Accuracy and Self-Validation
From New Age Village
By Shepherd Hoodwin
One of the most confusing issues in channeling is that of accuracy. As with any human endeavor, there are many reasons errors crop up. Errors can originate with both the channel and the channeled entity. Many channels say that the information through a good channel is perhaps seventy to eighty percent accurate. Of course, it depends on what kind of information it is, and how we are measuring accuracy.
One channel claimed in his newsletter ninety-eight percent accuracy for a series of political and economic predictions he had made. I compared his lists of what he had said with what had actually happened. I would have interpreted the same data in maybe the forty percent range of accuracy (which still is pretty good for predictions). In my opinion, he was stretching the truth when he gave himself full credit for accuracy when he was only “in the right neighborhood,” sometimes vaguely so.
In any case, there is no one hundred percent accurate and complete source of all information anywhere, no final arbiter of truth. It is well, then, to view channeling as one of many possibly valuable resources, rather than the ultimate source of guidance for our lives. In my opinion, it is unwise to make decisions based solely on channeled or psychic information, just as it is unwise to make decisions based solely on what another person says. It can be useful to gather information and points of view, but our choices are our own responsibility, and they should look and feel right and sensible to us. Learning to make wise choices is a major lesson of physical-plane existence. Those who feel that they cannot make a decision without first consulting a channel, psychic, astrologer, therapist, parent, or anyone else are letting their choice-making “muscles” atrophy. In the final analysis, we ourselves are our own ultimate source. Although mistakes and contradictions in channeled information, apparent or real, can be frustrating, they do keep us on our toes. They force us to decide for ourselves what we wish to accept.
There are several possible pitfalls in channeling. Excessively skeptical or cynical people can create self-fulfilling prophecies by not opening to the process. A chaotic vibration, such as in an unfocused crowd, can cloud psychic perception. Some people don’t want to be read, and put up smoke screens.
Also, even strong and clear psychic impressions can be attributed to various factors, so interpretations can be faulty. For example, someone who habitually feels taken advantage of may have a chief feature of martyrdom, may be in the negative pole of the goal of submission, subservience, or may be a servers in the negative pole, bondage. These traits can look and feel similar.
Using more examples from the Michael teachings, some people slide between overleaves.1 A person in observation mode sliding to passion may be read as being in passion mode if he happens to be there at the time of the reading. Each role has a set of “natural overleaves,” those on the same side of the same axis.2 For instance, sage is the cardinal expression-axis role; its natural overleaves are those also on the cardinal side of the expression axis, such as idealist, so a sage can feel somewhat like an idealist even when that is not his chosen attitude for that lifetime. Also, various factors can inhibit a person’s natural tendencies: A sage raised by warriors may not look very sage-like, especially earlier in life. A high-male-energy woman might emphasize her female energy in order to fit in. Frequency is sometimes expressed higher or lower due to stress or depression.
Mistakes can occur simply because the source being channeled has inaccurate or incomplete information. No source is omnipotent, and passing to the astral or a higher plane doesn’t necessarily make someone wiser or better informed, although there is new knowledge available that he can make use of if he chooses.
Some channels are better than others at putting aside their conditioned consciousness; it is a good idea for channels to deliberately ask within to do this. Unless a channel is scrupulous about disengaging his prejudices and opinions, subtle or not-so-subtle “editing” can creep in, especially when the channel has charged feelings about the specific material being channeled or the people involved. Since channeling comes through the channel’s essence as well as his personality, subtle belief structures in the essence can also interfere. In addition, channeling and psychic work can be very risky, continually putting oneself out on a limb, so channels might “play it safe” and not let through material they aren’t certain is correct.
Various other factors can interfere with the clear reception of channeling: a headache, an illness, or just a weakened or tired physical state; excessive alcohol, medication, drugs, caffeine, or sugar; and a confused or conflicted mental/emotional state. Of course, this primarily applies to the channel himself, but the atmosphere of the listener(s) also has an effect. Some people are easy to channel for; the words seem to leap out. With others, it’s difficult or even impossible.
