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BOOKS THE INTUITIVE HEALER Accessing Your Inner Physician by MARCIA EMERY, Ph.D. St. Martin's Press $23.95 (hardcover) reviewed by Jo Chávez, medical intuitive Since the resurgence of consciousness hit the mainstream market in a large way several years ago, readers interested in increasing their understanding and/or practice of intuition, energy medicine, healing, and holism have had an extensive selection of very good books from which to choose. There have been many book offerings ranging from Shakti Gawain's first book, the simple yet expansive Creative Visualization, to the more contemporary, scientifically and quantum-oriented books, one of my favorites being Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe. Each writing, like each author, has significance and value and lends itself to being a part of the ever-increasing evolution of and return to awareness. The Intuitive Healer fits nicely into that niche of "books to investigate when you want to get lots of ideas of where to start" in this waking-up process. After all, if you know where you want to go but have no idea of ways to get there, you go nowhere! The Intuitive Healer is a great vehicle. Marcia Emery (psychologist, professor, and director of education for the Intuition Network) is practical in her approach to accessing intuition. I like that. It's been my experience that the more simply you approach the process of listening and guidance, the more fun it is and the more willing you are to continue to delve into the beautiful and magnificent corners of your soul. The author suggests, and lays out in some detail, many exercises and techniques to explore that will begin to connect you with your intuitive voice. You are led with great care and support down what can sometimes, at first, be a hazy and twisting path. Dream wisdom investigation, the practice of body scanning, imagery, prayer and meditation, and the author's own technique called The Mindshift Method are but a few samples of ways to begin listening to your inner wisdom. Besides introducing the Mindshift Method (which teaches the reader how to define the issue, release tension, become centered and receptive, and use imagery), the author encourages you to actually try the aforementioned suggestions by following each practice/suggestion with fill-in-the-blank lines to record your experience. Very useful for those who are prone to be gatherers of information that never gets put to use! In each chapter are ample opportunities to practice, and we know the old saying, "practice makes perfect!" Well, I don't know about perfect, but practice certainly makes a difference. The Intuitive Healer covers a lot of ground. Not a soul will walk away from the reading ignorant of the many possibilities or ways of accessing his or her inner voice. The book is especially relevant reading for those who are beginning the trek down the path of intuition and alternative perspectives. It is written with integrity and intention, giving all those into whose hands it falls a gentle push in a big direction. Certainly, the author knew that her book would help to guide readers into themselves and that whomever needed to read it, well, they would! If this review piques your interest at all, it could be that you are hearing your intuitive voice softly nudging you and whispering into your ear. You may just want to listen! CHALDEAN NUMEROLOGY An Ancient Map for Modern Times by LEEYA BROOKE THOMPSON Tenacity Press $13.95 (softcover) reviewed by Nancy Brown, numerologist This was my first introduction to the Chaldean method of numerology, having studied the Pythagorean method myself. Ms. Thompson gives a good argument for the use of the Chaldean Method vs. the Pythagorean, recalling her own experiences with both methods. This book is concisely written, packed full of valuable information, yet simple to follow. It gives clear instructions for preparing a numerology chart and valuable insight into the meanings and interpretations of the numbers. Each number is also accompanied by an inspiring affirmation, for example: "A loving universe supports my inner child and I become the artist I know is inside myself. I express myself freely and joyously. I love my ability to play — to be spontaneous and expressive. Communicating with others is easy and enjoyable." For anyone wishing to learn more about the Chaldean study of numerology, I would recommend Ms. Thompson's book, as it is easy to read and understand, especially for the novice. Give it a try and find out more about yourself! TAO OF THE RIDE Motorcycles and the Mechanics of the Soul by GARRI GARRIPOLI and friendsHealth Communications $8.95 (softcover) reviewed by Linda Perdue I am a Master of energy work including Reiki, I own my own businesses, and I ride motorcycles