The Eagle of the Sun
The Life and Works of Jean Michaud
Guest article by Ian S. Major
Introduction by the Author
Try as we may, we will not discover even two men or women with identical endowments and attributes; nor will we find two who are equal in the various aspects of their being: spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical. The ancient wisdom explains that these differences and inequalities are in large part the consequences of two universal laws: Reincarnation and Evolution. These tell us that we return to Earth over and over again, with our own unique set of lessons to learn and duties to perform.
Also, for a work of art to strike a chord with us we must have something in our own makeup that corresponds to it. The art we love holds up a mirror, as it were, reflecting back to us something of ourselves. The best and highest art can reveal to us aspects of our true, inner nature, aspects we have long searched for, perhaps, or alas, long ignored to our detriment. These are some of the reasons why the inspired work of the high-born artist will not appeal to everyone. But then again, this is also true of the low-born pretender, inept scribbler and poetaster. It is worth considering too that the differences and inequalities alluded to above allow some individuals to see, hear, and feel beyond the gamut that most might consider normal. These are the clairvoyants, the clairaudients, the psychics and so on; and, the deluded and the fraudsters aside, there is a tradition, stretching back as long as history can reach, of those in possession of so-called second sight.
Whatever form their art might take, the great artists stand head and shoulders above the rest of humanity. They have mastered their art and are inspired beyond the measure of other kinds of men. Theirs is a holy Service to their fellow men and women which is to be distinguished from the art of pretenders and aspirants alike. It should come as no surprise therefore, that the most advanced artists and their art are rarely appreciated or understood; and if their inner biographies were available to us, they would reveal that more often than not they find themselves paying a high price for their endeavours. As Dr E. V. Kenealy wrote: "And die of broken hearts, unwept, unpitied, save only by the Children of the Sun."
The Life of Jean Michaud
The remarkable man we would come to know as Jean Michaud was born Johan Bastiaan Grotendorst in Amsterdam on the 10th of November 1884. He was a musical child prodigy, composing an opera at the age of eleven. When he left school at sixteen, he was already an accomplished musician and could play several instruments to a high standard. He joined the army straight after leaving school, and given his musical abilities it is no surprise that the eight years of his service were spent in the Dutch Army's Music Corps. When he left the army, he married Jacoba Verbon in 1909 and soon after the couple moved to London, where Michaud established himself, first as a musician, and then as a music publisher. However, it was not until June 1939 that he changed his name to Jean Michaud.
Music was an abiding passion throughout his life, and he became a musician of considerable expertise and experience. He could play all of the orchestral instruments; he conducted his own orchestra and also composed his own musical works. He excelled at playing the violin and in the early 1920s performed for BBC radio. Also, in the 1920s and 30s he taught music and ran the London Suburban College of Music. The photograph reproduced below is one of the very few images we have of Michaud and his orchestra. It was probably taken just before the Second World War.
Jean Michaud (standing, centre) and his London orchestra. Undated.
He formed his first music publishing business soon after the First World War. One of the composers he published during this period was Cyril Scott, who was also interested in occult philosophy and other related topics. It was around this time that Michaud established The UMA Press, and while it was later to be a publisher of books, it was originally a music publisher. Later, as the London Agent of Frederick Delius' publishers, he would get to know Delius, and in 1932 he became the first chairman of the Delius Society. Apart from his personal and professional relationships with Scott and Delius, he was also closely associated with the English composer Sir Granville Bantock, as well as the famous conductor and impresario, Sir Thomas Beecham.
Alongside the precocious development of his musical abilities, Michaud was fascinated at a very early age with folklore and fairy tales. This is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that by the age of twelve he could recite all of Hans Christian Andersen's tales. In 1903, aged just nineteen, he wrote a short story of his own — The Elfin Queen — published in full on this website. Even a cursory reading of this most unusual tale will convince the reader of the young Michaud's love of Nature and of his blossoming literary gifts. It's hard not to conclude — as many have done — that he was at this early age already capable of rare insight and penetrating vision.
