The Crystal Rabbit
Story and illustrations by Stephanie Mellen, 1993 by Meltec Enterprises stefmellen@mail.com

This is a children’s book for the holiday season with an inspirational message. It is written and illustrated by Troy, Michigan author, Stephanie Mellen. She also does assembly programs, in-service, keynote speeches and PTA meetings.

The book’s heroine, a crystal rabbit, is not chosen to go home with a child for the holidays, but believes that anything’s possible. The transformational message is a simple way to understand the power of desires. My 7-year-old nephew thought it was pretty good.

Reviewed by Ellen Waara

Butterfly Within 
be Kathleen Garbe, 1999, A Harvest Institute Release, Garbescollec@acninc.net

Channeled by the Kathleen Garbe, her guide, Elizabeth, shares encouragement and a common sense commentary on everyday issues like death, change, how to relate to God, Mother Earth and trust. Elizabeth recommends praying for Mother Earth and the planet daily, to build healing and greater respect among us. Although it is sometimes difficult to follow the conversational style (italics would have made it easier to follow the different voices), the energy is sweet.

There is a sacred quality to being able to witness the questing of a woman learning to ask her inner guidance and discover the answers within. As Kathleen encourages her: “Go within my child. Go within for the answers are all there. Waiting for you.” Garbe is from Detroit, Michigan.

Reviewed by Ellen Waara

The Intimate Soul: Living the spiritually authentic and intimate life…
by Laura V. Hyde, 2001, Sustainable Solutions Press. laurahyde@novagate.com

Michigan’s own Laura Hyde exquisitely crafts a book with substance and heart. She blends the wisdom of The Course in Miracles with insights only experience and wisdom can create. Based on the premise that “intimacy can only exist to the extent that you are in touch with your deepest most authentic self,” Hyde opens the rulebook and inserts new rules for spiritually evolved partnership.

Carving beyond the barriers of safety and complacency, Hyde asks questions that bring us face to face with our soul. From there she elicits the spiritually empowered man and woman. She describes paths to moving beyond the fear of intimacy. Through case studies, and her personal vulnerable journey she begins to map out a new route to intimacy, based on unconditional love and a commitment to growth.

There are prayers for healing throughout the book. Hyde also addresses the perplexing area of sexuality and spirituality. Her concepts are easy to understand and the delivery is very relaxed and illuminating. By calling fear by its name, she reroutes the mind toward a vision of transforming love and healing.

Reviewed by Ellen Waara

Soulmate
by Deepak Chopra, New American Library Trade; paperback ISBN: 0451207041; 2002, $24.95

Raj Rabban, a young medical resident, falls in love with Molly, who shifts his tidy ideas about life and death. Their love catapults him into a dual life. He struggles with his parent’s choice for his wife, Maya and his own deepest passions and desires. As the walls fall between the known and the possible, he begins to explore his own vulnerability and soul’s role as a healer.

Deepak has masterfully crafted this story, sharing the unusual path of the soul in carving out unconditional, lasting love. It carries the reader through the twists and turns of the unknown. Through Raj, we explore our own dances with passion. He stands strong in the face of judgment and opens his heart through the pain of loving to the peace of understanding. The surprises that lie on the other side of the door marked “known” transport both Raj and the reader beyond reality and back to a more grounded application of the power of love. The story carries us effortlessly and the lessons last beyond the final pages.

Reviewed by Ellen Waara

What the Animals Tell Me
by Sonya Fitzpatrick, 1997 Hyperion; New York.

Fitzpatrick takes us on a journey through her direct relationship with animals’ thoughts and feelings. She begins with her first-hand experiences as a child who could intuitively hear the rich and remarkable conversations of her animal friends. Living through a painful closing of that channel, she slowly rediscovered her gift for compassionate understanding and descriptive sharing with the animal kingdom.

Her eloquent and easy to follow style takes us through many topics: behavior problems that always have a source; introducing new animals into your household; healing with the angels when you pet is ill; what to do when your pet gets lost; and how to create your own communication connection with animals. She offers rich tips on how to rid your home of fleas in a toxic-free way (since fleas are attracted to light, put a small light bulb above a bowl of soapy water in every room). She teaches through her stories of fury friends and their owners bridging the gap of understanding and allowing the love to flow.

