Otherwhere: A Field Guide to Nonphysical Reality for the Out-Of-Body Traveler by Kurt Leland

Kurt Leland’s Otherwhere is the first out-of-body memoir/guide (that I’ve read, so far) that discusses the importance of the individual’s consciousness in how the inner worlds are perceived.

It’s not a new idea, being repackaged and sold throughout time, lately in the New Age/New Thought movement, that one’s beliefs shape one’s reality. But, as Kurt Leland points out in other dimensions where thoughts literally are that reality, this individual viewpoint takes creation to a whole different level.

He suggests that what Robert Munroe, Jurgen Ziewe, and so many other consciousness explorers experience when they are in their various out-of-body states is archetypical energy, though he doesn’t use that terminology. Leland calls the perception of this energy: one’s own personal translation tables.

Rather than taking the figures that one encounters at face value or judging them based on ingrained religious beliefs, Leland encourages the Otherwhere visitors to examine what the figure does. It’s very similar to what dream interpreters teach about how to understand your dreams.

Like me, Leland believes that anyone can have out-of-body experiences. He has this to say about why more people don’t: “It’s my firm belief that what prevents people from having out-of-body experiences and exploring nonphysical reality on their own is fear of the unknown. In my experience, the best way to overcome fear of the unknown is to familiarize oneself with the personal accounts of people who have overcome that fear themselves. I believe that personal accounts of out-of-body experiences are far superior to how-to manuals in stimulating people to venture into the unknown.” Preface, xii

He goes on to say: “In my opinion, our fear of the unknown is really just anxiety about becoming unlovable as a result of having had unfamiliar experiences and being changed by them. If we attempt to explore nonphysical reality and succeed, we’re afraid that we’ll be rejected, disbelieved, or thought to be crazy.” pg 27. Time to get over that. Don’t you think? 🙂

Lelend uses lucid dreaming as his method of exploring other worlds (Otherwhere). I’ve explored a few books about lucid dreaming one of which you can read here. If you are interested in my explorations into nonphysical reality, you can read those here.

I found this episode of a woman that he encountered there to be very illuminating. In this passage, he is talking to his Otherwhere instructors about her: (the Instructor saying) “As you can see, my colleague and I intended every image in the dream to contribute in some way to the lesson we wanted you to learn.” (Leland asks) “What about the woman reading the book?” “As you recall, she was facing the door into Otherwhere. There are many people in the world who have an interest in exploring psychic phenomena. They love to read about other people’s adventures in altered states of consciousness. But if a door that would allow them to undertake such explorations on their own were to open, they would make up excuses not to go through. The most common one is that they don’t have time.” pg 99

Let’s not be that woman.

The importance of physical life- in this excerpt, Leland is listening to an instructor in Otherwhere: “While it’s true that I no longer feel regret about anything I’ve experienced during previous lifetimes on Earth, I wouldn’t say that I’m grateful to be among the dead. That would imply that life over here, in Otherwhere, has a greater value than life on Earth. From our perspective, that isn’t true. There are things that can be learned only here and not there. But there are also things that can be learned only on Earth. Learning is all that matters, and no lesson is more or less valuable than any other. pg 152

Keep on learning, check.

In this passage, Leland examines the availability of teachings on other dimensions: “There are many maps of nonphysical reality… scattered throughout the history of your art and literature. These can provide useful translation tables for orientation within nonphysical reality. Why should every individual who explores nonphysical reality start from scratch?” pg 158

Why indeed… with the modern age and the easy availability of formerly difficult-to-discover information through the internet and public libraries, one can stand on the shoulders of giants to begin your own personal studies.

Everyone is an artist: “Every human being is immensely creative. But unless that creativity is channeled into some art or craft, it will be used instead to generate illusion. It could be said, therefore, that every human being is an artist, at least in potential. Developing this creativity is an essential part of every person’s life purpose, even if it isn’t the main focus of one’s career.” pg 238.

I believe that too. I’ve read a bunch of books about creativity, one of which you can explore here.

“How you choose to represent to yourself the ways of gaining access to any zone of Otherwhere is up to you. The validity of such images lies in their usefulness, not in some kind of absolute truth. The only important thing is that you give yourself some way of identifying the zone into which you’ve traveled, so that you can return on future occasions. Whether this manner of identification is the name of a subway line or station, or the number on a gate in an alley, is your choice. The identifying function of such names or numbers is all that matters.” pg 262

Or, like in my own personal explorations, tarot cards.

