Booklist

1) Peter Rendel Introduction to the Chakras, 1974, The Aquarian Press, England A clear and concise explanation of traditional Eastern wisdom from a Western point of view: it clarifies how the Greater Breath of the outer life flowing through the universal zodiac is connected to the human breath of the inner life flowing through the chakra zodiac. Chapter Headings: Basic Polarity; Seven Principles of Man; The Four Pole Magnet; Qualities of the Five Lower Chakras; Brow Centre; Crown Centre; Breath and the Chakras; Practice; Right Use of Energy; Astrology and Chakras. 2) Anodea Judith The Truth about the Chakras, 1990/1998, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, USA A. Judith is the founder of LIFEWAYS in California. She is a professional healer and body worker and can be contacted c/o Llewellyn Worldwide, P.O. Box 64383 Dept. L362-0, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383, USA. – Chapter Headings: The System of Chakras; Kundalini; Hand Chakras; Table of Correspondences; Descriptions of seven major Chakras with Yoga exercises.     3) S.G.J. Ouseley Colour Meditations – and its sequel: The Power of the Rays,The Science of Colour Healing, 1951/1986, L.N. Fowler & Co., Romford, Essex, England - Chapter Headings: The Human Aura; The Physical Body; The Etheric Body; Cosmic Colour; Treatment by Colour; The Chakras; Treatment Methods.  4) Ruth White Working with your Chakras, 1993 Judy Piatkus Publishers, 5 Windmill St, London W1P 1HF This book offers a detailed description of the seven main charkas as well as five “new” chakras. A diagram (see Appendix) shows how the seven main chakras interpenetrate the body plus one of the “new” chakras which are explained on this website. This imaginative, ”artistic diagram” is helpful for creating an imaginative picture of the chakra system within our mind’s eye during meditation. Whereas the ”scientific diagram”, taken from C.W. Leadbeater’s book on the Chakras can be helpful for sensing any blockages in individual chakras within our body because it shows their connections to the nervous system.  Ruth White has influenced my life in many ways because I took part in many of her chakra workshops and also had some private sessions in which I asked her and Gildas for guidance. She does not work as a medium but takes full responsibility for the advice she gives. Messages from Gildas are filtered through her own psychological counselling advice and are offered as an additional perspective which helps the client to see his or her role in life within a wider, universal spectrum.  Ruth White was born during the Second World War and had a difficult childhood because she felt like an outsider within her family. She had poor eyesight in her right eye which was neglected as a muscle defect or “lazy” eye. She was 11 before one discovered that her retina was damaged and she became more and more short sighted and almost blind in puberty. It was suggested she work as a gardener but since she did not like this, she was more or less forced to train as a nursery and infant teacher. On p.15 of her personal story she writes: “In thick glasses, ankle socks, with a pudding hair cut, I arrived at college to begin my professional training. Then the miracles began. In 1956 I was at the only college in England to have a student- counselling-service.  My tutor persuaded me to see Dr. Swainson, a pioneer student counsellor and Jungian therapist, who had a long association with the spiritual community “White Eagle Lodge”. It took a while for me to realise that this gentle woman could be trusted with my innermost thoughts, fears, hopes, dreams and experiences. My inner life became validated, Self-respect began to grow. My eyesight quickly stabilised and then improved. Most important, the “being” whose presence I had sensed near me since childhood was identified as Gildas, my discarnate guide, teacher and friend. Reassured that I was not after all, going mad, I could allow Gildas’ communications to flow and develop. Reconciling myself to teaching, I taught in Infant Schools for over twenty years, got married, had a daughter and divorced. As a single parent, teaching was a very useful career. When my daughter was old enough for me to take some risks, I retrained as a counsellour and gradually set up a private practice which today includes counseling, channeling, healing, lecturing, running workshops, traveling and writing”. Ruth also trained in Transpersonal Psychology and lectures all over Europe, including Russia and Hungary. Her other books are: Gildas Communicates; Seven Inner Journeys; The Healing Spectrum und A Question of Guidance (published by C.W. Daniel) – A Message of Love - Guidance for our Future; A River of Life – A Guide to spiritual Growth and in 1998 - Chakras – A new Approach to Healing your Life (published by Piatkus) 5) C. W. Leadbeater Man Visible and Invisible, published 1927, German 5^th edition by Hermann Bauer Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1986  From the publisher’s foreword 1964: This book is one of the most fundamental works in theosophical research and a high price was paid for antique examples of illustrations in order to give a most thorough account of this field of borderline science. We also gained permission of the Theosophical Society