Reader Views

Soul Medicine

"Soul Medicine" conveys that a vibrant spiritual connection is essential to wellness. The author’s contend that there is a spiritual connection which is established in the consciousness and through intention which they state can alter the bodies’ energy field. You will find these principles described in the book as well as many scientific studies that demonstrate the power of consciousness to heal.

Norman Shealy, MD, PhD is a neurosurgeon and is the founding president of the American Holistic Medical Association. And Dawson Church, PhD, is currently researching Quantum Medicine, which is the exploration of the newest studies on the effects of the consciousness on DNA.

The entire book is so intriguing and engaging, but I will have to say that my favorite chapter is Chapter 10 entitled "Your Personal Soul Connection Inventory." The authors state that "a healthy relationship with your soul, and using soul medicine as primary care, is the best thing you can do for your body." In this chapter they list characteristics which they have found to be common to people with a vibrant soul connection. The characteristics include all the following: forgiveness, tolerance, serenity, faith, reason, hope, motivation, consistency, community, joy, gratitude, and love, all of which are explained in detail. You will also find within this chapter that they include a soul connection inventory of 50 items in which you add up your own personalized score and interpret your own results.

Being a nurse, I know that stress affects the body, the more stress a person endures and has in their life, they eventually begin to adapt, thereby reducing our threshold for new stress is lowered which eventually causes a cascading effect on us. Stress plays a major role in disease, all of which is explained within "Soul Medicine." The holistic approach to medicine is on the rise in our nation and "Soul Medicine" brings to our attention the issues of consciousness and intention.

The authors explain that your consciousness holds the key to your own well being, and even small shifts in energy and awareness can produce major shifts in our health. They continue on and include a look at the history of faith healers, and trace the factors that were and are common to healings they term as "miraculous healings."

"Soul Medicine" is intelligent and engaging, and I found it difficult to put down. This is a very highly recommended read for anyone who is interested in their health and well-being.

Soul Medicine: Awakening Your Inner Blueprint for Abundant Health and Energy
Norman Shealy, MD, PhD & Dawson Church, PhD
Elite Books (2006)
ISBN 0971088888
Reviewed by Terry South for Reader Views (3/07)
http://www.readerviews.com/index.html

Light Upon Light: 5 Master Paths to Awakening the Mindful Self

Andrew Vidich’s "Light Upon Light" provides a wide array of spiritual examples and stories from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other religions to demonstrate how a person can gain a deeper personal relationship with God and live a more fulfilling spiritual life. Vidich divides the book into sections largely focused upon Spiritual Masters, most of whom are not familiar to the Western World. Beyond just biography, Vidich discusses the stories and inner quests of these Spiritual Masters as guidelines for our own spiritual searches today.

American culture, as Vidich notes, is flooded with self-help books that promise to teach you how to achieve your goals, but most people fail to succeed after reading these books because they do not carry through beyond setting goals to taking regular action to complete them. Vidich focuses on meditation and the importance of meditating daily with common sense advice on how to concentrate and gradually increase from meditating for just a few minutes a day to several hours at a time. He emphasizes that our spiritual well-being is the most integral part of our lives and something we must focus on daily to make progress.

I found "Light Upon Light" to be deeply thoughtful and far advanced beyond most of the self-help books I have read. It is also more informative and intellectual than books like the narrow-minded, demeaning and unfortunately popular "The Purpose-Driven Life." While Vidich talks a lot about overcoming the ego, he does not focus so much on the depravity of man as many other religious books, although that sense still was in the book to some degree—especially in the story of the saint who had excrement dumped upon him, only to declare he deserved far worse. I don’t understand why self-esteem fails to be part of religion and wish Vidich had removed these kinds of examples. In all other ways, I appreciated the author’s sincerity throughout to help people achieve greater spiritual happiness. I especially found it interesting how Vidich advocates that each person find a spiritual master to help him or her stay the course, something that our "self-help" American culture and "do it yourself" attitude may be resistant to, but which would be a great benefit for follow-through.

