The Michael Teachings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Messages From Michael are a body of spiritual information, generally classed among "New Age" systems of thought, which proponents claim was accumulated through mediumistic channeling. They were first publicly described by novelist Chelsea Quinn Yarbro in her book "Messages from Michael" (Playboy Press, Chicago, 1979).

Contents

[edit] Summary

"Messages from Michael," written by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, is the first in a series of four books that chronicles a three-decade-long "conversation" between a group of friends and a channelled, spiritual teaching entity that has come to be known as Michael. As of November 2007 this conversation continues, as the Michael group continues to conduct closed sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area. The cornerstone of this teaching is very simple: we live our lives to learn to make choices. Choices made beget more choices. Choosing not to choose is a choice. There are no right or wrong choices. Choices made free from fear open the person to a wider range of options, choices made under the influence of fear lessen the range of options. If fear is strong enough to compel one person to choose to take away another person's ability to choose, then karma is incurred. Eventually that karmic ribbon will be burned, allowing for continued evolution of the soul.

Through this dialogue with Michael a comprehensive framework of information has been amassed. This information has to do with countless topics including: the evolution of the human soul, the inter-connectivity individuals share, the different types of soul ages within humanity, world politics, the nature of the universe, karma, reincarnation and "the overleaves."

A core concept of the Michael Teachings is: "all choices made are equally valid." So, in this teaching, should you choose to do so, you begin by studying yourself, by using the personality system ("the overleaves") as a living textbook. Through this process, you may develop a greater understanding of yourself - and of the challenges and agreements you have set out to fulfill in this lifetime. Through this process, you may develop a greater tolerance toward yourself and attain the balance that allows you to act as appropriately as possible and to actualize your fullest potential. Given that one person's definition of appropriate will not always resemble another person's definition of appropriate.


[edit] The Overleaves

"Overleaves" is a metaphorical term used by Michael to describe the various components of a personality system that can be likened to the 12 signs of the zodiac. Whereas the zodiac is based on 12 archetypal symbols, the Michael system of overleaves is based on the number seven. These metaphoric labels do not refer to social status or occupation and carry with them meanings that are unique unto this system of study. No one overleaf is better or worse. All overleaves are capable of helping a person achieve growth within their lifetime. The overleaf known as chief feature is the part of the personality where fear resides. Chief features work to convince us that it is good and necessary to be afraid. Overcoming chief feature's influence is a major focus of the Michael material. The overleaves include:

  • Soul Age Cycles - Infant, Baby, Young, Mature, Old (Transendental and Infinite souls occur beyond the physical plane).
  • Level within the Cycle - There are seven different levels within each soul age cycle; ie. 6th level infant, 7th level infant, 1st level baby, etc.
  • Role - Slave, Artisan, Warrior, Scholar, Sage, Priest, King (slaves are not indentured servants, kings are not blue-bloods).
  • Goal - Retardation, Rejection, Submission, Stagnation, Acceptance, Growth, Dominance.
  • Mode - Repression, Caution, Perseverance, Observation, Power, Passion, Aggression.
  • Attitude - Stoic, Skeptic, Cynic, Pragmatist, Idealist, Spiritualist, Realist.
  • Centering - Emotional, Intellectual, Sexual, Instinctive, Higher Intellectual, Higher Emotional, Moving.
  • Chief Feature - Self-Deprecation, Self-Destruction, Martyrdom, Stubbornness, Greed, Arrogance, Impatience.

The metaphoric labels of the overleaves do not refer to such things as social status, occupation or attainable levels of intelligence. But rather they carry with them, meanings that are unique within this type of study. There are those who've selectively edited some of the overleaves terms. Michael has commented, there is nothing wrong in this; however once their words are changed, the teaching has stopped, and the validity of the teaching is diminished.

The Michael Teachings elaborated in detailed fashion on the function, positive and negative polarities of each overleaf, and on the larger processes of evolution of the soul (called "essence" in this system) from Infant Soul to Baby Soul and beyond.

Over the years, the names of some of the overleaves have been refined to more accurately reflect their common meaning in our modern society. For example, the term "Slave" was thought to be descriptive, however, in our society, that word does not connote a positive image. The term "Server" in our language more accurately reflects the attributes of that particular personality role or essence type.

[edit] Spiritual cosmology

The Michael Teachings include the concept of reincarnation and the idea that everyone will eventually finish and rejoin the Tao. Ensouled beings who choose to begin their Grand Cycle (casting from the Tao and evolving through the 7 planes of existence until rejoining the Tao) in the human species complete the physical plane phase of the Grand Cycle reincarnating only as a human being as long as the planet is capable of sustaining human life. The cycle of rebirth continues with increasing wisdom until the fragment is finished with the lessons learnt here.

The core Michael group does not recognize the Grand Cycle as a valid concept. Rather it is their understanding that all human beings will return 'en masse' back to the Tao. Those humans who have moved on from the physical plane will eventually reach a point in their evolution where they will have to wait for the rest of us to "catch up" before the entirety of humanity continues onwards towards the Tao.

This is distinct from classical Christianity, which advocates one life and has the concept of eternal damnation, a concept totally foreign to the Michael Teachings. Jesus is, however, recognized in the Michael Teachings as one of a small handful of first rank spiritual teachers. Jesus was a 7th old King who had an agreement to bring the Logos, or, the Infinite Soul (The Tao, or Ultimate Source), into physical manifestation through his body. Jesus did not bring the Infinite Soul into his body until very late in his life, around thirty days before his death. The distorted record of his work is considered to be made up of these two perspectives.

