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The First Female Pharaoh, by Andrew Collins

The First Female Pharaoh: Sobekneferu, Goddess of the Seven Stars, by Andrew Collins
Bear & Company, 1591434459, 464 page, April 2023

Most people are familiar with the famous Egyptian queens Cleopatra, Nefertiti, and Hatshepsut, but few are aware that they were preceded by Sobekkara Sobekneferu, the first woman to break the glass ceiling and be crowned pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt. Sobekneferu (pronounced “sob-bek-nef-frew”) was the last ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty, which brought the Middle Kingdom to a close about 3,800 years ago. She may have been around 30 years old at the time of her accession to the throne, and she ruled for almost four years, between the approximate dates of 1798 to 1794 BCE. The circumstances surrounding her coronation and her untimely death are unknown.

I first learned of Sobekneferu by reading Egyptologist Kara Cooney’s work When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt (2018), and I was thrilled to review a book dedicated to this fascinating monarch. In The First Female Pharaoh: Sobekneferu, Goddess of the Seven Stars, author Andrew Collins (Göbekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods, 2014) does rigorous archaeological detective work, analyzing a variety of statues and beads honoring Sobekneferu, in an effort to humanize her and unravel the mystery of her life and death. This book also has a historical whodunit vibe, as Collins explores possible political intrigues that may have led to her rise and fall. It’s amazing how much information can be gleaned about her from so few inscriptions and artifacts, and Collins walks the reader through each exhibit, clarifying its context.

Collins begins his search for the enigmatic Sobekneferu in London’s British Museum, where he inspects a cylinder seal bearing her royal titles. He presents clear diagrams of the inscriptions on the seal, accompanied by translations of the hieroglyphs so the reader can examine the artifact along with him and imagine the feeling of this ancient stone bead rolling between their fingers. We learn from the seal that her throne name, Sobek ka Ra, means “Sobek is the soul [ka] of Ra,”1 and her personal name, Sobek neferu, means “Beauties of Sobek of Shedet”2. 

The ancient city of Shedet (known to the Greeks as Crocodilopolis), located in the lush oasis of the Fayum, was the cult center of the crocodile god Sobek, to whom Sobekneferu was devoted. Sobek was a manifestation of the solar deities Ra and Horus, and as Sobek-Ra he represented the sun’s nocturnal journey through the Fayum’s great lake, Lake Moeris, before being reborn at dawn every morning.  He was also connected with the divine right of kings to rule and the annual flooding of the Nile. Before Sobekneferu, the Twelfth Dynasty pharaohs, who ruled Egypt from the city of Itj-tawy in the Fayum, adopted the name of Amun or his consort Wosret. Sobekneferu’s identification with the fierce male crocodile god and her alliance with his local priesthood may have politically supported her claim to the throne.

Another seal in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo gives the grammatically masculinized forms of her names, suggesting that the gender of her royal epithets may have sometimes been changed to legitimize her rule. A headless quartzite bust of Sobekneferu in the Louvre Museum in Paris may have been smashed in an attempt to erase her from history. What remains of the decapitated statue depicts the striped lappets of the nemes-headdress worn by male rulers cascading over her shoulders, and although she is wearing the shoulder straps of a woman’s dress, she appears to have flattened breasts.3 Like the Eighteenth Dynasty Queen Hatshepsut, it appears that Sobekneferu masculinized herself to be accepted as pharaoh, and perhaps Hatshepsut was inspired by her predecessor’s images. Other statues Collins analyzes have also been defaced. He explains that iconoclasts broke noses off of statues in the belief that without them the soul of the deceased wouldn’t be able to breathe in the afterlife.

Sobekneferu’s Two Ladies appellation, Sat sekhem nebet tawy, meaning “Daughter of Power, Mistress of the Two Lands,” is a reminder that she inherited the throne from her father, the mighty king Amenemhat III.4 Sobekneferu further legitimized her reign through her divine patriarch by honoring his memory, completing his pyramid complex at Hawara, known as the Labyrinth. 5 She deified him there and made herself the high priestess of his temple cult, a suave political move that emphasized her reign being the will of the gods. 6

Her Horus name, Meryt-Ra, meaning “Beloved of Ra,” was feminized, and was a title often given to priestesses, indicating that she may have served as one before rising to power.7 Collins believes she may have served the goddess Hathor. 8 During the Twelfth Dynasty, it was trendy for queens and kings to be depicted as sphinxes. In doing so, the monarch embodied the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, the vindictive aspect of Hathor, whose name means “The Powerful One.”9

While Sobekneferu’s tomb has never been discovered, there is evidence that cult veneration of her continued long after she passed away. Graffiti left by visitors in the funerary chapel connected to the Theban tomb of a priestess of Hathor named Senat indicates that her burial site doubled as a place of veneration for Sobekneferu.10 Perhaps pilgrims were drawn to this location because it was the only Middle Kingdom tomb built for a woman.11

Sobekneferu’s older sister, Neferuptah, was heir to the throne, but she died young, and was buried in a small pyramid in her father’s temple complex. 12 Neferuptah was the first Egyptian woman in history to have her name inscribed within a royal cartouche, suggesting that her father may have been preparing her to rule after his death.13 Collins brings up the possibility that Neferuptah was murdered.14 Her cause of death is a mystery because her body unfortunately disintegrated due to groundwater leaking into her tomb.15

After Amenemhat III passed away, presumably from old age, Sobekneferu may have wed her brother Amenemhat IV upon his ascension to the throne and co-ruled with him, a position that had been intended for Neferuptah.16 Nine years later, Amenemhat IV died without a male heir to take his place, perhaps due to sterility resulting from generations of inbreeding.17 

In ancient Egypt, a woman could take the throne as regent, temporarily ruling on behalf of an heir who was perhaps too young to rule himself.18 Hatshepsut, for example, established herself as regent but did not relinquish the throne when the male heir, her co-king and nephew, came of age. After the death of her brother-husband Thutmose II, Queen Hatshepsut served as regent for her two-year-old nephew, Thutmose III 19. Instead of functioning as a placeholder who would step down when he came of age, by the seventh year of her regency (or perhaps sooner), she was officially coronated as king, assuming full pharaonic power through the religious authority of the oracle of Amun, which had declared her the rightful ruler. 20

In the case of Sobekneferu, when her brother died, there was no heir, and she took the throne without the pretense of regency, which is quite amazing. Collins suggests there may have been a nationalist plot to usurp Amenemhat IV and place Sobekneferu on the throne.21 Her brother’s “progressive ideologies” and open border policies would have been perceived as a threat to Egyptian nationalists, who were concerned about the influx of western Asiatic foreigners settling in northern Egypt and occupying positions of power, which no doubt paved the way for the Hyksos invasion a few generations later. 22 He was also allied with the priesthood of Atum in Heliopolis rather than the local cult of Sobek. 23

A controversial theory which Collins presents for the first time in this book is that the legend of Queen Nitocris, recorded in book II of The Histories by the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century B.C.E., is a dramatized account of Sobekneferu exacting revenge for her brother’s regicide. 24 According to the legend, Nitocris invited the Egyptian subjects who murdered her brother-husband to a banquet in an underground chamber and then drowned them by flooding the room with Nile water through a secret channel. 25 Afterwards, she committed suicide by throwing herself into a chamber of hot ashes in order to avoid retribution for her actions. 26

The Egyptian historian Manetho recorded that Nitocris was the last ruler of the sixth dynasty, but there is no evidence that she ever existed, and Collins believes that the twelfth dynasty ruler Sobekneferu is the best historical fit. 27 “The real Nitocris of legend was, I would argue, an abstract memory of the life and deeds of Sobekneferu,” Collins says. 28 He suggests that she may have collaborated with Egyptian nationalists to have her brother assassinated, then shifted blame onto her political opponents after she was placed on the throne. 29