This is a great holiday gift for any pet owner; covering iguanas, horses, turtles, and wild animals as well as cats and dogs. The section on where pets go when they die gave me words to comfort a new friend who was grieving.

Reviewed by Ellen Waara

Encounter the Enlightened
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Isha Foundation, 2001, 264 pages, $10

Did you ever wish you could meet an enlightened Master and ask him the questions that have arisen as you walk your spiritual path? If you have missed being with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on one of his visits to the Detroit area, this book is the next best thing. Sadhguru is an enlightened Master, mystic and yogi from South India. Encounter the Enlightened is a verbatim transcription of some of his talks with his students and his answers to their questions. Speaking in his inimitable and penetrating way, he teaches the ancient science of yoga – which means “union.” He explains that yoga is a method for getting beyond the five senses and merging with the Divine.

“Peace and happiness are rooted neither in the marketplace nor the woods – but within.” Sadhguru challenges the listeners/readers to contemplate what they believe and what they really know through direct experience. He explains that “I don’t know” is the first step for a seeker. He tells us “Don’t start with any belief, start looking inward.”

The topics covered in the book include “Grace,” “Inner Freedom,” “Religion and Harmony” and “At the Master’s Feet.” There is such a wide variety of questions from the students that you may find the answers to many of your own questions addressed directly.

Sadhguru’s conversational style is lively and laced with humor. He illustrates his points with stories from the lives and teachings of Jesus and Buddha. He also tell hilarious anecdotes about Shankaran Pillai, a mythical Indian gentleman, whose whole life is an example for seekers of how not to live.

One of the editors wrote in the forward, “Using books and language for the purpose of dissolving into the formless divine appears to be a contradiction. But when you have found water in a desert full of thirsty people, you must shout, there is water here!” I strongly suggest you pick up this book and take a sip! If you imbibe it fully you will dissolve.

Reviewed by Dorrie Rosenblatt, MD, PhD

PROSPERITY PIE: How to Relax about money and everything else
by SARK, Fireside, 2002, 204 pages, $16.00

On page 133, SARK screams, “MONEY IS NOT THE PROBLEM!” The whimsical artist and writer SARK brings home her point in Chapter Five of this wonderful book by stating, “we rush to make it (money) into one (the problem) so we can justify our fears. Revise now how you act, speak and think about money.” Also in this inspiring chapter, she shines light on the gloomy side of procrastination, perfectionism, shame anxiety, disorganization and fear of scarcity. For those unfamiliar with SARK, she uses artwork with her colorful trademark line drawings and handwritten text to convey her messages. Guiding readers through philosophical musings and self-awareness exercises, Prosperity Pie explores a wide spectrum of questions on personal identity and fulfillment.

SARK’s premise begins with the definition of Prosperity Pie: Plenty of everything, with enough to share. Herein lies what SARK calls the “Whole Pie Theory.” It explores the pieces of the pie, which are the chapters, time, money, work, adventure, inspiration and self. These chapters help to answer some questions like, “What contributes to our prosperity?” and “What life skills do we need?” SARK indicates, “The universe provides for us all every day, no matter how much we have or don’t have. We deserve to feel that we are, have and do enough in our lives.” All the chapters end with a very useful list of resources. Not only does SARK give us valuable and useful information, but she is also gracious and generous in sharing. The list of resources includes some well-known authors and some obscure or less-known authors 

I certainly found Prosperity Pie awe-inspiring and definitely powerful. Her fun drawings as in all of her previous books tell a story. I was left with a new sense of abundance.

Reviewed by  Triza Crittle

PAST LIVES, FUTURE HEALING
By Sylvia Browne, Dutton, Penguin Putnam, 2001, 237 pages, $24.95.

Sylvia Browne may be best known as a psychic who has written numerous books about the “other side.” Browne has also made many appearances on television shows, such as those of Montel Williams and Larry King. Her new book, Past Lives, Future Healing, reveals another aspect of Browne’s work: her many years leading clients through past-life regressions in order to help them heal physical and emotional pain.

Other past-life regression writers, like Brian Weiss, MD, have written on this topic. Indeed, in recent years much anecdotal evidence suggests that past-life regression therapy works exceptionally well in healing phobias and even many chronic physical dis-eases. Browne’s book, however, is uniquely readable in that it is filled with her down-to-earth humor and excellent storytelling skills. Her stories are all real-life, inspiring case histories.