Leland finishes his account with a modern version of Dante’s Paradiso in which, he traveled to Otherwhere and discovered different areas within that place where the dead came to terms with the life they had just completed. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Then he talks about ways to remove your consciousness from the ordinary to experience what he and others (and me!) have experienced- whether that be through meditation, lucid dreaming, shamanic drumming, etc, and, the librarian in me loved this part, gives book lists for learning each type of technique. He saves consciousness explorers a lot of time, which is a kind thing to do.

I highly recommend Otherwhere for folks beginning their consciousness exploration or the experienced traveler. It is a how-to guide, a journal, and an encouraging, exploratory ramble through Otherwhere, a place where anyone can go, if they only set their mind and heart on doing so.

Thanks for reading!

Archetypes on the Tree of Life: The Tarot as Pathwork by Madonna Compton

Archetypes on the Tree of Life is a dense spiritual text exploring the Tree of Life through the use of Tarot cards.

It’s kind of funny- I think my favorite part of this book wasn’t actually the book at all but instead the brief introduction which was written by Hans Nintzel. Nintzel was a student of the western mysteries who describes himself as “living down the street from Israel Regardie.” As I used the writings of Israel Regardie to do my own explorations into the Tree of Life, I found my mind blown right there. How cool would that have been, to have lived on the occult teacher’s own street? Too cool.

Here’s what Nintzel had to say that was so compelling:
As Qabalah evolved, it was discovered that, using this glyph or map called the Tree of Life, one could move around the geography of the consciousness, so to speak, contacting or balancing various personal energies by contemplating various aspects of the God energy using myths, legends, visions, and dreams, represented by the archetypes of the Tarot.”pg 4

I have yet to see a more concise description of what pathworking is than that. Now why Nintzel didn’t write his own book, I simply don’t know. Being the librarian that I am, I did a bit of digging into his background and it seems that he was a prolific lecturer and a translator of alchemical texts, but didn’t write his own. Disappointing. Here’s a link that I found of works that he helped to bring to the US which were listed in his obituary: https://www.alchemywebsite.com/rams.html

As for Compton’s 300 or so page contribution, I found myself to be disappointed. Archetypes on the Tree of Life is in the main, rather obscure Qabalistic/Kaballistic theory. It reads almost exactly like Regardie’s Garden of Pomegranates or Fortune’s The Mystical Qabalah. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have some gems of interest, but mostly it’s slow going and not as accessible as the publisher (Llewellyn) promised it to be in the page where it described the goals of its Spiritual Perspectives Series.

Compton’s most interesting point has nothing to do with traditional pathworking but is instead a hypothesis that she and her meditation partner have constructed about potential alternate paths across Daath. They’ve chosen a five pointed star to create the paths, but I would perhaps lean more towards a six pointed star, which still sort of works. The six pointed star is a combination of an upwards and downwards facing triangle, an ancient alchemical symbol for self actualization. Though, admittedly, the five pointed star has definite Tiphareth associations… and so the debate continues I suppose. 🙂 Anyway, if you’re interested in Compton’s theory, turn to page 304 to save yourself some time digging through the other stuff.

If you enjoyed this book, may I recommend reading either of the two books I mentioned earlier: The Garden of Pomegranates by Israel Regardie or The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune. If you want more examples of modern pathworking, see my book: https://thelightcongress.com

Thanks for reading!

The Goddess and the Shaman: The Art & Science of Magical Healing by J.A. Kent

“I discovered the presence of a mystical and magical tradition that was largely concealed within our culture that had its roots in ancient pre-Christian Paganism, alchemy, Hermetic philosophy, the holy Qabalah, and elements of Greek, Egyptian, and Gnostic mysticism. It is generally referred to as the Western magical tradition. I tend to see it as the lost shaman tradition of the West.” -From the Preface

J.A. Kent, PhD, examines various occult and healing practices from a variety of traditions by interviewing practitioners as well as providing case studies of her own patients in order to present, what I can only call, her doctoral thesis of her personal magical paradigm. Her paradigm is the title of her book, The Goddess and the Shaman.

“There are strong social and medical pressures in Western-style thinking that regard those who have psychic experiences to be either fraudulent or psychotic.” pg 16

Let me briefly explain this paradigm, though I highly recommend reading the book to get it in Kent’s own words.

“The Goddess” is another name for what Kent calls the “Elphame,” essentially the other non-physical worlds that exist either alongside or on top of (depending upon who you speak to) our normal every day world. “The shaman” are the lightworkers and healers who explore these realms for various reasons including healing others of sicknesses both of the body and spirit.

I think it took a great deal of bravery to write a book like this, especially with the prevailing worldviews at work today. Well done, J.A. Kent!