Sobekneferu may have fallen out of favor due to low flood waters during the third year of her reign, which would have been disastrous for the cultivation of crops. 30 Since the failure of the inundation would have been perceived as her fault, Collins suggests that she may have been pressured by the priesthood at Heliopolis to take the role of sacrificial king and either commit suicide or be murdered. 31 

Collins has an intriguing theory regarding the method of her ritual death. He suggests that the serpent involved in Cleopatra’s suicide may have been symbolic for the ingestion of poisonous plants or the inhalation of their smoke, 32 which leads him to believe that the chamber full of hot ashes into which Nitocris threw herself may have been a room suffocated with mephitic fumes, and that this was how Sobekneferu committed suicide. 33

While the theories Collins presents are often pure conjecture, he clearly delineates between what is based upon concrete archaeological evidence and what is speculation, all the while acknowledging that we may never know the truth. Readers who are armchair archaeologists will appreciate his detailed analysis of artifacts, and those who want to learn more will find Kara Cooney’s book When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt, which Collins cites several times, to be an excellent companion text to The First Female Pharaoh. 

The figure of Sobekneferu is just as relevant today as ever because she presents an interesting historical perspective on gender stereotypes and public perceptions of women’s leadership abilities both past and present. Women in positions of power are still pressured by society to adopt masculine fashions in order to be taken seriously, such as the pant suits worn by modern female politicians and other professionals. One might argue that these suits have evolved to become gender neutral, but originally they were worn to project an air of male authority, and on a subliminal level, they still convey the same message. Appearing androgynous often requires women to minimize or conceal their femininity instead of embracing it, perhaps even blurring their perceived gender identity, as was the case with both Sobekneferu and Hatshepsut. 

Hatshepsut in particular depicted herself as a man towards the end of her reign, and in When Women Ruled the World, Egyptologist Kara Cooney says that rather than this being an indication of her own gender confusion, “Hatshepsut’s problem was that she was trying to inhabit a masculine role within a patriarchal system on a long-term basis while there was a male king already occupying the throne.” 34 Depicting herself as a man was a way of validating her right to rule. 

In modern times, Sobekneferu has reincarnated in pop culture as a dangerous Egyptian queen with supernatural powers who returns to the realm of the living by possessing a young woman’s body. The subtitle of The First Female Pharaoh: Sobekneferu, Goddess of the Seven Stars, invokes Bram Stoker’s Egyptian novel The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903), in which the daughter of an Egyptologist, a young woman named Margaret, is possessed by the spirit of Queen Tera.

Critics have perceived this as a Gothic horror personification of the New Woman movement of First Wave Feminism at the turn of the century. As the spirit of Queen Tera takes control of Margaret, she becomes more strong-willed and independent, putting up increasing resistance to the masculine authority of her father and love interest, perhaps serving as a cautionary tale about the dangers of female empowerment, since Stoker didn’t seem very fond of the movement based on his treatment of strong female characters. 

Collins believes that Stoker’s evil Queen Tera was inspired by Sobekneferu, 35 and that she in turn influenced the character of Queen Kara in the 1980 film based on the novel titled The Awakening, starring Charlton Heston. 36 Collins posits that Stoker’s source materials were two works on ancient Egyptian star lore and mythology by Gerald Massey (1828-1907) that featured Sobekneferu, associating her with an ancient “Mother-Goddess of Time,” the “Goddess of the Seven Stars,” identified with the constellations Draco and Ursa Major. 37

The enigmatic queen Sobekneferu has also made quite an impact on the occult community. Esteemed occult writer Kenneth Grant drew connections between Sobekneferu and an ancient Draconian cult in his Typhonian Trilogies (1972-2002).38 According to the Tumblr account of Pacific North Witches, Sobekneferu even has a feast day, which falls on July 23.39 

It seems this ancient queen has indeed been resurrected into the collective consciousness. Whether we view Sobekneferu as a high priestess of Draconian magic or as the ultimate embodiment of female empowerment, she has achieved the dream of immortality that all the mighty ones of ancient Egypt sought to attain, inspiring new generations with her mysterious legacy, nearly 3,800 years after her death.

Spirit Weaver, by Seren Bertrand

Spirit Weaver: Wisdom Teachings from the Feminine Path of Magic, by Seren Bertrand
Bear & Company, 1591434351, 256 pages, May 2022

Spirit Weaver: Wisdom Teachings from the Feminine Path of Magic by Seren Bertrand was balm for my aching soul. Recently, I have been rather withdrawn, tending to my inner world over making strides towards accomplishments in the external world. I’ve been quite content exploring and feeling into the changes taking place within myself as I enter a new phase of my life

But amid the soul-shifting happening, I was being quite hard on myself, lamenting about “not being productive” and chastising my need to remain in my domestic sphere, which has felt quite like my safe haven or nest during this time. It wasn’t until I spent two days in bed, switching off between deep-diving into the wisdom of this book, journaling, and napping, that I felt a very rooted, authentic connection to my own feminine magic was restored.

“We have to nest. Not to always be somewhere else.

Wild creatures know how to nest. They know how to leave–and how to return.

There is great spiritual power in pottering–in the garden, in the kitchen, just being around the house, the home. Tending the herbs in the garden, making a fresh-brewed tea, the sensual art of cooking. Or entering the prayer chamber of the sofa, lounging with God, in intimate conversations and occasional snoring.

Nowhere to go, nothing to do. No grand theories to unite. Just to relax and be.

Home brings us back down to Earth. It makes us real. It grants us “enrealment.”

It is imbued with Womb magic; the power of Earth, of life, of love, of the real.”1

Bertrand is a skilled spirit weaver and visionary creatrix, who has done so much research on the lost global feminine wisdom traditions. She has also co-authored Womb Awakenings and Magdalene Mysteries with her husband Azra. Both of these books were life-changing for me, and I highly recommend them as well for anyone interested in feminine magic.

What sets Spirit Weaver apart from these other two books though is that this one feels more personal and the wisdom shared can be easily incorporated into one’s life. Whereas Womb Awakening and Magdalene Mysteries are both 560 pages of historical, anthropological, and spiritual revelation, Spirit Weaver is about half the length and is based on Bertrand’s personal insight and heartfelt experience of living the path of feminine magic.

Her first-hand perspective really hit home for me, as it felt like an invitation to walk alongside her as she shares what she’s learned throughout her journey, much like listening to a friend. Her soothing way with words was a more creative approach to sharing the mysteries of this path, intuitively opening new chambers within my own psyche and soul to explore. And it’s definitely worth noting though she explores feminine magic worldwide, Bertrand’s personal narrative of her ancestry to her homeland of England is a prominent theme.

“Sitting at the heart of these essays I share with you is the story of my personal ancestral lineage at Mam Tor (Mother Mountain), in the Peak District of the Old North of England, once the grail lands of Maid Marian and Robin Hood and the ancient tribe of the Brigantes–who worshiped the goddess Brigantia, the ancien mother of the old north–who were once led by powerful queens. These lands are an ancestral soulmate within me, the earth placenta of my childhood.”2

The book is composed of 50 essays divided into five sections: “Spinning Our Web”, “Growing Our Roots”, “Weaving Our Healing”, “Dreaming Our Magic”, and “Enchanting Our World”. While the sections have essays relevant to the overall theme, each one stands alone as a unique, insightful reflective piece of writing. I choose to make my way through chronologically, but one could absolutely pick and choose the essays or sections that feel relevant to them in each moment.

