Michael on Public Figures, Celebrities, and Sports

February 11, 2007

What was the cause of Tutanhkamun's death? Gangrene

Comment on his life?

Considering his age, his accomplishments were nowhere near what he had "signed up" to do, but he had not planned at dying at age 19. Had he lived longer, by which we mean at least a decade, it is likely he would have done more to reform the regional government system and establish a new set of conduct goals for the Army.
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*Nebkheperure Tutankhamun was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty (ruled 1333 BC-1324 BC), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. The British Egyptologist Howard Carter (employed by Lord Carnarvon) discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in The Valley of The Kings on November 4, 1922.

February 11, 2007

Overleaves for Drew Gilpin Faust, first female president of Harvard?

This fragment is a 7th Level Young Sage, Observation, Acceptance, Realist, Moving Intellect, Arrogance and Greed fixated on establishing standards of excellence.
February 11, 2007 Comment on the current astronaut love triangle?

In general we would have to say that these three Young Souls each have responded to their unique "employment opportunity" in different ways. The instigator of the "drama" has been seeking for some time to find a way to infuse her life with "importance", at least equal to that she felt while actively involved as an astronaut. Without this particular framework for the life, this fragment has sought some means to extend the meaning of her activities. In this case, by fixating upon others involved in the same tasks. The assumption of shared uniqueness colored her particular understanding and brought about her determination to shape all their lives so that she herself would be able to bring about conflict and resolution that would be on a par with previous experience. Of course, she did not anticipate or even consider the role that experiential differentiation plays in such encounters, and would have been genuinely shocked to learn that the object of her fixation did not in fact want to be that object, although acting like many competitive Young males who often demonstrate their position through the devotion of women they can command. He did not himself grasp the degree to which the other Young fragment had become attached to her idea of him, which we assure you, is nothing like "the reality". By seeking to "claim him" as her well-earned prize, this particular fragment acted on a very well-scripted event and was truly shocked when the script failed to work.

Is this particular fragment emotionally stable by the current definitions?

About most things we would have to say yes, but as regards this particular relationship, it is built out of the desire for genuine drama and something as transcendent as space exploration, and we can assure you no one human being--not even the essence twin--could live up to such a mandate. One of the reasons for the much vaunted "diapers" was not to conceal DNA evidence, but to make her journey as much like a space mission as practically possible.

January 7, 2007

Was Sigrid the Haughty* a real person?

This is not in fact one person, but three actual people, whose "tales" were embellished by legend and myth and therefore took on the general appearance of a single archetypal figure as was the case with Moses, and for that matter, much of the Jesus folklore we have discussed previously.

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*Also known as Sigrid the Strong-Minded, Sigrid the Proud, Sigrid Storråda, and other names, she was once assumed to be a single historical personage. The best-known Scandanavian legend is that in 998, Sigrid was to marry King Olaf of Norway, but refused because it would have required her to convert to Christianity. Olaf struck her and she warned him it would mean his death. She rallied Sweden and Denmark against Norway and in the year 1000 during the Battle of Swold, Olaf saw army defeated and he leapt into the sea to drown rather than face capture. There are other, sometimes conflicting, stories about her.
January 7, 2007

Overleaves and comments on Tzu-Hsi*, the last Empress of China?

This fragment was a Second Level Mature Slave, Power, Dominance, Cynic, Intellectual of Emotional Emphatic; Impatience and Self-Deprecation.

This fragment was heavily allied to the idea of tradition, and was therefore ill prepared to deal with the most pressing changes being wrought in China. This combined with her own abusive childhood made her a difficult leader to approach with an unacceptable theory or, for that matter, social bad news.

The fragment is currently between lives, the last life ended in Lima, Peru in 1988, where the fragment had been what you would call a "social worker". In the process, she burned four karmic ribbons.

