Step into the enchanting realm of spirit channeling and discover your innate ability to connect with divine guidance in this week’s episode of Exploring the Mystical Side of Life. Our guest, intuitive channel Stephanie Banks, joins Linda to share her journey from clinical speech-language pathologist to mastering the art of conscious channeling—a skill accessible to us all.

Together, they illuminate the path for anyone yearning to connect with higher wisdom, spirit guides, ancestors, nature beings, and Gaia herself.

Here are three key takeaways to spark your inspiration:

🔹 We Are All Channels: Stephanie Banks reminds us that channeling is not reserved for the few—it’s an art developed through dedication, practice, and openness. Everyone can tap into the loving wisdom that supports their life journey.

🔹 Healing Through Divine Connection: Witness the moving story of how channeling transformed Stephanie’s relationship with her mother during her dementia journey, showing that communicating with the soul can heal even the most challenging circumstances.

🔹 Nurturing Practices for Clarity: Learn the importance of radical self-care—spending time in nature, establishing sacred spaces, and listening subtly to maintain a high vibrational energy. Stephanie’s practical advice empowers you to stay attuned and clear, ready to receive meaningful guidance.

Explore the many ways you can connect with your guides, be they angels, ancestors, or Gaia herself. Stephanie’s experience encourages us all to cherish the signs, synchronicities, and orchestrated moments that illuminate our path.

Whether you’re new to channeling or deepening your practice, this episode offers inspiration for embracing your unique channel to the divine. Tune in for wisdom, support, and the gentle reminder: you are never alone on your mystical journey.

Transcript

Stephanie Banks:
I want to be able to channel anything from the highest love that I have access to, and we all can do this. There’s nothing unique to me except for the fact that I was willing to dedicate thousands of hours of practice to it, but we are all channels. We all channel in different ways, and this is just my way.

Announcer:
Welcome to Exploring the Mystical Side of Life with your host, Linda Lang.

Linda Lang:
Hi, this is Linda Lang from ThoughtChange.com. We are Exploring the Mystical Side of Life once again this week. If you enjoy our conversations, remember to subscribe, share with a friend, and consider becoming a member. Today we have intuitive channel Stephanie Banks with us. Welcome, Stephanie.

Stephanie Banks:
Hi, Linda. Thank you for having me.

Linda Lang:
You know, Stephanie, I have had many channels on the program before. Quite often they have a specific entity, I guess I would call it, or perhaps spirit beings, like a realm… maybe they channel angels… but you’ve really opened your capacity, which I find very interesting. Can we talk about all of the beings that you open to?

Stephanie Banks:
Yeah, it’s so fun, isn’t it?

Linda Lang:
Yes, it’s so fun.

Stephanie Banks:
I will define channeling for listeners because everybody who channels defines it a little bit differently. Channeling for me is just connecting to divine energy and divine wisdom, and we can go to all sorts of origins for that. We can go to our higher self, our own soul. We can go to our ancestors and loved ones on the other side. We can go to our spirit guides, we can go to nature beings, we can go to Gaia herself. There’s so many places and beings that we can tune into for divine wisdom. And so I just decided, like, bring it all! Like, I want to be able to channel anything from the highest love that I have access to. And we all can do this.

There’s nothing unique to me except for the fact that I was willing to dedicate thousands of of practice to it. But we are all channels. We all channel in different ways, and this is just my way. So when I do a session for someone, I tell them exactly that. We can channel your own soul. We can channel any soul that’s here on the planet with you right now. We can channel the souls of your, your animals or your tree beings or Earth energy or anything. We can go anywhere with it. And I have found that that is what is not only the most fun and joyful and so much humor in that, but it’s the vastness of what we’re capable of here in this dimension.

Linda Lang:
I’m curious how this path actually unfolded for you. You weren’t necessarily— we’re all born psychic or with ability, intuitive abilities— but if you’ve practiced for thousands of hours, it’s been a real journey into mastery for you?

Stephanie Banks:
Yes. Oh, it started based on necessity because my mother had dementia and her symptoms started in her late 40s, early 50s. And I was a clinician at the time. I was a speech-language pathologist and I worked with lots of people who had cognitive decline or cognitive disorders. So I thought, I know what I’m doing. You know, I know how to apply my expertise to my mother, who unfortunately was not the best patient. So we could not… we were just having such an impossible time with our relationship and our connection and our communication. No matter what I tried. So lucky for me, I had a best friend at the time who was a channeler.