One thing I loved about this book was the brilliant paintings throughout the book that was rich with symbolism, featuring images of women, animals, spirals, and more. It felt as though each picture was perfectly placed, inspiring revelation as I turned the page after reading a specific essay to see a creative expression of the essence, energy, and themes Bertrand is describing. Sometimes, I would end up staring at the imagery for a good five to ten minutes, sometimes contemplating its message and other times just admiring the beauty. Plus, there is variation in font color too, which adds to the beauty of the book; it’s not just black and white, but alive with color for visual appeal.

In addition to paintings, there’s also some photographs included too, such as wells, festivals, and even an ancestral photograph of Bertrand’s family. These pictures definitely made Bertrand’s writing more realistic because I could see exactly what she was describing, even if I haven’t visited these places myself or experienced the culture of the lands she describes, especially her homelands of northern England. Now I just want to go take a pilgrimage!

Another thing I really enjoyed about Spirit Weaver is how Bertrand offers ideas for self-reflection or advice about how to integrate what she’s just written about in her essay. For instance, following the essay “Feminine Archetypes: The Witch and the Priestess”, Bertrand invites the reader to reflect on which one is more resonant to them right now. Following another essay, “Rooted Power: Feminine Spiritual Path”, Bertrand shares a way to find the balance between one’s rooted power (embodiment check-ins) and their infinite love (affirmation). While not every essay has something like this at the end, these prompts definitely helped to integrate Bertrand’s writing.

Overall though, I think my absolute favorite thing about the book was the content. Bertrand delves into many aspects of the feminine with such insight. As someone who also walks the path of feminine spirituality, it felt like a homecoming to read Bertrand’s thoughts and reflections. I’m constantly vacillating between whether to call my path one of witchcraft or priestesshood, while also contemplating how to embody this practice in my daily life. Mary Magdalene and the Christ path has always had a special place in my heart, which is definitely not discussed much in witchcraft, so I loved soaking up Bertrand’s wisdom about that.

But the topics covered a wide range of feminine spirituality, such as Moon magic, Celtic traditions, Dankini magic, working with the shadow, romantic love as a spiritual pathway, the wisdom of Grandmothers, mermaids, and so much more. This might sound like a smorgasbord, but it wasn’t at all like that; it’s a rich tapestry of all aspects of the feminine skillfully woven together.

What I was most surprised at was her essay called “Lady Saturn: Lineage of the Cosmic Witch”. I recently did a whole astrology presentation about the feminine aspect of Saturn as Crone, and I was thrilled to read another’s perspective about the VERY overlooked female attributes of Saturn. Bertrand writes, “Lady Saturn is the darkness of wisdom, of Sophia. She is the grand cosmic witch.”3 This just set my passion ablaze and spurred me on in my own research!

I was also just overcome by what I read in the section “Epiphany: Three Wise Witchy Midwives” where Bertrand discusses the Christmas Witch La Befana. As an Italian-American, the past three yuletide seasons, I’ve been deepening my relationship with la Strega Noel, and Bertrand provided more information in this section than I had been able to find thus far. I loved learning about how “The sacred Christmastime of Epiphany was once the heartland of the feminine mysteries, celebrated by many feminine folk traditions.”4 Suddenly, it made a lot more sense why this has become such a special time of the year for me, as I walk this path.

All in all, Spirit Weaver is a treasure trove of wisdom about the magic of the feminine mysteries. I highly recommend this book to all who feel called to walk the path of the feminine spirituality, in whatever form this looks like for them. Bertrand covers such a wide-range of topics that each reader is sure to take away something meaningful for their own personal journey. Bertrand truly continues to do such a service to the feminine spiritual pathway, educating readers with her research and courageously sharing her own experience to illuminate the way for others. This is a book that I know I will be returning to time and time again, as I continue to weave my own way immersed within the all-encompassing divinity of the feminine.

The Empires of Atlantis, by Marco M. Vigato

The Empires of Atlantis: The Origins of Ancient Civilizations and Mystery Traditions Throughout the Ages, by Marco M. Vigato
Bear & Company, 1591434335, 416 pages, January 2022

The Empires of Atlantis: The Origins of Ancient Civilizations and Mystery Traditions Throughout the Ages by Marco M. Vigato is not an ordinary book about an extraordinary subject. And, it is most definitely not the usual fairy tale of mythology surrounding Atlantis and its fall.

Vigato dedicated the past fifteen years to documenting the evidence of ancient civilizations and their origins. This is most evident in the containers of the book and the detail in which the author goes towards supporting the theories around what he has uncovered, Where many other books focus on either the mythology and esoteric implications of ancient civilizations, in particular Atlantis and others seek only the archeological evidence, Vigato draws from a balance of esoteric philosophies and scientific and archeological evidence that offers a tried and tested timeline of historical events.  Vigato provides the reader with thirty-two pages of a Bibliography that is comprehensive and diverse in resources used to compile this treasure of a book.

The book is separated into six parts that set the reader on a journey beginning with our “Esoteric History:Part l”, “The First Time: Part ll” (including “The Mysterious Origins of Man”), “Twilight of the Gods: Part lll”, “Atlantis Rises Again: Part lV” (offering a look at “The Neo-Atlantean Empires”), “The Megalithic Odyssey: Part V”, and concluding with a discussion of “The Legacy: Part Vl” left from the Ancient civilizations, their cultures, and wisdom that has been lost on modern civilizations.

“The Epilogue: The Cycle Continues” provides a reminder that as a civilization we, as members of humanity, are part of a larger cyclical process that has defined and shaped our history and will most definitely weigh into our future. Dissolution of one cycle is a necessary prerequisite to the birthing and growth of another phase of existence. Despite the fatalistic sound of this concept, it is indeed one steeped in scientific evidence about the nature of evolution.

My recommendation to offset this reaction of “doom and gloom” would be that if the reader takes the time to “wade through” The Empires of Atlantis and give deep thought to the ample charts, timelines, graphics and more contained throughout, acknowledgement that cycles are organically part of the function of the cosmos become the reality of our existence.

Overall, The Empires of Atlantis is not an easy read, but well worth the effort for those who are fascinated by the spiritual underpinnings of humanity and the cosmology of the world. Ironically, this is one of the shortest reviews I have written for a book. This is not because it is lacking in content; in fact, it is entirely the opposite.

The skill with which Vigato has woven together cycles of humanity, evolutionary cycles of civilizations and the esoteric underpinnings that flow through all of it, is not easily reduced to simple quotes from a book and commentary on what information is being provided. This title is definitely worth exploring for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of our place as part of humanity and civilization’s natural evolution, regardless of your belief in the existence of Atlantis.

First Nations Crystal Healing, by Luke Blue Eagle

First Nations Crystal Healing: Working with the Teachers of the Mineral Kingdom, by Luke Blue Eagle
Bear & Company,  9781591434276, 264 pages, October 2021

Luke Blue Eagle shares ways to use thirty-eight different crystals and stones for healing in his book First Nations Crystal Healing. As he says on the back cover:

“Crystals and stones come from Mother Earth and indigenous medicine people have been using them to help and to heal for millennia. Their techniques, although simple, have proven effective through the innumerable healers who have handed down these teachings across the generations.”1

For over twenty-five years, Blue Eagle studied with elders from several indigenous tribes in the US and Canada.  He writes a blog that includes articles on many subjects, from animal totems such as the moose or coyote to crystals or the latest work on his fragrances or his original music.  He is also featured in several audio interviews online. His career spans over forty years as a healer and practitioner. A recent blog announces that he has retired from active work, having trained quite a few people to carry on these techniques.

