The Down Low on the 4 Types of Downloads
It All Connects! By Lisa Puzo Strickland, PhD
March 2026
In the book of Exodus, the Bible tells the story of Moses ascending Mount Sinai to meet with God amidst a divine display of thunder and lightning. It was here that Moses obtained the Ten Commandments which became the foundational tenets for the Judea-Christian tradition.
But what really happened on that mountain?
Was Moses, according to Exodus 19:16, speaking to God over “the voice of the trumpet (that) waxed louder and louder”?
Might he have been in the middle of a vivid psychedelic journey, alive with radiant visions and striking clarity of mind?
Or was Moses receiving a telepathic message from a cacophonous extraterrestrial presence?
Wherever the truth lies, what occurred on that mountain could be referred to as a download, the sudden, conscious receiving of words, imagery, or understanding that often leaves the receiver cognitively or emotionally altered.
While many downloads occur during meditation, in dreams, or while in a hypnagogic (edge of sleep) state, they can also happen suddenly during alert, waking moments.
The first download I ever recall having was when I was sixteen years old.
I had a dream so distressing that I jolted upright in bed, only to realize I had not yet fully fallen asleep and was still in a semi-awake state. As tears streamed down my face, I understood this download to be a waking vision - one that would prove accurate one year later.
The Intuitive Download
While download is a relatively new term to describe the general phenomena, since that first vision I have learned that there are four different types of downloads:
The intuitive download is what is often referred to as a psychic moment or a gut feeling - and is what I describe above.
It’s the knowing before you know, or the knowledge of something before it has been learned or experienced.
When you suddenly think of someone out of the blue and within minutes they text you, or you get a bad vibe about a person who later proves disreputable, that is an intuition or an intuitive download. And we’ve all had them.
In 1994, I was living in Los Angeles when I awoke one morning at 4:30 AM feeling queasy and unsettled. The next morning, I woke up again at 4:30 AM, but this time I felt so anxious I was to the point of anger.
The third morning, January 17 at 4:30 AM, Los Angeles was hit with a historic 6.7 magnitude earthquake that was centered a mere 10 miles from our home. Thirty-three people lost their lives in the Northridge quake that was felt as far south as Mexico and as far east as Las Vegas.
Although very few of my intuitive downloads have issued this level of caution, they have aided in my decision making such as what job to take and who to hire. They have also helped me more quickly recognize the right path to take at that time – like dating the man who later became my husband.
The Cognitive Download
Unlike its precognitive sibling, the cognitive download is not a revealing of the past or a foretelling of the future but is rather the aware mind catching up to previously stored information embedded within the brain – or simply, the stuff already known but forgotten.
The brain stores and processes every sight and sound far below the level of conscious awareness, and due to the volume of intel we absorb on any given day, this can make it difficult for the mind to retrieve a specific piece of information at precisely the right moment.
Fortunately, however, our body can physically talk to us as the required knowledge rises to the surface of awareness where our conscious mind can more easily recapture it.
For example, while we are not consciously cognizant of every one of the 4,000+ average advertising impressions we see daily, our unconscious mind has to some degree absorbed every single one of them. That is way too many impressions to keep front of mind all at the same time, so our other senses kick in to help.
This is why you may be drawn to a particular brand in the cereal aisle, not just because the box boasts an eye-catchy design, but also because there is something about it that gives you a tingle of familiarity or a calm sensation of trust, thus implying that the ad you did not even realize you saw is doing its job.
The most common of downloads, the cognitive download is both a local (emanating from the brain or nervous system) and nonlinear (random) insight that results in rapid “Aha” understanding.
The cognitive download is one of nature’s most valuable gifts that fosters engagement and alertness.
The Channeled Download
The channeled download is the third type of download.
Channeling is generally described as a process by which a person acts as a conduit or transmitter of information that is obtained from beyond our own conscious capabilities. It is transmitted through the physical body, primarily using vocal projection.
The channeled download is normally intended for a third party and its source can vary, most often originating from one of the following:
From above: Communication from higher consciousness
From all of us: Connection to the collective conscious
From out there: Channeling from nonlocal intelligence
A nonlocal intelligence can mean God, a spirit guide, a lost loved one, or a non-terrestrial entity.
Channeling traces its origins to ancient oracle traditions, but it was not until the 19th century with the rise of Spiritualism that the concept of the channeled download became more prominent.
Edgar Cayce, aka the sleeping prophet, is perhaps the most documented channeler of modern times. From 1901 to 1944, Cayce gave over 14,000 downloads or readings, many of which spoke of reincarnation, the lost continent of Atlantis, and various medical diagnosis.
The majority of Cayce’s work is now preserved at the Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia, the organization he founded in 1931.
Two of today’s more popular channelers are Darryl Anka who channels an ET named “Bushar”, and Esther Hicks who transmits a non-physical group consciousness she refers to as “Abraham”.
The Telepathic Download
The last type of download is the telepathic download.
Telepathy is defined as mind-to-mind communication (or direct transmission) of words, information, and emotions between two or more living beings.
If differs from channeling in that the telepathic download is specifically directed to the person who is receiving it.
The telepathic download is fast becoming more prevalent in today’s society, and not a minute too soon.
Our world is laden with trauma and toxicity, so now more than ever, humanity needs the wisdom of those, living or departed, who are graciously willing to share their guidance.
. . .
Telepathy recently gained national attention due to the popular podcast series, The Telepathy Tapes.
