A provocative examination of ancient prophecies and how they seem to align with the latest research in quantum physics—and whether both fields hint at an impending new age of consciousness.
Wilcock, whose popular online documentary The 2012 Enigma was the genesis for this book, has spent 30 years investigating connections found in writings left behind by prehistoric civilizations and how they relate to the physical universe. His research led him to the conclusion that ancient Egyptians, Mayans, Hindus and others have left clues that may reveal the secret behind the year 2012, and that the date itself is not indicative of an apocalyptic event, but the start of an epoch that may usher in a higher state of consciousness. Wilcock argues that this transition will be guided by a living energy field—and that this energy field, which he dubs “the source field,” is the fundamental building block of all space, time, energy, matter and biological life, and may be a crystallization of a united, symbiotic consciousness that we all have the ability to tap into. The author provides wide-ranging evidence to support this claim, citing dozens of scientific studies and first-person testimonies, and delves into the mystical connections between DNA, energy and light. He argues that the makeup of the entire universe is geometric in arrangement and motion, and that the year 2012 coincides with many natural astrological changes that could affect human intuitive abilities (namely through the activation of the pineal gland, an idea that is referenced by many ancient cultures). Much of Wilcock's scientific data is cutting-edge: For example, an idea like the holographic principle fits perfectly with his notion that time may actually exist in three dimensions. However, readers should be prepared for some fantastical discussion of alien intelligence, crop circles and time portals. At its core, Wilcock's theories rest on the idea that mankind can usher in this transcended age by expressing love and kindness toward each other and the world—a worthwhile endeavor regardless of one’s beliefs about 2012. Debatable, sure, but the author writes a narrative as fast-paced and scintillating as a sci-fi novel.
Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-525-95204-6
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Truly a gift.
A gorgeous ethnographical novel set in the Peruvian Andes, Gift of the Jaguar is a handsomely crafted tale of a youth’s passage into adulthood–with the help of one very scary cat.
On the verge of his 18th birthday, Juan is still haunted by the memory of his sister Marta, who died when he was just a boy. Ready to take on his plot of land and the responsibilities that come along with it, Juan is stalked by a massive, deadly jaguar that is both a real threat and a pulsating symbol of the boy’s grief. Seeking help from the shaman grandfather of a childhood friend (Rosa, also Juan’s love interest), the protagonist is sent on a sacred journey to a holy peak in the Peruvian Andes, where he will find out the truth about his sister’s death and his destiny. Gift of the Jaguar is simultaneously a story of psychological growth and spiritual discovery, a tale of personal and religious revelation. While authors John and Sharon Franklin engage Andean mysticism–and, more broadly, South American religious traditions–with the eyes of an anthropologist, their fiction still seeks to impart transcendent truths. Though the authors are native Virginians with only travelers’ knowledge of Peru, readers will swear the Franklins were raised in Lima. They paint pictures of local culture that are vivid but admirably subtle. The book is no travelogue, designed merely to prove its authors’ worldliness. It is instead a beautiful, measured interpretation of South American mountain life and religiosity. Further, the Franklins write with a deliberate precision that recalls the simple rhetorical grace of Peter Matthieson–specifically The Snow Leopard, another story of spiritual growth that focuses on the pursuit of an elusive beast. This is high praise, for Matthieson is a modern master, and the Franklins might be on their way.
Truly a gift.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-615-27047-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A woman blows open psychically and becomes a healer, a ghost lover and a full-trance medium.
A healer’s personal journey is fraught with paranormal activity.
At age 48, author May began a nine-year spiritual rite of passage which included visits from the dead. As things go bump in her dark night of the soul, she works through hefty emotional baggage, in particular the rage she felt at her mother’s suicide. She journals and sketches, consults channels and psychics and recalls past lives (she may have been Joan of Arc), while developing discernment in her choice of practitioners. A dedicated horse lover and Vermont farmer, she is sustained by her deep connection to the animal kingdom–“My root chakra is sitting on my horse’s heart chakra.” The book is both mystery and memoir, as the author investigates circumstances surrounding a friend’s untimely death while dealing with life’s more mundane complications, such as marital and financial woes. Reality dissolves, and in its place there’s automatic writing, shape-shifting into a wolf, visits from Christ, fairies and a levitating fuzzball. It’s a high concentration of the strange, even for the psychically tuned in. A reader outside the author’s circle may conclude that, as she writes, there’s “absolutely nothing [they] can verify.” Did a three-quarter-ton diesel truck barreling out of control toward a snow bank magically right itself? Does an 18-inch-tall gal in pilgrim garb, with a face like a dried apple, arrive in the middle of the night to eat fear? Some who cross the author’s path claim they’ve never met anyone like her, and that’s certainly true. Still, there’s something to be said for having one’s views dramatically challenged and expanded through the written word. May’s mind-bending story may be the unabashed truth, an elaborate fabrication or a bit of both, but it’s one hell of a tale and more expertly plotted than the Twilight series.
A woman blows open psychically and becomes a healer, a ghost lover and a full-trance medium.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4392-5232-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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