The Journey of Your Soul: A Channel Explores Channeling and the Michael Teachings (Summerjoy Michael Series)

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, riveting, and instructive.
Review: The surge of interest in near-death experiences in recent years includes a desire to discover more about the soul. Shepherd Hoodwin's book responds to this interest, with fascinating information not only about souls, but the entire framework of the soul's place in the universe.

This framework turns out to be an incredibly complex system which Hoodwin explains in great detail. He reveals layer upon layer of specific relationships and qualities each soul has. The best part of the book is Part II, where he gives an overview of the whole scenario beginning with the three basic levels of self and continuing through the journey each soul, or "essence" embarks upon.

The concepts he presents are elegant and beautiful. For example, using the term Tao to mean "All That Is" or the "Ground of All Being", Hoodwin writes: "The Tao consists of an infinite number of sparks, or units of consciousness, that are at once wholly unified and individual, like the cells of our body. Some of these sparks are purely potential, and others have experienced varying degrees and kinds of realization in the universe and in the Tao itself. The Tao is the fundamental creator, and it created the universe to be its 'workshop', a place where it could manifest and further know itself. The Tao pervades the universe with love, which is the animating force, the fundamental impulse in all creation. Our spark, being part of the Tao, shares in the Tao's creativity. When we created our essence, we cast or extended ourselves from the Tao into the universe in order to expand the Tao. We explore, experience, and create in order to actualize more of the Tao's potential and bring back to it a wealth of new knowledge about itself. Since the Tao's nature is love, what we are really about, ultimately, is expanding love."

Hoodwin is quite specific about the details of the framework he describes. For example, he discusses seven fundamental vibrations, or "frequencies"; our soul's "role" as ordinal, neutral, or cardinal; groups called "cadres" consisting of about 7,000 souls; the seven entities comprising a cadre; cadences, overleaves, essence twins, and so forth. Given the nature of this information, one understandably questions where and how he obtained it.

As the book's subtitle indicates, the author is a "channel" who received this information from an entity known as Michael via the channeling process. Channeled information from a variety of sources abounds in new age literature, but in fact the channeling process and channeled information have been around since ancient times. Hoodwin's explanation of channeling, which is Part I of the book, is a valuable contribution toward understanding this strange phenomenon. In about 85 pages, his channeling explanation covers such ground as what channeling is, ways to channel, who can channel, intuition, the quality and plane of the source, what channeled entities see, predictions, recognizing truth, the purpose of channeling, and much more.

Whether or not you accept channeling as a valid information source, you'll at least be able to make an informed decision about it after reading Part I. Parts III and IV of the book, unfortunately, ultimately overwhelm the reader as Hoodwin describes the seven roles of a soul, cadres and entities of souls, cadences, numbers, frequencies, essence twins, overleaves, and so on. The concepts themselves aren't that difficult to understand; it's the continual construction of a mental chart of the various levels, configurations, and relationships that challenges (or wears down) the reader. Once you think you've finally conceptualized the structure Hoodwin has been building, he introduces several new levels and relationships. In order to allow the reader to truly absorb all the information while keeping a lucid grasp of the overall picture, it would be better if he split the material into two separate books -- one for beginners and another for those who are already familiar with the basics.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a miraculous gift...
Review: This is by far the most complete Michael book yet to be written. It is a virtual encyclopedia of marvelously detailed information, inspiring insights, and an expansive view into the inner workings of ourselves, and the people around us.

Shepherd Hoodwin has brought scholarship, integrity, and a benevolent voice to the Michael Teachings, and the wonderful result is a book that will add immeasurable benefits to your life.

It's a miraculous gift. Share it with all.

Rating:
Summary: A very in-depth, thorough book on the Michael system.
Review: This should not be the first book you read about the Michael teachings (I'd recommend The Michael Handbook, by Jose Stevens), but it probably should be the second book you read on the subject. It is incredibly detailed, with lots of direct quotes from Michael, and in addition to providing lots of detail on the Michael teachings, it also discusses channeling in a more general way, which is of considerable interest to those interested in the process. It is written from quite a personal perspective by Shepherd Hoodwin and provides lots of examples, which will help readers in the assimilation of the material. Highly recommended for the motivated student of the Michael system.