A vistor to Neils Bohr’s country cottage, noticing a horseshoe hanging on the wall, teased the eminent scientist about this ancient superstition. “Can it be that you, of all people, believe it will bring you luck?” “Of course not,” replied Bohr, “but I understand it brings you luck whether you believe or not.”      Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes

Among the many relationships with entities from other realms, channeling is one of the more controversial for many people. Perhaps because, although channeling takes many forms, it generally involves allowing a spirit entity to step into and speak through your physical body. There are many people who channel. J.Z. Knight, who channels Ramtha from her ranch in Yelm, is among the more widely known through her association with movie stars Shirley MacLaine and Linda Evans.

J.Z. and Ramtha have been controversial over the years for many reasons yet they still attract hundreds of students from around the world to their workshops and events. The work has also drawn much scientific skepticism. True to her nature J.Z. was determined to address these questions head on and invited a team of scientists to come to the ranch to observe and scientifically test the channeling process. I was fortunate to be invited to witness this small gathering.

For two days the scientists probed, prodded and measured J.Z.’s brain waves, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, perspiration rate and more. At the end of the conference they presented their findings. While most were not willing to conclusively validate channeling as a real and factual phenomenon, they acknowledged they were not able, as they had hoped and anticipated, to prove that it wasn’t, admitting there was something going on for which science had no explanation. The scientists were chagrined. J.Z., as you might imagine, was pleased.

For most scientists the mystery remains a mystery. For others there is no mystery to these relationships with the spiritual realms. No mystery at all.