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*Tsu Hsi (1834-1908) was dowager empress of China (1861-1908) and regent (1861-73, 1874-89, 1898-1908). According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition her "failure to realize the gravity of the foreign threat to China kept her from wholeheartedly supporting modernization, thus driving reformers into opposition to the Ch'ing dynasty. She was a consort of Emperor Hsien Feng (d. 1861) and bore his successor, T'ung Chih. On her child's death (1875) she named her infant nephew Kuang-hsu to the throne, although he was not in the direct line of succession. In 1898 she resumed the regency after he had attempted to institute political reforms against her wishes, and thereafter she ruled directly. She resisted foreign encroachment by encouraging the unsuccessful Boxer Uprising (1898-1900). In her last years Tz'u Hsi abandoned her conservatism to some extent and consented to several modernizing measures; schools were established, the traditional civil service examinations were discontinued, the army was reorganized by Yuean Shih-kai, railroad building was encouraged, and opium cultivation was suppressed. Her last official act was the appointment of Pu Yi, a remote claimant, as emperor."
January 7, 2007

Comments on Henry IV*?

This very troubled fragment was a Second Level Young Priest, Passion Retardation, Idealist, Intellectual of Emotional, Primary-Arrogance, Secondary-Self-Destruction.

We would have to say that this fragment did not only not complete the Third Monad; the Second Monad ended in the negative pole.

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*Henry IV (1367 - 1413, King of England 1399-1413) was the first of three British monarchs from the house of Lancaster, Henry usurped the crown and spent much of his reign successfully defending himself against plots, rebellions, and assassination attempts. His success was due partly to the military ability of his eldest son, Henry (later Henry V), who, from January 1410, tookover the practical control of the kingdom from his father wo was in poor health.
January 7, 2007

Senator Tim Johnson (Dem.-SD): Overleaves? This fragment is a Seventh Level Young Warrior, Caution, Dominance, Realist, Moving Intellectual, Primary-Stubbornness, Secondary-Martyrdom. Life Task: to rise above the problems associated with specific regions and industries.

December 6, 2006

Q. Overleaves for Jon Stewart[1]

This fragment is a Seventh Level Young Scholar, Power, Acceptance, Skeptic, Intellectual of Emotional with Comprehensive Impatience and Stubbornness.

Q. Overleaves for Stephen Colbert[2]

This fragment is of course a Sage, Mid-cycle Mature but raised by two Young Slaves. Observation, Acceptance, Cynic, Moving Intellectual with Arrogance and Greed fixated on revealing "the other point of view".

Q.They are part of a quadrate. What positions do they share?

A. Positions 2 and 3.
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[1] Stewart is an American comedian, satirist, actor, author, and producer best known as the host (beginning early in 1999) of Comedy Central's The Daily Show. in 2005, both The Daily Show and Jon Stewart won Emmy Awards. and for his political satire.]

[2] Colbert is an American comedian, actor, and writer, known for his satirical style and deadpan comedic delivery. First came to national attention on The Daily Show which he left in 2005 to host its newly-created spinoff series, The Colbert Report. Following from The Daily Show's news-parody conceit, The Colbert Report styles itself as a parody of such personality-driven political opinion.]

December 6, 2006

Q. What is the current status of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro?

A. He is sick. Very.

Q. What part of the Sixth Monad is he in?

A. He is in the middle stage, however he is characteristically resisting it both in terms of insights and in terms of physicality. This fragment may find it difficult to give up the body, and in that case, the Monadal Transit might be prolonged.


December 6, 2006

Q. Overleaves for Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas)

A. This fragment is a Fifth Level Young Slave, Perseverance, Dominance, Pragmatist, Intellectual of Emotional Stubbornness and Greed fixated on engaging the concern and attention of those who support his ideas.

Q. He's been named as the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Comments?

Assuming his goals are well defined and he gains the general support of the committee, it is possible for him to address many of the abuses of the past. What remains to be seen is what he chooses to address and to what ends.


October 14, 2006

Q. I just saw: Marked for Murder: Ivan the Terrible. The premise is that Ivan might have been poisoned. What did Ivan the Terrible die* of?

A. Cereberal hemmorage -- he wasn't poisoned.

Q. What is he doing now?

A. The fragment is presently off the physical plane but in the immediate past life, this fragment worked in Africa doing epidemiology and was of Boer descent. His death was not entirely natural.