in Adyar/India to make this new edition available to a wider public. A study of this book asks for an open mind, deeply devotional soul- searching and a spiritual attitude. Only seriously trained thought, controlled phantasy and an unbiased will can help to gain a thorough understanding of its content. The Chakras, A monograph on the Energy Centres of the Human Etheric Body. Published 1927 by the Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton, Illinois; USA. German Eighths Edition 1988 by Hermann Bauer Verlag, Germany Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854-1934) was a member of the Theosophical Society in England and in India. It is not clear whether he wrote as a medium and his formulation of the relationship of chakra energies to atoms, molecules and cells of the body is controversial. His terminology suggests some kind of “physical or material” energy, whereas they form an etheric body which is contained within and around the physical body and, as part of our aura, is our natural link to the spiritual world. This relationship is made visible in the scientific diagram** on this website. Taken from Leadbeater’s book on the Chakras, it shows them in relation to the human nervous system and can be helpful in sensing any blockages within the energy centres of our body. It seems odd that the detailed information contained in Leadbeater’s books has not lead to serious research on a wider scale because many of his books are still published today and his writings on the sacraments and Christian esotericism remain popular. There have been many new editions and translations of his magnum opus The Science of the Sacraments and his liturgy book is still used by many Liberal and Independent Catholic Churches across the world. 6) Christopher Hills Nuclear Evolution – Discovery of the Rainbow Body, 1968, University of the Trees, P.O.Box 644, Boulder Creek, CA 95006 Nuclear Evolution is a textbook in the course of life - providing a unique synthesis of scientific evidence and spiritual guidance. It explores the levels of the personality spectrum, mapping out the nature of Man’s Being through Light, Aura colours, the Chakras,  Einstein Theory, Jungian Typologies, the I Ching and the highest Yogic teachings. (*see Appendix for creative diagrams to aid imagination) PSYCHOLOGY 7) Piero Ferruci – What We May Be, The Visions and Techniques of PsychoSynthesis, 1982 Turnstone Press – Thorson Publishing, England Roberto Assagioli encouraged P. Ferruci to write this book as a comprehensive account of the main themes of psycho-synthesis and the field of self-realization. All the general principles and techniques described were created or described by Assagioli from the 1950s to his death in 1974. The book contains 20 exercises from training the will, sub-personalities, aggression, attention and relationships to inner dialogue, dimensions of love, beauty, grace and silence.  In Chapter 7 “The Tigers of Wrath”, Ferruci shows 20 forms of aggression and gives exercises for transforming this aggressive energy from destructive into constructive action. Various examples, including Michelangelo, Beethoven and others show how they turn aggression into positive creativity. He quotes statistics from the late 1970s: “On our planet one person kills another every 20 seconds; one dollar out of 6 is given to military expenses and a gun is sold in the USA every 13 seconds. The tragically clumsy way in which humanity handles its own aggression generates massive destructiveness.” Considering these figures multiplied several times over for today, makes it clear that education and personal efforts at self-realisation are just as important today. Any person, willing to transform his or her own aggression and negative emotions into positive creativity, can by way of self-transformation add a little every day to making this world a little friendlier.  BIOCHEMISTRY and PSYCHO-IMMUNOLOGY 8) Candace B. Pert – Molecules of Emotion 1997, Scribner.  The German version “Die Moleküle der Gefühle”, has a foreword by Deepak Chopra. This book uses the structure of Pert’s lectures to tell the story of how her scientific research and her private life are intertwined with each other. Even for non-scientists it becomes clear not only that, but also how: The molecules of emotion are intrinsically linked to our physiology and constitute the connection between body and mind. This allows a whole new understanding of the immune-system and leads to new interpretations of health and illness. At the time of writing this book C.B. Pert had a professorship in biophysics and physiology at Georgetown University Medical School. Over the years she held many lectures to a wide variety of lay and professional listeners and the book was written to clarify in more depth what she expressed in her lectures. Both were done with a twofold aim in mind: one aim is to explain the scientific foundation on which the new body- mind-medicine is based. The second aim is to inform as thoroughly as possible about the significance of these scientific insights, so that therapists, doctors and all other readers can make sensible choices about their physical health and psychological well being: “May be it is possible that my intellectual and spiritual journey can help other people to find their way.”