on the road and off-road. As I read Tao of the Ride, I noticed how enriching life can be when we push our boundaries. At first it’s scary to move beyond the parameters that society has set for the average, but the reward is freedom, and it’s well worth it. Garripoli points out how all of life is a spiritual experience. People who practice a religion or meditation, study New Age enlightenment, or take special training in the healing arts may think that they are very spiritual and are doing the only "right" thing to expand their spirituality. When they see a longhaired motorcycle rider dressed in protective leather and riding a loud, rumbling Harley, those same people might judge the experience as not spiritual. They may even see it as low-level activity, leading to destruction. Wrong! Garripoli explains how enlightening and freeing of the spirit it is to ride these machines, feeling the wind in your face and the freedom of the ride. I agree! When you ride, you leave everything else behind. You learn to keep a single-pointed focus as you would in meditation. During the ride, all the senses are turned on, and all problems turned off. The mind is attuned by the specific engine rumble of the motorcycle. The rider’s awareness is doubled because of the elements of a daring adventure. You become one with the machine, the road, the flow of the traffic, the wind, the earth, the excitement, the freedom, and All That Is. It is a dance with the gods! If you’ve ever wondered about bike riding or just wanted a good primer on the Tao, this is a book worth reading. Besides seeing the Tao of the Ride in bookstores, I’d like to see this book in all motorcycle and bike stores around the world. THE SACRED KITCHEN Higher-Consciousness Cooking for Health and Wholeness by ROBIN ROBERTSON and JON ROBERTSON New World Library $16.95 (softcover) reviewed by Joan Dever, Encouragement Lodge If you want a cookbook with vegetarian recipes — just for the recipes — or a book on how to use your kitchen work to conquer stress, change your attitudes, reverse your dread of chores, and discover the healing that is available to you in your kitchen, you might want to read this book. In simple steps, the Robertsons walk you through how to find peace in the life force of food and tap into it to create a positive experience. You will be walked through he process of creating a sacred space of your kitchen and discovering how to bring balance into your life and your diet. Once the space has been created, the next path that is explored is how to find holiness in yourself. Its use of many ancient traditions and quotes keeps this book easy to read and lighthearted. By understanding many concepts of health and dietary needs, you can develop your own needs with the many approaches to food balancing that the book offers. Celebration comes as a reward of the sacredness of cooking. As the book says, "In the richness of diversity, we can find common themes by which to personalize the sacred kitchen and honor the Creator in each other — whenever we make something to eat." The book is sprinkled with diverse cultural sayings, prayers, and celebrations. To this reviewer, the wonderful simplicity of language in bringing such a gifted practice to the kitchen was a real treat. As one who meditates as I cook for groups, I have learned a lot of new ideas and techniques to help build sacredness into my kitchen and cooking for all: not only my guests, but myself as well. This combination of culinary wisdom, ancient traditions, and vegetarian recipes to transform your life is a wonderful read and a great book to give as a gift. GEORGE ANDERSON'S LESSONS FROM THE LIGHT Extraordinary Messages of Comfort and Hope from the Other Side by GEORGE ANDERSON and ANDREW BARONE Putnam $23.95 (hardcover) reviewed by Jill Meiser George Anderson is a medium who, at the age of six, contracted encephalomyelitis from chicken pox. It was during this time that he felt that "a part of his brain opened up another part of his brain that was able to hear and see things that other people couldn’t." This began a forty-year relationship with the other side. Every time I picked up Lessons from the Light, it felt like I was putting a blanket of comfort around me. The messages that come through dispel fear: fear of our own death and fear of what our loved ones may have gone through. Even George’s sentences give off this same sense of comfort: "Nothing happens to us that is not absolutely crucial to our spiritual journey on the earth." "Love is a bond that cannot be broken even by death and nothing separates us but a little time." "Our loved ones are not gone. They are often closer to us than they ever could have been on the earth, and they often help us in our daily life of working and grieving. During discernment [what he calls his sessions], the one