The Michael Teachings
Encyclopedia
The Michael Teachings is a body of channeled New Age
spiritual doctrine as articulated in Messages from Michael, published in 1979 by novelist Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
, which was the first in a series of four books chronicling the three-decade-long conversation between a group of friends and a channelled spiritual entity known as Michael. As of November 2007 this conversation continues, as that Michael group continued to conduct closed sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area
. After the first Yarbro book, other Michael channels appeared and contributed to a more or less consistent body of thought that, unusually in the history of religion or spirituality, has no central authority, no gathering place, no scripture, and no apparent desires for same.
Broadly, the Michael Teachings are a non-theistic spiritual doctrine that endorses reincarnation
and attempts to work out a system of personality structures that souls choose to experience in each lifetime. As with other New Age systems, the Michael Teachings believe in soul ages. One core concept is, spiritually speaking, that "all choices made are equally valid".
An expert on new religious movements, Olav Hammer
, describes the Michael Teachings as a "fairly well-structured set of doctrines, expressed in a distinct vocabulary". According to Hammer, Michael is described by believers as a "group soul, a collective consciousness of 1050 essences". Hammer states that the channelers of Michael study the earlier "transmissions" and use similar terminology, making it easier for readers to accept the new material as part of a doctrines. Jon Klimo, professor of psychology and parapsychology author 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.
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
spiritual doctrine as articulated in Messages from Michael, published in 1979 by novelist Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
-Biography:She was born in Berkeley, California. She attended Berkeley schools through high school followed by three years at San Francisco State College .In November 1969 she married Donald Simpson and divorced in February 1982...
, which was the first in a series of four books chronicling the three-decade-long conversation between a group of friends and a channelled spiritual entity known as Michael. As of November 2007 this conversation continues, as that Michael group continued to conduct closed sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. After the first Yarbro book, other Michael channels appeared and contributed to a more or less consistent body of thought that, unusually in the history of religion or spirituality, has no central authority, no gathering place, no scripture, and no apparent desires for same.
Broadly, the Michael Teachings are a non-theistic spiritual doctrine that endorses reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
and attempts to work out a system of personality structures that souls choose to experience in each lifetime. As with other New Age systems, the Michael Teachings believe in soul ages. One core concept is, spiritually speaking, that "all choices made are equally valid".
An expert on new religious movements, Olav Hammer
Olav Hammer
Olav Hammer, , is a Swedish professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense working in the field of history of religion. He has written four books in Swedish and one monograph Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age in English...
, describes the Michael Teachings as a "fairly well-structured set of doctrines, expressed in a distinct vocabulary". According to Hammer, Michael is described by believers as a "group soul, a collective consciousness of 1050 essences". Hammer states that the channelers of Michael study the earlier "transmissions" and use similar terminology, making it easier for readers to accept the new material as part of a doctrines. Jon Klimo, professor of psychology and parapsychology author 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.