Regression therapists tell us that we all carry baggage from the past – this life and previous lives – that collects in our “cell memory.” The amazing point that we learn from Browne and other such therapists is that when our conscious mind becomes aware that the pain or disturbance doesn’t belong to us NOW, it often, almost miraculously, heals itself and quickly resolves itself.

Browne has counseled thousands of clients over the years. In this book, after a brief introduction of the concepts involved, she presents the fascinating stories of three dozen clients healed by this therapy. Browne explains that “our spirit minds remember every moment our souls have experienced” and when we are born, our cells are infused with this cell memory. The cells then react literally to those memories, causing illness, phobias, pain and trauma that in actuality have nothing to do with this lifetime. For some reason, it is more effective for clients to actually experience the source of their problem, rather than just to be told about it in a psychic reading.

Browne acquires many of her regression clients as referrals from medical doctors and psychiatrists. Hence, the stories she includes often report on long-term problems that weren’t healed in any other way. The scope of the stories is fascinating, including chronic depression, agoraphobia, fear of water, marital problems, asthma, severe neck pain, anorexia, multiple sclerosis, chronic indigestion, hyperactivity, fear of fire, substance abuse and fear of abandonment. Readers might wonder if a good part of anyone’s illnesses, especially those which are chronic, just might originate in unresolved past lives.

Some critics have complained of one historical error in this book. One client comes up with being burned as a witch in the Salem witch trials. Of course, the accused in Salem were hung, not burned. I have come upon such historical “errors” in other examples of regressions. I wouldn’t blame the author or therapist for this. I think that since only the third dimension has “time,” and most past-life memories probably tap into what is called the “Akashic Records,” it isn’t easy to accurately designate time and place from such a non-local, non-time source. Oddly enough, or perhaps happily, historical accuracy isn’t necessary for the client to experience a healing.

Browne concludes her book with directions for readers to do their own past-life regressions. She presents a series of meditations readers can tape which could lead them through their own healing journeys. If you are a fan of Browne’s or interested in past lives, you will enjoy this book.

Reviewed by Gayl Woityra

Spirit of the Shuar: Wisdom from the Last Unconquered People of the Amazon
by John Perkins and Shakaim Mariano Shakai Ijisam Chumpi, Destiny Books, 2001, 181pages, $14.95.

Deep within the mountainous rain forest of Ecuador, many days walk from the nearest road, lives a tribe that call themselves Shuar (“the people”). Their homeland is a place of wondrous beauty and yet great danger, where anaconda lurk in the rivers and jaguar prowl at night. Spirit of the Shuar is a book that tells their story, in their own words. After you have read it, you will know why Spirit of the Shuar has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

The Shuar are proud people who are perhaps the only tribe remaining in all of the Americas who have never surrendered to any would-be conquerors – not the Inca, the Spanish, nor the Ecuadorian government. Until recently, the Shuar lived in a shroud of secrecy, fiercely protecting their lands and privacy. Twenty years ago it would have been unimaginable that Shuar warriors, women, elders, and uwishin (“the ones who know;” another term for “shaman”) would willingly and openly share their traditions, mysteries and life stories with outsiders. But these are new and challenging times for the Shuar. They are struggling to retain their traditions as well as their right to survive in the face of the insatiable hunger of oil companies and lumber conglomerates for their lands. And missionaries who seek to save their souls and rescue them from ways deemed uncivilized. Too many outsiders have in recent years come to them with the intent to teach and reform, but not to learn. And, as you will learn from reading Spirit of the Shuar, the Shuar have much wisdom to convey.

In this spirit Mariano Chumpi, a Shuar warrior and co-author of Spirit of the Shuar, agreed to record on cassette tape the stories and wisdom, the feelings and impressions, of his people and those of the elders. The tales and anecdotes he collected were then translated from his native language to Spanish, and from Spanish to English. The resulting transcripts were put in book form by Mariano’s long-time friend (and god-father to his son), John Perkins. This collaboration resulted in a masterpiece! Spirit of the Shuar combines the colorful spoken language of a peoples reliant upon oral tradition with the skilled written craftsmanship of author John Perkins who first became acquainted with the Shuar as a Peace Corps volunteer over 30 years ago. It is a sensitive and revealing portrayal of the traditions, way of life, and spiritual practices of a people who proudly stand against the pressures of modernism.

