Calling all spirits

>>Working at IGA helps channeller
pay the bills and get in touch with
disembodied guide

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Joey Schwartzman

Age: 56

Occupation: Spirit channeller/grocery checkout clerk

Bio: This righteous Lachine resident had spent decades working in the local schmatta biz until that industry was decimated by the forces of globalization, forcing him to seek other employment. A gifted visual artist whose work will be on display at the upcoming Montreal Art Exposition in August and a deeply spiritual man who regularly channels his spirit guide Hethcall to stop by and offer words of wisdom to all who want to listen, Joey has been paying his bills lately by packing groceries at his local IGA. “By working at the IGA, I’ve achieved what Buddha talks about in giving up your ego completely. And it’s amazing, I’m actually grateful for the job.” When not busy on the checkout line, Joey, who says the spirit masters first came to him back in the late ’80s while he was living in a Vancouver Buddhist Dharma centre, offers his channelling services to the public absolutely free of charge, largely “because my guide told me to. Everything you give comes back 10-fold. It’s a matter of faith and, of course, love. Channelling is a state of love.” To admire his art or reach him for a channelling session, go to joeyschwartzman.com or contact him via joey@dr.com

Is it safe to assume it’s fairly intense when the spooks first come around to say hi during a meditation session? Yes. “One of the first times I channelled, I was sitting with my tape recorder and eventually lost consciousness, but when I woke up and listened to the tape, here was all this stuff, these teachings, spoken in my voice, that I was completely unaware of. It blew me away. It was way beyond my own intelligence. I’m a smart person, but there’s no way I was smart enough for this.”

How the spirits come a-callin’: “I go into a meditative state, and my guides, it’s like they descend over me, and then I start to sense this presence as if I’m sensing their spirit, something deeper about them, I feel it, I feel the person. It’s a thought, but a thought that has no feeling attached to it. When you channel, there’s no emotion attached to what you hear in your head. It’s independent of physical sensation or judgement. There’s a clarity, and when it starts to flow, I have no expectation of what’s coming in. The words they just flow and I’m just repeating what’s coming in. I never know if it’s going to make any sense. But when it’s finished, here’s all this information I didn’t know before. It’s quite amazing, I still can’t get over it. Very often, the words are very beautiful, very poetic.”

Has he ever been diagnosed mentally ill? “Never, I’m fine.”

Last book read: Hidden Truth: Forbidden Knowledge by Steven M. Greer

Musical preferences: Judy Collins, Laura Nyro, Neil Young, Bach

Words of wisdom: “Hethcall said that we are one unit of the universe. Let anyone tell you that you are so small, let me tell you how great you are to be a unit of everything that is.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net