Q. Was the latest life for this fragment less intense than when he did Ivan? Had he learned anything about social interaction as a positive experience for both parties?

A. The Warrior was of course purposeful, as is the case with Young Warriors, but both societal position and temperament tended to emphasize the protective side of the Warrior character rather than the aggressive one.

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*Ivan IV Vasilyevich (August 25, 1530 - March 18, 1584) was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of tsar. Came to the throne at the age of three as the Grand Duke of Muscovy. From 1533 to 1547 he was dominated by regents. On January 16, 1547, at age 16, he was crowned as Tsar. His sobriquet in Russian is "grozny". Grozny's meaning is closer to the original English usage of "terrible"--inspiring fear, formidable, threatening, or awesome. A better translation might be "Ivan the Fearsome". The Russian people gave Ivan this nickname after he seized Kazan in 1552.

Ivan died while playing chess on March 18, 1584. When Ivan's tomb was opened during renovations in the 1960s, his remains were examined and discovered to contain very high amounts of mercury, thus the theory that he was poisoned. The mercury found in Ivan's remains may also be related to treatment for syphilis.

August 6, 2006

Overleaves for Peter the Great [1]

This fragment was a Seventh Level Seventh Cast Young Artisan, Perseverance Mode, Goal of Acceptance, an Idealist, Moving Intellect Primary Emphatic Impatience, and Secondary Self-destruction.

Overleaves for Eudoxia [2], his first wife who went into a nunnery: This fragment was a Sixth Level Baby Priest, Observation, Submission, Spiritualist Intellectual of Emotional Arrogance and Self-deprecation.

Overleaves for Catherine [3], his second wife who could keep up with him: This fragment was a Mid-cycle Young Sage, Perseverance, Acceptance, Pragmatist, Intellectual of Moving, Primary Arrogance of the "I can handle it" variety and Secondary was Greed fixated on Achieving Appropriate Recognition.

Q. What's Peter doing now?

This artisan is working in the shipping industry developing new kinds of sail/motor/other forms of power cargo boats. Somewhere in Australia (?)

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[1] Peter I the Great (9 June 1672-8 February 1725) ruled Russia from 7 May 1682 until his death (before 1696 jointly with his half-brother, Ivan V). Peter carried out a policy of "Westernization" and expansion that transformed Muscovite Russia into a major European power.

[2] Peter married Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. She had three sons by Peter, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, and two who died in infancy. The Tsar could not stand her conservative relatives and abandoned her in 1691 for Anna Mons. Eudoxia was banished to the Intercession Convent of Suzdal in 1698 where she lived much as a lay woman would, even having lover, an officer who later would be executed by quartering. Eudoxia and her son became the centre of opposition to Peter's reforms. This landed her in a convent in Ladoga where Eudoxia was incarcerated for 20 years.

[3] Catherine, the second wife of Peter the Great, was the daughter of Lithuanian peasants. She married a Swedish dragoon stationed in Marienburg. When the town fell to Russian forces, she was put to work in the regimental laundry by Count B.P. Sheremetev. Later sent to Prince Aleksandr Menshikov, the best friend of Peter the Great, she became his mistress. In 1703, while visiting Menshikov, Peter met her, and shortly after, he took her as his own mistress. In 1705, she converted to Orthodoxy and married Peter in February of 1712. Together they had 11 children, all of whom died in childhood except for Anna (later mother of Peter III) and Elizabeth, (Empress of Russia, 1741-1762). Peter made Catherine Tsaritsa and joint ruler in 1724. He died in 1725 without naming a successor and the guards regiments proclaimed Catherine as the ruler of Russia, giving her the title of Empress. Real power, however, lay with her former lover, Menshikov, and with the Supreme Privy Council. She died in 1727

After Peter's death and the rise of Catherine I, Eudoxia was secretly moved to Shlisselburg fortress near St Petersburg. Her grandson Peter II ascended the Russian throne in 1727 and she returned to Moscow with great pomp and was allowed to keep her own court until her death in 1731

July 29, 2006

Q. Floyd Landis tested positive for an excess testosterone ratio. What's up with that?

A. This fragment has indeed taken various treatments to stimulate testosterone production, not as a means of "beating the system" but as a means of maximizing endurance. While we would agree that this is "skirting the regulations", it was not done specifically to do such a thing, but as a way to get past the problems inherent in allergies which ordinarily would act contrary to the performance he seeks to achieve.
[Channeler's Impression: Not testosterone, but something that stimulates it.]