The tales contained within Spirit of the Shuar are told in a direct and elegantly simple style. The pages come alive as the reader is given a glimpse into what it might feel like to live among the Shuar. Warriors share their experiences of participating in head-hunting wars. Shamans speak of all-night healing ceremonies during which both the uwishin and his patient typically consume a powerful medicine plant, ayahuasca. Later, the uwishin blows tsentsak, invisible darts, into the heart of his patient to aid him in seeing where the problem originates and how it must be healed. Women discuss how they prepare chicha, a fermented manioc beverage which serves as a primary food for the Shuar, which men are only permitted to touch with their lips. Intimacies about family living, courtship and sexual practices are openly discussed; such details are a natural part of living to the Shuar and there is no hint of embarrassment or withholding. Rosa Shakai, Mariano’s mother, even explains how Shuar women “rein in their men” when they cut down too many trees or hunt more than need dictates.

Spirit of the Shuar also contains 12 pages of color photos. Pictured in brilliant detail are the peoples and places you read about. You will see people like Tukupi, the most famous of living Shuar warriors, who as a young man defeated and killed 33 enemies – mostly Achuar – in hand-to-hand combat. But now, as an elder, he is regarded as a great healer for Shuar and Achuar alike. You will see the Shuar dressed in their traditional clothes and in their missionary-approved attire. The intimacy of the words and pictures will make you will feel as if you have been invited into a Shuar home to share in a cup of chicha and animated conversation. I found delight as I was permitted a rare glimpse into the thinking and lifestyle of people who continue to live in much the same manner as did their ancestors hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years before. I think you will too.

But Spirit of the Shuar is so much more than a well-told rendition and exposé of a culture and peoples different from our own. It is an appeal by the Shuar for our help… not in monetary terms, but in attitude. These proud, formerly secluded people opened their hearts and lives because it is their belief that when their ways are understood, and their humanity is accepted as equal yet different from our own, that their traditions and right-to-exist unmolested will be acknowledged and supported. For make no mistake about it… the jungles are shrinking and indigenous peoples such as the Shuar are fast disappearing from the face of the planet. If these peoples are to survive, if the very lands upon which they live are to remain pristine and a haven for a multitude of species (many of which are not even yet known to scientists), as a culture we must “change our dream.”

Those individuals who contributed their thoughts and intimacies in the creation of Spirit of the Shuar are explicit in their hope that those of us from industrialized nations who participate in the dominion and exploitation of nature and resources will come to replace this value by more earth-friendly dreams. The Shuar – who have never known defeat and who live in harmony with the dangers inherent in jungle life – do not give up, they adapt. Proud warriors who in earlier times would have fought to the death to repel an outsider are now revealing their secrets, willingly and freely. In reading their words you will fall in love with the beauty of the jungle and perhaps come to feel, as I do, that the peoples and the land in which they live hold a beauty that is worthy of our respect and protection. Chumpi, one of the great Shuar shamans, used to teach that “men have a responsibility to make sure that peace includes all the plants, animals, rivers, and insects. Peace without peace for all is not true peace.”

Reviewed by Arthur E. Roffey, PhD

Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity
By David Whyte, Riverhead Books; 2001, 257 pages, $24.95.

David Whyte has roots in England and Ireland, grew up in Yorkshire, and is the first in his family to rise above generations of working class ancestors. He is a biologist and poet, with four published volumes of poetry. He also has a string of credits as a presenter of workshops at Fortune 500 companies and is the author of a Business Week best-seller about poetry and the soul in corporate America – all qualifications useful for a multi-faceted human being who takes in the world and reveals its workings to us.

Crossing the Unknown Sea is Whyte's enjoyable and thought-provoking story of self-examination, told in terms of what he learned from the milestone events in his life, such as sitting in a Welsh farmhouse talking to a stranger while a winter storm howled outside, shaking hands with death when the sea nearly swept him off a jagged cliff in the Galapagos Islands, or talking with his mother about her vision, in a dream, of plucking him from that very same sea and resting him safely on the shore. His story is how he lost himself by becoming over busy without purpose, and found himself again through wholeheartedness, turning to his early love of poetry, embracing reflection and courage.

