“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

Henry Kissinger said to Mao Tse-tung 

Symbols & Color

• Star: Sage Set
• Automobile: Mode Group
• Pharaoh: Exalted Orientation and public image
• Diamond: Expressive Axis
• Border Color: Blue – Sage Set

Implications of the Upright Position or Positive Pole

“We will…pump you up!” The positive pole of authority means asserting confidence in what you know and what you can do. Notice however, it takes exercising those muscles by pushing around the weights and lifting the burdens it requires to solidify yourself; but also make people see your power. One time body building champion – actor – governor Arnold Schwarzenegger knew well how to throw his weight around and build upon his successes. In the positive pole, one can feel that their knowledge or physical prowess or accomplishments make them an Authority about their subject area. Power Mode as a member of the Sage Set cluster makes its desire less about directive leadership (like Dominance Card 11) than it is to acquire notice like: achieve fame, receive deference, or possess the title of Expert. Alfred Lord Tennyson condensed a formula of personality achieving these stations, “Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control — these three alone lead to power.” When a person is utilizing Power Mode, they are a force or more accurately – an opinion to be reckoned with. But remember the warning that Spiderman’s Uncle Ben warned him, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” And with any luck, you might earn some wisdom as a result. And, on that quest to cultivate power in yourself, let me empower you by saying, “May the Force be with you.”

Card messages in the Illuminated position.

+ Authority

(stature, confident, commanding, presence, vigor, decisive, self possessed, authenticity)

1. Primary power originates within. It comes from the focus of self upon knowledge. Expertise and authority derive from it. Sharing your genius makes you a more potent person! You are the only expert of you.
2. While you may accept direction and advice from a trusted authority, the power of decision rests with you. Accept nothing that takes your power away.
3. Apply authority over your doubt and your doubt will have no power.
4. To believe in yourself and to be responsible for what you do in the name of it, is the right use of power.
5. Sharing your genius makes you a more potent person. You are the only expert of you. Insist upon it.
6. The voice of the dissenter should cast doubt on the party line, and in doing so expose corruption. Assert your own authority.
7. Power here is not about controlling others. It is about continuing to assert a position that is based on principles, not posturing.
8. You have been given position power. Use it well.
9. President Harry Truman defined personal responsibility by saying “the buck stops here.” Stop the buck passing and show your stature and integrity.
10. Lao Tzu wrote, “He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still”. Never doubt that when the power of your being is turned toward the world you MAKE a difference!
11. Polymath Francis Bacon once uttered the now iconic phrase: “knowledge is power.” But such a force must be spoken, directed and implemented; not just held in mind. Say what you know! 
12. To act responsibly is to being congruent with the truth of your being. That, is the right use of your power. Act with self-possession. You need not know it all, but assert what you do know with authority and conviction.
13. Exert authority over your doubt and your doubt will have no power.
14. Self confidence literally means to confide in oneself. That means telling yourself the truth/facts in an unvarnished way and be able to be strong. “To thine own self be true” is the ultimate power not self indulgence.
15. Authentic power is always accountable! Oppressive force seldom is. You know the difference!

 Quotes illustrating the Overleaf in this pole

• “He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still” Lao Tzu
• “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln
• “Knowledge is power.”: Francis Bacon
• “Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control — these three alone lead to power. Alfred Lord Tennyson
• “The secret of all power is – save your force.” Joseph Farrell
• “When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” ~Audre Lorde

Implications of the Reversed Position or Negative Pole

Assault with the intention to commit oppression. A Power Mode person will hold to their opinions with great vigor, even to the point of stubborn (Card 28) resistance. We see a person beating someone using their words like a bludgeon. Totalitarian people and states use this tactic often! Want compliance? Repress the speech of others. For the famed maxim “absolute power corrupts absolutely” is witnessed in those who are out-of-control over themselves, and wielding force over others. A combination for disaster.

Card messages in the Shadow position.

– Oppression

( autocrat, bullying, disapproving, browbeating, abuser, threatening, obnoxious, overbearing, arbitrary, imposing)

1. Authority granted from institutions may allow oppression to be visited upon those who dissent. Fearing the weakness of it position, the oppressor invokes power to threaten and imposes obedience. Keep on eye on those who conform from fear; they can’t be trusted. The voice of the dissenter may casts doubt, but in doing so shed light on a bully.
2. Any form of intimidation is oppressive. It saps energy like a vampire sucks blood. Time to be bold and stake them to the wall.
3. All it takes to be oppressive, is an imbalance of power. Be alert to whomever might be overstepping their bounds.
4. Those who conform from fear can’t be trusted. Keep an eye open for the maliciously obedient. Follow rules in a way that makes the rule maker regret the power.
5. Forcing another to your way or overpowering them invites a conflict. What is the struggle over and who is the cause?
6. Authentic power is ALWAYS accountable to truth, the way that oppressive force never is. Know the difference.
7. All it takes to be a bully is an imbalance of power. Be alert to whomever is overstepping the limits.
8. An overbearing person behind the scenes is messing things up. You must reign them in.
9. Those who conform from fear can’t be trusted. Keep an eye out for malicious obedience.
10. Disapproval may be harsh, but is it useful information or just insulting BS?
11. Someone is being browbeaten and disapproved of. Intervene or watch that person collapse.
12. Marshal your resources and repel attacks. A bully hates it when someone won’t cave in.
13. “Shields are failing Captain,” says Scottie to Kirk. Divert power from other sources to shore up your protection.
14. The easiest way to give up your power is to believe you have none to begin with. As long as your are alive, you can also be kicking!