It is also easier to channel in some places than in others. When channeling on St. Maarten in the Caribbean, I found that I was able to bring Michael fully into my body more quickly and that the energy work was easier—clients seemed to be “lit up” with Michael’s energy almost instantly, rather than having to build up to that. There was also less psychic debris to remove from their auras. In addition, the information generally came more easily. Why? Some people say that psychic skills are enhanced around water, and not only is this small island surrounded by ocean, but it has a lagoon internally. Manhattan, where I used to live, is an island, too, surrounded by the Hudson and East rivers, but obviously it is very different. Just across both rivers are millions more people, and Manhattan itself has a very intense, jangled vibration. It is almost all covered with layers of concrete. It has polluted air and water, and an extremely dense population. St. Maarten has a relatively natural environment, with clean air and water, and a small population. In Manhattan, many creative and intuitive people prefer to work at night, when the vibration is relatively quiet. There is no such necessity in a place where the vibration is already pretty quiet. (Interestingly, some psychics feel that St. Maarten has a “negative vibration.” I did find some of the native vendors surly and dishonest—I perceived a “chip on their shoulder”—and heard stories about the use of voodoo to attack others, but my dominant perception was of the natural beauty. Of course, New York is also full of people with negative intent, far more of them concentrated into a small place.)
Sometimes, what appears to be an error or a discrepancy actually is not. It can be useful to carefully examine the exact wording of both the question and the answer. Faulty question-asking can bring not only misunderstandings but inferior results in general. We usually get answers only to the questions we actually ask, not what we meant to ask or thought we asked. If we haven’t clarified our questions, our answers may not be what we are really looking for. The more our questions deeply and clearly zero in on exactly what we want to know, the richer the material tends to be. Vague or general questions tend to yield vague or general answers, even though the entity may be trying to be as helpful as possible, which I find to be always true of Michael. Learning to ask the right questions is an important life lesson in general. The act of formulating a question actually sets in motion the dynamic of receiving the answer—it is a case of cause and effect. Some clients report that in working on their questions before their session,1 the answers that had previously eluded them start to well up from within them, perhaps from Michael, their essence, or both.
Here’s an anecdote illustrating another kind of apparently wrong information: I have curly hair and over the years, I have found it difficult to get a good haircut. When someone who had been cutting my hair well moved away, I needed to find someone new. My inner guidance said that I would find someone soon. I asked where this person worked; the answer was, “nearby.” Since I wanted to find him and wasn’t getting an address, I began a process of elimination: Is he on 62nd St.? No. 63rd? No. I got a “yes” on 64th between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. To my chagrin, when I went there I found that there was no salon on that block. Perhaps a year later, I channeled for a group and met someone I resonated with strongly. It turned out that he worked for a salon about three blocks from there. He began cutting my hair (although he came to my apartment) and we became good friends. What I hadn’t understood was that we had needed to meet through the group. Even if I had walked into his salon, I might not have connected with him, and I wouldn’t have been able to afford the salon price anyway. Furthermore, my guides knew who he was but not his exact work address—that wasn’t relevant information. Although the address they had given me wasn’t exactly correct, it was the best they could do, and it was quite close. They also knew that our essences were planning a meeting soon, but didn’t know exactly when or how it would work out.
What looks like “soon” to those who are nonphysical often turns out to take longer than we might like. For example, many obstacles can get in the way of our meeting someone whom our essence wants us to meet. There first may be several unsuccessful attempts to work it out. Also, we experience time rigidly on the physical plane because our bodies need to sleep at regular intervals, and we adhere to work and meal schedules, etc., all based on the earth’s physical rotation around the sun. Our culture feels particularly “pressed” for time and also tends to demand instant gratification. In some cultures, people feel that they have “all the time in the world,” so they might define the word soon more broadly than we do. Those without physical bodies experience time more fluidly still. Time is relative, anyway; against the backdrop of infinity, what’s a few million years?
Here is another anecdote about accuracy: I received a call from a woman in Virginia whose brother-in-law was coming from India. His young wife had died unexpectedly, and he was devastated. He wanted to talk to her directly and understand what had happened. I explained that mediumship is not my specialty, and surely she could find someone close by who could bring through his wife. However, she wasn’t able to find anyone. I said that I was willing to try, but offered no guarantees.
When her brother-in-law arrived in the U.S., they drove him to New York to see me. He brought some items that had belonged to her so that I could tune in to her vibration. I invited her to come into my body and began to feel her distinct presence. Her husband could feel it, too. Being channeled was very difficult for her, since she was relatively recently departed, and hence not totally adjusted to her new surroundings. She also had had no experience being channeled, so the words came with great difficulty.
