New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
If you desire a spiritual connection with the animal world, but think the experience is available only to the spiritually evolved or gifted—don't despair. A "familiar" is simply a living creature having personal and spiritual meaning to you, and the experience is available to anyone who seeks it. No need for otherworldly experiences or altered states of consciousness. Personal awareness and desire are key, not revelation. A gradual opening of your mind and spirit to the animal world goes a long way toward enriching your life and adding another level to your spiritual practice. Many people describe enjoying a spiritual relationship with a particular animal, but the nature of that ...
Technically speaking, an archetype is a primal pattern of thought—inborn, instinctive, and imprinted on every human's subconscious mind. Carl Jung, a psychotherapist and a colleague of Sigmund Freud, was the first person to popularize the theory of archetypes. He studied dreams, myths, and legends, and concluded that we're all born with an innate ability to understand archetypes. In fact, he said, we're all pre-programmed to look for archetypes in our everyday lives, because they serve as a framework for our understanding of the world. Jung's descriptions of commonly recognized archetypes include the hero, the maiden, and the wise old man. Other archetypes include the anima, the ...
Do you believe you've lived before? At a party I attended in 2006, I met a middle-aged man who claimed to have recovered memories of a past life. After dinner, he pushed back his plate of bread pudding and announced, "In a former life, I was a black woman. I clearly recall giving birth to a baby in the middle of a cotton field behind the railroad tracks." Earlier the same year, I met a woman known for her ability to help others glimpse their past lives. She darted around the room, peering into people's eyes and announcing what she saw: You were a fish. Yes, definitely a fish. And you—you were a horse. And you? You were a dancer in Russia, but you starved to death before you could ...
Remember the good old days when ice cream came in two flavors? When televisions received just three networks? When Henry Ford offered customers any color car they wanted … as long as they wanted black? Back then, even buying a Tarot deck was simple. At our local bookstore, Tarot decks came in just one flavor: Rider-Waite. The deck came in just one size: big. And I could have any color box I wanted, as long as it was hot, bright yellow. Today, we live in a world of options. Ice cream parlors offer a minimum of thirty-one flavors. My DirecTV receives more than two hundred channels in both standard and high definition. When shopping for cars, I can buy from dozens of ...