This book is organized into five parts:

  1. Preparing for a Healing Practice
  2. Crystal Attributes and Correspondences
  3. Principal Practices for Crystal Use and Care
  4. Advanced Healing Practices
  5. The Stones and Their Properties

I have been interested in crystals and gemstones for more than twenty years, so this book really resonated with me.  When my husband and I began to study mediumship, we learned about a few crystals that can support spirit communication. From that time, I’ve loved to use crystals for channeling, healing, and energy clearing.  I was interested to learn more from Blue Eagle about indigenous techniques and practices.

In the initial section, I learned that the indigenous way of healing is truly “holistic” in that it works to treat the whole body system: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  Crystals are a natural part of the healing journey, since they come from Mother Earth.  Blue Eagle reviews the foundations of Native American practices and provides some preliminary information, including his own fundamental laws of healing.

Next, he discusses the attributes of crystals, including form and structure and the colors of crystals.  In the third section, he reviews ways to care for and use crystals and this was my favorite section.  From consecrating a crystal to programming a crystal, Blue Eagle gives the reader step-by-step instructions. He shares:

The consecration ceremony is a twenty-seven-day ritual that will help you commune with your crystal and perceive its specific gifts and then apply them to healing situations.  We use this ceremony to consecrate the crystal to act in a specific way, and in specific circumstances, in a sacred manner. All healing has a sacred component to it, if you understand the notion of holistic healing. The best time to start a consecration ritual is on the new moon.  If not possible on the new moon, any other time will do.2

After he covers how to “program” a crystal, he also discusses the importance of creating “sacred space” for all healing.  I loved the “Heart Meditation” that he shared in the book, which is a three-part meditation and is the first practice he teaches in all of his classes.

In the center of the book are color photos of the thirty-eight crystals, including several of the clear quartz crystal, which is the primary crystal that he uses for healing work.  In the next section, he covers all of the different colors of crystals and how each color plays a role in healing. He does a brief introduction of the color, or “color ray” as he calls it, and then lists specific crystals in that color and shares information about working with that crystal.  

Throughout the book, Blue Eagle adds what he calls a “Teaching Story” that contains a specific reference to an experience he has had that relates to the crystal or practice or healing technique.  One of my favorites was the one shared about Clear Quartz, in which he put a crystal around the neck of a beginning student.  The woman was helping him in his booth at a wellness fair and was becoming overwhelmed by the energy of the many people coming through the booth.  After he put on the crystal, she was able to work the rest of the day with ease and no dip in her energy.3

I was unaware of the ability of clear quartz to be used in this way.  I decided to test it out and wore a necklace I have with a clear quartz crystal point one day when I was going to my granddaughter’s gymnastics meet.  That day, I was able to stay longer than usual and did not feel my energy dip after I had been in the large gym for four hours.  I can’t wait to test out more of his practices and techniques, including his distance healing techniques and many of the meditations. 

On the last page of the book, Blue Eagle shares what he calls “the three fundamental laws of healing: unconditional love, nonattachment and intention.  The philosophical foundations that countless elders have passed down through the generations have great validity.  We must meditate on them so that we tread on solid ground, protecting ourselves and others with insight and wisdom.”4

Blue Eagle’s writing style is very conversational, and I appreciate the depth of his knowledge and experience.  It shines through on every page. The structure of the book is well-conceived, and the “Table of Contents” is handy for reference.  He also has an index, which is always helpful later, when you want to find and review a specific idea. 

In this easy-to-read book, Blue Eagle provides lots of tools and techniques that just about anyone can follow.  He recommends that you read First Nations Crystal Healing from front to back to fully understand the Native American way of living in harmony with Mother Earth. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about crystals, as well know and understand Native American healing techniques and sacred ceremonies.

Gaia Alchemy, by Stephan Harding

Gaia Alchemy: The Reuniting of Science, Psyche, and Soul, by Stephan Harding
Bear & Company, 1591434254, 320 pages, January 2022

The separation of mind and body that began during the scientific revolution has caused a rippling split between humanity and nature, which has been immensely detrimental to the natural interconnected systems on Earth. While the integration is slowly starting to happen in academic settings (I do hold a Master of Social Science in Environmental Humanities and Ecopsychology from Viridis Graduate Institute), it’s clear the current scientific paradigm needs greater supplementation to fully understand the interconnectedness of Earth. This arduous task of reconnection is what Stephan Harding sets out to in Gaia Alchemy: The Reuniting of Science, Psyche, and Soul.

Harding describes to readers how a dream in which he meets Old Woman, is the anima munda, or Gaia, who encouraged him to write this book. Meeting this archetypal imagery affirmed his path of writing a book on what he has termed “Gaia Alchemy”. Gaia Alchemy blends depth psychology, alchemy, and Gaia theory, creating a new paradigm aimed at bringing the soul back to science and culture.

“Gaia theory is a scientific understanding of the Earth as a great plantery organism, as a self-regulating complex system; alchemy is the ancient art of personal transformation and nature connection. My quest has been to discover whether we can experience a Gaia that is more vibrant, full of meaning, and alive by alchemizing science, thereby re-ensouling science and our culture and thus freeing both from their analytical dryness.”1

Harding sets off to take the readers through his own personal journey of developing this Gaia Alchemy worldview through psychological, historical, and scientific revelations, along with a good bit of creative imagination. And his method of engaging readers goes beyond just sharing interesting insight, there’s practices to do and exercises to try.

At the start of the book, Harding invites the reader to find their Gaia Place. He describes this as “a place where you can relax and connect deeply to nature, where your heart feels glad, where you’ll make important discoveries, both inner and outer.”2

I liked this concept because I’ve done something similar in the past, when I was training to be a nature-based coach, where I had my own “sit spot” to connect with nature everyday. I feel like developing this special place is key to facilitating one’s awareness of the natural world.

Harding provides plenty of ways to heighten one’s connection to their Gaia place throughout the book. For instance, there’s a really neat meditation to connect with ecological communities of the past, taking one through the evolution from small plants to mammals, through dinosaurs and meteorites, drawing on the alchemical power of calcification. From there, one is invited to experience the alchemical process of dissolution in their Gaia place. The mixture of ecology with alchemy in the meditations is very unique. There’s a special connection that develops between one and their Gaia Place as they move through these inner explorations.

Another really unique aspect of this book is that it’s filled with conversations with Jeffy Kiehl, a climate scientist and licensed Jungian analyst, which provides a multidimensional approach to the topic. Kiehl has written on related topics in his book Facing Climate Change: An Integrated Path to the Future. ​​Harding has done a wonderful job of including Kiehl’s perspective to give readers insight into the broad application of Gaia Alchemy through the thought-provoking dialogue. 

While his conversations with Kiehl did actually happen, Gaia Alchemy also features some imaginary conversations too written by Harding as he works to change the narrative of what happened in the split between science and alchemy, mind and body, to envision an alternative outcome. In the chapter “Descartes Meets Alchemy”, Descartes first has a conversation with an alchemist and then famed depth psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz. I feel like this creative revision of Descartes’ perspective really stuck with me as a reader, helping to shift my own view, similar to how a fictional story can ignite change.

I will note that Gaia Alchemy might be a lot for someone unfamiliar with alchemy or depth psychology to take on, but Harding fills the pages with charts, diagrams, and photographs to illuminate the content. As unfamiliar as these concepts may seem, especially to those steeped in a materialistic Western scientific culture, Harding’s work is rich with potential for re-visioning our future. Society needs to change in order to survive, and there’s no better place to start than within. The unification of rationality and intuition, science and soul, is the only way forward.