To validate that it was her, he asked her to tell him about something they used to share. She told a long, painstaking story about how they used to go to another city and stay with her mother to celebrate a holiday. Her mother made brown, triangular-shaped pastries with nuts in them (which I could see in my mind as she discussed them). However, he was very fond of these pastries and would eat them all the night before the celebration.
When she was done telling the story, he simply said, “I don’t understand.” My heart sank—I thought that the story wasn’t true. I didn’t know what had gone wrong, since I had done everything I could to be “out of the way” and to let her come through accurately.
She then said that this was too difficult for her and that she could not continue. Michael then came in and explained that the two of them are essence twins (see Glossary), which is why the death was so devastating to him. They also said that her death was a karmic repayment, something planned before the life began.
After the channeling was done, I asked him about the pastry story. Why had he said, “I don’t understand”? To my great relief, the story was exactly true. But when he had asked her to tell about something they used to share, he meant something they used to talk about, or discuss. He was a well-educated man, but English was not his primary language, and he didn’t realize that share could mean something broader. His wife, no doubt, was not expert in English either, but may have defined share with that broader meaning, or perhaps was interpreting his question as it came to her through my mind, through my understanding, since I was the channel. This illustrates that all communication has potential pitfalls, and apparent issues of accuracy may actually be issues of communication.
Incidentally, when people ask about a departed loved one, I don’t usually channel them directly. Instead, Michael acts as a go-between, reporting what they say. This is easier, and doesn’t disrupt Michael’s energy work through me. Departed loved ones are usually in the room when I channel for someone, and I can often sense their presence and where they are, especially if the client asks about them.
A channeled entity doesn’t necessarily know anything about a situation when first asked about it. When that is the case, everything needs to be “researched,” and the entity will likely rely on the one asking to provide the relevant known facts as a springboard. The entity will then interpret the nonphysical information it finds in light of those facts. If the facts first given are incomplete or incorrect, the information may be mistranslated, even though the spirit of what is said may be accurate and even of great consequence and insight.
A woman once asked Michael about her son, showing me his picture. When Michael tuned in to him, they said that, in an odd way, his energy was not jelling with hers. She then revealed that her son had committed suicide, which, of course, explained what Michael was picking up. However, Michael could not have been expected to immediately know that her son had committed suicide—they were just beginning to get to know her and her situation, even if they already knew her essence well.
If someone withholds information from a channel, trying to test him, he is not appropriately participating in the process, and is inviting errors. Although it appears reasonable and logical that one should be able to test a channel in this way, it usually doesn’t work. Withholding, or worse, falsifying information sets up a psychic block; it is like going to a doctor but not telling him the full truth, potentially setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. If there is actual hostility, conscious or unconscious, toward channels, channeled sources, or psychics, or a belief such as “I can never get accurate information,” the psychic block is even stronger.
You may have experienced talking to someone who needed your help, and when a strong flow was established based on love and trust, wisdom popped out of your mouth that you didn’t even know you had. The same principle is at work in channeling: when there is an organic need for information to be given as well as a wide-open-hearted receptivity, it is as if a vacuum is formed and information rushes from its source, through the channeled entity and the channel, to fill the vacuum in the person with the need. In other words, it is easy for the channeled entity to get the information, and he can even sometimes offer what might be seen as amazing knowledge. The reverse is also true: when there is not an organic need for information to be given or a wide-open-hearted receptivity, the information can be hard to get, or can even be blocked. That is partly why it can be difficult to answer test questions—there isn’t an organic need for the information (the person already knows what he wanted the entity to tell him) so there is little flow established. Ironically, someone who is fully open and is asking for truly needed information might get precisely the kind of “proof” that a person trying to test a channel wants but cannot get because he is demanding it and not appropriately participating in the experience.
Channeled entities, being nonphysical, do not necessarily have easy access to external, physical-plane details. The higher the plane of the channeled entity, the more this is likely to be the case. Theoretically, any piece of information is available from the akashic records. In practice, it might require more energy than it is worth for a nonphysical entity to retrieve the information and transmit it through the channel, especially if the person asking already has it.
