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There is no doubt that we live in a time of intense change and growth in which we are called upon to get real, surrender, and accept responsibility for healing ourselves and our world — quite a tall order for human beings in the year 2000. In the midst of the challenges we face, it is sometimes easy to forget that the earth has surrounded us with loving assistance in the form of stones and minerals. Crystalline Communion, by Collen Marquist and Jack Frasl, is a powerful reminder and guide to the incredible wealth of energetic healing assistance that is contained in and around this lovely and loving planet we inhabit. Minerals and stones contain a healing power that is very dynamic and real, a power to which the authors have an obviously intimate connection. Jack and Collen have been involved with "rocks" (as they nickname them) personally and professionally for years. In Crystalline Communion, they approach this topic with the clarity and authoritative voice New Times readers have known and loved for over five years in their column "Messages in Stone." In addition to their very clear, often poetic prose, every word in this book rings with light and truth and a sincere desire to be of highest service. Elements are listed alphabetically, and given all the room they require for the description of their healing properties, history, source, and composition. One of the many helpful aspects of this book is that the history provided is so comprehensive that it may easily inspire the reader to explore other periods in history, other civilizations, and, perhaps most importantly, new depths of his or her own being. It has the depth and cultural significance of a true work of art. A set of appendices is an added bonus to the book, which should inspire all of us to more consciously use these sacred tools for auric and etheric opening, balancing, sealing, cleansing, and healing. There is also a detailed chart that cross-references stones to chakras one through 12, and a thorough index. Crystalline Communion can be considered a reference book, and indeed it is an excellent one, but it goes further than that: it’s actually a good read in and of itself. It is comprehensive enough to serve as a lifelong guide to personal growth and healing, a trustworthy and expansive guide to the possibilities for transformation that live among us.
SHORTCUTS TO SUCCESS The Absolute Best Ways to Master Your Money, Time, Health, and Relationships Jonathan Robinson, author, professional speaker, and psychologist, has written a neat, snack-like book that is quick and easy to read. Shortcuts to Success is divided into several categories (health, wealth, and personal and professional relations) and offers quick but dead-on strategies for winning the war against your own self-defeating attitudes and habits. Robinson explains what is necessary to meet deadlines, to apologize, to jumpstart your energy, to get more out of your time, and to be more capable, loving, and fulfilled. With the time and concentration it takes to shave or fill up the gas tank, you can learn how to do some simple yet essential things to vastly improve your life.
AWAKEN YOUR POWER TO HEAL by NED WOLF The back cover of Awaken Your Power to Heal states that we are more than we think or even conceive, and the inside of the book, which teaches how to reach inside and develop the powers within, proves it. The most fascinating thing I found — or, rather, rediscovered — in this book is how easy it is to get started in the healing process. As the author points out, real exploration requires one to give up the need to understand and to face one’s fears of the unknown. The paradox is that, through this process, eventually we do come to understand; the journey into the unknown affords a greater experience of our own identity. From beginning to end, Wolf offers a step-by-step method for improving your life. There are experiments throughout the book to enhance your life, and with true desire, you can learn to go from scarcity to abundance and dream manifestation. Regardless of where you are at this time in your life, there is no better time than right now to make changes for the positive, and this is the book to help you do just that. It has significantly changed my life, and I am forever grateful for having taken a chance on it and, as a result, making new discoveries. I hope that others will do the same. THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO T'AI CHI & QIGONG As part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the disciplines discussed in this book are among the growing alternative health therapies that are gaining popularity in our culture, and the author has spared no effort in organizing the comprehensive, proactive, and user-friendly text. Each chapter starts with "In This Chapter," which lists key points, and ends with "The Least You Need to Know," a brief summary of those points. I found this structure very helpful in maintaining focus. This guide simplifies and explains many terms and provides a great deal of Chinese history relevant to the practice of tai chi/qigong. I found it useful that Mr. Douglas included sidebars that further clarified, informed, and cautioned the reader. I also found fascinating how many therapeutic applications this ancient/modern system has for people in a variety of health situations. I would add, however, that even though I found the guide to be comprehensive and easy to follow, I personally would purchase an accompanying video and/or join a beginner's class, using this guide as an adjunct. TRUE BALANCE A Commonsense Guide for Renewing Your Spirit In her fourth book, Sonia Choquette provides a simple, accessible set of tools for creating a healing environment with powerful, long-lasting results based on the chakra system. Designed as a workbook, True Balance grew out of Choquette's work balancing clients’ energy systems (chakras); in so doing, she realized that there were more people in need of this service than she was reaching or could reach individually. Following an introduction, the book is divided into seven chapters representing the seven major chakras. Each chapter begins with a short description of the kinds of things affected by the designated chakra, then breaks those components into subsections that contain narratives followed by questions (with space for answers to be filled in by the reader) relative to that subsection. Each chapter also has several "Try This!" paragraphs of practical suggestions, and the chapters all end with checklists of items to do for slight imbalance, moderate imbalance, and major imbalance, followed by 12 to 15 recapping words that, individually and in total, describe the functionality of the particular chakra. These last few pages of each chapter are worth the price of the book alone; everything else, while equally important, is a bonus! In closing, I think Choquette herself best sums up the value of this book in the last paragraph of the introduction: "I believe the most profound gift you can offer to those you love and to the world at large is to be a happy, whole, and balanced being. You then become a light-bearer in the world, a natural expression of God's beauty, and a model of health and vitality for those who are still struggling in the dark. When your chakras are psychically balanced, you will find that the guidance you require for healing, light, and inner peace comes naturally. This is the Divine plan and is as the Universe intends it to be. So in reclaiming your right to such spiritual alignment, let the balancing act begin!" |