His interests in folklore and fairy stories, coupled with his innate clairvoyance, led him in 1929 to join the Faery Investigation Society (FIS). This offered its members the opportunity to use their psychic abilities to, in the Society’s own words, "accumulate knowledge and to classify the various orders of nature spirits." It was founded in 1927 by two somewhat contrasting individuals: Bernard Sleigh and Quentin Crauford. Sleigh was an artist and writer who described himself as a psychic. His best-known book is The Gates of Horn, which included ten short descriptions of encounters with nature spirits recorded by members of the society. But he is perhaps better known for the remarkable drawing known as the Anciente Mappe of Fairyland. Measuring nearly six feet long, the Anciente Mappe presents a kind of 'extended universe' of mythology and fairytales in which almost every tale — both ancient and modern — is depicted with meticulous detail in glowing colours. Crauford, a retired Naval Commander with an aristocratic background, had a scientific bent and was known among spiritualist circles for his use of radio technology to investigate what is often called the paranormal. A trained physicist, he was the original creator of a 'box of radio tricks' widely recognised as a precursor of the mobile telephone.
During its pre-war years the Society was a semi-secret organisation in the sense that little is known about the individuals who made up its membership. In addition to the founders and to Michaud it is thought that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have been a member. Crauford later noted that the membership during those years included "members who wished to hide their identity since they held high official positions." During the post-war years a reformed FIS included the prominent theosophists Edward Gardner and Geoffrey Hodson among its members, as well as Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding of Battle of Britain fame, and Walt Disney. Michaud's membership certificate is shown at left.
Michaud's involvement in the Faery Investigation Society is a testament to the fascination he held throughout his life for the secret beauties of the natural world, for the stories and tales of old, for the mystic signs that everywhere skirt the seer's path. He knew first-hand the sweet harmonies and sighing echoes of songs that reach the Earth from the land of Faery and beyond. He saw with the inner eye the beings that move within the star-rays of the holy night; and the silver-tinted souls that process from here to there, and from there to here. If you have the Sight you see them in the golden heart of a flower, in trees, in a rushing waterfall, or in ponds sporting in the cups of water-lilies.
By the time he had reached adulthood, Michaud was already becoming increasingly interested in mysticism and occultism. He was initially drawn to Theosophy but soon moved on to become involved with other occult movements and fraternities, including the Rosicrucian Order AMORC. He was also a natural linguist fluent in some twenty-six languages. Often his motivation for learning a new language was to be able to study, in the language in which they were composed, the sometimes rare and obscure texts on a wide range of topics of interest to him. He was fascinated with the philosophy, mysticism, myths and folklore of numerous cultures, including among many others, those of Indian, Chinese, Egyptian and Middle Eastern origin. He would go on to accumulate a vast library of rare books and manuscripts perhaps unsurpassed by any comparable private collection before or since. One estimate puts the number at some 50,000 volumes. The collection was accumulated over many years and was eventually housed in the stable block of his Cambridge home.
The Works of Jean Michaud
In 1939 Michaud published his first book: Occult Enigmas. One press notice at the time called it "an important contribution to occult literature, vividly and vitally written… producing a depth of understanding rarely found in works of this nature," while another critic lavished his praise, writing: "To the few, the initiates into occult lore, Dr Michaud's book will be revealed as an elaborate portico to a temple of knowledge." Written in the form of answers to students' questions, the twelve chapter headings give a flavour of the contents of the book: The Work of the Masters, Karma, Re-Incarnation, Evolution, Intellect, Instinct and Intuition, The Temple You Dwell In, The Astral World, Optimism versus Faith, Magic, Alchemy, The Soul. With some minor emendations, excisions and additions, these chapters form the content of our Occult Studies Course.
