole leaf after a piece of leaf has been torn off. Kirlian believed that this effect was the aura of the leaf. Kirlian photographs of a hand also show the luminescence of the aura.

The etheric body directly reflects what is happening in the physical body; it feeds on the energies transmuted by the chakras and can be affected by meditation, breathing and visualizations. Because this first layer is associated with the first chakra it plays an important part in the amount of energy that is accessible to the individual - it is often said that this layer is the 'blueprint' for the physical form. It usually extends only a couple of inches from the body, is frequently perceived as being a bluey grey colour, and pulses.

The second layer or the emotional body will give you a lot of information about the person's current emotional state. It is about three inches out from the physical body and is moving all the time. This is like aura photographs with clouds of colour. It contains all colours, and the chakras look like their typical colours within it.

The third layer, the mental body, is usually yellow which is the colour of thinking. Sometimes other colours come in, but they are usually the emotions associated with the thoughts going on at the time, so that you are observing an entanglement of emotional and mental body issues.

Observations

When I tune in with Ortan I can always tell whether someone has been doing work on themselves. When I channel I always scan energy first: those who have been meditating and working on connecting with the higher aspects of themselves frequently have a lot of white and gold light in the upper areas of their aura. Sometimes you can see the flow of energy up through the crown chakra like a fountain of light, especially in those with awakened Light Bodies - people who are fully awakened at a spiritual level.

Those who are manifesting a strong connection with the soul or the higher self will often have from the top of the head a highly visible antakarana - a channel that connects the lower self to the soul, to the monad and higher. I often 'see' this as gold or whitish-gold, with soft, pulsating light moving down it and into the crown chakra.

Physical illnesses are usually visible within the body - so, for example, if someone comes with a back problem I might see the problem but usually also feel it in my own body. I don't feel the actual symptoms but I get a strong feeling that these areas are not flowing. It might feel like an ache or a coldness in my own body as I channel. When you then 'look' at the person's energy there is a darkness and a greyness in these areas of the aura or the body, often both. Cancers look very dark, almost like holes in the energy, and the solar plexus chakra is almost always very weak, as is the base chakra.

When one lady came for a reading with us I could clearly see a dark area around her right breast and shoulder/arm joint areas. Ortan asked if she had any problems in this area and she said she didn't. I surmised that perhaps this was something that had not yet manifested in the physical body, so I gently questioned her after the reading. She suddenly smiled and said, 'Oh, of course I did have breast cancer a few years ago which resulted in a mastectomy and the removal of the lymph nodes under the arm.'

Sometimes the questions people ask don't necessarily appear to be about health or chakras at all, but when you tune in with your guide it is very clear where the problems lie. In one reading the lady asked about why she was so easily put down by other people, and how she could get over this problem. First of all Ortan pointed out that she needed to learn to trust herself, emphasizing that trust was an important thing for her to experience at this point of her journey through life. He went on to talk about her second and third chakras, saying that they were out of balance and alignment.

He gave her practical things that she could do to correct the problem, such as using Reiki (a form of healing where the practitioner channels the Reiki energy through the hands to assist the client's healing process) into the chakras and also working with crystals. Finally he told her that meditation with the chakras would be very useful for building her confidence.