Soul Age
From New Age Village
By Shepherd Hoodwin
Our physical age is obviously the age of our body, which advances during this present lifetime only. Our soul age advances over our many lifetimes on this planet. The age of our spark, which roughly correlates with our number of previous cycles, advances over our many planetary experiences. So someone can be young in body, old in soul, and be a “middle-aged” spark—or any other combination. Each kind of age affects our perceptions in specific ways.
Physical age is measured by the number of years we have lived. However, it could also be described by the stage of development we are in, with its unique lessons and vantage point from which we view the world. Infants, by necessity, see things in terms of their survival. Babies look for structure, something they can hold onto while they’re learning to walk, figuratively as well as literally. Youngsters begin to learn to master the outer world. Adolescents begin to cultivate their inner world and one-on-one relationships. College-age post-adolescents develop an overview, gaining a greater sense of the context of their lives. And so forth.
Physical aging occurs at a similar pace for everyone, since it is largely dictated by biology. However, we cannot measure soul age using the number of years or lifetimes logged, since the soul develops through experience, not just through “putting in time.” Therefore, we categorize it in terms of changing perspective, parallel to the stages of an individual lifetime: infant (infancy), baby (toddler), young (childhood), mature (adolescence), and old (post-adolescence). Completing the old soul cycle, and hence, the physical plane, is like college graduation for the soul.
Being called a baby or an adolescent, for instance, is usually considered derogatory when describing an adult. However, the terms and analogies used to convey what the soul ages are about are not derogatory in any way—they are only illustrations designed to show the parallels between the processes of human development within an individual lifetime and the development of the soul over many lifetimes. Soul ages simply tell us the types of lessons that are dominant at particular stages. Our soul age is where we are on a “loop” that actually has no beginning or end. Being a younger soul does not prevent us from being on the spiritual path or from doing anything we wish to do, although each soul age tends to be interested in certain activities more than others due to the specific emphases of the age.
- Soul age perspective relates less to the way you think about things when you deliberately think about them—your philosophy, for instance—and more to how you habitually see things when you are washing dishes or driving a car. It is your view from the mundane, so to speak.
The chart at the beginning of the chapter summarizes how those of each soul age perceive other people. Infant souls do not yet have a basis for making sense of what is “out there”—they only know that it is “not me.” Baby souls, focused as they are on bringing people together under the umbrella of civilization, see others, sometimes simplistically, as being “just like me.” They can become confused and upset when those “other me’s” act differently than expected. Young souls, learning to impact the world, see others as “you”s they can impact. Mature souls, delving into their inner world and exploring relatedness, can keenly feel other people’s “stuff,” and perceive it in the same way they perceive their own. This can make for much intensity and, often, subjectivity. Old souls tend to be more detached, and try to see themselves and others within a larger context.
Transcendental and infinite souls normally dwell on higher planes and very rarely come directly to the physical plane; when they do, it is to assist in social or spiritual transformation. A transcendental soul is a representative of a reunited entity, and an infinite soul is a representative of a reunited cadre. Transcendental souls perceive others as self and directly experience what others feel. Infinite souls exist in oneness with everything, almost to the same extent as the Tao itself, since the infinite soul is the Tao’s “messenger.”
Soul age describes our primary perspective and lessons with regard to the physical plane. When we are astral, we are not focusing on learning about physical-plane survival, structure, success, relationships, or context, so soul age is largely irrelevant (although our overall level of development is not). Our perspective from the astral plane regarding the physical plane is relatively neutral, because it comes from outside the physical-plane game. It’s similar to when you finish playing in an athletic event—the game looks different from the locker room than it did on the field. Another analogy is being on vacation from school: practically speaking, it matters little whether you’re a freshman or senior when you aren’t “cracking the books.” Our existence on the astral plane has its own lessons, but they are relatively unstructured and might be viewed as “extra-curricular” when compared to the physical-plane curriculum.
The majority of my clients are mature souls, with old souls accounting for most of the rest. Once in a while, I channel for young souls. So far, I have never channeled privately for a baby or infant soul. This is probably typical of most Michael channels, except that there are many old souls in northern California, so channels there may see more old souls than mature.
The average soul age on earth today is sixth-level young, but within fifty years or so, it should be first-level mature; this is called the “mature-soul shift.” It is a momentous time for humanity because we are not only moving into a new average soul age, but we are changing directions. The infant, baby, and young soul cycles all move in the same direction—toward greater focus on the outer world. Once that is reasonably well mastered, the soul changes direction; upon beginning the mature soul cycle, it starts moving toward greater focus on the inner world. The old soul cycle moves in the same direction as the mature, taking the mature soul lessons to a higher level.
I don’t notice much difference in general between my mature and old soul clients in terms of their degree of interest in and dedication to the spiritual path. The main difference I perceive is that mature souls feel more intense and dramatic, whereas old souls feel more casual, light, and airy (unless they are carrying substantial unresolved traumas, but that is still relatively on the surface). Also, mature souls tend to concentrate on the more immediate, two-dimensional aspects of their relationships (their specific, direct connection with another person), whereas old souls tend to see their relationships within a more complex web of three-dimensional interrelatedness.
According to Messages from Michael, “The baby souls and infant souls together equal the number of old souls now.” However, in the Winter 1987 issue of a short-lived publication of new material from the Yarbro group, The Michael Messenger, the following breakdown was given: ten percent infant, twenty-three percent baby, thirty-two percent young, twenty-four percent mature, and eleven percent old. (This was said to be valid for cetaceans—dolphins and whales—as well as for humans.) This breakdown seems reasonable to me. Perhaps the wording of that quote should have been: The infant souls (approximately) equal the number of old souls now.
Through me, Michael gave the following breakdown of soul ages in the U.S.: three percent infant, fifteen percent baby, thirty-eight percent young, thirty-two percent mature, and twelve percent old.
Yarbro gave mottos for each of the soul ages:
- INFANT: Let’s not do it.
- BABY: Do it right or don’t do it at all.
- YOUNG: Do it my way.
- MATURE: Do it anyplace but here.
- OLD: You do what you want and I will do what I want.
A client asked Michael through me for more positive restatements of them. This is what they came up with:
- INFANT: Let’s try it.
- BABY: Let’s do it well.
- YOUNG: Let me apply myself to this situation.
- MATURE: Respect my boundaries.
- OLD: Let’s respect different points of view.
SEVEN SOUL AGES
Although we only experience five soul ages on the physical plane, we will each experience being a member of our entity and cadre when they are reunited on higher planes. In other words, we will experience the sixth and seventh soul ages, transcendental and infinite, but probably not on the physical plane.
Laeh Maggie Garfield, in her book How the Universe Works, suggests a scheme of seven soul ages that are experienced by everyone on the physical plane: infant, toddler, teenage, adult, mature, old, and volunteer. Her explanations differ from Michael’s in various ways, but in general, her approach is similar. She seems to arrive at seven physical-plane soul ages by dividing Michael’s mature soul cycle into adult and mature. Her designation volunteer soul would be described by Michael as a “seventh-level old soul transcendental,” who has no remaining karma and could cycle off, but reincarnates mainly to be helpful to others. Her terms toddler and teenage are fundamentally equivalent to Michael’s terms baby and young. She describes each soul age, and the seven levels of each soul age, as correlating with the chakra in the same numerical position.
Read more about Soul Age at the Michael teachings site.
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