The world is an enchanted, mysterious, and magical place that will reveal its many secret powers and energies to those who have the persistence and determination to unlock them.” pg 64

The trouble with spiritual healing or any type of work in the Elphame, Goddess, or whatever you want to call it, is that the practitioner exits the consensual reality of the every day world and enters non-consensual reality- the abode of the dreamers, lovers, poets, musicians, mad, etc. I have come to believe that the Western world, Western medicine especially, is not kind to those who venture outside the bounds of the normal.

Kent discusses this in depth in multiple places of this book. Suffers who could find no mundane explanation for their troubles turn to her in order to find some relief. And, encouragingly, many found healing.

“Ultimately they rejected the reductionist psychiatric explanation and embarked on their own magical journey of healing.” pg 159

Recommended for therapists and spiritual healers who are looking for more ideas about how to assist those who come to them seeking help. I enjoyed this book very much.

Thanks for reading!

Ozark Folk Magic: Plants, Prayers & Healing by Brandon Weston

“There are many more folk beliefs unique to the Ozarks, some of which will be discussed in this work, but we also have to remember that much of what makes up this tradition can be traced to influencing factors from outside the region.” pg 16

Author and healer Brandon Weston takes readers through the varying histories and roles of Ozark folk magic. He discusses the different kinds of historical practices as well as following the evolution of Ozark traditions in the modern day.

“What worked was saved, treasured, and passed down through the generations. This process continues even today, and as a practitioner in the modern world, I’m constantly making these changes not only within my own work, but also for the culture as a whole.” pg 33

It is an illuminating look into a culture that remains fairly closed and secretive even today.

Brandon discusses the historical reasons for this secret keeping and doesn’t dismiss the darker portions of Ozark history such as racial tensions.

Also, he makes sure to talk about the dangers of overdosing on certain herbs or not seeking the help of western medicine when it is warranted. This book is fully of cautionary tales as well as educational ones.

“There are many rituals that might be very interesting to look at but that aren’t worth using in a modern setting. Take, for instance, those rituals that involve the harming or killing of an animal, like the infamous black cat rite. I can’t stress enough that many traditions of the past need to be left in the past.” pg 247

My favorite part of this book was the chapter dealing with how different practitioners have reported receiving “the gift”. There were so many different ways and methods! It was fascinating to read Brandon’s take on all of it.

“Another unique road to power often found in the modern Ozarks comes in the form of receiving the gift through communion with nature. It might seem overly simplistic, but one of the beautiful aspects of Ozark healing is its simplicity.” pg 92

Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history and practices of Ozark folk magic.

Thanks for reading!

Tarot Games: 45 Playful Ways to Explore Tarot Cards Together; A New Vision for the Circle of Community by Cait Johnson

Tarot Games is a cute book about different tarot card layouts and how you can share these games with your loved ones in order to promote communication and the sharing of emotions.

“The wonderful thing about using these simple games and ‘reading layouts’ is that they catalyze the deeper processes taking place between people. This in itself is healing.” pg xii

Throughout the text, the author has sprinkled spiritual images and spirals. It makes for a relaxing read.

“Playing this game together gave both friends a sense of being supported, understood, and protected.” pg 27

I think people take tarot cards too seriously sometimes. This book is a good reminder to allow ourselves to play and share. It doesn’t have to be as dire as all that.

Highly recommended for beginners to advanced practitioners of tarot card reading.

Thanks for reading!

Eckhart Tolle’s “The Everyday and the Transcendent”: a Podcast Review

While I was on my daily walk, I listened to “The Everyday and the Transcendent” a podcast on Spotify in Eckhart Tolle’s “Essential Teachings” series.

Was it worth the listen? I say yes.

I enjoy learning from Eckhart occasionally but not all the time. He has a soothing voice and his stream-of-consciousness delivery style is hypnotizing.

However, after a couple hours of his teachings, they all begin to sound exactly the same. And that’s because his core message never changes- which isn’t a bad thing.

Photo by Sebastian Voortman on Pexels.com

Beware self help or spiritual gurus who hold up a carrot of further secrets. As my hairstylist said after visiting an aura cleanser for the first time, “You can overdo stuff like that.” By which she meant, pouring piles of money into someone’s hands to “fix” something you can’t even perceive.

The cool thing about Eckhart’s teachings is you can begin practicing and perceiving what he’s talking about right this second, no matter your situation or state-of-mind.

For example, in this podcast, a practical tool he offers for spiritual insight is to simply observe what he calls your “inner body”. His focus, which he says he’s used over the years to great success, is to monitor what the energy of his hands are doing.

