|
|
           
Gift Certificates Available! |
Is There a Difference Being…..
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. Unfortunately, it creates much confusion leaving many people scratching their heads wondering how to tell the difference or asking if there is a difference and if so then what the difference is. Word association is a man-made commodity in which new words are formulated everyday. Therefore, it relies upon personal interpretation, in which you really have to define the importance of why and how you connect with a particular expression or description. If you browse through advertisements or scan the Internet, you probably have noticed a variety of titles that professionals choose to use. Some call themselves "a sensitive", "a psychic", "a channeller", "an intuitive", "a medium", "an empath" or "a clairvoyant" or they may even tack several of these together to add to their title; nothing like too much of a good thing. No doubt their choice of title is meant to attract a certain clientele, but is it more than that? Can choice also be based on where or how the person was trained or if they are affiliated with the Spiritualist’s movement or simply because they think that one is a grander or more powerful title than the other that signifies greater insight or power? But no matter what title a professional is attracted to use, ultimately the goal is the same, which is to connect with the spiritual realm in order to receive information, inspirations, higher knowledge or wisdom from a divine universal source. The only difference is defining the person’s intention - why do they want to connect to spirit and what are they doing with information received? Sadly, too much emphasis can be placed on what a person calls themselves, rather than what they are actually trying to achieve. Titles can do wonders for a person’s ego and in our modern day society it seems that many think this defines who they are. As an example and using your name as an analogy, does it really matter what people address you as, because the bottom line is that you are still the same person, plus you are still part of the human race. In other words, you can use any name you like to describe yourself, but in reality you are still just a human being like everyone else. So the same rule applies for titles….no matter what your title, whether it is simple or influential, beneath it remains the same person. In this article I endeavour to briefly uncover the mystery surrounding the different classifications or titles. I illustrate terminologies, as depicted by dictionaries, to give you better understanding about the most popular descriptive titles chosen by professionals. Of course, as with any information offered you should always use discretion, as well as maintain an open mind, as you weigh the facts. Keep what works for you and then let the remainder go or better still, continue to investigate to further upgrade and improve your knowledge.
A Psychic Great, this definition just adds to the confusion. First of all, everyone is born with psychic abilities to varying degrees; therefore, we all can basically 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 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 the weaker ones. All information received through these inner senses does not come from a physical source; but rather the source is spiritual in nature. The inner senses that I am referring to are:
When professionals intentionally choose to call themselves "a psychic", they possibly want potential clients to think that they are blessed with special powers of insight gifted to them by the universe. 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 are 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"; heaven forbid. A Medium 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 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. This is rightly so in instances where a loved one is tragically and suddenly taken, thus leaving an unanswered gap causing insurmountable grief for those left behind. There is an ongoing debate as to the differences between a channeller 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 "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 serves as a temporary vehicle for spirit to communicate. In other words, the medium vacates the physical body to allow spirit to temporarily use it. Physical mediumship can also encompass phenomena such as:
Some teachers teach a traditional method where they have their students work directly with various spirit guides, who act sort of 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:
When professionals purposely chooses to be addressed as a "medium", most likely they want potential clients to be aware that their prime objective is to connect with deceased loved ones. In other words, 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. The medium will describe the deceased person in such a way that it will prove or validate this is really that person or the medium will provide proof that is meaningful to the client (or sitter). Meanwhile, channelling encompasses a broader spectrum with more open-minded learning techniques. Many will argue that a medium receives information directly from a deceased loved one, thus bypassing the use of the psychic inner senses. Many mediums believe that while they work with spirit guides, channellers do not. Many will argue that while a medium can be a channeller, a channeller cannot be a medium. Many mediums argue that channellers do not work with spirit influence. And so the disagreement between the two representations continues. A Channeller Whoa…more confusion to add to the debate. To clarify this further, a channeller works with spirit, but usually doesn’t make a distinction about directly contacting deceased loved ones as does a medium. A channeller’s purpose is really about bringing forth information, but doesn’t focus on precisely how it is obtained. Just like a "medium'" a "channeller" may also go into a light trance state with eyes closed or may prefer to keep their eyes open, while remaining in a slightly altered conscious state of mind and as well, they always have full control over their body. The word "channeller" is a newer, more modern form of terminology, which is becoming widely accepted in this era. Despite the on-going controversy, there are people who call themselves "a channeller", but who also connect to deceased loved ones, as well as work with spirit guides, so perhaps they really aren’t so concerned about their title, but rather more concerned about the information they bring forth. Professionals who choose to call themselves "a channeller" mainly does so because they want the public to be aware that they only act as a conduit or as a channel or vessel for receiving information from the spiritual realm. Generally, they do not purport to bring forth any particular type of information, although some claim to connect and work through a specific entity or spirit guide. A Sensitive A sensitive’s dominant inner sense is clairsentience (clear sensing/feeling), but obviously 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. As you can see, this is just another play on words relatively meaning the same thing. Using another analogy, you can liken it to the different pronunciation of words such as potato or tomato, depending on your living locality. Does it really matter how it is pronounced, because in reality they are still the same vegetable or fruit? An Empath Basically, this is a person who is highly sensitive to picking up or absorbing energy vibrations or information from their environment or from other individuals. Truthfully, this doesn’t sound too much different from "a sensitive." An empath’s dominant inner sense is clairsentience (clear sensing/feeling), but this doesn’t mean that the other senses are not also used. An Intuitive An intuitive uses the inner sense of claircognizance (clear knowing), where you don’t know why or how you know something, you just do. Some people call this their intuition or gut feeling, while others refer to it as a sixth sense. Again, most likely all the inner senses are utilized with claircognizance being the most dominant. But then there are those who regard "just knowing" as part of clairsentience (clear sensing), which is likely a case of personal interpretation. Oddly, some people feel that if they refer to themselves as "an intuitive", this will detract from the fact of how they obtain their information. They seem to think that they won’t be regarded as having "special" powers or that they may be regarded as having "limited" powers. A Clairvoyant Of course we are all born with this ability, except it is a stronger, more natural inner sense with some people. But upon developing the inner senses through daily practice everyone has the potential to be clairvoyant. Mistakenly, some people seem to forget that clairvoyance is only one out of six natural inner senses that are used when connecting to spirit. Unfortunately, they somehow have a misapprehension that it is some God given special ability. When someone prefers to call themselves "a clairvoyant", they most likely want potential clients to realize that they can psychically "see" into the past, present or future. However, this sort of distorts its true meaning in which clairvoyance is one of six natural inner senses depicting "clear seeing" or seeing pictures within your inner eye, also called the "mind’s eye" or "third eye" (not your physical eyes). In Conclusion Apart from "physical mediumship", there are too many similarities amongst the other titles preventing me from fully discriminating one from the other. The big question remains…..how important is it to use a particular title? Does it make you a more powerful conduit for spirit? Does it make you feel or give you a public image that you are more special than another? Or will it bring you more fame and prosperity? Carefully scrutinize your motives before choosing a title, making sure that you are morally and ethically inspired. And for those who persist in maintaining that there are extensive distinctions among the above, so be it. After-all, you are entitled to your own opinion and reasoning. But be prudent about falling into the trap of thinking or believing that you alone have a significant power or gift that is unequalled by anyone else, because then you will be caught within the grasp of negative-thinking EGO….not a worthy endeavour. © Written by Margaret I. Jang, Apr 6, 2007 Disclaimer
|
This site was last updated
08/12/08
© One Source Learning
Centre for Inner Healing. Created by M. Jang; all rights reserved.
Website:
www.onesourcelearn.com
E-mail:
admin@onesourcelearn.com
Phone: 604-879-7201