Alchemy is the perfect access point to the reunion of our material and spiritual world. Here’s an example of Harding’s perceptive writing on the alchemical process of conjunction:

“We experience conjunction in our psychological life when our solar sensing and rationality and our lunar feeling and intuition function well together, bringing a balanced outlook in which we see how causality and synchronicity are at work in the world at large, reinforcing our embeddedness within their immense yet deeply intimate networks of learning and meaning.

Alchemically, conjunction happens between Sol and Luna. It occurs when Sol – the divine transcendental source – fully conjoins with our existence as embodied beings here on Earth (Luna). We experience great clarity, purpose, and joy in those blessed moments when conjunction truly comes upon us, when its deepest meaning actualizes itself in us and we feel a blessed connection with Gaia.”3

This book was a real thrill to read as an ecopsychologist because it gives me hope there’s others out there working towards the integration of holistic sciences, deep ecology, and depth psychology. Harding himself lives in England, where he founded Schumacher College, which offers ecology-centered masters programs. At Schumacher College, Harding serves as Deep Ecology Research Fellow and senior lecturer on holistic science.

I can’t recommend Gaia Alchemy highly enough. For those interested in both the spiritual and natural world, this is an insightful guide to wholeness. Harding is doing and teaching what I believe is the most important work of our time, healing our connection with nature, promoting holistic science, and re-establishing our psychological ties with Gaia. Gaia Alchemy is a roadmap for an uncertain future and is well worth the read.

Empath Activation Cards, by Rev. Stephanie Red Feather

Empath Activation Cards: Discover Your Cosmic Purpose, by Reverand Stephanie Red Feather
Bear & Company, 1591434173, 224 pages, November 2021

Empath. What’s an empath? According to Merriam Webster an empath is “one who experiences the emotions of others.”1 Now I get it, I’m quoting a dictionary, but this is important. Important to me as a person and important to this review.

I have from a very early age basically been a sponge for emotions. I could feel and access the vibe/feel of a space or hone in on the strong emotions of an individual with relative ease. And long-ish story short, it messed me up a bit. Young me not knowing how to handle all this extra data was so overwhelmed with processing that, that working on my own personal emotions fell to the wayside and is still developing today. 

I’m opening up about this here because I know I’m not alone in this experience. I don’t doubt that there are many empaths out there who aren’t entirely aware of this side of them. who don’t quite know where they fall in this world and are just kind of floating aimlessly and going through the motions of adult life. Empath Activation Cards: Discover Your Cosmic Purpose by Reverand Stephanie Red Feather claims to help you figure that out, it says that it’s a rite of passage and being “cross-cultural in design”2 will touch everyone who handles them. I had to test these bold, bold claims made by Red Feather for myself. 

Right off the bat, I was hooked on the box. It is bright, it is eye-catching, and dare I say a bit gaudy. Bright red, featuring a magnetic flap closure that just shouts, “Look at me I’m important!”, right into my eye sockets. You can’t look away once you catch a glimpse, so much so I have to make sure the box is behind me while writing this to keep from going to play with it.

Structurally, it’s pretty tanky. Like it could handle a decent toss across a bed or into a bag with other items without dumping your cards everywhere. The flap is a bit tricky to get open one handed, so be aware of this if you end up having like 50 things going at once and only one free hand.

On opening the box the first thing we see is the guidebook. The book itself is a good size and fits well in my hands even if it doesn’t like to lie flat just yet. Inside, we have a quick foreword by Daniel Moler (“Author, artist, and a sanctioned teacher in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, a cross-cultural shamanic lineage”3). After this foreword there’s an introduction by our creator Red Feather and then four main sections where the card meanings and exercises are separated into.

In this introduction, Red Feather gives us her personal definition of empath. There’s five main aspects listed, and I highly recommend picking this deck up to learn more. It then talks of a couple ways to use this deck. Obviously there’s the regular reading method, but there’s also the meditative journey. You can opt to either work through each card in numerical order or do like a weekly draw and work with that card for a time.

A recommendation is made in the intro to “cleanse your deck with sage, sweet-grass, or palo santo”4 as a means to activate and bond with the cards. Yet, this makes me a little uncomfy. I get the cleansing bit, I really do, but why sage? Why sweetgrass? Why palo santo? I’d love to hear Red Feather’s reasoning, as well as a clarification on if it’s common sage or not, and possibly a note to make sure you source your stuff as ethically as possible.

“The deck has life force and each oracle has its own consciousness and message beyond the meaning written on the card.”5

The cards themselves have an energy. They make my tummy do flip-flops when I pick them up; good flip-flops but flip-flops nonetheless. Our front facing card in the first slot is called Abundant Universe, which is fitting. There is nothing but possibility ahead of us, we just need to see it. 

The cards in this deck make you think. There are no quick keywords in the meaning sections. You really need to sit down and think about the meaning of the cards you have pulled to really and truly understand them. I have been sitting with card 1 Abundant Universe since I got the deck (which has basically been a full month), and I am still pulling new meaning from it.

There is so much going on in these cards. The colors are wonderful, and if you can blur or unfocus your eyes, I highly recommend doing that at least a little bit when working with a card. Something about doing that opens new avenues of understanding for me and it might do the same for you.

Personally, I think the meditation route is the best use for these cards. This is because the shuffle feel is a bit off due to them being rather wide and the drastically different personalities contained in each card would distract me in a spread larger than a single draw. Our author provides us some spreads, but I doubt I’ll be using them except for the Ascension Initiation Sequence one. This particular spread outlines a smaller meditation sequence that is tailored specifically to what you need at this moment. Just an FYI, a plate stand makes a great card holder for use in meditations.

I would recommend Empath Activation Cards, even if you don’t identify as an empath. Slowing down and connoting to yourself and the wider universe is something we could all stand to do. I know it’s hard to sit down and slow the mind, but aren’t the challenging things the most rewarding in the end? So, start up a practice of slowing down, meditating, trying journaling on these cards or other things in your life. Your mind and body will thank you in the long run.

A Healer’s Journey to Intuitive Knowing, by Dolores Krieger, Ph.D.

A Healer’s Journey to Intuitive Knowing: The Heart of Therapeutic Touch, by Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., R.N.
Bear & Company Books, 1591433934, 156 pages, July 2021

In this book, which was published posthumously by Dolores Krieger’s estate, the primary goal is to explore how the healing modality of Therapeutic Touch utilizes the healer’s intuition and compassion to move energy and bring about healing. A Healer’s Journey to Intuitive Knowing: The Heart of Therapeutic Touch chronicled experiences by Krieger during her 50+ years as a nurse, instructor, and champion of hands on healing. She wrote this book before her death at the age of 97.

Krieger published several books in her lifetime and was co-founder with Dora Kunz of Therapeutic Touch. She met Kunz when she was a nurse and had just received her Ph.D. degree. (I found a number of articles about both of these women, as well as a man who began his journey by healing horses and then other animals with his hands. Later, he began to channel healing to children, and when he moved to Canada, he became part of a study with Kunz  and Krieger regarding hands on healing.)

As a Reiki Master myself, I was interested in learning more about hands on healing and the roles that intuition, intention and compassion play in the healing process. I was particularly interested in Krieger’s chronicle of the connection between the healer and the person being healed. Her philosophy shared that the person who is laying on hands is simply supporting the person to get in touch with their own ability to heal themselves. 

