Customer Reviews

The Michael Handbook: A Channeled System for Self Understanding

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My response to the material presented in this book when I first encountered it in 1993 was an unqualified "YES!", and time has not diminished my enthusiasm. This is and was the only system that has ever resonated so deeply with me in terms of understanding why "things are the way they are", not only in my own life, but with regard to the human experience in general.

I found the model of the soul experience in the earth plane presented in this book to be intellectually coherent, spiritually satisfying, and emotionally comforting. The book also contains some interactive exercises that were remarkably accurate in helping me determine my own "spiritual profile" based upon the Michael model.

If you have nagging questions that you just can't resolve (e.g., Why is life so unfair? Why do bad things happen to good people?), or if you're just curious about why we're all here, you may find this book to be very enlightening. I sure did!

The book's one weakness: As another reviewer pointed out, the editing could have been a lot better. However, this is a minor issue and does not detract from the quality of the information presented.

I first read The Michael Handbook several years ago and have found it one of the most useful in my spiritual "meanderings". A description of this system was apparently first published by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, but has spread far and wide since (her publishing company doesn't seem too happy about that!). The book being channeled doesn't bother me--if you can't be open minded about sprituality, you should pick another subject. I like things spelled out clearly without a lot of double talk--the book does exactly that. The more you read, the more you learn about yourself and why you are the way you are. By the time you finish, you have a complete picture. This picture isn't an excuse, it's a starting point. You have to take it from there.

My only complaint would be the desktop publishing: I'm a copy editor and I'm sorely tempted to edit it and send it back to the publisher to fix. It doesn't seem like anyone proofread it.

This is an excellent book on the Michael teachings, which can serve both as a clear and manageable introduction to newcomers to the Michael information as well as a resource for those already familiar with the Michael system. The book may well have changed my life. Highly recommended.

The most interesting book explaining why we're here and what we're supposed to do. The book is not easy to figure out but once you "get it" It's cool. This is one of those things that if you're meant to read this book and you've gotten this far, you'll probably read it. Explains why fat people are fat, why you marry the person you marry, have the job you have, why you as an individual think the way you think. Tells where we go when we eventually leave the planet. Does it make any dfference? I don't know. Frankly an old woman told me once, " forget all this stuff and just live your life." Maybe that's what it's all about after all.

This book, as advertized, was a lot of fun. Michael is a "Seth-like" guardian spirit known to various people in California, who combines the essences of ~1200 individual souls. He teaches a detailed system of basic soul forms that never change and "overlays" that we choose for each lifetime. There are seven elements in each of the many categories, and plenty of examples of living and historical figures who embody all the different traits. The book suffers somewhat from amateur editing, but I loved it nonetheless

After being exposed to many religions and still not finding an answer, "The Michael Handbook" by Jose Stevens provided a very believable concept on why the human race exists and who we really are. Very down to earth and logical.

On the positive side, this book is probably the most comprehensive initial introduction to the Michael system of overleaves for complete beginners.

The downside is that it is for complete beginners. It's a pop psychology book disguised as a spiritual book. It deals with stereotypes that are personality types (or "choices") and invites you to limit people to these stereotypes - though admittedly there are millions of unique combinations so it's not as limiting as your astrological sun sign. It's more of an interesting read than a source of truly useful information. It's unfortunate that I've heard this book referred to as something close to a bible for the Michael community, because it really is over simplified and based in often very inaccurate stereotypes.

I recommend the original Messages from Michael more because it's more open ended. If you can get a hold of the "original transcripts" from someone, that's evidently even better.

As a co-author of this work I can say that The Michael Handbook presents some absolutely unique spiritual concepts, the main one being Soul Age. The second is the concept of personality attributes or "overleaves". The third is the notion of "false personality", and so on.

The book is written in a simple and straightforward manner because it is difficult for many readers to see things differently from what they were taught in school. The Michael teachings require looking at the world from an entirely different perspective. The information is indeed transformative and it is a bona fide spiritual teaching as much as Buddhism, Hinduism or Christianity. (In fact it places a "big picture" context around those, which none of them do).

I see some reviews here are dismissive of the value of this information. I suggest that you the reader examine closely the facts on which this dismissal is based. In other words, the information is the real thing, but you have to figure that out for yourself.

Excellent! It simplifies the Michael concepts. Easy to read with illustrations. Since the material is so deep, this handbook allows the reader to study these principles in an organized and sequential manner. When reading the original books which are the words of the Michael entity, the concepts may be difficult to grasp, but with this new book it is so easy and the images are a big plus.

I am amazed at the eye opening concepts that this book has put forth. I think its a good read for anyone interested in studying "The Soul".