The Michael Handbook — A Channeled System for Self Understanding

The book is open about its source: the information was obtained through «years of mediumistic work» in the early 1970s in the San Francisco Bay Area, via several mediums, from an entity called «Michael» — «a collection of essences that once lived many lives on earth and has moved on to other planes». The authors note that elements of the system were taught in the 1920s by Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and later Rodney Collin, that it resonates with Sufism, and that readers of Maslow, Jung, Erikson and Freud will find it familiar. The preface also contains an important line: «Do not simply believe what is written here; test this information for yourself.»

«The Grand Design» tells the story of creation in an endearing, almost fairy-tale tone: Tao (or God) is bored and decides to play hide-and-seek with itself, splitting a part of itself into millions of fragments that forget their origin and spend thousands of lifetimes trying to remember. Seven planes of existence, «entities» of 800–1,200 fragments, 49 to 400 physical lives per cycle and the law of karma — «whatever you do to someone, they will sooner or later do to you with the same intensity» — are the system's cornerstones. The pinball analogy — the essence launches the ball, learns in the maze, and when the ball drops a new game begins — is memorable.

«Soul Ages» describes how human perception expands from life to life as a «school of life»: stages from infant to old soul are likened to classes from kindergarten to university. The system's problematic side shows here too: the introduction claims that understanding the difference between false personality and essence requires «a wider perception than the average soul age of the current world population», and that it would reduce the danger of nuclear war. Such a hierarchical «soul age» language, however well meant, invites labelling people and societies as «less evolved». The authors' suggestion that science-fiction novels are memories of people who «have been» to other planets will make a critical reader smile.

The most interesting part is «Roles». The seven roles — server, artisan, warrior, priest, scholar, sage and king — are not occupations but ways of perceiving the world. A short scene with a group of settlers arriving in empty land illustrates this deftly: the warrior looks for shelter, the scholar studies the rock type, the priest calls for a prayer of thanks, the king assigns tasks, the artisan invents a device for the well, the server makes coffee, and the sage thinks of the story to tell the folks back home. Regardless of the system's source, this section can be read as a simple, pleasant typology of people's different strengths.

The weakest point is «Body Types»: a person's height, bone structure, skin and the strengths and weaknesses of their organs are explained by «the positions of the planets at the moment of conception» — the «Saturn type», for instance, has great physical endurance but frequent spinal problems. These claims, which have no basis in genetics or medicine, deserve a serious warning: explaining health matters through such «types» can mislead readers.

In the end, the book is a clearly written, consistent esoteric system for its own audience, and its call to self-acceptance and unconditional love is sincere. But it is not a psychology book: every claim rests on channelling and is open to no independent test.

• Everyday analogies and short scenes
• Diagrams, tables and «notes for advanced students» in each chapter
• An overleaf chart summarising the whole system at the end