Woo Woo

By Pauline Evanosky

The purpose of these articles in the WooWoo Column here at Pencil Stubs is to give you, Dear Reader, a glimpse into what it is like to be a psychic. This had long fascinated me, and going into it, I had all sorts of misconceptions of how my life might be if I ever learned how to channel.

It took me years of introspective work and a lot of what at the time looked like weirdo woo-woo work, but eventually, I broke through, and it all became rather ordinary. I have also met people who took all of 15 minutes to begin to channel but who had also been doing the necessary introspective work for years long before we met. It all sort of evens out.

What took me by surprise was how much Folk in Spirit were going to eventually help me with my writing.

There is a beginning stage of learning how to channel when it is a little difficult to differentiate who said what. I don’t know about other psychic channels, but it is what happened to me. It didn’t last long, maybe a few days, until I began to sense where I left off and my Spirit Guide began. What concerned me, in the beginning, was that I was I would be subsumed in the world of Spirit and never again be able to have my own genuine voice.

I need not have feared that. It did not happen, but I was afraid of it. So, the first few days when I was talking with Spirit, and at that time it was only my Spirit Guide Seth I talked to, I went around saying in my head, “Did you say that, or did I think it?” So, yes, that was weird.

Thankfully, all that did not last longer than three days, and the one thread of thought I was experiencing began to split into two threads. One was me, and the other was Spirit. That was when I began to know in my heart who was talking. The only one in Spirit I talked to in that first year was my Spirit Guide. I was shy about meeting other Folk in Spirit. I knew Seth. I did not know Mozart, who, by the way, was the first other personality in Spirit I talked to.

I refused all help from my Spirit Guide, Seth, to improve my writing. That was my business, and I was going to take care of it. I had never collaborated with anyone else. It all felt like I was cheating. Now, it doesn’t seem to matter. I am accustomed to the give and take, and when Spirit wants to say something, I just set their comments in bold italics font.

How does that help anyone?

Well, it was so people didn’t get confused and so you could get credit for whatever you were saying.

Forsooth, that was a good idea.

Friends and customers of the WooWoo column, you see now that Folk in Spirit can sometimes have a different style and language than I do with the forsooth stuff.

That’s why we said it that way. Why don’t you go on with your story to illustrate how else you write with Spirit?

Okay. So, I can tell enough about who is talking to know when to go back every little while in the piece I am writing and set Spirit’s part in a different font. I could do it at the end of the piece, but then it’s a lot of work, especially if our talk goes on for a while. Also, I can get a bit of the editing done at the same time. Occasionally whoever in Spirit is talking can add or change whatever they were talking about.

What I didn’t realize is that literary characters also have a voice. Technically, they are not people who lived and died and then became members of the Folk in Spirit group but danged if they didn’t start talking to me.

Once during one of the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) writing challenges, I determined I wanted to write a book set in the late 1800s in South Dakota. This was going to be historical fiction. The central character was going to be a young man who was either a cowboy or a farmer. That’s really all I knew. I played around on paper with who this person was, all the sorts of stuff a writer needs to know before they begin to write. Suddenly, somebody in Spirit started writing.

I typed in, “Who are you?” He said something along the lines of his name being Daniel, and he was that character I was writing about. Needless to say, I was super surprised. I asked him what he looked like. I do remember him saying something about having six-pack abs. It got funny. So, anyway, that’s who Daniel is.

I don’t let on in the story that he is really a person in Spirit. Whether his name is really Daniel, or he is my Spirit Guide Seth in disguise, I really don’t know. Right now, the title of that book is “Daniel’s Story.” I am working on other projects right now so that part of the book has been laid to rest for a while. Also, I began at the beginning with the advent of his birth, which ended up taking too much time in the book. I’ve figured that can be a before-the-book-begins story or background material. Oh, he just made me laugh. He said, “I want to be a banker now. I’ve changed my mind.” It’s funny.

This aspect of channeling never occurred to me prior to me embracing my psychic self. It’s funny because it actually happens to many writers who do not profess to be psychic channels.

I remember Diana Gabaldon talking about how she came to write the Outlander series of books. I remember her saying it was snowing, and her sons were all home being boisterous boys. All she wanted was something to do that would distract her. In fact, “The Outlander” was supposed to be a practice for her.

Diana is, by training, a microbiologist, and all she wanted to do was to write a little bit. She was toying around with a story, and Claire Beachamp showed up. Claire is the heroine in the Outlander books. Diana said to her, “Who the hell are you?” That’s when Claire said she was a nurse from 1945 and had time traveled 200 years in the past to 1743 in Scotland. At the time of this writing, Diana is working on the tenth book in the series.

So, all of that happens on paper, mostly. I suppose it could also happen if you were dictating your book, which, to me, is verbal channeling as opposed to written channeling.

I have, on occasion, asked my guide or just any available spirit in the vicinity to help me. I do that with my husband’s keys when he occasionally misplaces them. Years ago, my Spirit Guide would say, “Look up” which I did not consider helpful. Once, I had looked everywhere and, unable to find Dennis’ keys said silently, “Please help me.”Whereupon I looked down into an open kitchen drawer where the keys were nestled in the corner. Dennis had swept them off the counter or tossed them there, aiming for the counter, I suppose.

I have also asked my Spirit Guide to help me quit drinking, quit smoking, and lose weight. Losing weight was the first time I ever asked for help. Never again. I lost 50 pounds, but I let the bossiest individual I have ever chanced to meet act just like a marine drill sergeant. “Put that back. Spit that out. Hide that in the freezer.” I am very cautious about asking for dietary help anymore from my invisible friends.

Getting help with my writing from Spirit is a pleasure. By now, my association with spirit is long-standing and quite comfortable. I have been channeling since 1993, which 2023 is a good 30 years ago. I accept help gladly.

Regularly, as I edit, I get helpful hints. A writer might say it was themselves doing the editing. With me? I know it is Spirit by my side.

Thanks for reading. If you ever want to get some hints about channeling, you are invited to contact me at pmevanosky @ gmail.com.