Readers not familiar with Eastern religions may find "Light Upon Light" a bit of a stumbling block at times. Vidich uses many terms not familiar to Western readers. Despite a glossary at the end of the book, he never did define what "Sant Mat" means—he assumes readers have some knowledge of Eastern religion and mysticism. I also found it a bit difficult at times to follow him because English is obviously not his first language and there were numerous typos throughout the book. I found the glossary frustrating as well because it was only loosely alphabetical—all the A’s were together, but not in Ab, Ac, Ad etc. order. Most readers, however, will find these flaws only minor inconveniences and be inspired to learn more about the spiritual practices and masters discussed in the book.

I recommend "Light Upon Light" by Andrew Vidich to people who want to read examples of how holy men from the past have reached stages of enlightenment. I will not say this book changed my life, but it did remind me of the importance of finding time to meditate each day—something I hope to get into the practice of doing regularly—Vidich’s advice may well start me on my way.

Light Upon Light: 5 Master Paths to Awakening the Mindful Self
Andrew Vidich, PhD
Elite Books/Energy Psychology Press (2008)
ISBN 9781600700590
Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (9/08)

Invisible Roots: How Healing Past Life Trauma Can Liberate Your Present

Psychotherapist Barbara Stone discovered that patients who have psychological and/or physical afflictions can achieve a greater level of healing when being treated with methods that help heal them from their past life issues. She also helps by releasing earthbound spirits who have attached themselves to her patients. She assists the patient with discovering whose spirit has attached to them and then helps release the spirit so that they can move on into the Light. I found this fascinating because these spirits do not always attach themselves to people that they knew or were related to when they were alive. Sometimes they just find comfort with a certain person that they encounter. Unfortunately, they are also feeding off of this person’s energy.

Dr. Stone refers to her method of treatment as Soul Detective work. A soul detective is defined as, "A therapist using energy therapy to detect what is happening at the soul level, including assessing for the presence of earthbound spirit attachments, soul loss, past life trauma, and other nonphysical energetic disturbances."

The first section of the book discusses ten cases that dealt with issues regarding attachments of earthbound spirits. In most cases, the spirits didn’t even know that they were dead. They just knew that they were afraid and lonely. Convincing them to release their hold and go into the Light was critical for both the spirit and the patient. Some of these stories were pretty complex, especially when dealing with a relative who did not want to let go. The experience of actually being there when the spirits released and moved on sounded very beautiful.

The second section of the book discusses healing from past life trauma. Again cases are reviewed and discussed. Several of them involved people from the first section who had the spirits attached to them. These people really had a lot to deal with! Healing past life traumas tends not to be limited to one life, but instead incorporates many lifetime journeys. In some cases, people got to reencounter people from their past lives. This seemed especially apparent in regards to mates and children. In addition to the physical and psychological healing that comes from this treatment, present life relationships can also be greatly improved or released.

The third section of the book deals with root causes. There is a great deal of information presented here. Soul Detective work is definitely very intensive and complex. However, I found thediscussions to be incredibly fascinating. Dr. Stone truly leaves no stone uncovered when she discusses the different levels of healing and a variety of intuitive issues that can be found on each level. She further illustrates her discussions with more interesting cases. She concludes with appendices offering tips and more information to assist with this process.

I highly recommend "Invisible Roots" to people who desire to have a complete healing in their lives. I gained so much insight into myself while I was reading it. I also think that therapists will really enjoy learning about Soul Detective work and definitely want to follow up with more training and education into this treatment. I truly believe that I could become a more effective counselor if I were to personally experience my own healing from this process. The amount of insight gained from actual participation has to be incredible. "Invisible Roots" by Barbara Stone, PhD, is a keeper.

Invisible Roots: How Healing Past Life Trauma Can Liberate Your Present
Barbara Stone, PhD
Elite Books/Energy Psychology Press (2008)
ISBN 9781604150179
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (8/08)

The Art of Conscious Creation

"The Art of Conscious Creation" left me with such a wonderful feeling of hope for myself and the whole planet. Every step that you need to take to transform yourself and the world is in this book. The author begins with a discussion about what is going wrong with the planet. This includes the extinction of animals and the dire effects of global warming. The statistics presented are sobering. She then gives us a discussion about the 25 Universal Guiding Principles that will bring us into a better life. These principles are about how the universe really works, or how it can work for us if we know how to use the principles. She really targeted a lot of negative thought patterns that I have within myself. I recognize them and now know what I need to do to change them.