How do you do that? Simple- feel your hands. Act like you’re going to pick up a pencil, but don’t move. There! You can feel that can’t you.

Do this multiple times a day or just once in awhile and you’ll begin taking your focus away from what Eckhart calls “thought forms” and enter the state of “the now”.

This particular podcast deals with “the everyday” which Eckhart describes as your job, your family, your home, all of the trappings of the physical life. He says most people never move beyond the everyday. We can get lost in the world around us, which he reminds us, are simply projections that we create through our perceptions.

He describes the everyday as a horizontal line- a visualization that I found very helpful.

When you are lost in anxiety or fear, you’re moving either forwards or backwards on this line and not staying in the present moment, which is where the second part of his visualization comes in.

Eckhart describes “the transcendent” as a vertical line that intersects the horizontal line of daily living. He says we travel upwards and downwards on this line through our thoughts as we go about our lives.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

The thing is: most of humanity isn’t aware that we’re doing this. We unconsciously move about our day, responding in a kneejerk way to things we perceive as “happening to” us. And, Eckhart says, they actually are “happening to” us because we aren’t aware we are doing it.

If only we could realize our own internal processes, then, he says, we would realize that nothing really “happens to” you. It is all movement along the metaphorical everyday and the transcendent lines of our lives.

We break the power that thoughts have over us and enter into the timeless state of the Now. The holy grail, so to speak, of spiritual experiences.

Highly recommended for spiritual seekers who are looking for practical ways to practice being present. Thanks for reading!

If you’re interested in Eckhart Tolle’s further teachings, here my book review of his “Stillness Speaks”:

Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle

And you can listen to the podcast yourself here:

The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworldby John Matthews

“I knew then that something was going to happen in Ireland. I had no idea then just what an enormous and irrevocable change it was going to make to my life.” pg 5, ebook

John Matthews received a call from a friend whose occupation is archaeology. The friend showed John into a barrow where he first saw the glyph that is on the cover of this book.

John claims that through meditation upon the glyph, he communicated with other beings whom he believes are ‘the Sidhe.’

“To truly know a thing is to become one with it. Just as to become one with it is to truly know it.” pg 27, ebook

He shares the communications that he had through the glyph throughout the text. At the end, he includes six exercises that the beings gave him and encourages readers to try the practices for themselves.

Readers could potentially experience the connection John felt.

“Drawn by this feeling, I lay down beneath the branches of the old oak, and, as I had done countless times before, stared up through the branches at the patches of blue sky that showed through. As I did so a sense of stillness and peace descended upon me.” pg 36, ebook

The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworld reminded me of the multiple works of Abraham Hicks or Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. There’s probably a reason for that.

It could be that the channelers are tapping into a similar place. In this book, John calls it the “great net” of creation. I’ve heard it called, “Indra’s net,” among other names in other sources.

Whatever it may be, I find it interesting that the communications received are similar enough to draw comparisons.

“Among the greatest gifts we have observed in your race is the desire to know and to explore. This hunger has propelled you far along the path of the day and the path of the night. Hence, your journey is indeed one of exploration, not only in time and space, but in the dimensions of Spirit.”

Of course, I had to try John’s method for myself. I’m always so curious about these kind of things.

Unfortunately, I fell asleep rather than having a memorable experience. I expect the fault was on my side, but perhaps I experienced something in my sleep- I just failed to remember it.

I do plan to give the meditation a try again in the future, when I’m not so sleepy.

I was fascinated with the way the glyph looks like a treble clef with multiple circles. When John began to describe the Sidhe’s connection to music, I felt that comparison made sense.

“Much of our time is spent in the making of music- though for us it is more serious than a pleasant pastime, since it is part of our creative process in more than an abstract fashion.” pg 69

Playing music is one of the few activities that put me into a flow state. Perhaps I should try meditating that way.

Anyway, I recommend this book for the curious or spiritual seekers. If you try the exercises within, please do share your results. Maybe some day, the world will have more answers than questions about these ineffable things.

Or, maybe, we’ll open yet another door for endless discoveries. Either way, I’ll be interested to see what comes next.

Thanks for reading!

Find Your Goddess: How to Manifest the Power and Wisdom of the Ancient Goddesses in Your Everyday Life by Skye Alexander

Find Your Goddess by Skye Alexander is a compendium of goddesses and their various aspects as well as attributions from all over the world. She covers the well-known goddesses from the Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Norse pantheons, and also delves into the lesser known (at least to me) Shinto, Hindu, and Native American deities.

And more.

