Guide
A continually benevolent, protective, ethereal influence acting
through mediums in Spiritualist séances. The term is more
comprehensive than control, as the latter may apply to any
chance communicator who gets through. The guide usually delivers
lofty philosophical or religious instruction beyond the
normal intellectual capacity of the medium. It may operate
while the medium is either awake or in trance.
A number of claimed guides have been Native Americans;
others have Greek or similarly impressive names, often untraceable.
Since the 1950s, some guides have claimed to be
from outer space or from planets known to be uninhabited.
Some are clearly fictional entities, but acceptance of their
claims may result in remarkable and sometimes verifiable communications.
Since the New Age occult revival of the 1980s, there has
been a widespread renewal of interest in the teachings of
trance personalities under the general term channeling
