The secret archives of the Essene Tradition teach us that, in a distant past, there was a quarrel among the angels concerning man. Of course, at that time, mankind was not as it is today. It lived in a sort of divine sleep. Some angels wanted to unite with mankind and become Fathers through it. Others wanted to remain faithful to the one and only Father and to the path He had traced for them.

This conflict degenerated and a confrontation took place. In the heart of the battle, an Archangel rose up as a column of Light and with divine power said: "Who is like God?" That phrase was both a question and an affirmation. It was a call to order. It resonated and spread in all the worlds as the word of victory for the kingdom of the Light and faithfulness. It rose up into the heights and descended into the depths.

The Father of all fathers received this word and named the Archangel who had spoken it with so much determination MICHAEL, which means "Who is like God." The angels who wanted to take the place of the Father in man understood that they had been defeated, and this is when they sank into rebellion for good and precipitated themselves into darkness in order to fecundate it with their seed and create in it a world in which they could live with the feminine part of humanity. That is why it is said that Adam and Eve were separated. Adam represents the principle of the Father in man, while Eve incarnates the terrestrial humanity.

Archangel Michael was posted at the entrance of the divine world to guard its access. In fact, he became the guardian of the first image of man, the original man, as wanted by God. The word of victory of the Archangel - "Who is like God?" - was an allusion to that image of the first fire of the worlds within man. That is why he became the Father of fire. The rebellious angels did everything to divert fire from its divine origin and that is how they generated the fires of consuming passions, war, anger and decay. Thus, man lost the path to the fire within him and also outside of him.

By his word, the Archangel showed that he knew the secret of the true man, which is also the secret of God. This secret announces the defeat of the rebellious angels, but also their healing and redemption by man.

During their descent into the bosom of darkness and the misleading light, the sick angels divided among themselves and fought each other. One group generated the physical world; it wanted for man to live only as a body with a mechanical thought. The other group refused dense matter and wanted to re-create the image of the paradise it had just left. It wanted man to be spiritual and for him to lead an ideal life. Because of their disagreement, man was divided: there was life in a physical body and life without a body, there was day and night, life and death.

The sick angels took refuge in the body of man, in certain parts of his abdomen. Those who wanted man to be spiritual generated a magnetic current through the kidneys in order to take possession of the head and thought in man. They generated false thoughts through religion, philosophy, spirituality, always pushing humans to renounce the earth, and cut themselves off from all that is concrete and roots one into reality. Those who wanted man to be nothing but a physical body in a world of forms and technology entered into his solar plexus and from there went into his hands and feet. From then on, they pushed man to search for perfection only in the realm of exterior forms and fiercely deny all that could even remotely resemble internal life, spirituality, life in sleep or after death.

The confrontation of these two currents, that is religion and spiritualism against materialism, is still ongoing within mankind.

Archangel Michael represents another category of humans: those who enter the Schools of Mysteries and open in themselves the path of fire and Light, the presence of the Father and his flame of life.

When Michael spoke his magical word, there was a consequence throughout time: it became the living soul of all the Schools of Mysteries and of the Solar Tradition on earth. It is thus that the humanity of Light could come on earth in all ages to transmit the great remedy.

Michael is the sacred influence that makes it possible to balance the forces of opposition and duality in man. First of all, his presence manifests as an opening to the divine world in the thinking that became conscious. Thought then connects with the reality of the eternal ideas. By thought the presence of Michael descends into the centre of the heart to restore the genuine sensitivity that reveals the eternal soul of man. Next, he manifests in the abdomen to restore the will of man as wanted by God, and then in the doings of man as he realizes the Divine on earth through his words, deeds and works. The Covenant of Light is sealed and the Name of four letters of God in man, the name Iahwe, which in Hebrew is written with the letters iod, he, vau, he, is sanctified.

The sick angels wanted to take hold of this name of four letters in man; they wanted to substitute themselves for the first letter, the iod, in order to take hold of EVE, the three other letters, which are tied to the three intelligences in man: thinking, feeling, acting.

