Michael charts are a great way to get to know yourself and others better. The following excerpt from Journey of Your Soul provides an introduction to the charts and to the Michael teachings in general. See workshops for videos.
The cliché icebreaker used to be “What’s your sign?” In the near future, someone attractive might glide up to you and say something like “Hi! I’m a young warrior in passion mode. What’s your role?”
Role, mode, and soul age are part of the Michael teachings, a fascinating channeled body of information about how we set up our lives. According to Michael, each of us is an eternal spark journeying from the Tao and back again in an adventure of exploration and creativity. The Tao, a Chinese word pronounced dow, is the dimensionless ground of all being. At each step along the way, we make choices that shape our experiences. After committing to a series of lifetimes on a planet, we choose a role, which is our primary style or way of being. There are seven roles:
Warriors are persuasive, single-minded doers, often with a hearty sense of humor and sometimes the subtlety (and strength) of a Mack truck. They seek challenge.
Kings are the large-picture counterparts of warriors. They are charismatic leaders, organizing others to action, sometimes in a tyrannical manner. They seek mastery.
Scholars, rather than being oriented toward doing, are a resource for others. They study and assimilate, intellectually or otherwise. Sometimes they are overly theoretical and distanced from life. They seek knowledge.
Artisans create what is new, whether in art, hairstyles, or computers. They are often warm and playful, and sometimes out of touch with reality. They seek originality.
Sages express and communicate. They are witty, friendly, entertaining, and sometimes loud and verbose. They seek insight.
Priests inspire others through their compassion and vision. They sometimes get carried away and take too much on faith or try to force their beliefs on others. They seek what is highest.
Servers support and nurture others, sometimes in a self-denying and victimized way. They seek the well-being of all.
Our role is an attribute of our essence, or soul, and therefore characterizes us in every lifetime we have on Earth. Our essence has several other attributes, such as frequency (speed of vibration) and male/female energy ratio. (Most terms here are explored at length in my book Journey of Your Soul and are defined in the Glossary.) We also have permanent relationships such as our essence twin (twin soul) and task companion, and we are part of larger groupings such as entities and cadres.
When planning an individual lifetime, we choose several personality attributes, overleaves, that overlay our essence. They include our goal (primary motivator), mode (dominant way of operating), attitude (how we tend to view life), and center (the part of self from which we react). We change our set of overleaves from lifetime to lifetime in order to give us a variety of experiences. Just as there are seven roles, there are seven of each of the overleaves. The number seven comes up often in the Michael teachings and in metaphysical teachings in general.
The young warrior mentioned at the beginning was in passion mode. Therefore, his modus operandi was to act passionately; passion mode pours itself out. Reserve, its opposite, pulls itself in. Power exudes authority, while caution moves with deliberation. Aggression is dynamic; perseverance is persistent. Observation is neutral.
Our overleaves are part of a comprehensive life plan that we create for each lifetime. Our life plan also includes agreements with other souls to help us carry out that plan, as well as a life task, which is our plan’s centerpiece, the most important thing we want to accomplish.
As we progress from lifetime to lifetime, we experience a developmental process that takes us through five soul ages on the physical plane, each of which has seven levels. Two more soul ages, transcendental and infinite, are experienced after finishing the physical plane, again making seven total. Infant souls focus on survival. Baby souls learn about structure and rules. Young souls are interested in having maximum impact on the outer world. Mature souls work on relationships and emotions. Old souls look at things in terms of their larger context. Mature and old souls are those most likely to be drawn consciously to spirituality outside the mainstream.
No soul age is better than any other, just as a forty-year-old isn’t better than a twenty-five-year-old; a forty-year-old simply has different needs and perspectives than a twenty-five-year-old does. To develop, all the steps are necessary.
In fact, nothing in the Michael teachings is, of itself, good or bad. Everything can be used either positively (constructively, based in love) or negatively (destructively, based in fear). Michael defines positive and negative poles for each role and overleaf. Having names for them can help us zero in on them and stay in the positive poles. Even our inevitable experiences in our negative poles and with our obstacles (blind spots) can help us grow. Furthermore, understanding soul ages and the rest of the Michael teachings can help us understand other people and foster greater acceptance. This is an important step toward unconditional love for oneself and others, which is the highest goal of life, according to Michael.
Let’s look again at the warrior. Being a young soul, this person is oriented toward worldly achievement and doesn’t tend to be introspective. Being a warrior, he (or she) is a fighter: blunt, protective, and productive. Passion mode tells us that he pulls out all the stops and goes to the nth degree. In short, he is a powerhouse; he is probably a successful achiever and highly sexual.
Suppose you’re a mature scholar in reserve mode. In some ways, this warrior is your opposite, and opposites usually attract, or at least carry a certain fascination. Scholars and warriors are a classic combination. However, being a mature soul, your emphasis is on relationships rather than worldly achievement. You wonder how much you would be able to share with this young warrior. You take your time studying the situation, like any good scholar, as you fend off his advances. (You explain that since you are in reserve mode, you appreciate self-control, and your new friend is impressed by your class.) However, he looks like too much fun to pass up, and you decide to investigate him further — that is, until a good-looking old sage in observation mode ambles by. (Incidentally, I am an old sage in observation mode.)
Obviously, this is a lighthearted way of looking at the Michael teachings, but this material can bring profound insights and be highly useful.
The most definitive way to find out your role and other Michael information is to have your Michael chart channeled by a Michael channel (you can order charts from me here), but you can also study the teachings through my and other books, as well as this site and http://michaelteachings.com, and try to discern your Michael traits yourself.
As we move into unprecedented changes in our world, new and better tools are needed for meeting the challenges. The Michael teachings are one such tool.
Wat is jouw rol? (Dutch)
Welche Rolle hast du? (German)
Apa Role Anda? (Indonesian)
Qual e’ il tuo ruolo? (Italian)
Какова твоя роль? (Russian)
¿Cuál es tu rol?: Introducción a las Enseñanzas de Michael (Spanish)
