This is yet another inspiring book by one of my favourite authors, Robert Moss.

 

Moss holds what he calls “active dreaming” workshops throughout the globe; active dreaming is a “synthesis of modern dreamwork and shamanism”.

 

In his dreams, he flies “on the wings of a red-tailed hawk” and contacts beings in dreamworld who speak ancient languages. One such being is an ancient Native woman who speaks Mohawk. At first, he did not understand her but later he found Mohawk speakers who were able to translate what he had taken down phonetically. He calls her “Island Woman”.

 

As a child, he was very ill and died several times but made contact with dream visitors with whom he had conversations in the middle of the night. Due to his illnesses, he experienced soul loss, which ís the main theme of the book.

 

Now he teaches soul retrieval and soul recovery. Soul retrieval is not a self-help technique and “carries risks and challenges for both the practitioner and the intended beneficiary”. Unwanted entities and energies may have to be extracted. The soul retrieval journey may require travelling to “very dark places in nonordinary reality“ including realms of the dead”.

 

On the other hand, soul recovery is “a practice in which we help each other to become self-healers and shamans of our own souls”. It does not require us to play shaman for others and it minimizes the risk of dependency and of taking on what does not belong to us.

 

Moss teaches us to go to the places where lost souls can be found and reclaimed, and how we can help each other do this. In his courses and workshops, he and his students dream together and travel together in group shamanic journeys on agreed-upon destinations. They have made group expeditions “to other cultures, other times, and other dimensions”. What could be more exciting?

 

In Moss’s courses, students learn how to become dream trackers and accompany friends on their journeys to reclaim soul.

 

We can “journey across time to understand and resolve issues involving counterpart personalities in the past or the future.” We can also journey to younger versions of ourselves and counsel a younger self at a time of pain or challenge. This can involve tremendous healing for both of us in our own times.

 

We are connected to the ancestors of our biological families and the ancestors of the land where we live; in order to “open and cherish soul connections to wise ancestors and departed loved ones” we must clear “unhealthy legacies and energy attachments”.

 

Moss writes; “Once we restore the practice of soul recovery in our society, we --- might wake up and stop having so much trouble in our lives.”

 

He refers to the famous psychologist Jung’s “The Red Book”, which reveals the latter’s night visions and explorations in the Underworld. Jung goes through Hell  and converses with a Red Devil. Moss describes Jung’s adventures as “a frightful shamanic journey through the many cycles of the Netherworld” and is often revulsed and close to chucking the book across the room.

 

Moss is proficient in all sorts of both ancient and modern languages and apprises us of the words and phrases in these exotic languages describing the various sorts of dreams, spirits, etc.

 

We are regaled and illuminated by accounts of “dreams and adventures inside the dream world” shared by Moss’s most gifted participants in his dream courses.

 

If we wish to be shamans, we should start at the breakfast table and share dreams with our family and friends, “Real shamans are dreamers who know that dreams can be travelling, and that soul speaks to us through dreams,”

 

We can’t lose spirit, though we can lose contact with it, But when we suffer trauma or violent shock, soul may leave the body to escape. Psychologists call this “dissociation” and shamans call it “soul loss”, Soul loss is a survival mechanism.

 

Alcohol and drug abuse can also drive soul out of the body; also the brainwashing that occurs in cults may result in major soul loss “as the part of an individual that can think and has an independent will is driven away or taken prisoner”.

 

Major symptoms of soul loss are as follows:

• Low energy, chronic fatigue
• Emotional numbness
• Chronic depression
• Spaciness
• Addictive behaviours
• Low self-esteem
• Inability to let go of past situations or people no longer in your life
• Dissociation and multiple personality disorder
• Obesity or unexplained weight gain
• Abusive behaviours
• Absence of dream recall
• Recurring dreams of locations from earlier life, or a self separate from your dream self.

 

 

Soul loss is widespread, and sexual abuse is a major cause of it.

 

“The appearance of animals in dreams carries power and numinosity.” (Barbara Platek)

 

We see the state of our own vital energy in the nature and condition of our dream animals, just as the condition of the animals reflects our own situation. Active dreamers especially when engaging in shamanic work may develop “working relations with many animal spirits”. Different animals bring different gifts, different challenges call forth different allies.

 

If you dream of a house with rooms you have never seen, this may be an invitation to discover more of your potential.

 

“The state of a dream house may reflect the state of body or soul.” It may be in need of repair, which may indicate a health problem. I myself have previously had a period where I kept dreaming of dusty rooms or with walls that needed scrubbing, and in fact began to scrub them in these dreams.

 

If you keep dreaming of an old home or office where you worked, perhaps you have left part of yourself behind there.

 

Dream re-entry (including tracking) with the aid of shamanic drumming is perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of Moss’s work/teachings, but I don’t profess to understand how this is done, far less am able to do it; I don’t understand how to reenter a dream and seem to remember Moss stating somewhere in the book that the re-entry is done consciously while awake.

 

This review barely touches on the possibilities referred to in the book, Moss is an amazingly gifted shaman, and I would regard it as an exceptional gift from the Universe, were I enabled to participate in one of his courses and to learn how to do even a little of the dreamwork he teaches.