This was my first exposure to channeling. I did not grow up knowing about it. It was not part of my culture or my background or my upbringing, but I met this friend at exactly the time that I needed her and asked her, would you channel my mom’s soul? This is while my mom was alive because I want to know what are we here to do as souls? What does she need from me? How can we make this path a little smoother?

And it was through that channeling that I was able to, or we were able to, change the trajectory of our relationship together. Her soul told me through my best friend, what it needed, what I was doing right, what I was doing wrong, how I could support her better. And then I had an option, you know, I had choices to make, do I want to be in service to a healthier relationship? That will require me to let go of some expectations and change some of my behaviors. And I was willing to do that. And everything changed. It changed forever for the remainder of my mom’s earthly existence, and especially now with her on the other side. So once I saw what was possible in my relationship with my mom through channeling, I knew I had to figure out how to do it for myself and experience the benefits of it throughout all aspects of my life. So I did.

Linda Lang:
That’s a beautiful story of how powerful channeling is and how it can benefit each person. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. And so after you decided to be a channel, what action steps did you take?

Stephanie Banks:
Well, first I went to my best friend’s mentor and she was local, so I was able to go to her house and sit in her living room with other people taking classes. She’s the one who taught me how to use a pendulum, and she taught me how to use it to answer yes and no questions. But she also taught me how to use it with certain grids that I could ask specific things about, like a soul’s history and use these grids to pinpoint how old the soul was or what a particular soul’s purpose was or what their action, primary actions were to achieve that purpose. She also taught me how to use an alphabet grid. This is not a Ouija board. I have to be clear because some people get a little nervous about that. No, it’s actually— this for your viewers— it’s just a grid with letters and numbers on it. And when you get good with a pendulum, it will start to show you, it will spell things out for you.

So I started to learn what are the names of some of the guides and the ancestors that were present for me and with me. And that was very exciting. And after I took those classes, I wanted more. So I studied under psychic medium Sonia Choquette, who is a world-renowned practitioner, and took all the courses that she had to offer and read everything that I could and was channeling a bit for friends and for very limited grids that I was doing for clients until one day I was sitting in the carpool line waiting to pick my kids up from school. And I was asking my spirit guides, what is my next class? I had just finished the highest level training available that I could find, and I was wondering who my next teacher was. And I heard them very clearly say, oh no, sweetheart, no more classes right now. It’s time for you to serve the people.

You have learned enough. You know — oh, I have chills right now just as I say it — You know enough and there’s a need here and we know you can do this. So I grappled with that for a bit and then said, if that’s true… of course I trust my guides. I had learned a lot to get to the place where I could trust them… And I just asked, if that’s true and you believe I’m ready, then please be the gatekeepers so those that I serve are at least a vibrational match to me or higher. I was very nervous that I would channel for people whose density was hard, or I should say low, and therefore hard on my nervous system, and then I would be carrying that afterwards. And I will tell you, they have been the best gatekeepers ever. The only clients that I’ve served that have been a poor match were clients that my guides told me, this one is not for you, and I overrode it and I did it anyways.

Linda Lang:
That darn free will.

Stephanie Banks:
Yes, our greatest lesson.

Linda Lang:
I totally understand that because it is the desire to serve and to help, and sometimes it seems like those people need the most help, but that’s only one perspective, right?

Stephanie Banks:
You’re absolutely right, and that’s why I took those clients. I was at a time in my practice where I thought since I can channel for anyone, I should. And that is not how I practice anymore.

Linda Lang:
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Stephanie Banks:
Exactly.

Linda Lang:
I can’t imagine that you use a pendulum now because I have had the privilege of having a channeled session with you and it is FAST!

Stephanie Banks:
Can you imagine if I had to wait for everything to be spelled out? (Laugh) Nobody has the patience for that. No, I don’t use it anymore except when I’m teaching my workshops, because what I know about the pendulum is if someone is willing to show up to practice with a pendulum, they’re really dedicated to their spiritual expansion and journey. It takes a level of focus, of attention, of patience, of wherewithal to keep showing up to that because it oftentimes is just a very slow way to gain information. So that’s how we weed out those who are dedicated versus those who just want a quick, you know, ability to show up for them.

