A bewildering volume of occult lore.
The path to enlightenment lies in the soul’s rise over many lifetimes through way stations in the body, according to this debut theosophical treatise.
Ferro, who conducts workshops on healing, draws on the teachings of Madame Blavatsky, the 19th-century founder of theosophy, an esoteric philosophy encompassing Hindu and Buddhist traditions, Judeo-Christian themes, and much else. The book’s core is an exposition of the seven major chakras, which are complexes of bodily locations, associated glands, and psychic faculties. In ascending order, they are the Root chakra at the base of the spine (associated with the adrenal glands and basic trust); the Sacral chakra (gonads and sexuality/creativity); the Solar Plexus chakra (pancreas and emotions); the Heart chakra (thymus and love); the Throat chakra (thyroid and communication); the Brow or Third Eye chakra (pituitary and awareness); and atop the head the Crown chakra (pineal and spirituality). Each chakra is further differentiated into seven levels and has other aesthetic, astrological, and philosophical links. Thus, the Sacral chakra associates with the color orange, the “element” of water, and Mars, and imparts the “soul lesson” of learning “to balance our desires and sensations.” The gist of this labyrinthine scheme is that the soul, repeatedly reincarnating, learns the lessons of the chakras and thus attains a sublime understanding that lets it become pure spirit. (There are medical and psychiatric implications, too—the Sacral chakra influences impotence, appendicitis, and “drama queen” behavior, for example—but the book’s only useful therapeutic material is a brief primer on meditative communion with the “Ancestral Group Soul.”) The author throws in much intriguing theosophical history and cosmology on everything from “Root-races” to the transition from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age, the spirits of planets and solar systems, and mysterious entities such as Rays, Chains, and Globes. Some will like Ferro’s passionate hymns to love, peace, truth, and the oneness of all beings. But the theosophical doctrine here is often so jumbled and impenetrable—“The Ancestral Group Soul is made up of facets or aspects and develops along the planetary life, the ray on which it was created, the life-stream, the root-race, the initiation it is experiencing, the soul lessons and the spiritual qualities it is unfolding”—that many readers will be left scratching their heads.
A bewildering volume of occult lore.Pub Date: June 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-982228-59-0
Page Count: 156
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
From Pope Gregory the Great in the fifth century to the death of Richard of St. Victor in 1173, the author of The Anti-Christ (p. 1339) continues his highly acclaimed history of Western mystics and their world. For McGinn (Divinity/Univ. of Chicago) mysticism is ``primarily (but not solely) an ecclesial tradition of prayer and practice nourished by scripture and liturgy in order to foster awareness of whatever direct forms of divine presence may be available in this life.'' True to this holistic vision, he offers us a diet rich in quotations from the mystics themselves in analysis of their concepts and in discussion of recent studies. He gives context in his introduction, which offers a concise account of how the western Roman Empire evolved into Christendom. Then we encounter the massive intellect of the ninth-century Irishman John Scottus Eriugena, who spanned Celtic, Latin, and Greek cultures and made available for Charlemagne's West the writings of such eastern Christians as Dionysius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximos Confessor. McGinn guides us through Eriugena's immense vision of Nature as dialectically proceeding from, and returning to, God. He provides a masterly treatment of Pope Gregory's understanding of the roles of contemplative and active life as applied to Christianity, going on to cover the genius and influence of St. Benedict. The high point of this volume is McGinn's study of Bernard of Clairvaux, which illuminates Bernard's doctrine of the image of God in the human person and his teachings on experience, the spiritual (or inner) senses, and the essentially spousal love between Christ and the soul. The author also explicates the writings of the early Carthusians and St. Aelred's mystical concept of friendship. He concludes with a survey of French Victorine authors with ``scholastic'' propensities. McGinn's clear and beautiful style aptly expresses his serene command of this highly varied material.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8245-1450-5
Page Count: 560
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
This excellent collection of essays probes the responses of one Native American tribe to the forces of Christianity. In this posthumously published anthology of essays, McLoughlin (History and Religion/Brown; After the Trail of Tears, 1993, etc.) returns once again to the Cherokees about whom he often wrote. These pieces are so interrelated and have such a directed flow that they actually form a comprehensive study of the struggles of the Cherokees (often among themselves) over the issues of conversion to Christianity and acculturation and assimilation into the dominant Euro-American culture. The first section of the work reflects on the history of missionaries among the Cherokees and their efforts to break down traditional religion. These efforts, most successful among mixed bloods, only succeeded, according to the author, as the traditional cultures and societies that supported the indigenous religion were also broken down, thus making individualistic Christianity (as opposed to the Indians' more communal attitudes) a viable response. Part Two deals with accommodations reached by the Cherokee as they balanced old ways with the new faith. Of particular interest is ``Christianity and Racism,'' an essay on the early debate over the origin of Indian peoples: Were they one of the lost tribes of Israel or the result of a separate genesis in the Americas? Also noteworthy is McLoughlin's review of how the oral tradition became fractured with old stories incorporating elements of the Jewish-Christian tradition. Apocalyptic Ghost Dance movements among the Cherokee are examined, as are political struggles within the tribe. Though the volume could have benefited from further editing (and some ethnocentric bias is evident in the use of generic, non- tribal specific terms like 'Great Spirit' and 'conjurer'), the book is nonetheless a major contribution to the study of Native American history and religious studies.
Pub Date: Jan. 3, 1995
ISBN: 0-8203-1639-3
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Univ. of Georgia
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
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