Man is the only creature on earth to possess the capacity to think, feel and act consciously, deliberately. Through his thought and his consciousness, he stands at the crossroads of the worlds. Thought can cultivate in him the divine world or the kingdom of the sick angels. The combat is still ongoing and it takes place within man. All that happens in the world as well as in your personal life comes from the divine and creative power of the conscious or unconscious thought and will.

To want to approach Archangel Michael is to aspire to pierce the secret of his word, "Who is like God?" This is the secret of man, of that which is essential in man. The sick angels did everything to hide that essence, for it is the door to the other world that frees the soul from the illusion of the false me and the misleading light. This me is the fruit of the union of man with the sick angels. This fruit is imperfect, for it is born from an imperfect seed.

The sick angels could not be Fathers, for their goal was selfish and they did not possess true love. One recognizes the Father by his love.

The illusory me is imperfect, which is why it is necessary to feed it continuously so that its flame is not extinguished. As for the divine flame, it is everlasting.

To seek the essence of man is to discover and serve that which is immortal within oneself. This sacred presence is the essence hidden behind all visible flames and lights.

Be aware of this: behind your thoughts, sentiments, sensations, wants and desires are a flame, a light, a presence, energy... All these manifestations of your being can turn towards the divine flame or be diverted in order to be put in the service of another light, of an ephemeral me and, through it, of other beings.

Michael is the one who shows you that your thought is a world peopled by faithful Angels or sick angels. Who can deny that there are healthy thoughts, and also others that are sick or rendered sick? The question is: "With whom do we wish to share our life?"

Of course, the current philosophy would have us believe that only the world of palpable forms is real, but know that such a belief is nothing but a thought. One can live in a thought just like one can live in a house.

The Essene School of Mysteries must become a house in which divine thinking becomes possible.

The one who makes an effort to look consciously at thought and who awakens his senses in the world of thought will quickly understand that a thought is not only real in its own soul environment, but that its influence and effects extend down to the reality of daily life and of the physical world.

In the face of such an impartial investigation, one cannot but realize that the sick angels have taken hold of human thought and have put their own seeds into it. Then man was surrounded by a mental atmosphere that cut him off from the divine kingdom and from his living thought. Death does not come first into the body but into the thought.

The beginning of the path of fire is the awakening of a conscious and living thinking.

Understand that it is possible to change everything in you and in your life simply by changing your way of thinking. Of course, this is easy to say but hard to do, for there is a whole past to transform and it was actually generated by the power of thought fecundated by the big whatever.

That is why one needs to have a whole science, a strength, a know-how, a life field..., hence the importance of the Essene School and the celebration of the fire lit in the honour of Saint Michael at the autumn equinox. It is a unique opportunity, for it is the fire of the conscious and divine thought that enters the world.

The Essene School is a direct emanation of this fire. It is a stream of intelligence filled with soul that flows towards you through vitalized thoughts to invite you to walk with your own feet and set to work for a comprehensive work, a Christic work.

When a man has understood that the life in his thoughts is real, he becomes vigilant about the thoughts that visit him and aspire to live with him. This vigilance is natural, it emanates from the awakening of consciousness and the fruit of experience. In the physical world, we naturally take care of whom we associate with and it has to be the same with thoughts, which are real beings. Beautiful thoughts lead us towards the fire of Michael; they kindle all that is noble and great in us and in the world.

Archangel Michael is the principle that gave true freedom in the will of man. He put the sword of decisions in the hands of man so that he could act in full consciousness and defines himself in his being, his acts and his destiny.

The modern spiritualists think that Archangel Michael is either a being of legend, of tradition, or a being from the hereafter, but for our School, he is as real as air or water. We do not meet him in an imaginary world, but in the reality of the earth, when our own daily life has become real, genuine. He is there when the freedom to go towards the Divine in purity is given to us, the freedom to choose our thoughts in full consciousness, and also to decide our future, that of mankind and the earth.

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Olivier Manitara