Linda Lang:
It’s perfect. I did thoroughly enjoy my session and so much information came through that was very useful. And I found it really interesting because in my session, I chose to speak with my spirit guides, but my higher self kind of popped in and said, “uh-uh, me.”

Stephanie Banks:
I love that. I feel the presence of something or someone, and then at the very last minute, a soul such as your own can elbow their way in and be like, mm-mm-mm. I’m gonna hear directly from my own spirit, my own essence, because that’s what we are listening for, listening to. So I love that. Your session was awesome.

Linda Lang:
Another message that came through, and it’s something so important I think, that the listeners should really take to heart because it’s going to be exactly the same for them too. And that is that your soul has perfectly orchestrated your life, the events of your life, the unfolding, the challenges to open you up for growth and evolution. It’s divine.

Stephanie Banks:
It is. Yes. Very beautifully said. Even down to our most challenging relationships, they’re purposeful, right? That doesn’t mean we have to stay in them, by the way. Free will, like you said, and recognizing what your needs are and having good, healthy boundaries. But everything in our lives is an opportunity as part of a plan for growth. And so yeah, we don’t have to, we don’t have to have regrets.

Linda Lang:
Even within the channel received, there was proof, if you like, that things were orchestrated because there was a specific reference to crystals. And the night before, my crystal friend who lives probably about 6 hours away from me and I don’t necessarily see him even every year, messaged me that he was going to be in town, could he pop in in the morning, and he brought me two crystals, which is just incredible.

Stephanie Banks:
Yeah, and for your listeners, it’s incredible because that was your channeled message— two crystals to hold for whatever reasons came through. But when you told me that afterwards, I was gobsmacked. I love when that stuff happens.

Linda Lang:
It’s like confirmation, right? Yes, it’s beautiful. Stephanie, aside from connecting with the spirit realm, angels, our higher self, is there anyone else we’re forgetting about, or perhaps another realm that can really support us in our journey here.

Stephanie Banks:
You, I think, like me, are very much attuned to the planet, to Gaia, to all life upon her. So anything in that realm is worth talking about, especially now at this time when she— when I feel her calling to us, her children, to rise and to be in service and to be a voice for her.

Linda Lang:
We’re in this hugely transformational time where everything is changing. It does include the Earth too, but I feel like between politics and culture and wars and just humanity generally, we’re forgetting. We’re forgetting about the spirit of the Earth and how impactful we are on the Earth. Not only that, but the other way around too. So yeah, let’s talk about how the Earth can support us, not only in this huge transformation or ascension, if you want to call it that, but in our own lives.

Stephanie Banks:
You know, one of the things I regularly hear from Pachamama, from Mother Earth, is her invitation for each of us to come into closer connection and communion with her. So where most people are operating on this myth of separation, that somehow there’s humans and then there’s other life, instead of what is actually true, which is that we are just one part, and not the most important part by any stretch, of an intricate web of life upon which our actions, our behaviors, our thoughts, our deeds are influencing constantly all life upon this planet. So people ask me, “What is it? What can I influence? What impact could one person have?” And what Gaia always says is, “Go outside.” Just go outside is her answer. Get out from under the, you know, the roof and the walls. Go outside and notice the life around you, the smallest life to the grandest life.

And then that, just the instant memory of our connection to that, of the truth of non-separation, is that that worm that I see on the sidewalk has everything to do with the fact that I have healthy food to eat. It’s part of the web. The worm’s being and life is no more or less important than my own. It’s not to be exploited or taken for granted, right? So I mentioned to you before we started recording, we were talking about the weather in our different locations, and it’s very cold and snowy where you are, and yet my vegetable garden is flourishing. And one of the things that I do to help the people in my life to bring joy, and a reminder to them of our responsibility and harmony with life, is I show them my garden. Look at this cabbage. I have a brussels sprout growing right now. It’s this big, and I don’t think I’ve ever been excited about anything more in my life. And this is how I nourish my energetic field with the life that exists all around. This is how I remind myself that I am part of a grand, beautiful web of life.