Historic Quotes signifying the quality of the Overleaf in this pole

• “He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” Martin Luther King Jr.
• “The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.” Winston Churchill
• “Being powerful is like being a lady, if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” Margaret Thatcher
• “Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.” Author Unknown
• “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” Alice Walker

Relevance within the Michael Teaching  – Exalted Expression

Power, perhaps more than any other Overleaf, represents a core element of personal expression. An Essence who chooses this mode wants the personality to be noticed and usually to be reckoned with in some way. Commonly, negative Power Mode people may be outspoken all the way to overblown, overbearing, and outrageous. There is no illustrative example of this than Rush Limbaugh.

Essence desires Power Mode when pushing outward for bold or expansionary experience is required. If a person is in Power, it would be erroneous to assume that they are good at it, let alone familiar with it. Power mode compels a person within themselves to know what they are about and employ it in the external world. While not every Power Mode person can be called an expert. Many adopt a tone of such self assurance that listening to them one might think of a lecturer or politician pontificating.

Gaining certainty is often a slow process, but it is one where life force is generated and is harvested. Associated with the 5^th Chakra, one must speak to inform others of their position or personal truth. That truth may be a restatement of some time honored values or a unique formulation for a life task that demands a new solution; one that might even be violently opposed.

Famous Persons

Harrison Ford, Cher, Margaret Thatcher, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Madonna, Rush Limbaugh, Henry Kissinger, Werner Erhardt, Madonna, Socrates, Orson Wells, Mitt Romney, Malcolm X, William Randolph Hearst, Bill Cosby, Count Dracula, J.K. Rowling, Rasputin, Joan Crawford, Mao Tse Tung, Frank Sinatra, Angelica Houston,

Cultural Relevance

Empowerment is a buzzword which articulates the transfer of authority from one individual or group to another. Dis-empowerment attends those people or institutions which effectively oppress or antagonize the growth of another or a movement with fierce opposition and seeking to disable that force before it takes root. Parents are the first line of empowerment for the child. What makes empowerment different from debilitating enabling regards the way that support is provided. Instruction and presence is the key to empowerment. Show a child how to do something, tell them why you want it done, and yes, what’s in it for them, and most importantly that you will continue to love them even when their initial attempts fail. But their attempts not you doing it for them or badgering them to do it alone! When these conditions are met it produces a being ready to risk temporary failure or in-completion knowing that they are supported from behind. Children, more than at any age know when you are “watching out for them”. Meaning you will not withdraw and they not fear the loss of safety and stability which, for the first seven years of life, rest solely with the modeling that the parent provides. This is empowerment.

How has this translated into the modern landscape? Individuals often fearing loss of livelihood are thrust into a struggle to gain power over someone else. Countries exploit or are exploited in a see-saw strike and counterstrike fashion in attempts to either secure their position or expel those who would “take advantage” Power struggles seems to have become extreme in this last 50 years. For one thing the stakes are higher and more global. It is when imbalances such as these between halves and have-nots move further from a balanced center, then we see the action of oppressive forces acting upon both parties for reasons stated above. Status rules the mind for those who love power.

The battle between the powerful and powerless is a harbinger that both experience the insecurity of lack. The only difference is that one side is active and swarms to acquire whatever and wherever it can, and the other side passively languishes but grows increasingly, eventually explosively resentful. The only way to stem this tide is to end what on many levels is active disempowerment (i.e. greater economic inequality and the diminishment of opportunities while imposing greater demands for less recompense); and for those who experience themselves as disabled or disempowered to rise and assert themselves.

Oppressors are being overthrown in the Middle East in 2011. An expression of this Mode showing reactiveness to imbalances created from inequality. The purpose of consciousness is not to find new ways to act on Darwinian dictates of “survival of the fittest” but to elevate an entire species and the planet to a higher level of fitness and thriving. The ultimate power is the authority one might gain over themselves to active in pursuit of values and principle and not only personal agendas. More than a simplistic philosophical aspiration, the ownership of conscious individual power focused upon the goal of power rather than dominance over others, promotes the well being of both the individual and the whole.

Power is your Mode if…

1. You believe yourself to be deserved because you are competent.
2. I know that I can bowl people over when I am angry or self righteous.
3. Power in a situation is easy for me to take.
4. My desire to be seen as a knowledgeable and competent is preeminent.
5. I secretly wish that people would see that my view is the right one.

by Stephen Cocconi © 2011, Updated 2024

For a Motivation Cards Reading or Channeled Consultation call: 209.768-4956 or email Stephen at channeling@themichaelteaching.com