July 1, 2006

Q. What's going on with the blood doping allegations at the 2006 Tour de France?

A. In general we would have to say that the allegations are -- while stringent -- generally correct. Incidentally, some of what has been transpiring with these athletes is the UVB [ultra violet blood] treatment and because of that there is an opportunity for increased stamina and general resistance to fatigue, although no substances have been added to the blood as such. In general, the emphasis on strength and endurance tends to create an atmosphere in which these particular abuses are not only sought but have what might be called "sensible applications". In terms of the politics of course, there is a desire to disrupt the assumption of excellence for any one team, and through such activities reveal a kind of opportunity for a new approach to the methods of the sport. There are those that [sic] support this, of course, and those that oppose it and we would very much doubt that any lasting resolution can be brought about in the next two-to-three years given the reality of national competition.

Q. Jan Ullrich from Germany -- is he involved like they say he is? I never got a doping vibe from him.

A. Certainly he has availed himself of ultra violet blood treatment and has also reserved blood of his own to help combat exhaustion, but in terms of the most determined forms of treatment he has chosen not to "go to the extreme" just as a way of avoiding the kind of scrutiny under which he now labors.

[The following Overleaves come from an undated private session (in 2002) in the hand of someone other than the channel, with the name given only as "John K." The channel, who recently found them in a file, believes they may well be those of John Kerry.]
John K.(erry?):
Fourth level Mature Slave, Perseverance, Acceptance, Realist, Intellectual of Emotional, Primary Chief Feature Arrogance, and Secondary is Greed fixated on validated "good work".

September 23, 2004
Q. What is Colin Powell doing in the current Bush administration? Michael has said he's attempting to get AIDS aid for Africa.

A. There is also the intense and somewhat Chief-Featuredriven desire to be a role model to other "disadvantaged" African-descent Americans, and third, there is the belief in this fragment that he can lead the others around him by example, which we assure you is not the case.

February 2, 2004
Q. Richard Hatch (first Survivor winner) -- Watching the beginning of the new Survivor series, in which he comments on the current crop, I was struck again by what a thoroughly unpleasant piece of work he is...

A. [The channel says, "He's trouble."] Fourth level Young Scholar, Perseverance, Dominance, Cynic, Intellectual of Emotional, exacerbated Impatience, and Stubbornness.

February 2, 2004
Q. Wladyslaw Szpilman (the pianist of The Pianist) -- From his autobiography, I would guess him to be a Mature Priest)

A. This fragment in fact was a Sage, mid-cycle Mature, Caution, Acceptance, Realist, Moving Emotional, Arrogance, and Greed fixated on sensation.

February 2, 2004
Q. Wilm Hosenfeld (the Nazi officer who saved Szpilman's life) -- The act seemed to me as though it could have been karmic...

This fragment was a sixth level Mature Slave, Observation, Growth, Skeptic, Intellectual of Emotional, Martyrdom, and Arrogance. The interaction was, in fact, burning a karmic ribbon of abandonment.

February 2, 2004
Q. Overleaves for Arnold Schwarzenegger?

A. [These were channeled in 1981-82, so if memory serves:] Mature Artisan, Observation, Dominance, Idealist, ?Intellectual part of Emotional Center?, Stubbornness, Self-Destruction.

January 11, 2004
Q. Sasha Cohen (silver medalist in figure skating, a Scorpio, nineteen or twenty, with an attitude that she really should get rid of)

A. This fragment is a fifth level Young Artisan, Perseverance, Growth, Cynic, Moving Emotional, early-onset Arrogance, and Self-Deprecation.

December 7, 2003
Where is John Lackland of England now? [John Plantagenet, King of England 1199-1216)

A. This Scholar is not presently on the physical plane. However his last "appearance" was in South Africa where he wrote extensively on the cultural disadvantages of apartheid, and from which he fled two years before he died of a heart attack while working on a book in Europe.