 

I strongly recommend that you read this well-written, erudite, inspiring and enlightening book.

Either extremely crazy or extremely innovative or both.
Q:
“The consultant buys a bottle of fake blood at a theater supply store and once every lunar month, for four days, imitates having a period by putting some of this blood into the vagina and preventing it from gushing out by using a tampon. After repeating this for four months, the consultant’s period will return to normal.”
(c)
Q:
“Although often with good intentions, our parents and teachers attribute negative definitions to us, which last for many years and prevent us from developing ourselves with pleasure. In psychomagic, we call these definitions “labels” because they stick to the self. So that the consultant can free herself from them, I advise:
▶ The consultant writes on adhesive labels as many definitions as they gave her, for example: “You have no ear for music,” “You don’t know how to use your hands,” “You’re a freeloader, liar, thief,” “You’re egotistical, weak, dumb, fat, skinny, vain, ungrateful,” and so on. The consultant glues these labels to every part of the body— many of them to the face—and goes out in public that way for as many hours as possible. When the consultant returns home, she should remove the labels, roll them into a ball, take the ball to the city dump, and throw it on top of the garbage pile, having beforehand caressed her body with hands soaked in pleasant perfume.”
(c)

Brilliantly innovative. Though, obviously before practicing this unquestioningly illuminating advice one would have to consider the environment or one would risk getting mistaken for a loon and being taken to some mental health hospital where before long you would be more heavily medicated than an American athlete at a sport event. So, first try this at home.

I'm often wary of MBS books about healing because they can tend to blame the victim. Not this one. This is a warm, compassionate sort of book that acknowledges the ways life hurts us, and offers cope to move on from that. It is for the greater part spiritual memoir - with some fascinating stories and experiences. it's also very much a book of shamanic philosophy, and as such is a terrific insight into that whole world view. it's really readable, and accessible, I also found it helpful and encouraging.

 

If you're interested in shamanism, the philosophical aspect of this book is invaluable - I've read a number of shamanic titles now, and never seen the underlying ideas explored in such depth or to such a good effect.

I received a free kindle copy of Light of the Andes: In Search of Shamanic Wisdom in Peru by J.E. Williams published by Irie Books from NetGalley for fair review. I gave it three stars.


I gave it a lower rating because there was so much repetitiveness describing the same rituals. I felt like that was a 'word padding' device & didn't like it.


The search by the author J.E. Williams for Shamanic Wisdom in Peru is a difficult one physically, emotionally & spiritually. He dealt with high altitude sickness & self doubt in this journey.


The world is in trouble, can the Light of the Andes bring a solution?

Link to purchase: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1617203742?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=1617203742&linkCode=xm2&tag=injoslifethin-20

The Shamanic Detective (Riga Hayworth, #... After reading the first two books in the Riga Hayworth Paranormal Mysteries series I was really excited to read the third, The Shamanic Detective. Well, excited, but disappointed too. I have really loved this series, and apparently, it's over!

Riga has two mysteries to solve in this edition, which comes immediately after the end of the Alchemical Detective. First, just at a truly special point at the end of Alchemical, Donovan is drug away by the FBI for a crime we all know he didn't commit. What is Riga, unlicensed in the state of Nevada, to do now that her lover-boy has been taken away? How can she help clear his name?

Secondly, Ankou, a Fae whose job it is to collect the souls of the dead, had decided that his servant on Earth is in trouble and he requires Riga to protect her. Of course, who else could it be but her old buddy, the Fae Shaman Sal, who has come to Nevada from San Francisco to have a very dangerous family reunion? Riga is torn in two as she tries to meet the expectations of the Fae Ankou in order to save lives and her deep need to help Donovan to overcome the charges against him. Weiss does an exceptional job of handling the guilt and remorse of Riga having to split her attention when all she wants to do is help Donovan. We meet a couple of new characters, learn more about Donovan's family and the relationship between Riga and Sal that has been a teaser through the first two books.

Weiss does her normal, wonderful job of blending layers of myth, shamanism and modern life into a story which keeps you interested, keeps you guessing and is a great way to spend a few hours of cherished reading time. As always, she does a great job of research of myths and legends and puts them to good use. We get a bit more of the romance in this third edition, as Riga and Donovan move forward in their relationship, handled with a deft and sophisticated hand.

Throughout this story Riga is called to face her fears, both as they relate to her life and her magic and as it relates to the Fae. For some reason, Riga is terrified/horrified by the Fae, but we still don't get any information on WHY she is so upset by them. Does this mean we just will never know, or is Weiss planning more Riga books? I wrote to ask her – I am just terribly interested in Riga and her past as Weiss sees it!

There are a few important matters that are tied up in this book, one of which is deeply important to Donovan and helped him find closure of a deeply personal kind. There is a tense moment towards the end where one of the minor characters I had really come to like nearly destroys his own life through the machinations of another and the “bad guy” at the end is not who I thought it was through most of the book.

All in all, another beautifully written installment in the Riga series. The last one? Well, I would absolutely buy another if Weiss wrote one!

Oh, and I would REALLY like to add an Ovcharka to my family! Cuddling up to a 150 lb. bear-like dog on a cold winter's night would be a true treat!