For example, an entity may not know offhand how many brothers and sisters you have, their ages, whether your parents are still alive, or your marital status. If, however, you describe a situation with a particular brother, they would likely be able to see your agreements and energetic connections with him, and provide you with information that supplements what you know and gives you added insight and understanding. If you are overly general or vague in the information you give them, they may give you a general or apparently incomplete answer. They may see energetic dynamics with various people who look like relatives, but not be able to be very concrete with you. They are not omniscient, and we can’t expect them to expend an unreasonable amount of effort to look up details that are not materially relevant to our needs.
One client asked Michael what vitamins and minerals he needed. Michael named, for example, magnesium. Later I learned that the client was skeptical about the channeling, because he was already taking magnesium. It turned out that he had only been taking it for two weeks. All that Michael was saying was that he still needed magnesium; his need for it had not been satisfied in those two weeks. Actually, the fact that Michael said that he needed magnesium was a validation of the channeling, since a health practitioner, seeing the same need, had just prescribed it for him. Michael could not be expected to necessarily know what supplements the client was already taking, but they were able to see the need for the mineral in his body.
One form of psychic ability is telepathy—some psychics can pick specific thoughts and words, such as names, out of someone else’s mind. I am occasionally slightly telepathic with close friends—I get words before they say them, for instance—but that really isn’t my forte. If a channel is telepathic, the entity he channels may be able to use that facility to obtain details about a client, rather than through the means already discussed, such as retrieving them from the akashic records or from the client himself. There is not necessarily anything wrong with this, and some psychics and channels use telepathy frequently. However, in some cases, that might be an invasion of privacy, which, in my experience, Michael is scrupulous about avoiding. For example, if someone asks what someone else is thinking or feeling about a subject, they will go no further than making a conjecture based on how the other person’s energy looks; they will not go “rummaging” around in someone’s psyche, as they put it. And since I am not particularly telepathic, they don’t have me to use as a “handy tool” anyway. Strictly speaking, they don’t have to use a channel for telepathic information retrieval, but it is easier for them than directly reading a person without the use of a physical “instrument.”
With or without telepathic skills, some psychics and channels have more skill than others at coming up with details, such as someone’s name, that they did not previously know. (They might, for instance, have the skill of receiving and transmitting such information from people’s spirit guides or other nonphysical friends who know them well.) Although such abilities can be impressive as well as entertaining, we presumably go to a channel to learn things we don’t already know, or to reinforce and clarify what we have been sensing, rather than to be impressed or entertained. As one channel I know said, we already know what we had for breakfast—we do not necessarily get better insight or guidance from a channeled source who also knows that without our telling him.
Some channels and psychics want only a minimum of information from their clients—just brief, simple questions—so that they aren’t influenced. However, I do not find that Michael is unduly influenced by the background that people give them. In fact, sometimes Michael’s comments are surprising in light of the background they are given—situations might look quite different to Michael than they do to the people involved in them.
Channels and psychics may also want to challenge themselves to get as much information as possible on their own, without being told. If they are skillful at getting background details from sources other than their clients, they may not need much background from their clients. Again, that is impressive, but that is not how Michael works, at least through me.
Another value of giving background is that it focuses your questions. For instance, if you simply ask Michael to comment on your health, there are many levels on which they could approach that, and a huge amount of information they could potentially give you. An energy block in your solar plexus may look to them like the most significant factor affecting your long-term health, and they might spend a lot of time exploring that. You might not yet even be aware of this block, but might be quite aware of a shoulder problem. Michael might not particularly notice that, especially if it’s not very painful when you ask about it, and if it doesn’t involve significant emotional or mental blocks. You might be disappointed that Michael didn’t bring it up. Once you mention it, Michael would likely tune in to it, but they might view it as not going very deep—perhaps just some surface tension stemming from posture that could be corrected with bodywork. If you had wanted them to talk about your shoulder, it might have been best simply to ask them about it. (Michael generally requests “thumbnail sketches” outlining their symptoms anyway when people ask Michael through me about their health.) Channels and psychics who get background details telepathically or from guides may “get” without your asking that your shoulder is bothering you, but there is something to be said for asking for what you want in life, whether it is information or anything else.
It is important to validate that channeling is authentic, but there are ways to do that besides receiving details unknown to the channel. When one client asked Michael to tell him something about himself that “only a person from your plane of existence could know,” Michael declined, giving this reply:
The best way to self-validate channeling is to see if it rings true and aids your growth in specific ways. You can also validate our presence through your awareness of our energy that is pouring through the channel to you.