Some of the entries have corresponding artwork opposite the deity information- but not all. I wish every listing had some artwork because, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Though I picked this book up for entertainment’s sake, I could see this being a useful tome for spiritual seekers who are looking for a tradition that fits their inner reality.

On a different note, I could see gamers discovering the information contained in Find Your Goddess quite handy. Anyone looking to roleplay characters in their tabletop games or dungeon masters who want to craft a scene with new (to players) world powers could utilize this book.

This could also be a useful reference book for pagans on the forefront of recreating rituals and knowledge bases from long ago. I find it interesting that once upon a time the goddesses in this book were recognized and worshipped, and now society has forgotten not just about the deity herself but also how she was honored or her role in keeping civilization together.

Many of the goddesses have roles in the home or schools- goddesses of the hearth, learning or heart. But some have spheres of influence that were primarily held by male gods, at least in the western world.

One of these that comes readily to mind is Amaterasu Ōmikami, a goddess of the sun and the Japanese imperial family. The Greek and Roman god Apollo has always occupied that role in my classically-educated mind.

*Japanese Sun goddess Amaterasu emerging from a cave.*

I enjoy considering other viewpoints because my own biases come to the forefront when I do so. Though I may not be able to rid myself completely of these biases, knowledge and wisdom helps me to see the blind spots. My hope is to know where they reside so I may easily brush them aside when they raise their ugly heads.

Highly recommended for pagans, spiritual seekers or readers with a curious mind, like me.

Thanks for reading!

Yoni Shakti: A Woman’s Guide to Power and Freedom Through Yoga and Tantra by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli

“When we unlock our sakti we re-connect with our capacity for inner joy and peace with ourselves: all our experiences begin to join up and make sense. Freeing our sakti in this way gives us the key back to our sexual selves, so that we may inhabit our whole being with authenticity and joy.” pg 508 ebook.

Author, yogini and tantrika, Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, shares yoga sequences, mantras, mudras and meditations to assist readers in becoming more aware of their inner selves.

What does this accomplish, you may be asking yourself. According to Dinsmore-Tuli, it’s the foundation of a mindful existence.

“All of the poses to unblock the life force energy are also very practical means to keep the creative and sexual energies in circulation so that they are available to nurture and enrich our creative, family, social and professional encounters.” pg 518, ebook

That sounds pretty good to me.

So, I tried some of the suggestions from this book which I had to cherry pick because there are dozens to try. And my results were unexpected and stunning.

After the first practice, I experienced an almost immediate increase in my sensitivity to my body’s energy and overall energy level. After the first week, this improved awareness led to some fascinating experiences during my meditations.

Apparently, practitioners of yoni shakti routinely encounter visions or spontaneous energy body knowledge. The goal is not to seek these experiences, but to be aware when they arise and dissipate, and then utilize them for greater self knowledge.

Using these teachings, I feel like I’m learning a whole new dimension to life- one that arises from practices of mindful awareness. Yoni Shakti is a good reference book for that journey.

That being said, a majority of this book is repetitive to the point of unreadable. I realize Dinsmore-Tuli is passionate about the women’s movement in yoga, but she goes on so much about past abuses by gurus and organizations that it detracts from the delivery of the wisdom of the book.

I found myself skimming entire sections because they read the same in the previous chapter and the ones before it.

On the other hand, this book shines in its accounts of the women who were suffering and then rediscovered their power and ability to heal themselves through their yoga practice.

“There is a deep relief in knowing that other women have experienced the same losses, and a comfort in hearing others speak about what is so often unspoken. The sharing is healing.” pg 597

Recommended, with a few reservations, to spiritual seekers interested in yoga and tantra- particularly women.

Thanks for reading and namaste!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Tag: New Age

Otherwhere: A Field Guide to Nonphysical Reality for the Out-Of-Body Traveler by Kurt Leland

Archetypes on the Tree of Life: The Tarot as Pathwork by Madonna Compton

The Goddess and the Shaman: The Art & Science of Magical Healing by J.A. Kent

Ozark Folk Magic: Plants, Prayers & Healing by Brandon Weston

Tarot Games: 45 Playful Ways to Explore Tarot Cards Together; A New Vision for the Circle of Community by Cait Johnson

Eckhart Tolle’s “The Everyday and the Transcendent”: a Podcast Review

The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworldby John Matthews

Find Your Goddess: How to Manifest the Power and Wisdom of the Ancient Goddesses in Your Everyday Life by Skye Alexander

Yoni Shakti: A Woman’s Guide to Power and Freedom Through Yoga and Tantra by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli

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