Q. What is happening with the fragment known to history as Richard Lionheart? [Richard Plantagenet, King of England 1189-1199)

A. This fragment is presently in an Eastern European orphanage.

Q. How old?

A. Mid- to late teens.

Q. What are the fragment's current Overleaves?

A. This fragment is a sixth level Mature King, Observation, Submission, Pragmatist, Moving Intellect, with Self-Deprecation and Stubbornness. The fragment, incidentally, is female.

December 1, 2003
Q. Overleaves for Wesley Clark.

A. Fifth level Mature King, Caution, Growth, Skeptic, Intellectual of Moving, Stubbornness, and Martyrdom.

Q. Has he done Fourth Monad?

A. Oh, yes.

Q. When we were taking about serving the Honorably Serving a Corrupt Master Monad, Michael mentioned that Albert Speer understood it when he did it. Michael has also talked in the past about a Monad being reciprocal, one person to one person and then it gets flipped. But the Corrupt Master does not necessary choose to do the Monad or realize that he's doing it. Presumably one given Corrupt Master could have many servants. How many under Hitler were using him as an opportunity to do this Monad?

A. 2,731.

Q. Could they give a current example that we might recognize of the Monad at work? Someone interjects, "Would Colin Powell be an example of the servant?"

A. [No, that's something else.] There are six fragments honorably serving Donald Rumsfeld.

Q. How would Michael define Corrupt Master, since it isn't something one chooses or sees oneself as?

A. [Generally speaking, it's a Young-Soul role. The "Do It My Way" thing has gone into overdrive, and generally speaking they also have to be in a position to influence others, whether religious, political, corporate, whatever. Sometimes it can happen in families -- there will be a patriarchal or matriarchal figure who demands that everybody fall into line or be banished. There's apparently a wide range of possibilities.]

Q. Since Michael contends that there is no right or wrong, and corruptness implies a wrongness, what turns overenthusiasm or an overstringency of some sort into corruption? What does corrupt mean in this case?

A. That the goals sought by the Corrupt Master diverge significantly from the goals described to those serving.

Q. So that leads to the next question: what is the actual goal sought by Donald Rumsfeld?

A. The goal here has to do with achieving and maintaining a worldwide hegemony for a military presence of "American" origin.

Q. Someone butts in again, asking "Is Dubbya honorably serving Rumsfeld?"

A. [The channel says, "No. In your dreams."]

[The impression is that something in Rumsfeld is so terrified of other cultural influences that unless it's something he can recognize and understand, he goes into panic. He feels that you have to get out there and mash them all before they come and mash you.]

Q. I was watching Russia, Land of the Tsars, and was wondering what the fragment known as Peter the Great is up to now.

A. This fragment is running a school in Outer Mongolia for essentially nomadic children. He also consults with herbalists and tribal healers as a study source.

Novemeber 17, 2003
Q. Overleaves for Viktor Frankl¹ A. [And comments on his logotherapy ², which basically says that if you understand the why of life, then it doesn't matter how you're doing it, you can survive it.]

This fragment is³ a seventh level Mature Sage, Caution, Growth, Realist, Moving Intellect, Arrogance, and Greed fixated on validated experience.
This particular fragment became highly sensitized to the issues that tend to be associated with the differences between "male" and "female" thought processes, which are in fact related to brain function and are both biologically and culturally enhanced. This particular fragment was keenly aware that all forms of fight-or-flee manifestations and the urge to "win" tend to be genetically enhanced in male brains, and for that reason are societally enhanced as important activities. This is in comparison to the supposedly inferior reaction of "female brains", which due to societal pressures and biological shifts tends to put emphasis on negotiation and to be less allied to issues of winning or, for that matter, losing.

This particular fragment has discussed survival in terms that are in fact not tied to either winning or losing but negotiation in other words, sending a female brain to do a male job. While these imperatives, incidentally, are not writ in stone, they are in fact genetically preferential, and because of general male ascendancy in culture, they tend to be reinforced in such a way that there are rewards for winning and non-rewards for negotiation. Of course negotiation tends to make for more workable fractal patterns than to simple issues of winning and losing, and of course the longer the fractal pattern, the greater survivability is associated with the behavior it engenders.