Michaud's second book was The Golden Star, also completed in 1939, but not published until 1945 when wartime paper restrictions were lifted. Ernest Hopkins, in his authoritative analysis, writes: "the author divides his mystic crescendo into twelve divisions which are typified not merely as levels of consciousness but also as states of matter above and below the level of normal intelligence." The reader, along with a pair of Egyptian pilgrims, Ma-u and Ma-uti, are guided through these realms by Neteru-Hem, the Divine Messenger. His declaration at the beginning of their journey is the Message of the Light, and one which has echoed down through every age but heard only by the Few: "I can show you the mysteries that will give you understanding of that which is inexplicable to most, and I will light within you a lamp that can cast its rays in all that is yet dark, and bring a gleam of Truth and comfort unto the gloomy of heart."
The pilgrims' journey begins in the gloom of darkest Night where the shadows of all that is evil in man find their place and purpose. On the pair are led, on through realms where violent storms unveil to the seer the blind demonic forces that find their cruel delight in all that is destructive. These too, the Messenger explains, as do all the realms, have their correspondences within each man and woman, forces which the Initiate must eventually master if he or she is to progress further along the path to the Light.
Ma-u and Ma-uti are guided on through various other realms, both light and dark, and are granted jewelled visions of Faerie, descriptions of which are perhaps unmatched by any other author. On they go, higher and higher, and all the while the kindly guide, Neteru-Hem, unveils and explains the hidden and the secret, the unseen things unbeknown to the material senses of material men. They visit the mystery schools and lecture halls where all who search for Truth shall spend their time between incarnations, imbibing knowledge and wisdom unknown on Earth. Up they climb through ever greater splendour, up through the Fire and Flame of Higher Beauty and Emotion to realms of Mystic Thought, to the Golden Streams of the Living Day, and to the Holy Night of Star-rayed Peace. At last, they behold a vision of the Logos, which some have likened to a Divine Diamond, and whose Veil of Dazzling Light scintillates with colours unknown to all save the Angelic Dwellers in its midst. This final chapter is prefaced with a wonderful prayer which perhaps captures the spirit of Michaud's Message to all aspiring seekers:
O, may the Light now penetrate within the lowest worlds,
And cleanse away with Purifying Flame
All sin of ignorance and lack of comprehension.
And may the Blessings of Enlightenment
And Love and Wisdom bring the PEACE
To all the dwellers in the dark;
And lift them up towards the Glories
Of that Great Paraclete, the Ruler of the Universe,
Divine of Breath and full of Sacredness
Beyond all human apprehension.
The following five years saw a remarkable burst of creativity which resulted in a further four books in quick succession. The first of these was The Teachings of Li Wang Ho wherein Michaud relates the mystical teachings of an unknown Chinese sage. The early seeker of wisdom will do well to mark the Sage's words, which are often simple and easy to understand; but nevertheless, to the advanced mind which has travelled further along the path to the Light yet do they in their simplicity embody some of the highest Truths that man can know.
In 1948, Michaud published his next book, The Quest of Ruru, a tale of love and initiation set in ancient India. It is a story of some 2,000 years ago, telling in exquisite detail of the trials and tests, the hopes and despair, of the high-born Ruru, as he strives to complete his Divine Task and achieve his Liberation by passing through the Gate of his Final Initiation. Along the way he, and so the reader too, meets the various characters who are, in one way or another, destined to help or hinder him in his great quest. There are too many to mention all of them here, but they include a lovable Ascetic and a malicious Black Dwarf; a learned and benevolent Brahman Priest and a menacing, skull-bearing, wandering Monk; a wise and kind old Philosopher and a seductive and passionate Princess. Towards the end of the book he meets a Master who is surely the ideal of every seeker, Narada, the wisest of Guides and his Spiritual Father. Ruru receives from him the keys to Liberation and learns first-hand of the great Sacrifice, and of the burdens readily borne by the Master for the benefit of his Disciple. And then: "The Quest for the Master being over, the Quest for Truth commenced," as the book tells us.
