An informal discussion during set up for videoing a Micciah session, Julie describes how it is to work in channel and some of the possible pitfalls in the process.

   Julie: Unlike Eileen Garrett and Jane Roberts and many people who work in altered states, I am perfectly conscious of everything that’s going on while I’m channeling. I can hear the doorbell. I can hear the cats. I also have another stream that goes along with it that is a stream of my ordinary thoughts, and part of the skill in channeling for me, is not taking instruction from those thoughts. That’s when I am most likely to make an error. When my thinking mind intrudes.
   So, I remember…

   Margarete: [too softly] interpreting… [and others talking too]

   Julie: Interpreting. Or I’ll think, well that’s ridiculous. Yeah, the rational mind. You  know, for better or worse, my rational mind is still moving when I’m channeling. And I remember one incident. I was working with a doctor and a researcher in the field of AIDS researching drugs, and he did find a drug that was most helpful. (And I know I did not get credit In the research paper, but that’s OK.) [checks on a possible new arrival] So… Well this was not exactly a mistake, but it was interesting. He came and at the end of his session Micciah said, occasionally I get information from people who have passed as if it were coming from another room; someone was talking from another room and speaking to me. “Do you have an aunt Bess?” And he said, “No.” I said, “Oh, OK. There seems to be a Bess here who wants to speak to you.” He said, “No, not to me.” And then my friend Lainie came in and sat down and said, “My aunt Bess just passed.” So sometimes there are crossed wires. That’s not so much an error.
   I remember what I’ve channeled right after I’ve channeled it. I may remember it for weeks, or months, or years; but I may not. Astrologically I would say channeling is connected with the planet Neptune and dreams, intuition. So, I always tell people, record it.
   [to Malia entering the room] Hi sweetie.
   Now we conveniently have phones. I don’t have to tape record it any more. Because, if you come back to me in a week and say, “Do you remember what I said when I was channeling?
   [to Malia settling in] Hi sweetheart.

   Malia: Hi, you look beautiful.

   Julie: So do you!
   [returns to the class in general] I may say, “Yes, I remember it perfectly.” And I may say, “Not a clue.” Although I have had, speaking of time, an interesting experience, and then let’s start.
   A woman came to me years ago and Micciah did a session for her. One of the things he said was that she had issues with her back, and that they were fairly serious. And these were the possibilities Micciah was recommending in terms of healing. She came back; maybe it was 8 years later. She sat down. I started to channel and said, “You have very serious issues with your back. She said, “That’s what you told me 8 years ago, and I never did what you said, and they’ve gotten worse.
   So, in terms of one’s, or my questioning about what I am doing, things like that are interesting. There’s no way that my conscious mind would remember this woman 8 years later, and remember that she had back pain.