Next she writes about the science that is behind the art of conscious creation. She discusses our energy bodies and how they can be influenced by our minds. Included in this section is information about a tremendous number of studies that show that humans and animals have the power to influence our environments and our own healing. I really found this part fascinating. Some of these studies go as far back as the early 1900s. The author offers steps to the visioning process. Then she writes about visions of an ideal world. These visions involve peace, abundance, human rights, proper leadership, and more. This part is so important. If we think about how bad we feel when we get hit by the negativity of what we read in the newspaper, we will definitely feel wonderful and hopeful when we read about what the world should truly be like.

It is so important that "The Art of Conscious Creation" by Jackie Lapin gets out there for people to share this vision. This is where I felt the most hope. I really feel that we should be giving this book out as gifts to our friends and loved ones. I guess we should even be giving it to the people that we don’t like. The more people that we can share this vision, the faster we can transform the world into a healthier place. There is also a section on things that we can do today. This list can make a huge difference in saving the planet. The more people that participate, the faster the transformation will be.

The Art of Conscious Creation
Jackie Lapin
Elevate Publishing (2007)
ISBN 9781601940094
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (8/08)

Transcendent Dreaming: Stepping into Our Human Potential

Transcendent Dreaming” by Christina Donnell is a powerful and intriguing book about the powers that might lie dormant in many of us, yet we never even think about possessing them and/or exploring them. Those of us who have been raised in the Western world very often tend do be more into “doing” than into “being,” and any kind of “inner voice” talking to us is looked at suspiciously.

Ms. Donnell’s background in martial arts, Zen meditation, studies of the South America’s indigenous Q’ero medicine people, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and her two decades of work experience in her chosen field mark her as somebody open to different ideas and willing to learn. It is her journey that, described through a series of ten dreams, seems to be the culmination of all her learning and acceptance of new ideas and experiences. Through a series of dreaming experiences Ms. Donnell evolved into somebody extremely in touch with herself as well as the entire universe. She discovered her abilities to step out of time, to materialize elsewhere; she had prophetic dreams, developed clairvoyant and healing skills and more. This was by no means an easy or always pleasant journey, and I have to admit that I feel utmost admiration for Ms. Donnell’s persistence in spite of some truly scary-sounding periods of complete detachment from the world surrounding her.

This deceptively slim volume packs quite a punch. Ms. Donnell’s stories are impactful and written in a fluid, smooth style, which never gets too technical for a reader to enjoy. Although those experiences might sound far-fetched to many people, I believe it would be helpful to everybody if we would be willing to be open to new ideas and insights; especially positive and healing ones such as those described within “Transcendent Dreaming.” Read this book with an open mind and you might discover a path to more joy, inner peace and contentment.

Transcendent Dreaming
Christina Donnell, Ph.D.
Winds of Change Books (2008)
ISBN 9780980181029
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (8/08) 

You Are the Blessings: Meditations and Reflections on Life, God and Us (with CD)

I felt such a profound sense of inner peace while reading “You Are the Blessings.”   This book contains a collection of insightful meditations and reflections about our relationship to God and our own self, and topics about life in general.  By learning to view life events as blessings, we can learn from them, even if they seem negative.  Blessings come from the insight we gain while we are learning to overcome hardships.  If we pull ourselves closer in our relationships with God, then we come out more in touch with our own Divinity.

Something that really resonated with me was a discussion that involved fear.  If we open our hearts to God, and His abundance we really should not need to fear anything.  Speaking of abundance, the author also reminds us that we really already have everything we need. It is our materialism that diverts our attention from this and makes us feel inadequate.  This is so true for me.  I know that not only do I have enough, I have more than enough, yet so many times I forget this and find myself wanting things that lose their specialness before they are paid off.

Having a close relationship with our Creator can fulfill us more than anything materialistic.  Learning to appreciate what we have helps us to feel more peaceful and accepting of our lives.  Reaching out to help others adds meaning to our lives and makes a difference in the lives of others.  What a blessing that is for both the giver and the receiver.