Michaud's love of Nature shines through this book just as brightly as it does through The Golden Star. So powerful are his highly poetic descriptions that the reader sees, as it were, through the seer's Eye, and is led beyond the dreams of this world to those of better ones: "In silent pools he saw the beauty of the sacred lotus, the symbol of the Soul that gazes up to God. And as Surya sank and Soma rose, the plains became like huge arenas in which the golden and the silver beams strove for the mastery, and night sent forth its shadows to overcome them both. And then black bats sailed silently beneath the dark-leaved trees, and Ruru stretched himself upon his bed of thickly strewn soft leaves and fell asleep, full weary with his journey, and dreamt of giant birds with golden plumage, eagle-winged, and floating stately beneath vast roseate clouds. And then again the sun rose up, a well of aureate flame, delicious; the fiery Sun — who drinks the sparkling morning dews."
As in many of Michaud's tales, there is also a love story, as Ruru and his beloved Maiavati, she of the heavenly blue eyes, his equal in every way, both yearn for the mystic marriage and for all that it bestows. And even more so than the Persian tale of Layla and Majnun or Khosrow and Shirin, the romantic epic penned by Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), their Love for each other gives witness to the great Truth that pure Love endures for ever, even beyond that which men call Death. There are great Visions of the Light and also of the Darkness in this book, each an initiation in their own right. There are none greater though, nor more poignant, than the final Test and holy culmination of Ruru's Quest for Enlightenment and Liberation from all Earthly shackles.
The Quest of Ruru was followed by the publication of Symphonie Fantastique in 1949. This is a unique tale in which comedy and dark humour complement its themes of spiritual enlightenment, redemption and regeneration. After the famous composer, Sir Granville Bantock, had read the typescript of this new 'symphony in words', he came running into the offices of the UMA Press exclaiming excitedly: "It is magnificent, Michaud; this will create a sensation!"
Alas...it did not! It will come as little surprise to the lovers of Michaud's books that there was then, as now, little demand for Truth, and less for enlightenment. So the book made little impact with the general public and has now been all but forgotten. Although the events take place some 427,000 years in the future, at the close of the Kali Yuga or 'Black Age', it is also worth noting that Michaud wrote the original manuscript during the months of May and June 1942, in the midst of World War II, when the dark shadows cast by the clouds of death and destruction had spread across much of the world.
To the inner eye the sad group of pitiless men who formed the close circle of that 20th-century envoy of a lower place, reveal how bluff and bluster, pomposity and buffoonery often veil the underlying maliciousness of those whose message to the world is one of war and destruction, of blood and tears, of lies, intolerance and greed. Certainly, Iambus and his shabby crew of devilish companions would have been recognisable to readers of the 1940s as the lower undertones of those responsible for the tragedy that was at that time unfolding for real on a poor, tormented Earth. Having said that, Symphonie Fantastique is very much more than a wartime analogy.
The book's structure reflects that of a symphonic composition wherein the introduction becomes a prelude, and the concluding chapter a coda. The qualities of the intervening chapters are akin to those that typify the movements of a musical symphony. For the most part, the play is set in Hell, where Iambus, The Prince of Darkness, rules on behalf of the 'Great Breath of Evil', unseen but felt and occasionally heard throughout his grim realm. It is a place of suffering and sin, a place where clouds of sulphurous dust obscure the sight, a place where the putrid atmosphere flickers like a guttering flame with copper-coloured light. It is the opposite of Heaven in every way.
The action begins with two children, Dolce and Farni, exploring a ruined castle. They meet Mizella, a wise old Gipsy woman, who imparts to the children some of the hidden secrets of Nature and of natural healing. The children represent the lower selves of Madelon and Sebastiano, two advanced souls who emerge from the children’s bodies as they fall asleep. The pair find themselves in a lower realm and realise that they must have been led there to perform a Task, the nature of which would be revealed to them at the appropriate time. Along with them we are brought into the presence of the dark forces in the person of Iambus and his demonic circle. It becomes clear that while to the sinner Hell can be a place of anguish and torture, to the envoys of Heaven it is a place where the shades and shadows of Evil may threaten but remain powerless to harm a soul protected by the purity of inner Peace, by Courage and Goodness.
