A hefty, expansive exploration of New Age spirituality, not for the uninitiated.
A metaphysical guide focuses on navigating one’s inner realm and exploring other planes and facets of existence.
This guide to clairvoyance and esoteric realms takes the form of an extended collection of visualization exercises rooted in chakra meditation and Taoism, incorporating elements of the Buddhist perspective on attachment and the law of attraction. Marks (And Now for a Word from the Angels, 2015) encourages readers to experience these “celestial journeys” in any order of their choosing. The exercises place an emphasis on cultivating self-acceptance, well-being, and a sense of one’s enduring spiritual connection to an all-encompassing, broader universe. Over the course of five chapters, the visualizations move from nurturing a sense of grounding in the body to contemplating aura work, the astral plane, and parallel universes. Several sections are narrated by what the author describes as the channeled spirits of angels, the most prominent of whom are Séan and Crystal. The text is punctuated throughout with vivid illustrations and an assortment of colorful typefaces. A large portion of the text consists of a detailed series of appendices containing extra pointers for fostering a mindful state of being and further details about the author’s own “dimensional travels,” along with foundational information about chakras, auras, and other metaphysical concepts. Abbreviated versions of the visualizations complete the volume. Marks’ idiosyncratic book should appeal to those with a strong knowledge of metaphysics, New Age philosophies, and clairvoyance. But novices in these subjects may find the abstract concepts and ideas offered difficult to grasp, partly due to the free-form structure and style of the book, which can sometimes feel more like a memoir of the author’s experiences than a practical how-to guide for developing one’s own spiritual practices. An introductory section outlining the basics—and perhaps companion audio to facilitate the visualizations and guided meditations—might enhance the book’s appeal to a broader audience.
A hefty, expansive exploration of New Age spirituality, not for the uninitiated.Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5227-2813-9
Page Count: 444
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