Including both case histories and information from scientific studies, Krieger showed how Therapeutic Touch (TT) taps into what she calls the “Inner Self” of the healer. TT has been taught in over 80 universities and over 90 countries around the world. Krieger explained the process as: 

“Ancient healing practices that are incorporated into the TT process include the laying on of hands, deep visualization, touch with and without physical contact, sustained centering of the TT therapist’s consciousness, the therapist’s knowledgeable use of certain of her chakras, and the intentional therapeutic use of breath and touch. Prime is the centering of the healer’s consciousness; throughout the TT interaction she remains in the state of ‘sustained centering.’ This becomes the background of the process, as she includes other practices that are appropriate to the condition of each individual seeking healing.”1

Next, she discussed the role of “compassion as power.”2 She saw compassion as “the catalyst or tiny chemical reaction that lights the benevolent intention to help or heal.”3 I’ve read quite a few books on hands on healing and never have I read about the role of compassion. This book gave me a greater understanding of how healing energy works and how I can fine tune my own energy and my energy centers to allow more healing energy to flow through me. 

In discussing the role of the “Inner Self,” which Krieger named “Issie”, she explained that in her view, the Inner Self is “essentially the soul-the spiritual or innermost part of an individual’s being.”4 By doing the grounding, centering and tapping into the essence of oneself, the healer grows and transforms herself along with the healing journeys of her patients. As I read the book and engaged with the steps for healing sessions that she described, I began to use what I was learning to create a different style of healing session for my loved ones and friends.

As I did a healing session for my husband one evening, I was more aware than ever before of my ability to allow the healing energy to flow through me and also became aware of “seeing” the blockage of energy near his large intestine. As I continued to allow the energy to flow, I could see him visibly relax and later he would report a lessening of the pain he had felt and some sense of relief from his diverticulitis. 

Krieger’s writing style is a great combination of scientific paper and compassionate healer notes. I love how she shared 18 in-person healing sessions, complete with her initial thoughts as she approached the person through the assessment and then the “rebalance.”5 While the notes were clear and complete, there is an underlying sense of the compassion she felt for every patient. This came shining through each case study. Later in the book, Krieger also highlighted case notes from distance healing sessions. I especially enjoyed this section, since a lot of my own healing practice happens through long-distance healing requests.

This book is a true compendium on TT and she shared not only a bibliography, but also a glossary, a list of TT resources and an index.  The index is particularly helpful in referring to key ideas in the book. Toward the end of the book, Krieger shared a poem that she wrote “On the Possible Magic of Healing.”  I’ll share a portion of it here, because it is so beautiful and captured the heart of TT:

“Healing is a window into a natural magic.
There it is,
a lump of wounded flesh,
and then touch,
Therapeutic Touch . . .

ABRACADABRAH!

Unseen clouds
Of inert biochemical molecules
Are drawn
In an uncanny manner
To the site of the wound
Quietly
Sorting themselves out en route
To match
The needs of the damaged tissues.”6

As a final note from Krieger, here is a quote on energy:  

“The prime characteristics of energy are that it flows or is continuous as it moves through space, that its flow has a coherence or rhythm, and that it has the capacity to do work.  Its flow has been described on a continuum from slow to fast, strong to weak, unimpeded to congested, tenuous to thick, or quiet to tumultuous, depending upon the situation.  Its rhythm has been characterized as steady or irregular, in harmony or unharmonious, in sync or disorganized.”7 

A Healer’s Journey to Intuitive Knowing would be great for any student of hands on healing, from the new Reiki student to the master of cranial sacral healing to the experienced massage therapist.  Anyone who would like to take their healing practice to a new level will benefit from reading this book. This book will not only improve your abilities to channel healing energies, it will also contribute to your own spiritual growth and transformation.

Revelations from the Source, by Barbara Hand Clow

Revelations from the Source, by Barbara Hand Clow
Bear & Company, 1591434319, 352 pages, October 2021

It started with Revelations of the Ruby Crystal (2015), then came Revelations of the Aquarius Age (2018). Now, at long last, Barbara Hand Clow has completed the trilogy with the most recent book Revelations from the Source (2021). I have eagerly been anticipating this latest release after having grown quite fond of the tight-knit community of characters in this series. All my hopes and expectations were exceeded in this dynamic final book, which expertly weaves together multi-dimensional layers of information, inspiring revelations, and reconsideration of how things truly are in the world.

Before diving into things, while this book can be read as a stand-alone, I highly recommend reading the first two books before this one. Clow doesn’t spend too much time introducing the characters in this final book, and the few sentences to summarize the characters’ relationships for those who aren’t familiar hardly does justice to the complexity of their bonds. Plus, the characters have naturally evolved, and therefore their current circumstances in this book are directly related to the previous ones.

This being said, Revelations from the Source was a thrilling read because it has an up-to-date timeline of current events. While not every event in the book happened in real life, the story intends to parallel current events. From the election of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit to hold the position, to political tensions in Iran and the presidency of Donald Trump, all the way up to the COVID-19 pandemic, the book focuses on the characters’ experiences of events.

As I read, I was reflecting on having lived through these experiences, many not too long ago, with a new sense of perspective, as well as room to integrate what I was feeling as I moved through them. This is because all of the characters in the story are very tapped into the zeitgeist, all from their own point of view, such as a psychotherapist working with clients’ processing to an artist capturing energetic transmissions of sound in painting to awaken the masses. Another character is a reporter, who previously covered events in the Middle East but is now a correspondent for a newspaper reporting on the happenings in the Vatican.

My favorite character point of view is Claudia, esteemed fashion-designer and astrologer. Since I am an astrologer myself, I could remember all the full moons and conjunctions described, during which characters perform initiations or simply muse about the world. I especially recall the conjunction of Saturn and Pluto in 2020, which was a significant moment in the book as well, as the characters work together to perform a ritual uniting the nine dimensions. I think those prone to reflecting on the placement of the stars, as well as the tumultuous events of the past few years would have a lot to gain from reading the insights of the characters in Revelations from the Source.

Clow’s astrological background is effortlessly integrated into the fictional narrative of this story. For instance, there is a lot of discussion about the nine different dimensions, with certain characters having more of a connection to each one. Clow previously authored the book The Alchemy of the Nine Dimensions, which I’m sure this story’s plot is based on. I’m always a fan of reading fictional stories where I can relate to a character’s feelings, thoughts, and experience, rather than just a non-fictional explanation of some phenomena. And it’s for this reason that I enjoyed this book so thoroughly. Other topics that Clow has woven in from her previous books include Mayan Codes (The Mayan Code), energetic influence of Chiron (Chiron), connections to other star systems (The Pleiadian Agenda), and lots of raising sexual energy as a form of altering consciousness (Astrology and the Rising of Kundalini)!

However, Clow doesn’t hesitate to venture into some of the deepest, darkest shadows in our culture as well. At times, it was hard to stomach parts of the story, especially the sexual abuse of priests on young children, which is a prominent theme in the entire series. This book really covers a lot of the energetic forces of the Catholic Church, as well as how the energy of youths has been inappropriately harvested for power, money, and prestige. Once again, while the story is fiction, it mentions events that really happened such as the Boston Globe story which revealed the extent of abuse and cover-up in the Catholic Church.

Quite a few characters leave the Church, and by the end of it, I felt more confident in my resolve to do so as well. I was born and raised in the Catholic faith, even attending a Catholic university for my undergraduate studies. However I am increasingly finding it hard to find faith in a religion that does not value the spiritual authority of women and is rife with abuse and misconduct. The characters’ journeys were really empowering in my own spiritual path, making me see that I could follow their lead, rather than continue to go along with the corruption that has taken hold in the Catholic religious community. There’s so much history packed in the story, as another character is a scholar of early-Christianity, that I was constantly Googling new topic ideas, such as “Marconi” and “Mithraism.”