Included with the text, is a CD with blessings, prayers and meditations.  The words included on this CD are so insightful.  Each track has a connection to pieces of the book.  It is wonderful to be able to relax and just listen.  It was such a gift to be able to both read the book and listen to the CD.  I discovered a sense of peace within myself that I haven’t felt in a while.  The book will definitely provide a tremendous amount of material for journaling. I highly recommend that you get “You are the Blessings” by John Morton as a gift for yourself and for someone else.

You are the Blessings
John Morton
Mandeville Press (2008)
ISBN 9781893020467
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (7/08)

The Alchemical Woman: A Handbook for Everyday Soulwork

“The Alchemical Woman” is a handbook that teaches women how to adapt ancient alchemical processes into a tool for self-discovery.  There are five stages to these processes.  This guide carefully takes you through each step.  Every section on each stage offers mythic stories, poetry, reflections, keystones, and journaling space to record your insights and personal discoveries.  The keystones in each stage offer a variety of suggestions of actions that one can take to help them explore the particular stage that they are in.  What I like about the keystones is that they suggest a wide variety of activities that will appeal to everyone.  Some suggestions involve doing something that takes you within yourself; others suggest activities that involve connecting with others.  The fact that there is a variety offered will allow people to do what they feel they need to do that will be best for themselves.

Each stage offers you a different aspect of yourself to work on.  The first stage is Nigredo.  The processing in this stage reminds me of going through the dark night of the soul.  It takes you within yourself to confront the darkness.  It teaches you to overcome it and to turn obstacles into stepping stones.  Clearing up issues from your past and reconnecting with aspects of yourself that you have been separated from, provides you with a tremendous opportunity for healing.  The other stages that follow are:  Lapis, Albedo, Citrinitas, and Rebedo.  All of these stages in the alchemical process promote trusting in yourself and empowerment.  This is an incredible book.

“The Alchemical Woman” is colorfully illustrated.  In addition to the illustrations, the poetry and personal journaling space will make it a book that is definitely a keeper.  I highly recommend giving it as a gift to other women.  What greater gift can you give someone than a tool to take them on a soul journey of self-discovery?

The Alchemical Woman
Catherine W. Davidson, PhD & Ramona P. Rubio, PhD
Cultural Tapestries (2007)
ISBN 9780980212808
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (6/08)

Mystical Mentor: Breaking Through Barriers Finding Peace of Mind

A chance encounter at an international Toastmaster meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, introduced Dick Warn to a mystical mentor who changed his life.  His mentor, Russell Swank, was a self-made millionaire.  He did not acquire his wealth easily.  He had some hard lessons to learn on his path.  Turning negative events into lessons provided him with some tremendous learning experiences.  He took the author Dick Warn under his wing to provide him with some guidance to get him started on his journey of breaking through barriers to find peace of mind. 

Mr. Warn learned we are here to learn from our experiences.  We choose what kind of life we want to experience.  Heaven and Hell are states of mind which we are experiencing right now.  It is up to us to decide which one we want to experience.  Each day is a new day that offers us a fresh start and a chance to be the person that we want to be.  Russell provided him with exercises to help him discover what his three top goals for living were.  He also had him identify barriers that were holding him back.  I wrote these exercises down in my journal.  It was fascinating for me to realize that one of my barriers holding me back is that I buy things that I don’t need to try to fill a void that cannot be filled by things that I don’t need.  How simple and basic this is, yet I had never put it into words prior to this exercise.   Quoting Russell Swank, he states, “The battles that need to be won are within.”

There is also a very powerful exercise that involves creating a forgiveness deck of cards. On these cards you write the name of a person that has hurt you and a prayer forgiving them and releasing them.  In a few short minutes of creating these cards, I found myself forgiving and releasing people.  There were a few that I was totally able to release in that moment.  There are still a few that I will need some time to work on.  What is interesting is that the day before reading “Mystical Mentor,” an ex-boyfriend offered an apology for his atrocious behavior during our relationship.  What a gift I received in that phone call.  I feel that I will be able to forgive and release him much easier now. 