And even if I just tend to that one cabbage or brussels sprout plant, that creates such a meaning and a depth of rooted connection for me. It influences and informs all of my relationships, how I interact, what I believe about myself in the world. So this is actually how we heal. We come back to the Earth every day, again and again and again. You look at the water that you’re drinking. Do you have clean water? Can you bless that water? Is there a blessing you can offer to it? Aren’t you lucky that you have clean water to drink? So there’s just so many moments that we have forgotten about of not only our privilege of being alive and being in an area of the world where we have so many resources. But just how generous Mother Earth is with us constantly, unendingly, without hesitation? What have we done to earn that? I don’t know, but let’s show gratitude for it.

Linda Lang:
Indeed, indeed. It’s a complicated life that we live, and the whole structure of nature and how the universe weaves things together is very complex. It’s mind-boggling. And yet, if we could just simplify our focus, just that act, even for a few moments, has such a nurturing and rejuvenating effect on our system. So I would imagine, as a channel, as a conscious channel, that your energy system is something that you need to take very good care of.

Stephanie Banks:
I do. I do. And what a privilege to be able to do that. And it is just a matter of radical self-care, which of course I benefit from, but so too does everybody I serve benefit from my excellent self-care. And top of my list is time in nature. That’s where I’m able to drain out the most amount of energy that isn’t mine that I’ve absorbed through a session or through a day or through a trip to Costco, for example. But yes, and nourishing relationships, right? This is absolutely essential to self-care.

Sleep. You and I were talking about good sleep. Nothing else matters if you can’t sleep. Like, you just, you can’t think straight. Your emotional system is all out of whack. So I protect my sleep time and do everything that I can to ensure that it is of the best quality. There’s a lot of things, you know, that we can show in terms of love, self-love, self-compassion, self-appreciation that will have an immediate impact on us and therefore on all those we love and care about. It’s a ripple effect.

Linda Lang:
Do you know what happens to an energy system if they’re not taking proper care?

Stephanie Banks:
I do because I’ve seen it. It dries up, it becomes crusty is what I call it, really, really parched for love and for care and in a mode of survival rather than a mode of thriving. And we can become very graspy, and what we might consider to be just off balance and out of harmony and outside of integrity with ourselves. So it’s not pretty.

Linda Lang:
And it’s probably very difficult to grasp the messages that are coming to you?

Stephanie Banks:
Well, so here’s the thing. If my vibe is low, whether it’s poor sleep, poor self-care, the experience that I’m having of the despair for the global events, which by the way is every day I feel that in my system. If my vibe is low, then my point of attraction to our connection to the messages, that’s going to be where it’s at. I don’t channel from that place. I will not channel from that place. That’s a promise I made to myself and of course to the community that I serve. So I have to do something to recalibrate that energetic. So if I’ve read a little bit too much news or I’m just in it, right? In the density of life, then before I sit down to do a session or before I even communicate deeply with my own guides, I need to move that energy.

Sometimes it’s just shaking. Shaking our bodies is a great way to break up energy and shake free of it. Other times it’s earthing. I will stand barefoot out in my garden, just breathe and feel the energy moving through me. Other times I will just lay on the ground with my 4 senior dogs and just let them lick all over my face and pet them and touch them, and it just brings me so much of a recharge of energy. So whatever it is for each person, do that thing. Move that energy, and then come back to the task at hand, and you’ll be a lot more clear in your frequency will be higher. And I only channel from the highest frequency I can muster.

Linda Lang:
So Stephanie, if anyone is interested in learning how to channel or just to receive messages, even if it’s just for themselves, what kind of tips do you have for them to get started?

Stephanie Banks:
Well, I think it’s really important to find a mentor. This doesn’t mean you have to pay. You can go on YouTube and find so many teachers. But find one that resonates with you and stick with their work for a while. Get… really give it a chance, because if you bounce around a lot, likely you’re going to get confused. Everyone has a different teaching method, a different teaching style, a different set of beliefs depending on what they have experienced. So find a path and a teacher that really feels like resonant in your body. You can trust your body.

Your body will never lie about this. And then follow through. If they have practices, if they use mantras, if they’re teaching you with certain books or oracle cards or whatever it is, stick with it for a while. Give yourself a chance to really devote to it and see benefits from it. And then find your own path in terms of where you are going to connect with spirit. Sometimes it’s really helpful to establish like an altar of sorts in your home, even if that’s just a little tiny corner with a little blanket or table where you put some crystals or some feathers or some leaves or some photos of ancestors, a candle, whatever it is for you that’s significant. When you get near that space, you can just feel yourself exhaling, feel yourself drawn to it, invited to it. For me, it’s my channeling table where I have very meaningful gifts that people have given me, crystals, my mala beads.