Like William Blake, also a poet, Whyte feels that a sense of dedication, or firm persuasion – to feel what we do is right for ourselves and good for the world at exactly the same time – is one of the great triumphs of human existence.

In telling his story, even in his use of language, Whyte reaches for the elemental, the center of the onion. The root of desire is “of the stars,” and the root of courage is the Old French word “cuer,” or heart. It's important to keep our stars in sight, and have the courage to move toward them. We have an inner captain, who is dedicated to the task of running the ship, so much so that he keeps his mind open and in order to sense the effects of wind and waves on the ship, even while sleeping. In Whyte's case, he invoked the captain quality when he moved beyond directing a non-profit organization into teaching, speaking and poetry, taking the risk to follow his heart, then integrated these forms of expression into his working life.

He found, “... walls that once served and sheltered us at certain periods of our life only imprison us when we have remained within their confines for too long. A work emboldens us for a while, and then, if we do not invigorate and reimagine our participation, it begins to enclose us and slowly starve our spirit... Often, in order to stay alive, we have to unmake a living in order to get back to living the life we wanted for ourselves.”

Whyte also applies lessons learned to business, honed in his workshops. “Every organization serious about its place in this new moveable world is asking desperately for more adaptability, vitality, imagination and the enthusiastic willingness to go the extra mile – qualities which are ancient and which human beings have wanted for themselves since the beginning of recorded history, but which they cannot give at the press of a button.” Crossing the Unknown Sea offers a pathway for such gifts.

We need more conversation within organizations, says Whyte, meaning heartfelt honesty without artificial language and politics, more humanity in expression and in listening, qualities which invite the creativity within each of us to come out. Like artists who depict their visions of the world as spiritual food for the rest of us, managers must learn to use the creative and artistic within themselves to move in directions without waiting for the evidence to appear on their desks in the form of a competitor's product. “The artist's sensibility is one that grants life to things outside our normal ken. It understands that our place in the world can never be measured by the Dow Jones, that our ultimate arrival on our deathbed entitles us to other perspectives than mere fiscal success and the size of our retirement account.”

Whyte says that understanding life is not an abstract path, but a way of life, a practice, focusing attention in the moment, being present. It's finding correspondence with the inner parts of ourselves, to complete the conversations in which we unfold and illuminate ourselves for ourselves. From this perspective, we can live a satisfying life.

“In work as in life, we must contemplate the loss of everything in order to know what we have to give; it is the essence of writing, the essence of working, the essence of living; an essence that we look for by hazarding our best gifts in the world, and in that perspective, all of us are young and have the possibilities of the young until our last breath goes out.”

Reviewed by Sally Kimbel

THE RECONNECTION
by Dr. Eric Pearl, Hay House, ISBN 1-56170-819-4, April 2001, 223 pages, $23.95.

If you are interested in healing yourself or healing others, this new book is a must read. I purchased it because it was highly recommended by Dr. Christiane Northrup, MD in her newsletter, "Health Wisdom for Women." I also had a strong sense to purchase this book immediately. It reads like a novel and is entertaining as well as informative. Dr. Pearl, a chiropractor, tells his story of how he began to experience a high frequency of energy, which he felt in his hands and throughout his body. Allowing this energy to come through him, resulted in some extraordinary and immediate healing experiences with patients suffering from cancers, cerebral palsy, aids-related diseases and other conditions.

Because of these miraculous healings, Dr. Pearl has walked away from his successful chiropractic practice in Los Angeles. He is committed to using Reconnection Energy to heal patients and to impart this ability to others. Dr. Pearl explains that this new high frequency energy is available to everyone and can even be transmitted simply by reading his book! I must say, I did experience this energy as I read it, and I have also found that focusing on the energy causes it to flow.

Seminars where Dr. Pearl personally attunes others to the energy are also available. Dr. Pearl states that this Reconnection Energy goes beyond other hands on healing techniques and performs at levels never before accessible to anyone, any place. The book is endorsed by many well-known authors and healers such as. Deepak Chopra, MD, Christiane Northrup, MD, Mona Lisa Schultz, MD, John Edward, Lee Carroll, Hank Wesselman, PhD, Ron Roth, PhD, Gary E. R. Schwartz, PhD and Linda G. S. Russek, PhD, Richard Gerber, MD and Doreen Virtue, PhD.

Reviewed by Donna May