I've been an occult practitioner for 13 years, and have while I've never felt all that resonant with the bulk of channelled material, I did go through some channelling training in order to see if I could do it, and what it was like. So I have some first-hand experience of what it is like.

I'll say up front that I was trained in semi-conscious channelling, which is where the operator remains fully awake and aware of everything that is going on, even though you sort of push your own personality back during the process and share your mind with the being, allowing them the spotlight. This is very different than deep trance chanelling, where the operator loses consciousness completely, while the being is allowed to take full control of the operator.

The hardest part of semi-conscious chanelling was keeping your conscious mind pulled out of the way, while the presence spoke through you. This took a concerted and constant effort. My instructor who had been channelling for more than 20 years, and primarily worked through deep-trance even said that doing semi-conscious channelling was still mentally exhausting for her. I can certainly attest to that.

In my case, the spirit that spoke through me was the Group Mind of my soul group. So sort of like the collective intelligence of my soul group (the concept of which you explored in your past-life regression).

When “she” was providing answers, it was obvious that she was limited by what info was available in my mind through my own knowledge and experiences. When someone would ask a question, I would experience the answer being provided instantaneously in a sort of thought-emotion-picture. The knowledge would be there in it's entirety, but then would have to be translated into words and concepts to be communicated. This is where the limitation came in.

I could feel “her” sort of sifting through my mind like a file cabinet for knowledge and language that was akin to what she was trying to communicate. In most cases the language “she” could come up with to articulate the answer was just severely inferior and only told a fraction of what the whole of the answer was. (Very similar to when Ben and Aaron would try to talk about their past-life regressions – you see and know things there that just aren't able to be sufficiently put into words. William James referred to this as the ineffable nature of spiritual experience.)

This was further complicated by trying to make sure that the explanation that was provided was on that the questioner would understand – there was a sense of just knowing roughly what that person's limitations were, and trying to come up with ways to explain the concept in a way that would make the most sense to that person. Alot of metaphors were used to try and get concepts across.

In any case, being inside my head when the answers were kind of “downloaded” in their raw, and accurate form, and then seeing how vague it become as it had to be filtered through language and knowledge that I had readily available, and can absolutely say that what comes through is influenced by the operator…even if they are not consciously doing it. There is no way that it cannot be. Even in deep-trace when the being gets full control, it is still utilizing that specific flesh-puppet to speak through and will be limited by it's inherent limitation.

But I can't be the only one that thinks that one of Ben's lives was the demise of Santa Claus!?

The Banisteriopsis caapi vine is the MAO-A inhibitor, and is the plant known as Ayahuasca. So Ben's question was valid… how did they know to combine these two plants? The natives told Terence McKenna that the plants had directed them to combine the two!

I am going to record it as I am going on my own, unlike both of you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_del_Giocondo

Great show !

On another note, I've always wondered if reincarnation were accepted as fact, would that change how people relate to their parents and other relatives? Would people feel less connected to their heritage?

And I would love to hear a story on how various reincarnation therapists explain the mathematics of souls. Where do they all come from if there's more people here than ever? I guess some would say the souls come from other planets.

Good stuff! I can't wait for Aaron's Ayahuasca trip to Peru.