Michael represents itself as a causal plane entity composed of 1050 individuals each of who lived a complete set of lifetimes on Earth. Michael is not the Archangel Michael.

[edit] Validating the Michael Material

There are differing accounts among those who have studied the Michael material as to what sources of information are valid. Since the late 1970's, the original Michael group has conducted closed, private sessions. This group of Michael students maintains that as of 1991, the channellers associated with their group do not advertise, nor do they make a living channelling Michael. There are others who offer to channel Michael for a fee.

Those who advertise themselves as Michael channelers can have surprising consistency in information received amongst themselves, but can also have major differences in material. It falls to each person to decide for themselves if they are associating with a valid Michael channel.

Over the years, there have been various online message boards and discussion groups that have been established by those who have found the Michael material featured in CQ Yarbro's writings to be of interest.

It has been noted by one channel that valid Michael channellers are 80-85% accurate. This can raise the question who are valid channels and which 15-20% of the information channelled is inaccurate. Bear in mind, language is a convenience on the physical plane and that Michael exists on a non-physical plane where language does not exist. As such, there will be some "loss in translation" from Michael's realm to ours. There are concepts that exist in Michael's realm which human language cannot fully express.

The core concept here is that all lessons learned are equally valid, and that dealing with choices and the ramifications thereof will carry each person in their own time, through their evolution on the physical plane. Each student is responsible for validating that love is immutable and that fear is temporary.

[edit] History

In the early 1970s, Sarah Chambers was part of a Gurdjieff study group. She, with several others, left the group and eventually started experimenting with using a Ouija board to see if they could get channeled information. After a period with at least one guide, Michael started to come through.

The original group broke up due to a conflict between a group member and Sarah Chambers and was reformed with mostly new members. Information continued to come through from Michael and was slowly collated by the various group members.

Novelist Chelsea Quinn Yarbro published the first book of collected readings, Messages From Michael. This presented a heavily fictionalized version of Sarah Chambers's group, identifying her under the pseudonym of Jessica Lansing. Ms. Yarbro owns the copyright to the group's work and published three more books on the subject, containing edited channeling transcripts as well as additional background material.

The original channel, Sarah Chambers dropped out for a long time, and reentered in the late '90s before her death in December of 1998. The original group members still work together in a closed group environment with some pertinent work released to the public occasionally. Since September 2007, one of the core group members has moderated an online chat group.

Today there are several dozen people purporting to be Michael channels scattered around the U.S.

According to many other students of the Michael Teachings, a basic concept of the philosophy is that the Michael entity is willing to work with anyone who is interested in what they teach; provided a valid psychic channel is involved in the "conversation."

There are a number of groups of students around the world organized around mailing lists and chat rooms.

[edit] External links

[edit] Books

  • Messages from Michael on the nature of the evolution of the human soul, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, 1979, ISBN 0-872235-26-2
  • More Messages from Michael, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, March 1986, ISBN 0-425-08662-3
  • Michael for the Millennium, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, ISBN 0-425-15074-7
  • Michael's People, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, July 1988, ISBN 0-425-10932-1
  • The Michael Handbook: A Channeled System for Self Understanding, Jose Stevens & Simon Warwick-Smith, Warwick Assocs, March 1988, ISBN 0-941109-00-3
  • Earth to Tao: Michael's Guide to Healing and Spiritual Growth, Jose Stevens, February 1994, ISBN 1-879181-15-0
  • Tao to Earth: Michael's Guide to Relationships and Growth, Jose Stevens, February 1994, ISBN 1-879181-14-2
  • Transforming Your Dragons: Turning Personality Fear Patterns into Personal Power, Jose Stevens, July 1994, ISBN 1-879181-17-7
  • The Personality Puzzle: Solving the Mystery of Who You Are, Jose Stevens, JP Van Hulle, Pivotal Resources, December 1990, ASIN: 0942663063
  • The Power Path: The Shaman's Way to Success in Business and Life, Jose Stevens, New World Library (1st edition), June 2002, ISBN 1-57731-217-1
  • The Journey of Your Soul: A Channel Explores Channeling and the Michael Teachings, Shepherd Hoodwin, March 1999, ISBN 1-885469-07-1
  • Celebrities: The Complete Michael Database, Emily Baumbach, January 1996, ISBN 0-9650668-1-9
  • Parallel Universes: Your Other Selves, Emily Baumbach, 1992, ISBN 0-942663-08-X
  • The World According to Michael: An Old Soul's Guide to the Universe, Joya Pope & Emerald Wave, August 1987, ASIN: 0942531000
  • Concordance to the Michael Teachings, Barbara Taylor, Cross-reference by subject to all the Michael Teachings books listed here (except Celebrities, Power Path, and 7 Aspects of Sisterhood) - available from http://www.itstime.com/michael.htm
  • The 7 Aspects of Sisterhood: Empowering Women Through Self-Discovery, Debra Gawrych, Common Boundaries Consulting & Communications, September 2002, ISBN 0-9710646-0-1
  • Searching for Light: Michael's Information for a Time of Change, Carol Heideman, December 1994, ISBN 0-9643455-0-1
  • Finding Balance in an Unbalanced World: Michael on Life and Relationships & Michael on Health and Healing, D&T Sullivan, June 2005
  • Michael on Channeling, Guides, and Other Topics, D&T Sullivan, June 2005
  • Michael on Dreams and Dream Symbology, D&T Sullivan, June 2005