Other controversial topics include climate change, vaccinations, 5G towers, and the public-safety response to the pandemic. I will admit, sometimes the beliefs did feel a bit “conspiracy theory-esqe,” but I kept an open mind without discrediting anything. I was especially intrigued by the explanation for the coronavirus springing to life when it did, which had to do with telluric interference. Now that is a thought that has never crossed my mind!

At its heart, Revelations from the Source is a tale of the characters’ awakening into the Age of Aquarius. Due to their reputable, affluent, and influential families, the characters in the story are keepers of secret history, serving as a bridge between past and present. In this way, they serve as foils to modern society, clearly showing where humanity has veered off course, thus resulting in evil forces being unleashed through social strife, political controversy, intimate violence, and looming threats of war.

Clow clearly shows through the plot that the transition isn’t an easy one, and there are many forces at work during this tumultuous time. However, with the right perspective, and tools (art, past-life regressions, astrology, writing), humanity will be able to pull through. What’s most important is that we remember the importance of connection, building trust, and working together to overcome the destructive forces both within ourselves and the world at large.

The story’s theme of friendship and community is a prompt for the reader to find their own community to assist during this changing of ages. And most of all, for readers to continue to do their own investigations and express their revelations with a broader community. In this age where the people have the power and the power is the people, increasing our ability to transmit thoughts, energies, and feelings effectively will be a key to survival.

Overall, I am immensely satisfied with the culmination of this trilogy. Revelations from the Source is a treasure-trove of alternative ideas woven perfectly into the seemingly-static fabric of our 3-D reality. Filled with history, ancient and secret knowledge, as well as esoteric understandings of humanity’s place within the greater star systems, this book will bring you into new realms of realization. By delving into the defilement and debasement of some of society’s most corrupt institutions, the truth is exposed. Something we will be seeing more of as the Age of Aquarius dawns.

I highly recommend not only this book, but this entire series, for those looking for a fascinating read that delves into many dimensions, facets of history, and opens a doorway to a future unlike what we’ve known thus far. The writing is engaging, and the characters will soon feel like an extended friend group (I certainly wish I could call on them for advice!). More and more, those awakening to the shifts will be looking for answers, and while it’s fictional, this book is sure to be the key that unlocks readers’ perception.

The Mystery Tradition of Miraculous Conception, by Marguerite Mary Rigoglioso

The Mystery Tradition of Miraculous Conception: Mary and the Lineage of Virgin Births, by M​​arguerite Mary Rigoglioso
Bear & Company, 1591434130, 192 pages, April 2021

Every year on Christmas Eve, it always strikes me as odd that there is not more focus on Mary in the story of Jesus’s birth: a devout virgin, pregnant with the child of God, relying on faith alone amid adversity and uncertainty, in labor delivering Christ to the physical realm. Clearly, Mary had to be a pretty incredible woman to be picked for this divine conception, yet her story always seems glossed over in religious text. While scholars debate even the most minimal nuisance of Biblical text, many remain mysteriously mute on the subject of a virgin birth.

The more I learned about the divine feminine, ancient priestesses, and sacred sexuality, the more I became convinced there had to be something about Mary which made her able to fulfill such an extraordinary task, but I never could find any validation for this intuition. Finally, many of my questions have been answered by Marguerite Mary Rigoglioso in The Mystery Tradition of Miraculous Conception: Mary and the Lineage of Virgin Births, which hands-down has been one of the most life-changing books I’ve ever read.

The premise of The Mystery Tradition of Miraculous Conception is based on the Infancy Gospel of James (Protoevangelium of James) that dates back to the 2nd-century. It was never canonized, and in fact it was condemned by Pope Innocent I in 405. Rigoglioso chose to use the version of the gospel, which she refers to as the Birth of Mary, as translated by Ronald Hock. And let me tell you, this is one juicy gospel!

The author of the text claims to be James, Joseph’s son from his first (and only) wife. Described in the Infancy Gospel of James are Mary’s upbringing, her publicly acknowledged spiritual authority, her relationship to Joseph, her experience of pregnancy, her journey to Bethlehem, and finally the birth of Jesus and the events immediately following.

Piece by piece, Rigoglioso deciphers the text for the reader with the belief that certain parts of the text needed to be cryptic in order to keep the truth concealed. Based on her research, lineages of divine priestesses had been trained to conceive partheogentically, which is asexual reproduction where the egg turns into an embryo without the fertilization of sperm. According to Rigoglioso, Mary was impregnated by Logos, or “through some kind of unification with the divine creative sound, the divine order, the wisdom essence of the universe.”1

Mary’s unusual childhood prepared her to serve as a divine birth priestess, and she showed advanced spiritual mastery at an early age. She was prepared for this sacred duty from the time of her own parthenogenetic birth by her mother Anne, who was also a skilled divine birth priestess. Some of the things done to ready Mary for divine birth were imbibing consciousness-altering substances, eating a specific diet, and learning special songs and dances.

At the appropriate age, Mary is taken to the temple to be raised. She remains there until it is time for her to undertake her duty as divine birth priestess and is given to Joseph, who was chosen to protect her. Contrary to popular belief, Joseph and Mary never married, and from the text, he was rather resistant to caring for her at first. It is clear the conception, energetically initiated by Mary, was not at all aided by Joseph, who in fact didn’t believe at first she had conceived and remained a virgin.

Despite the miraculous nature of Mary’s feat, the Infancy Gospel of James also documents the trials she was put through by her own religious community to ensure she was telling the truth. This text reveals the distrust and suspicion surrounding the miraculous feat of a virgin birth and demonstrates the need for Mary to be concealed from the public as her pregnancy progresses.

Ultimately, Mary does give birth to Jesus, once again on her own in solitude. Joseph and the midwife he found return to find the baby has been born. The birth did not require the assistance of a midwife, which is considered another miraculous feat. The divine avatar, Jesus Christ, has been brought into existence.

After this brief synopsis of the Infancy Gospel of James, you might be doubting the veracity or questioning all that you’ve been taught. For this reason, I think it’s important to acknowledge Rigoglioso’s impressive career to highlight the background for this book. First and foremost, Rigoglioso is a distinguished expert on the subject of virgin births, previously authoring Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity and The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece. She holds a Ph.D. in humanities and a M.A. in philosophy and religion from California Institute of Integral Studies, along with an B.A. in psychology from Vassar College.

Her scholarship is focused on ancient Mediterranean mystery traditions, bringing to light suppressed histories of holy women. Rigoglioso also teaches workshops, courses, and mentors people to assist them reclaiming the priestess path through offerings such as Priestess of the Dove Oracle Training and the Holy Womb Chakra teachings. She has many free spiritual resources on her website SevenSistersMysterySchool.com, which was very fun to peruse.

Needless to say, the content in the book is well-sourced and filled with references to ancient texts. Yes, Rigoglioso does interpret the Gospel of the Stars in her own way, but given her academic training and spiritual knowledge, I find the information credible. It takes someone with insight into ancient culture, Biblical history, and soulful wisdom to interpret the text as Rigoglioso has done.

Just reading the Infancy Gospel of James was an eye-opening experience, as I’ve done much studying of the suppression of Mary Magdalene in the Church’s history, but had never thought much about the Virgin Mary. I’m actually curious to learn more about their relationship, as it seems that Mary Magdalene is always portrayed as a sacred sexual priestess, which Rigoglioso very thoroughly distinguishes from the divine birth priestesses, who remained virgins their whole lives.

This especially piques my interest because Rigoglioso describes Mary’s parthenogenetic conception as this lineage was actively being dismantled by patriarchal forces. It makes me wonder, given the potency of the divine birth priestess, if Jesus would have been in a physical relationship with Mary Magdalene.

