Great questions David. Clearly we all go through different stages of evolution. I still 'call' on four Archangels: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel. However, what's actually going on for me, is that these are really symbolic of something that is already welling up from inside of me. So as I feel that energy building, or when I'm drawn to a resonating synchronicity, these metaphors help me invoke more of that energy from inside myself. I do believe in these beings as separate entities. However, for them to truly work, I sense they're working through the spirit-light-body at a high dimension of connection. So they help cause a resonance inside of ourselves. The only way to really understand and get to know this is through experience. Sometimes energies will come in, appear to be 'friendly', then increasingly take control of our field - many people willingly give up their autonomy because it may initially appear benevolent. This is (from my perspective) mostly what goes on during 'channeling'. We mentioned the film "The Adjustment Bureau" - the metaphor gets it pretty well. So in my experience, it can greatly help to open to higher dimensional influences. But we need to become very discerning as to what those influences are. It's actually fairly straightforwards PROVIDING we're truly being honest about our motivations. Glamour often gets in the way, or neediness. And if you find yourself being spoon-fed (like so many of the channelings), I'd be exceptionally careful of 'who' is holding the spoon!