In addition to reading about Mr. Warn’s powerful experiences with Russell Swank, the book also offers a large selection of quotes taken from various powerful mentors who have gone before us.  I really enjoyed taking the time to read and contemplate what was being said.  I also found a list of books that he suggests reading.  I already have about a quarter of these books in my book room. Unfortunately, I had only read one of them. 

I found “Mystical Mentor” to be an incredibly insightful and inspiring book.  I appreciated Mr. Warn’s willingness to tell his story and to do it so openly.  Once he started his journey, he still encountered some rough spots that became tremendous learning experiences.  By being so candid and honest, readers will appreciate his book so much more.  I am truly grateful for having the opportunity to read “Mystical Mentor.”  It came along at the perfect time.  Now that I am done with it, I have a reading list to get to work on.  I look forward to rereading it after I have read the books on the list.  Enjoy your journey.

Mystical Mentor
Dick Warn
Trafford Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9781425161651
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (6/08)

Seeing True: Ninety Contemplations in Ninety Days

“Seeing True” offers ninety days worth of contemplations followed by thought-provoking questions with space to journal your thoughts. Each contemplation is written to make us go deeply within ourselves so that we can dispel any false illusions to see what is real. They assist us with transcending our egos so that we can continue to spiritually evolve by having a deeper connection to spirit.

This guide covers ninety days because of a belief that it takes ninety days to overcome a habit or addiction. “Seeing True” gets you started on a path to personal spiritual healing. I loved each of the contemplations. They don’t take long to read and I really liked how the topics and questions guided me into a deeper level of thought.

Initially, I read this book all the way through and now I am going back to take each topic one day at a time for the next ninety days. I plan on seriously sticking to the readings and journaling. I feel very excited about the spiritual growth that I will gain during this time. I like that the topics take me away from my own distracting personal issues and have me focus on something different. Then the journal questions bring me back into my own world to see how the topic and thoughts relate to my personal life. This is the perfect tool for spiritual healing. It is also very empowering because you can do it on your own.

I highly recommend “Seeing True” to readers who are looking to evolve spiritually. I also believe that it will be the perfect gift for others on the same path or individuals who are in addiction recovery programs.

Seeing True: Ninety Contemplations in Ninety Days
Ronald Chapman
Ozark Mountain Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9781886940802
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (5/08)

Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief

This simple, yet extremely powerful book, presents a gentle way to discover within oneself a path of recovery from loss, be it from death or any other loss. Tessmann’s tender words resonate throughout the book, leading the reader to a place of healing and direction to move forward with life.

Tessmann starts off with her own story, a story of struggle with the losses through death: family, friends, and a pet dog. But, there were other losses in her life; her daughter to substance addiction, husbands through divorces, and a job. Her final loss that brought her to re-discover herself was the loss of her father.

Through re-discovering herself, and coming to terms with grief, Tessmann was able to create a relationship with grief. This becomes the first step she advocates and gives simple explanations and steps on how to create this relationship. Tessmann says “…our initial reaction to finding ourselves in this process might be fear, anger, or dread.” She further claims that often our relationships to grief are based on our own “myths and critical assessments” therefore causing us to refrain from addressing our issues. With clarity and gentleness, Tessmann guides the readers into thinking of their own situation, their own adversity to embracing grief, and moving past the false beliefs and fears, and finally creating a healthy relationship with grief, making it, as she calls it “Sacred Grief.”

For me this was a book, although only 172 pages, that took a long time to get through. The writing is uncomplicated, yet I felt like the author was right there with me, telling me of her experience, and tenderly encouraging me to look at my own grief. I’ve been through a variety of techniques in the past to move me into and through dealing with my grief, but never in a way Tessmann’s book did. I felt the study guide was very essential to help me through the process and I encourage every reader to stop after every chapter and contemplate the questions, seek the answers within, and then move to the next chapter. This is a must to truly experience the potential “Sacred Grief” has.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that has experienced any type of loss in their lives and is willing to look at the loss through a different set of eyes. Tessmann, in “Sacred Grief,” will lead the reader to a place of compassion for oneself , create a relationship with his/her own grief, and ultimately create a place of understanding and a healed soul.

Sacred Grief: Exploring a New Dimension to Grief
Leslee Tessmann
Loving Healing Press (2008)
ISBN 9781932690538
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (3/08)