You know what pairs nicely with the Archangel Michael Novena? My friends Michael Van Sciver and Brooke Sullivan are co-teaching a Navratri Regeneration Cleanse Fall 2025 course that offers you every inner and outer preparation for this auspicious season of letting go and grounding deeply. This nine-day ritual cleanse begins Monday night, September 21st, and the course support begins now! Through lectures, yoga, breath-work practices, meditations, recipes, plant monographs, and journal prompts, you will be well-supported in your process of clarification. Michael and Brooke are offering $25 off for my readers – just use the code MICHAEL at checkout! Full info and registration here. Here’s a guest reflection by Michael Van Sciver…
Navratri and Michaelmas are analogous holidays. They each wear the clothing of their respective cultures; but at their essence, they are celebrating the same cosmic principles, honoring the same natural phenomenon, and have the same anatomical and spiritual goals.
There are different times of year where most or all the World Heritage Wisdom Traditions agree on appropriate timing and intention, marking these times with harmonious holidays. The time of the equinoxes is a striking example. These are times of great change. At the equinoxes, our Northern and Southern Hemispheres of Earth are moving divergently from a predominance of dark or light to their opposite. This marks a stark contrast in the terrain, externally and internally. This combined with other shifts, like that of the speed at which Earth travels around the Sun, make these times ripe to “slay our demons” according to the holy days of our different spiritual lineages.
Michael & Durga
I see Michael and Durga as Subtle Realm projections of the same Causal Realm phenomena. The Causal Realm is that of Primordial Brilliance. It is the storehouse of divine emanation. Cosmic principles, the archetypes of Nature/Godhead, are often experienced by us individually in our minds and imaginations with the influences of our ancestral and modern cultures. In Sanskrit this is related to a term “Ishwara,” which means that God comes to us in the forms to which we best relate. In Christianity this is the principle of “Incarnation.” These primordial forces are also contained within each of us, presenting practical applications.
Michael and Durga are both famous defeaters of seemingly otherwise-unstoppable demonic beings. They each are depicted using the single-pointedness and concentration of effort held in a specific weapon. For Michael it is his sword and for Durga the lance, each representing Truth, Divine Will, and Focus—the transmutative properties of Unconditional Love.
In the Vedic Traditions, and especially from the lens of the Ayurvedic Healing System, Navratri is a 9-night cleanse. This is a gentle cleanse in which we touch the dark, unconscious and subconscious aspects of self with the light of our awareness; we deliver our demons from evil to Wholeness/Holiness. I believe that Michaelmas is the same dynamic 9-night holiday, but for many has become a static day on the calendar. I think we who celebrate Michaelmas can look to the Vedic tradition to recover some of our cultural roots lost to time. [As well as looking to a traditional nine-day novena with Archangel Michael like this one – Michael M.]
What is a demon?
Both the stories of Durga and Michael contain rich character development for their adversaries, which is well worth exploring in-depth. Generally speaking, demons (or asuras in Sanskrit) represent ignorance and deluded senses of “self.” They represent parts of ourselves, or of society, that do not have desire in alignment with need. This misalignment can take many forms. It is like the bratty prince/princess archetype which is non-other than the incoherent version of the Exalted King/Queen archetype. Think of that part of you that wants to binge watch tv instead of doing something you know is a nourishing form of rest. Think of a child screaming for ice cream when they are hungry. This feeding of disharmonic desire can take some seriously perverse, demonic forms when left unchecked. As we become adults, we become adulterated, losing our connection to our innate innocence, which divorces us from our Christlike, enlightened potential. These desires feed our suffering instead of our hunger. The practices of Navratri allow us to reclaim our childlike wonder and purity of perception, re-empowering us with the magical, co-creative, reverent relationship to Life.
In a physical sense, these demonic forces can be seen as the opportunistic organisms that have grown beyond their healthy presence in our bodies—parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.
Psychologically speaking, these are the limiting stories of doubt and fear that cycle through our thoughts and crystalize in the physical body.
It is also all the undigested things that we have taken in through our five senses that clogs our gross and subtle bodies—food, media, experiences.
The astronomical and seasonal forces at this time of year allow us a second opportunity to process the unprocessed, transmute our faulty desires with loving-kindness, and to establish ourselves deeper in coherence, health, vitality, joy, and Grace.
A reminder: My friends Michael Van Sciver and Brooke Sullivan are co-teaching a Navratri Regeneration Cleanse Fall 2025 course that offers you every inner and outer preparation for this auspicious season of letting go and grounding deeply. This nine-day ritual cleanse begins Monday night, September 21st, and the course support begins now! Through lectures, yoga, breath-work practices, meditations, recipes, plant monographs, and journal prompts, you will be well-supported in your process of clarification. Michael and Brooke are offering $25 off for my readers – just use the code MICHAEL at checkout! Full info and registration here.
Michael Van Sciver (pronounced MY-kel VAN-SKY-ver) is the owner of Joyful Forest Medicine in Nevada City, California, where he practices as a Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist and Clinical Herbalist. A self-described “born biologist” raised in rural South Jersey, Michael’s path to healing began with a deep childhood communion with gardens, fields, and forests, which eventually led him from conventional pre-medical studies to the holistic traditions of Ayurveda, permaculture, and clinical herbalism. With over a decade of study spanning Buddhist and Yogic theory, Western biology, and traditional healing arts, Michael specializes in what he calls “world bridging”—weaving together Eastern and Western wisdom traditions to address the root causes of imbalance in both individuals and our interconnected world. His practice integrates aromatherapy, sound yoga, meditation, and botanical medicine with the foundational principle that healing happens when we work with nature’s rhythms and the five elements to “restore Innate Joy.” Trained at the California College of Ayurveda and deeply influenced by his studies in permaculture and Buddhist contemplative practices, Michael approaches each client with the understanding that true healing requires not just addressing symptoms, but honoring the sacred connections between environmental health, seasonal cycles, and the eternal wisdom found across all spiritual traditions.
Related posts:
Not Only Is He Having The Best Sex Of His Life… He Also Feels Closer To God Than Ever | Michael Hrostoski
Rivers and Trees of Life | Revelation: A New Illustrated Translation | Michael Straus and Jennifer May Reiland
Bringing forth what is within you: A nine-day prayer invitation with Michael the Archangel
The Hive: Where Indigenous Wisdom Meets the Way of Jesus | Hillary Raining and Mike Morrell
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