Madelon and Sebastiano fulfil their God-given Task of bringing the divine powers of Life, Light, and Love into the dark heart of Hell itself. The play ends with the Planetary Lords of jewelled Life overcoming the dark forces from below to usher in a Golden Age, sweeping away in the process Iambus and his empire of self-created sin. Following their Victory, Sebastiano sends forth a prayer to the One, the hidden Father of the Light, part of which we cannot resist quoting. "Laudamus! Thou great Spirit of divine Goodness and Wisdom, that ruleth Earth and all our planets; that earth, so beautiful, yet so tormented by the gross iniquities of the Angel of Darkness . . . we beseech Thee, humbly, save that fair domain and its inhabitants and permit no longer that mankind be beset on every side upon its path, yea! from without and from within, with thornéd shame and sin." But perhaps it is only fair to leave the last word to Michaud as narrator of this strange but wonderful tale of the rebirth of Light in both its cosmic and human aspects: "And Earth — the Great Green One — that was shaken by wars and alarms for aeons of time in the now dead past, is girt afresh with the everlasting Joys of Peace and Splendour, Wisdom and Love, and the Golden Age commences."
The author's final work was The Book of Sa-Heti. This remarkable book is a highly poetic account of the life of the Hindu Saviour Krishna. Subtitled The True Gospel of Chrishna-Jeseus, The Light of the World, The Book of Sa-Heti has been aptly referred to as: "...the record of the only true Messenger of which human history still has some dim-remembered tales — Chrishna-Jeseus — the Holy Hindu Saviour and prototype of Christ." Chrishna's mother, Maia, the Virgin Immaculate, and his closest disciple, Arjuna, became Mary and John in the Christian version; and various episodes described in this account were incorporated in the New Testament 3,000 years later. For Chrishna's Message — and Michaud's — is the ever-returning Message of the Light. Chrishna is Lord Vishnu's Avatar and his coming to Earth signifies the beginning of the so-called Black Age, the Kali Yuga.
Chrishna's Message is the Blazing Light, born of the Father–Mother, necessarily hidden from the material eyes of men, which yet doth radiate from the Cosmic Within, to illuminate the Minds of the worthy. It is a soothing, gentle light, like the soft kisses of the lover and his beloved. But it is too, the searing light that burns away the dross of a thousand lives to release the Aspirant, lifting him up from the place of wailing to the dewy fields and flowery meadows of the Lord. It is the pearly light of Understanding that shines soft upon the surface of the Initiate's Mind, like the sunny ray which at the dawning of Day shines upon the surface of the sea. It is the bewitching light of Beauty, and the light of Virtue pure, inviolate and invincible. It is the cascading light of Truth and Peace and Goodness. It is the glittering light-power that slays and scatters the cruel Night. It is the Light of Heaven’s Heaven and of the jewelled splendour of Pavilions Divine, wherein the light-clothed Soul of man doth drink from the very Fountain of life and love.
In 1950 two of Michaud's short stories, The Rhododendrons and The Bronze Mirror, were published in the now defunct esoteric magazine, The Occult Observer. Each of them in their own way provide further evidence — if such were needed — of the author's deep love and understanding of Nature and her hidden laws, as well as the many ways in which it offers the sincere seeker access to the higher realms of light. Among the many profound insights of a mystical and psychic nature, The Rhododendrons draws attention to Michaud's extensive knowledge of the insect world and of butterflies in particular. In The Bronze Mirror — an object he bought at auction in competition with King Farouk I of Egypt (1920-1965) — he recalls a past life spent in ancient Egypt during the 18th Dynasty, demonstrating how much his Message owes to the long-lost Wisdom of that land which with every justification has been called "The Light of the World."
© Copyright Ian S. Major & occult-mysteries.org. All rights reserved.
Article first published 8 February 2026.