I have a little… it’s a piece of glass art that has ashes of my best friend who taught me to channel. She’s on the other side now. So I have some of her ashes in there, and that’s a really beautiful point of connection for me. So if you have a place in your home that feels sacred because you have elevated it in a sacred way, that’s a wonderful gift to yourself. And you’ll find yourself drawn to that even just to sit and meditate, to sit and pray, to sit and read a passage of a book that is calling to you. I recommend that.

Linda Lang:
I have a really interesting question for you, and it stems from a memory I have of one of my friends who was getting intuitive messages, and I don’t remember the exact name of the guide who came in, but it was just like Sally or Samantha, and she pushed them aside essentially because she wanted to go for the highest possible guide. So she was looking for like an archangel or, you know, someone I’m gonna say with more “presence,” but I don’t know that spirit guides work like that. So I’m kind of curious what you would say to that.

Stephanie Banks:
Well, I would first say, sorry, Sally or Samantha, that you got booted for someone better who, you know, that being might have been an archangel. They might have been a very advanced soul. We cannot say. If you do the work in between of maintaining yourself as a high vibrational being, then who’s coming through belongs. Now, if you feel them to be a low vibe being trying to come in and create noise, that’s different. But the work of channeling is not necessarily only in the channeled message. Most of that is occurring before you even show up to channel.

So if you’ve done your due diligence and you have created a high vibrational field within yourself, and you’ve made it clear to your spirit guides, this is who I’m looking to receive from, this is the vibrational field I would like them to maintain or higher, then you can lean into who comes through and at least hear them out. Right?

Linda Lang:
Yes, definitely.

Stephanie Banks:
I can see why someone might be like, oh man, I really wanted Archangel Michael. You know, but that’s the ego voice. That’s the voice of expectation and disappointment. That voice trips us up all the time, and will interfere with our connection. Because if we come in with a certain set of expectations and we’re making quick judgments about whether or not they’re being met, we are actually pushing, keeping out all this beautiful energy.

Linda Lang:
Let’s say it surprised me when that was communicated to me.

Stephanie Banks:
She could have been sensing something. And if you are opening to channeling and something feels off, I will always say close that down. Leave that alone. Do not bulldoze ahead with that. Don’t presume that you’re… just like we talked about before… just because you can channel for anyone or anything doesn’t mean you should. If something feels off, trust yourself to say no thank you and close that session down. Go outside. Receive from Mother Earth. There’s nothing low vibe about her. And then try again later. Always trust how you’re feeling. If you’re feeling unsafe, if you’re feeling insecure, you don’t have to talk yourself out of that. In fact, honor it.

Linda Lang:
It can get a little tricky, I think too, because that spiritual ego can come into it almost unconsciously, where we necessarily recognize if it’s our ego or if it’s something that feels off, because it can be very subtle sometimes.

Stephanie Banks:
Well, that’s the work. We are actually meant to attune ourselves to listen for the subtle, and nothing in the upbringing that anyone I know, least of all myself, has had has shown me how to do that. Except when I started to learn to become a clearer channel. So that is the work. We’re supposed to be listening on a subtle level to the subtle realms, and they’re not loud and they’re not shouty, and it takes work to do that.

Linda Lang:
And that is the same listening in our relationships of who’s in alignment, who isn’t in alignment, what jobs, what books to read. Everything really in our life. Exactly. It’s a big job. And we are worth it. Absolutely. Stephanie, where can we send people who might like to know more about your work?

Stephanie Banks:
My website is www.soulinsight.com.

Linda Lang:
Thank you so much for being my guest and for my beautiful channel.

Stephanie Banks:
Oh, you’re so welcome, Linda.

Linda Lang:
Thank you too. And thank you for listening to this week’s edition of Exploring the Mystical Side of Life. You will find all of our conversations on YouTube and on your favorite podcast platform. Come visit me at www.ThoughtChange.com. Pick up your copy of Learning to Listen, and we will see you again next time. Bye for now.