Particularly in terms of issues of prisonership, negotiative solutions inevitably tend to be more survivalist than winning and losing issues, and the experience of this particular fragment, we would think, could bring this into sharp focus, should you choose to look for it.
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¹Viktor Frankl (b. Vienna, March 26, 1905, d. Vienna, September 2, 1997). Before World War II, Frankl graduated with two doctorates in Medicine and Philosophy from the University of Vienna. During the war he spent three years at Auschwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps. Man's Search For Meaning was written upon Frankl's return to Vienna after liberation. The ensuing years were spent as chief of the neurology department of the Policlinic Hospital, Vienna, but in the 1960s he moved to the United States. He held visiting professorships at Harvard and other U.S. universities, and did over fifty American lecture tours. Frankl wrote over thirty books, including Psychotherapy and Existentialism, The Unconscious God, and The Unheard Cry for Meaning, and in 1997, the year of his death, published an autobiography, Victor Frankl: Recollections. He died in the same week as Mother Teresa and Princess Diana in 1997.

²Logotherapy (from the Greek word logos, which can mean study, word, spirit, God, or meaning): It is this last sense Frankl focuses on, although the other meanings are never far off) and Existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy," was developed by Viktor Frankl and first published in 1938. It regards the search for meaning as the primary human motivation. Since persons are capable of deciding, they are also responsible for their decisions. A human being is not a mere puppet of biological, hereditary and environmental forces, but is always free to take a stand toward inner conditions and outer circumstances.

³[The channel says, "They're using the present tense because he's left all this evidence -- his influence is still very much in effect."]

December 2, 2002
Robert Ballard (oceanographer and undersea explorer):This is a sixth level Young Scholar, Observation, Growth, flaming Idealist, Moving part of Intellectual Center, barely subdued Impatience, and Stubbornness.

September 9, 2000
Overleaves for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates:

May 17, 1999
Dame Judi Dench: Seventh level Mature Warrior, Power, Dominance, Idealist, Intellectual part of Emotional Center, Arrogance, Stubbornness. This is her seventh life "in the theater" and she is Fifth Cast.

May 17, 1999
Let us remark as regards the Mature Scholar who was then Shakespeare, the effect of the minor plague epidemic which took place during certain crucial years of his dramatic development left a lasting effect on his perception of brevity, which was not present in the work before the epidemic occurred. This is one of the few instances where life occurrences significantly colored his representations of characters, for in general he perceived the process of characterization as "intended for others". For example, and most obviously, Falstaff was intended for the orotund Will Kemp. It is also "significant" that his teacher as a youth was a Catholic and had close connections to the Battle of Lopanto, because of which an interest in things Mediterranean evolved early in his life and stayed with him to the end.


We have said before, but we will reiterate, the order in which the Sonnets are presented is not the order in which they were written.

November 15, 1999
Q. I was fascinated by Ken Burns's documentary on Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and was struck by the closeness and complementary nature of their friendship. They seemed to be very much in sync with each other as they worked together.

A. Task Companions often are.

Susan B. Anthony was a sixth level Young King, Observation, Dominance, Pragmatist, Emotional part of Intellectual Center, Stubbornness, and subdued Impatience.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a first level Mature Warrior, Observation, Growth, Idealist, Emotional part of Intellectual Center, Stubbornness, and Martyrdom.

They had in fact an Agreement and, as Task Companions, they were doing the complement of one another's work in this case, very immediately, rather than at any remove. The nature of their Agreement, while not stringent, was compelling, and neither fragment was inclined to resist. Each fragment was at some level aware that the completion of their "purpose" was at some level dependent on the other, and from the beginning to the end of their friendship they respected that aspect of their bargain.

Q. What was the Agreement about?

A. It was a Tandem Agreement having to do with a mutual moving forward and might have been accomplished in other contexts, but the one they chose had the broadest application for the period.