In the podcast, a group of non-verbal autistic children are scientifically proven to possess the ability to psychically communicate with others like them. This communication can occur even when the children are hundreds of miles apart from one another and despite having never met in physical life.
Similarly, there are thousands of UAP experiencers who have reported having received telepathic downloads from non-human intelligence (NHI).
As no words are spoken, the messages are transferred from the entity itself directly into the experiencer’s own mind and are absorbed as clear thoughts.
. . .
UAP researchers and enthusiasts are quite aware of telepathic downloads from the personal accounts told by many known UAP experiencers such as Chris Bledsoe, Whitley Strieber, and Hollywood Disclosure Alliance (HDA) founder, Dan Harary.
Bledsoe, after years of witnessing various phenomena, wrote the best-seller, UFO of God: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe. In it, Bledsoe claims that many of his on-going downloads come typically from a glowing white apparition-like presence he calls The Lady with whom he still frequently corresponds.
The Lady, per Bledsoe, is an apotheosis of all divine feminine figures who, when she visibly appears, telecasts either emotional assurances or visual warnings.
Bledsoe revealed one of those messages on a 2025 episode of Reality Check with Ross Coulthart:
“The Lady explained to me that in April 2026…(the) blue star of Regulus will appear on the horizon in front of the Sphinx (in Egypt) and it will appear red. …And when that happens, it will mark a shift into a new knowledge.”
The probability of this prophesized event has been verified by astronomers. And Bledsoe believes the “shift into a new knowledge” may possibly refer to a major archeological discovery or to the disclosure of UAP and non-human intelligence.
Strieber’s downloads, however, are not necessarily thought-receiving like Bledsoe’s, but are instead more visual in nature. He describes messages coming to him from a ticker tape machine, much like a stock ticker, that appears directly in front of his face and is only visible to him.
“A slit opens up in my right eye and you can see words racing fast. But they go too fast, you can’t read them. If you try to read them, they go faster,” Strieber recounted to a live audience at a recent HDA event in Santa Monica, CA.
Strieber went on to share the horrifying moment he was abducted by extraterrestrials and implanted with a small object that remains in his head today.
Soon after that abduction, it was explained to Strieber by two unknown entities that the implant served to retrieve memories lost to his conscious mind, moments from his past that would benefit his present and future writings and interviews.
Strieber’s downloads, therefore, seem to bridge both the telepathic and cognitive forms.
In his 1987 bestseller, Communion: A True Story, Strieber was ahead of his time when he summarized:
“To really begin to perceive the visitors adequately it is going to be necessary to invent a new discipline of vision, one that combines the mystic's freedom of imagination with the substantial intellectual rigor of the scientist.”
Given the fact that localized UAP interest has grown into a multi-disciplinary industry in just a few short decades, it seems that Strieber’s opinion has become a global reality.
. . .
In 2017, Harary received a telepathic download somewhat similar to Strieber’s experiences.
In a recent article written for TheWowSignal.news, a UAP-centric news site also founded by Harary, he describes his first download as being a blindsiding event that occurred while sitting in a deli awaiting a pastrami sandwich.
“Suddenly, a powerful bolt of light or energy or something beamed into my brain from above. It smacked into the right side of my head, hard – as though someone had made a fist and knocked me in the head with their knuckles.”
Just seconds before, Harary had been thinking about his recently deceased father.
“This power source thrust information into my brain which was then projected through my eyes into the air - like a hologram. An incredibly vivid, 3D, hi-definition home movie with audio, within a perfectly rectangular shaped screen in the air.”
The image Harary saw on the screen was a real-life memory from 1970 of he and his father, Jack, together witnessing a V-shaped UFO.
Jack Harary had worked from 1951-1996 at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey as a Civilian Electronics Engineer and Physicist for the U.S. Army.
It was not until his passing - and Dan’s following download - that Dan realized his father’s likely involvement in UAP reverse-engineering.
…
It is said that individuals who experience any kind of unconventional download - namely the intuitive, channeled, and telepathic types - either initially possess or later develop fringe ideas or beliefs that may operate beyond the ordinary constraints of reality.
In other words, such downloads are believed to occur more easily in a person who leans consciously open to paranormal phenomena. And in turn, the download experience itself may further expand that openness.
Ultimately, consciousness appears to be the central component to download experiences, working as both the energetic link between parties and the actual communicative pathway itself.
May we all continue to refine our natural capacity for all forms of downloads, thus enabling us to connect more deeply to ourselves and with one another while better understanding each other’s emotions and intentions.
Sources:
The Telepathy Tapes: https://thetelepathytapes.com/
Bledsoe, Chris, UFO of God: The Extraordinary True Story of Chris Bledsoe, 2023. https://www.ufoofgod.com/
Ross Coulthart: Reality Check with Ross Coulthart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrGeReWlHLg
Whitley Strieber/HDA event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvCcqkZNUF4&t=4608s
Communion: A True Story, Beech Tree Books, 1985. https://www.amazon.com/Communion-Whitley-Strieber-james-Kunetka/dp/B000K0I05M
Harary, Dan, “What Did My Father Know: Part One”, https://www.thewowsignal.news/hollywood-pov/what-did-my-farther-know-part-one
For more about the Edgar Cayce Association for Research and Enlightenment, visit: https://edgarcayce.org/
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Lisa Puzo Strickland holds a PhD in Philosophy and Parapsychology. She is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Disclosure Alliance.
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