idea that souls consistently try to convey to their loved ones is that they have not lost anything by leaving the earth — they have gained everything." For the past several years, I personally have been interested in those people who have the ability to communicate with the other side. George Anderson definitely has this gift, and he uses it in service to those grieving. Reading this book, however, does not answer all questions. Instead, I found myself with new ones: Why is it that the souls of children stay children when they leave their physical bodies? I also questioned George’s statement that our loved ones definitely do not reincarnate before we arrive to reunite with them. His guidance tells him that souls travel in these large "families" to and from the earth. "The souls in the hereafter will wait until everyone has returned before even considering the decision to return to the earth." While I’d love to believe that this is true, I have read and heard other information that has been contrary to these statements. Questions aside, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is grieving, searching, or simply seeking comfort in knowing what’s ahead for us all. AGE-PROOF YOUR BODY Your Complete Guide to Lifelong Vitality by ELIZABETH SOMER, M.A., R.D. Quill $14 (softcover) reviewed by Ray Foster, M.D., F.A.C.S., Newstart Healthcare Age-Proof Your Body is an enjoyable read. Granted, there is a little that I did not find sound, but there is much that is. This guide to lifelong vitality is practical, and written in an inviting and appealing format. It lives up to its stated goal of being a health guide.That the guide is essentially sound and offers practical advice in many ways is perhaps its greatest strength. The fact that it is attractively and practically presented enhances this strength. The basic philosophy of the book is sound: that you can enhance your quality, enjoyment, and length of life by attention to lifestyle. The ways to measure your present positioning for health and what to do about your assessment are good. The worksheet format, with space for answers and instructions on what to do with them, is practical and understandable. The section on exercise was particularly good — "All you must do is keep moving. The fountain of youth is within you" — and the cross-references to the value of exercise in the section "How to Prevent the Diseases of Aging" were very useful. The numerous quotations add interest. One (from Mark Twain) also added irony: "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." I did find that some of the facts in the book had been distorted. The section on osteoporosis left the reader with the impression that milk was the answer to osteoporosis. This idea was underlined with an 11-point section on how to get your milk without drinking it. While this is what the Dairy Council wants you to believe, it is a costly distortion of facts. Facts were alluded to ("Parts of the world where milk consumption is highest also have the highest incidence of hip fractures") and then blown away ("We need to conduct more studies"). The repeated message that many small meals during the day is better than "three square meals" may have some measure of benefit for some people. The physiology of digestion is not optimized with that plan. IBM must have copied the body's digestive system, which is very much "batch system designed." When another meal is eaten before the food from the previous meal is digested, the digestion of all the food is delayed, with many undesirable side effects. All that said, however, the distortions of facts were minor compared to the overall philosophy and message of the book, which is sound and needed today. HEAVENS UNEARTHED In Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales by MATT KANE illustrations by JOE SERVELLO Golden Egg Books $24 (hardcover) Popular fairytales and nursery rhymes are based on ancient myths about the sun, the moon, solar and lunar eclipses, and summer and winter solstices. Learn the meaning of childhood stories from a new viewpoint. THE ILLUSTRATED TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD A New Translation with Commentary by STEPHAN HODGES with MARTIN BOORD Sterling Publications $24.95 (hardcover) A color-illustrated, helpful translation, with commentary filled with knowledge of death, the afterlife, and rebirth. It is one of the foremost spiritual works in the history of humankind. INCA FIRE Light of the Masters by VAL JON FARRIS The Keystone Group $19.95 (hardcover) A compelling spiritual adventure story set in Machu Picchu, Peru. Along with author Val Jon Farris, experience the seven dimensions of knowing that will transform you and forever change the way you look at your life. THE PSYCHIC REALITY Developing Your Natural Abilities by Robert Cracknell Hampton Roads $12.95 (softcover) Cracknell, called "Britain’s number one psychic detective," maintains that psychic abilities are not just something you are born with, but skills to be developed as well. NAKED SPIRITS A Journey into Occupied Tibet by ADRIAN ABBOTTS Interlink Publishing Group $15 (softcover) Discover the true Tibet, one of the world’s major spiritual centers, as experienced by Abbott, who was smuggled in illegally by Chinese truck drivers. MODERN SHAMANIC LIVING New Explorations of an Ancient Path By EVELYN C. RYSDYK Samuel Weiser, Inc. $9.95 (softcover) Find your inner hunter, who lives in the moment, and your inner gatherer, who feels a part of the great fabric of life and thrives on the uncertainties of the journey through shamanic journeying and more. INFINITE GRACE Where the Worlds of Science and Spiritual Healing Meet by DIANE GOLDNER Hampton Roads $23.95 (hardcover) "…a roadmap to the unknown and unrecognized power within us all" — Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom WOMEN OF COURAGE Inspiring Stories from the Women Who Lived Them edited by KATHERINE MARTIN New World Library $14.95 (softcover) "This is a humbling and inspiring book that will make you want to grab hold more of life and live it more loudly. These women will change you. Every man should read this book!" — Deepak Chopra MYSTERIES AND MAGIC by JOHN and ANNE SPENCER TV Books $12.95 (softcover) "What we are seeing in the modern world is the logical extension of earlier beliefs, a moving backwards towards those old beliefs and modern ways to carrying them into the next millennium." PRAYER FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK TOO MUCH A Guide to Everyday, Anywhere Prayer from the World’s Faith Traditions by MITCH FINLEY SkyLight Paths Publishing $21.95 (hardcover) Thinking about prayer and actually engaging in prayer are worlds apart. Find the tradition that best fits your practice of prayer, and then learn more by experiencing its power. HEALING MANTRAS Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power, Creativity, and Healing by THOMAS ASHLEY-FARRAND Wellspring $12.95 (softcover) A how-to guide, explaining the ancient Sanskrit mantras and how to adapt them to Western needs. Use mantras to release everyday worries, control habits, overcome fear, cure ailments, and more. VIDEO Rumi: Poet of the Heart Magnolia Films $24.95 reviewed by Mary O’Malley Rumi: Poet of the Heart This story is told with great vitality. The video is a visual feast, full of images that stay with you long after it is done. It is an auditory feast, with music that moves you and poetry that goes straight to your heart. And it is an inspiring feast, reminding you over and over again who you really are and what life is truly about. It includes readings, stories, and commentary by Coleman Barks, Robert Bly, Deepak Chopra, and many others, each weaving their own rich thread into this feast for the heart. Across the span of time, it brings us into the essence of Rumi’s poetry, reminding us of the Love that is. TOOLS THE CRYSTAL HEALING GIFT SET Sterling Publications $24.95 (crystals, pouch, gem holder, cord, and softcover book) Liz Simpson’s colorful and helpful book Crystal Healing is now part of a complete set, which includes the crystals. Learn about crystals and then experience their transforming power in your life. ONLINE reviewed by Elana Lindquist Sierra Club < Learn how to protect our water from factory farm animal waste and how the EPA is failing to keep our drinking water, rivers, and lakes clean. Other topics include environmental news about preserving forests and wildland. Crow Mix Media Services < Patty-Lynne Herlevi, frequent New Times contributor, shows how to write a story "green" to introduce clients to your business. Read "Crow Chronicles," an excellent compendium of useful information for chemically sensitive people. She also has an insightful series of film reviews. Positive Saying of the Day < Receive a positive quote every day. For example, "I was told over and over again that I would never be successful, that I was not going to be competitive and the technique was simply not going to work. All I could do was shrug and say, 'We'll just have to see.' " — Dick Fosbury, who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1968 Mexico games after he invented a revolutionary high-jump technique. Women Hyper Banner < Free hyperbanner service for women-owned businesses. An excellent and easy way to expose your site! The Dietary Supplement Quality Initiative < Information on where and how to find scientific research on the safety of dietary supplements and on how to read the new labels. Elana Lindquist publishes Fun with Success Online; sign up for her free newsletter at <http://www.seanet.com/~lindquist, e-mail <lindquist@seanet.com>, or call (253) 858-7969. |