Another thing that really struck me as fascinating was Rigoglioso’s suggestion that the three wisemen actually came to see Mary, the most holy one who had accomplished this miraculous feat. Her interpretation of the three gifts they brought (gold, frankincense, and myrrh) makes much more sense as offerings for her as currency for financial support (gold), sacred temple herbs for her to burn in holy places and claim her spiritual authority (frankincense), and an embalming oil (myrrh) for when she needs to anoint Jesus’s body at his death.

That last bit might have you a bit confused: how would Mary have known about Jesus’s death at the time of his birth? The Infancy Gospel of James describes a prophecy Mary has right before giving birth, which Rigoglioso points out illuminates her spiritual mastery to hold the knowledge of cruelty the world will inflict on her son and remaining open to love nevertheless.

“It must be a disturbing reality for this young priestess to know that her child, no matter how holy, will be entering the world of matter and duality, and that all those associated with him will have to come to terms with that. In a sense, she is in this very moment, just before she is about to give birth, also able to foresee the circumstances of her son’s death, in which the duality around his teachings will be played out in a deeply painful way. Once again, we can really appreciate Mary as a human woman who will have to grapple with maintaining the high vibration of love amidst agony and fear as the events of her son’s life unfold.”2 

Once again, Rigoglioso demonstrates that Mary was not a naive young woman, ignorant to the spiritual mastery of her son. Rather, it was through her training and active agency that Jesus, the son of the God, also considered a divine avatar by some, was able to physically manifest in this plane of existence. Her role as a most holy divine birth priestess is what allowed for a being of elevated consciousness to be conceived to elevate all of humanity.

Simply sitting with this truth changes everything for me. The information Rigoglioso has shared is so deeply empowering for me on a personal level, and I believe on a collective level too as more people awaken to the spiritual abilities of the divine feminine. For too long, women have been stripped of their spiritual authority, oppressed by patriarchal values, and denied the right to know the full potency of their potential abilities.

More than anything, I hope the information in The Mystery Traditions of Miraculous Conception becomes more wide-spread. I’ve been actively sharing what I learned from reading it with friends and family, initiating discussions about the topic of a virgin birth and Mary’s spiritual lineage. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the divine feminine, especially within Christianity. Rigoglioso has packed so much information into this text that I know I’ll be reading it again and again. I love that it’s filled with references and sources to assist the reader in doing their own investigation. All in all, this book is the major missing piece to the history of Christianity that is sure to spark meaningful revelation in all readers.

Hieroglyphic Words of Power, by Normandi Ellis

Hieroglyphic Words of Power: Symbols for Magic, Divination, and Dreamwork, by Normandi Ellis
Bear & Company, 1591433762, 336 pp., 2020

Egypt calls to mind all sorts of mysterious magic. Not only did the Egyptian empire last for over 3,000 years, the esoteric rites and occult magic have continued to be a cornerstone of Western magic to this day. Hieroglyphic Words of Power: Symbols for Magic, Divination, and Dreamwork by Normandi Ellis takes the reader into the mindset of those esteemed priests and priestesses of Egypt by teaching how to read the ancient hieroglyphs for magical and divinatory purposes.

I was drawn to this book because I have been very into exploring asteroids in my astrology chart, specifically Egyptian deities after finding out the asteroid Isis (42) is exactly conjunct Venus in my natal chart at 22 degrees Capricorn. For anyone with a bit of astrological knowledge, this degree of Capricorn has been a focus point of some major conjunctions this year! Since this transit began, I’ve been called to explore the mysteries of Egypt more deeply as I endeavor to decipher the archetype of Isis in my natal chart. Hieroglyphic Words of Power was a very useful book in strengthening my connection to the enchanting energy of Egypt.

What I like most about this book is the way Ellis describes the hieroglyphics as a sort of depth psychological poetry. She writes, “The consciousness of the creative intelligence that envisioned hieroglyphic communication operates in thought waves that defy logic.” 1 When viewed from this perspective, the hieroglyphs become living symbols that can be accessed intuitively in the liminal spaces of divination and dreams, allowing their meaning to be imbued in the context of their original conception, cutting through the separation of time and space.

Ellis divided the book into four sections: Introduction to the Hieroglyphs, The Unique Magic of their Hieroglyphs, The Hieroglyphs, and The Layouts. After delving into the history of hieroglyphs and explaining her own method of practice, study, and research, Ellis moves into how to use the magic of the hieroglyphs for the purpose of ritual magic, divination, and performing dream work.

I particularly enjoyed her writing on numerology with Egyptian meaning of the resonant energy for each digit. For those who may not be familiar with numerology, Ellis includes directions on how to calculate one’s birth path, personal year, and decipher the numerology of words using number-letter correspondences. One question I had while reading was if Ellis used the Pythagorean system of numerology or the Chaldean system because she highlights the influence of Egyptian practices on both Pythagoras and the Qabalah. I figured out by looking at her examples that she uses Pythagorean numerology. If you’re interested in learning more about the difference between these two systems, I have written about it here.

Back on topic now though, with the variety of ways offered to connect with the hieroglyphs, I decided to begin with dreamwork. Amazingly, the night I read that section and decided to try it out, I had my first ever dream of being in Egypt. Immersed in the dunes of sand, I gained the ability to soar into the clouds and overlook the whole region. I can tell you honestly that I never have had a dream like this before, and I fully attribute it to my working the practices in the book to open up to studying hieroglyphs in dreamtime, assisted by specific deities who protect and teach in this realm.

Another useful idea Ellis offers for learning the 60 hieroglyphs in this book is to create your own divination deck using the symbols. I appreciate how this method blends creativity with the process of learning the hieroglyphs and can also be used practically for divination. The entire next two sections are designed to assist the reader with building their own relationship to the hieroglyphs by working with them in the deck, meditation, and dreams.

The third section, which comprises the majority of the book, details 60 hieroglyphs that Ellis felt were best for the beginner to learn. For every hieroglyph Ellis offers an explanation of meaning, information about the context of meaning in Egyptian belief systems, and definitions that can be applied for understanding and divination using one’s numerology. Each hieroglyph also has a picture of it from Egypt and a drawing of it done by a graphic designer.

I’ve had a lot of success tracing the symbols in my journal and candles to connect with the hieroglyph. I decided to take the approach Ellis suggests of spending 2-3 days on a hieroglyph to get to know it’s meaning, energy, and wisdom. I am enjoying this slow and steady approach because it gives me the space to open to the hieroglyphs in an intuitive, experimental way. Each hieroglyph seems willing to speak when I am receptive to listening. Plus, I am nurturing my relationship with certain deities to assist with this process. No need to rush this practice. 🙂

Finally, the last section offers readings that can be done using the hieroglyphic images for divination. There is information on calculating one’s numerology, a variety of spreads that can be used, and most helpful, sample oracle readings that give the reader an idea of how to integrate the hieroglyphs to discern a clear message. I haven’t finished creating my oracle deck yet so I haven’t practiced the readings, but I am looking forward to trying them out when the time is right. They all look very useful and soulfully designed to help the reader gain insight into their questions and concerns.

Overall, I believe Hieroglyphic Words of Power is a wonderful guide to establishing the use of hieroglyphs in one’s personal practice. There’s something about Egypt magic that is so intriguing, yet elusive when we have no guide. Ellis has put together a method of study that is comprehensive, accessible, and transformative when undertaken. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking to begin strengthening their connection to the magic of Egypt, whether to develop relationships with deities or learn another method of divination based on the combination of dreamwork, numerology, and hieroglyphs. There’s a lot interwoven in this book and I’m sure it will remain one I refer back to often over time.