 Professor Klimo stated that the "Messages from Michael" book series helped to make Michael-channeling into one of the best-known examples of channeling during the 1970s and early 1980s, and noted similarities in the events of the initial Michael channeling sessions to those that led to the Seth Material.Klimo reported that more than a dozen people in the San Francisco Bay Area claimed to channel the same "Michael", using a variety of methods, ranging from automatic writing to speaking while in a trance.Olav Hammer, an expert on new religious movements, describes the "Michael Teachings" as a "fairly well-structured set of doctrines, expressed in a distinct vocabulary".