We may sometimes provide information that seems amazing to you, but we provide information in the service of your highest good, not to impress you. We do not get information by rummaging through your subconscious—that would be a violation of your dignity. We rely on available sources such as the akashic records, your aura, and your guides.
The retrieval of information is quite an involved process, and we do not expend more energy in seeking it than your needs warrant. If you asked us for obscure information that would not really benefit you, we would decline. It would be like asking someone to go to the New York Public Library and spend three hours hunting in the stacks for something trivial. Also, if we allowed people to require of us that we answer test types of questions, it would, in our view, demean the process of teaching, which is what we are about.
It does not bother us that you have doubts about who we are and what is happening. In fact, we would prefer that you were a little doubtful. That way, you will take the material for what it is worth and not because it came from a causal entity.
In any case, it is not important if we are a causal-plane entity, or anything else. What is important is your looking within and seeing if what we say is true for you. It is also important to you if you feel more balanced and centered as a result of being in our energy.
At the beginning of that session, the client reported feeling pressure in his temples, which was due to resistance to the energy work. As the session progressed, he relaxed. After the questions, Michael silently completed the energy work, as they usually do at the conclusion of a session. Because this client had cleared out a lot and had a large capacity to receive energy, Michael allowed the intensity to gradually increase to a high level. (It’s hard for Michael to do this while discussion is occurring, because the focus is intellectual, not energetic.) The client began to see and feel extraordinary light and power, and blurted out, “If you had done this in the first place, I wouldn’t have made that request!” Michael explained that in the beginning, he was resisting a level of energy that was at about ten percent of the present intensity. He had to be prepared for the increase.
Incidentally, the Yarbro books have a number of examples of Michael knowing extraordinary material details about people that the channels could not have known. Since I was not a member of the group profiled in these books, I do not know how commonplace that was for them. However, the books do indicate that their content was drawn from an enormous amount of material—the total output of several channels over many years. (I do not have transcripts of most of the private sessions I have conducted over the years.) Presumably, Ms. Yarbro chose from that material the most impressive and interesting examples of their channeling. So perhaps, the “amazing” aspect of the channels’ work appears to have been more commonplace than it actually was. I also assume that these channels had agreements with Michael to spread their teachings through mass-market books, which might require a more dramatic kind of “proof” to be accepted. Michael may have, at times, expended more energy in order to get that kind of information.
One client, who, in Michael’s terms, has an attitude of cynic;, later told me that after his first session, rather than accepting that I was really channeling energy, he looked all over my apartment for a machine misting LSD into the air, since he felt high, similar to his LSD trips in the past! (I could get rich from selling such a machine, if it were legal.) He had had a powerful experience of energy, but that still wasn’t validation enough for him. I had assumed that he was dissatisfied with his session because Michael couldn’t give him the kinds of details he wanted. However, a mutual friend told me afterward that he couldn’t wait to come back. Another cynic client dismissed my channeling for her as “pop psychology.” Then, months later, she referred another client to me. Since a cynical or skeptical point of view is customary for cynics and skeptics, an unfavorable opinion from them may not be as serious as the same opinion from someone with an attitude of spiritualist or idealist.
Many people, especially those who consider themselves to be intellectuals, are automatically skeptical of anyone who purports to work with nonphysical phenomena, or anything else that can’t be scientifically measured. Self-styled professional “debunkers” of psychics, channels, UFO’s, and so forth, are an extreme example; although they cast themselves as being supremely rational, they have an emotional investment in denying the existence of what is beyond their conscious knowledge. I suspect that fear of the unknown plays a large part in this. I respect healthy skepticism—nothing should be taken purely on faith—but that, of course, is different from having one’s mind made up in advance and then trying to prove one’s rigid beliefs, dismissing out of hand what doesn’t support them.
I do not have extensive experience with other channels, but my assumption, based on those I have met, is that most professional channels are sincere and authentic.1 Perhaps people would not be so quick to judge a channel as being phony if they better understood how channeling works. As we have seen, making a genuine connection with a nonphysical entity does not necessarily imply accuracy and wisdom, and one cannot expect the same kind of assistance from every teacher and guide. Nevertheless, each one may have something useful to offer, and the presence of errors does not necessarily invalidate everything that is said.
We receive the most benefit from a channeling session (or psychic reading) if we not only listen literally, but try to catch the spirit of what is being said; the literal words may not always zero in precisely on our situation, but the general point being made may fit and be useful.
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