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Home > Books & Reviews > Pagan > The Complete Guide to Psychic Development Search

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Book Review:
The Complete Guide to Psychic Development: 100 Ways to Tap into Your Psychic Potential

1580911501
Author: Cassandra Eason
Trade Paperback, 338 pages
Publisher: Crossing Press
Publication date: 2003
List: US$14.95
ISBN: 1580911501
Price & More Info: Click Here


 
Ms. Eason makes the statement in her introduction (page 7): "Blindly following the rules of others as I used to do, no matter how expert those established rituals may seem, stifles personal creativity.", and "Leave the pages of this and any other book as soon as possible and follow your natural instincts." This is the sort of advice which cannot be given too often, especially in such highly personalized pursuits as psychic development.

Ms. Eason is a prolific author, and has produced books on a wide variety of topics, ranging from divination to general psychic development to children's books.

Over half this book is dedicated to various forms of divination, before branching into out-of-body experiences, magic, magical alphabets, ghosts, etc. It is obvious that the author has a lot of experience in the field of divination. Her understanding of other occult fields is also extensive.

Unfortunately, her description of creating a dream catcher is woefully inadequate. There is a technique for the creation of this item, which she is obviously unfamiliar with. Part of the construction technique includes the individuality of the pattern which is created, yet she mentions the use of old badminton rackets, old fruit bags (with a net pattern), etc.

Her approach to magic is similarly simplistic but, in this case, represents a valid approach to folk magic (as opposed to Ceremonial or Wiccan). She continues to stress the need to use your feelings and intuition, and not to rely on the words of others. Folk magic works based on personal need or desire. She gives the reader some ideas to get started with, and then leaves you to your own devices.

Throughout the book, her approach to accomplishing things remains very common-sense and down-to-earth. She goes out of her way to avoid making things mystical. She doesn't shy away from mystical experiences; she simply couches them in day-to-day terms and references. She doesn't espouse any particular style of training. Nor does she over-emphasize the possibility of negative results.

Once you move beyond the sections on divination (about the first half of the book), you will find a wide variety of topics covered. In her usual style, each of the chapters can stand alone, so you can pick and choose what you want to learn in whatever order appeals to you.

Once again, in my opinion, the recommended reading list is a little thin. The book is divided into 29 chapters (in eight sections), but the Further Reading list only includes 42 titles. Given the range of topics, I would have expected a list of at least twice this length. On top of that, seven of the books (one out of every six) are by this author, which seems to be a disproportionately high percentage to me.

Because of the way I was trained, I have a problem with her suggestions for absent healing. I was always taught to obtain permission from the person being worked for (with a couple of specific, restricted, exceptions) and I thus fins her suggestion of healing people you hear about on radio or television, or see in the newspaper, without getting their specific permission, not to be appropriate. As I say, this is a result of the way I was trained. Others may not find this a problem. It is up to the individual to decide what is appropriate.

Reviewed by Mike Gleason


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