Fri 28 Feb 92  5:38
    By: Robin Gober
    To: ALL
    Re: Channeling

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    "Channeling part of spreading phenomenon
      By Lorna Collier

    _The Register Star_


    [...] `It is spreading.'  says Reginald Alev, spokesman for the Chicago 
    based  Cult Awareness Network,  a  national organization that  monitors 
    cult-like groups. 
     
      Why? 
     
      Alev and others say the popularity of channeling is part of something 
    larger,   called  the New Age movement --  a  catch-all phrase for  the 
    catch-all  philosophy that includes belief in the occult,  in  holistic 
    healing, in reincarnation, in man as God, master of his own destiny. 
     
      [....] 
     
      `In this confusing society and world,  when somebody says they've got 
    an answer,  it's very appealing' says Dr. Edwin Morse,  a  Madison Wis. 
    based psychologist who counsels ex-cult members and their families. 
    
      Morse says the majority of [people in New Age groups,  in addition to 
    being fairly well-educated, are also `idealistic and often navie.' 
     
      [....] 
     
      Alev  and  others  caution  that channeling  itself  is  a  dangerous 
    phenomenon,with elements of cultism and mass hypnosis. 
     
      `Anybody  is  vulnerable  to  a certain degree.'   Alev  says.   `The 
    procedures  are deeply hypnotic.  One of our board members --  who  was 
    prepared,  who knew what she would be getting into -- went to a meeting 
    and had a hard time with it.' 
     
      `When  done in a group setting,  this can be  profoundly  effective.' 
    agrees Dr.  Edwin Morse. `They say, `lets just meditate for 10 minutes. 
    Lets  just see yourself floating on a cloud.  See how relaxed and  calm 
    you  are.'  Then they help you get to a `higher plane of being'  --  at 
    which  point  some group leaders,  Morse says,   plant  suggestions  in 
    susceptible minds. 
     
      Alev lists the following as techniques for group hypnosis: 
     
      Raising  the temperature in the room;  isolating people so they can't 
    see  what's  going  on outside;  not allowing people to talk  to  their 
    neighbors;  having a central speaker use hypnotic,  paced speech;   not 
    allowing  interruptions;   using ongoing and toneless  music;   endless 
    lectures; constant `decreeing.'' 
     
      Morse  and  Alev also believe New Age groups meet some  criteria  for 
    cults or `mind-control regimes.' 
     
      `They   are  not  traditional  cults  with  physical  isolation   and 
    necessarily a central person running the whole thing.'  Alev says. `But 
    there is mind control, removing the ability to question, not accounting 
    for the money, using arcane jargon.' 
     
      Morse  listed additional cult characteristics the New Age groups seem 
    to share: 
     
      `A  sense of having THE ANSWER,  separation form previous people  and 
    attachments,   becoming dependent on a special leader with  magical  or 
    godlike qualities.' 
     
      Rock  Valley  College  sociology instructor Lloyd  Oehlke,   who  has 
    studied cults in their formative stages, added more: 
     
      `Paranoia,   predictions of impending doom,  predictions of a  coming 
    perfect order, a sense by member of being the Elect or Chosen.' 
     
      Another  serious  problem  with channeling,  Alev says  is  that  the 
    channeler doesn't know the mental state of his or her listener. 
     
      For example,  he says, a  Colorado woman was told by a channeler that 
    she  and the married man she loved would be together in  another  life. 
    So, to hasten that along, the woman killed the man and herself. 
     
      `This  is  the  kind of thing we're concerned  about  --   and  there 
    probably have been others cases, as well.' 
     
      Alev says he doesn't think adolescents -- who are `highly suggestive, 
    in a state of emotional upheaval --  should be exposed to anything that 
    even smacks of hypnotic trances.' 
     
      `You  can be hypnotized if you don't know it's happening.'  he  said. 
    `Some  people experience cognitive dissociation.  They're having  their 
    world view altered and not even realizing that it's happening." 
     
      I'd like to restate that I have nothing against channeling per say, I 
    am  only  interested in giving information in order to help  people  be 
    better consumers