March 14, 2011
By Geoffrey Hoppe

David Thomas’ new book Tuning In is now available from Hampton Roads Publishing, the same group that brought us Conversations with God by Neil Donald Walsh and Megatrends 2010 by Patricia Aburdene. The book, based on the film by the same name, is sure to be a hit with New Agers and it will likely find its way into the hands of many other open-minded or curious humans as well.

In Tuning In, David interviews six channelers including Lee Carroll, Wendy Kennedy, John Cali, Darryl Anka, Shawn Randall and… yours truly. David has a positive approach to channeling because, as he states in the book, some of the messages gave him the inspiration to change his life. But as a trained journalist he remains professionally skeptical, challenging the channelers about their own lives and telling the readers that he came across other channeled materials that smacked of charlatanry.

The launch of David’s book brings up an old but still-relevant question: Is channeling a valid spiritual tool? Tobias and Adamus have told us that we’ll be channeling ourselves in the future. I hear whispers from some Shaumbra that we don’t need channeling anymore. (It’s OK, you can say it out loud because even I have ambivalent feelings about the subject.) Some folks on the message board cut right to the bone and say that channeling is disempowering, but then I wonder why they’re on the Crimson Circle message board in the first place.

The plain fact is that many people like the experience of a channeling. Experience is the key word here. I remember the first time I went to a channeling. It was in 1997 in Reno, Nevada. I was nervous and anxious because I didn’t know what was going to happen; I didn’t have a spiritual background and felt slightly out of place amongst the group of 150 metaphysicians. But the moment Lee Carroll allowed Kryon to come forth with the words, “Greetings, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service….” I knew it was much more than words. It WAS an experience and it lasted for days after the actual channel. Continue reading →