TreeHouse Arts is running a contest through July 10th (Th.). Enter with a poem about snow. Winner’s poem will be published on their site. Good luck!
Tag Archives: mystical
Wisps from the Dazzling Darkness by Anne Whitaker
Anne and I connected through our blogs. We share many similarities in interests and experiences. I just finished her wonderful memoir and I’m happy to share it here.
Over a thirty year period, Anne was challenged by many happenings which left her baffled. As a skeptic, she tried to come to grips with them as she managed a career and family. But how does the rational mind grasp phenomena like atmospheres, ghosts, poltergeists, mediumship, premonitions, reincarnation, mystical experience, and telepathy and make sense of them? The prevailing worldview of scientific materialism insists they’re not possible. Using diary notes and drawing upon recall, Anne categorizes the events and digs deeper. Her writing is straightforward, honest, and from the heart.
Most of us have probably had some kind of weird experience that defies rational analysis. In 2009, a Pew Research study revealed that 29% of Americans report they have had contact with the dead and 18% have had an encounter with a ghost. Furthermore, 49% report mystical experience as defined as a “moment of sudden religious insight or awakening.” In this context, Anne is far from alone. Many of us dismiss these events because they’re uncomfortable. We shrug our shoulders and try to forget them. This is where one of the powers of Anne’s writing grabs us. As we read about her experiences, we begin to remember our own. Anne is fueled by open-minded curiosity coupled with rationalism in her search. And just like her, we’d like some answers too.
Anne turns to science and finds the reductionist materialism paradigm to be inadequate to address her experiences. At the same time, she knows that current theoretical physics has offered hope. New scientific theories are starting to make inroads toward the mainstream. In the final part of the memoir, she takes on the science and realizes the paradigm for our reality must shift to accommodate what many of us have experienced. Kudos to Anne for boldly sharing her journey. May her book encourage others to do the same.
You can purchase the book here: http://anne-whitaker.com/wisps-from-the-dazzling-darkness/
To learn more about Anne and her work: www.anne-whitaker.com
Anne Whitaker has worked in the fields of adult education, social work, and counselling. She has been a practicing astrologer, teacher and writer since 1983. Her first book was entitled Jupiter Meets Uranus (2009). She lives in Glasgow, Scotland.
Pew Study Link: http://www.pewforum.org/2009/12/09/many-americans-mix-multiple-faiths/
Filed under Book Review, Books, PSI
ENTER TO WIN A FREE COPY OF INTO THE LAND OF SNOWS
OK readers, I’m down to my last ARC (Advance Reading Copy). All you have to do is leave a comment below to be entered. There are a couple of rules, though. I’m only going to be able to mail to a location in the US. Comments will close midnight (MT) on Wednesday, Feb. 5th (2014). I will conduct a random drawing at that point and notify the winner. Enter only once. Since this is the year I’m focusing on abundance, tell me something about abundance in your life. Good luck to all!
Feb 6th: Thanks for all your wonderful comments. I conducted the drawing and the winner is: jenion.
Filed under Books
SHAMAN ELIZABETH Joins Me for Author Interview- Get her FREE Book Now
FREE “Shaman Stone Soup” eBook — Limited Time!
Posted on January 4, 2014 by Elizabeth Herrera
Shaman Stone Soup
Shaman Stone Soup is an Enchanting Memoir Featuring 20 True-Life Stories of Miracles. It’s available free on Amazon.com during a special promotion on January 4-8 (Kindle eBook) to help promote her new release, Dreams of Dying.
In Shaman Stone Soup, Shaman Elizabeth Herrera shares personal stories of spirit guides, angels, and enlightened beings answering calls for help through miracles. You’ll read about the spirits of ancient wise men who provided a miraculous cure from cancer for a friend; Elizabeth’s vivid dream of a pastor who needed guidance and their later “chance” meeting; a client’s husband, who was visited by three spirits showing him the past, present and future; and many more!
“Unique and captivating!” — Awareness Magazine
“Clearly written from the heart.” — Sandra Ingerman
“Beautifully written and heartfelt stories.” — Hal Z Bennett
Shaman Stone Soup will take you on a journey to the mystical side of life, where miracles and healing are natural occurrences.
FYI: the Kindle app can be downloaded to computers and smart phones.
Filed under Book Review, Books, Spiritual/Mysticism
HER STROKE OF INSIGHT
Thirty seven year old neuroanatomist, Jill Bolte Taylor, rose on the morning of Dec. 10, 1996 to start her morning routine getting ready for work. It turned out to be anything but routine.
A blood vessel exploded in her left hemisphere leaving her unable to walk, talk, read, or write.
To understand what she experienced, it’s important to recognize how the two parts of the brain work. The right hemisphere thinks in pictures and connects us all as “energy beings” as Jill describes it. The right brain is all about being in the moment and sees us as perfect and whole. The left hemisphere thinks linearly, connecting us to past and future. It thinks and plans using language. It is the left hemisphere that creates the experience of the self as separate from everything else.
Jill woke that morning with an intense pain behind her left eye. Not realizing anything was truly wrong, she attempted to get on with her day and proceeded to her cardio-glider to get her exercise done. On the machine, she noticed that her hands looked like strange claws. Then she had the experience of witnessing her body as if it were a separate entity. Her head pain intensified so she got off the machine. It was then that everything seemed to slow down. Gone were her quick and fluid body movements. The rigid boundaries of her body evaporated as she propped herself against a bathroom wall. She watched as the molecules and atoms of her body merged with those of the wall. Next she lost her left brain chatter as her mind was silenced.
In the quiet, Jill was drawn into an expansive field of oneness. This was a peaceful, delightful place until the left brain returned telling her she had a problem and needed help. She would alternate between these two realities: one she called La-La Land which was a beautiful state of pure consciousness and connectedness and the other that called her back into the world with ever-increasing urgency. When her right arm became paralyzed, Jill realized she was having a stroke. She knew she needed help and attempted to call work. But by this time, she had lost the ability to recognize words and numbers and it took 45 minutes to finally make this all important call.
At the hospital, Jill struggled with the pain and sensory overload of being in the body. Those experiences were relieved at times by journeys into nirvana (her word); that profound place of peace, freedom, and expansiveness. On a deeper level she comes to understand that everyone can experience this nirvana state.
“That they could purposely choose to step to the right of their left hemisphere and find this peace.”
This is her stroke of insight, the gift she brought back into the world, the source that would motivate her year long recovery.
We have the choice to move between the hemispheres moment by moment. We choose, we create. Jill believes (and I agree) the more time we spend in the right hemisphere, the more peace we will find as individuals and the more peace we will bring back into the world.
Jill Bolte Taylor has written a wonderful book. It will especially appeal to the scientifically minded, but it will attract just as many mystics. The other true gift of her experience has to do with understanding what it’s like to have a stroke. If the medical community and family members had this level of understanding, it would revolutionize the care we give stroke victims. I would especially recommend her book to anyone who is caring for someone who has had a stroke. To learn from the inside out what it’s like can only make us more compassionate and more understanding.
WATCH DR. TAYLOR AT TED:
Filed under Book Review, Energy medicine, Spiritual/Mysticism
ellisnelson 