Ross Heaven

Plant Spirit Wisdom
Shamans and Sin Eaters Celtic Techniques for Healing the Soul
by Ross Heaven

I was amazed at how plants, animals and spirit all came together in this refreshing 200 page read. There are so many wonderful parts and I enjoyed everyone of them, especially learning about the different properties of the plants and the important part the elements also play in the whole symphony of life. And if that wasn't enough there was a explanation of original sin that so closely matched what show more I believe that it made my jaw drop open.

I fell in love with the section that uses herbs to heal the heart, especially issues of an addictive nature. The author has an honest and straight forward way about him that made me feel safe and got my attention all at the same time. There is so much to learn between the covers of this noble teacher and I completely recommend it to anyone wanting the more earthly way to healing on many different levels. Thanks Ross, this makes so much sense.

Love & Light,

Riki Frahmann show less

'...we learn about ourselves and the powers of the 'other world' by surrendering to the beauty and opportunity for greater vision afforded us in darkness...Ross Heaven and Simon Buxton have nurtured the most fertile ground for the development of true spiritual sightedness.'-Malidoma Patrice Some, author of Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African shaman

'A shaman is a man or woman who sees in the dark. Gifted storytellers Ross Heaven and Simon Buxton show more blend cross-cultural stories of initiations in darkness to bring a powerful initiation to our modern world...inspiring us to open up to new perceptions made possible by using our other senses.'-Sandra Ingerman, author of Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self Through Shamanic Practice

'Darkness Visible soars. A colossal book!'-John Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, The World Is As You Dream It, and The Spirit of the Shuar

The use of ceremonial darkness is a method for exploring hidden aspects of unconscious and super-conscious states, accessing invisible landscapes, and embracing the deeper recesses of the self. In Darkness Visible Heaven and Buxton examine the spiritual and therapeutic practice of taking retreat in physical darkness for the purpose of accessing inner light.

For millennia mystics and sages have used darkness as a spiritual tool for breaking with their pasts, prior conditioning, and the limited reality of their societies. Spiritual seekers from many traditions-Celtic, Eastern, indigenous North and South American, Tibetan, and African-have use darkness as a tool for spiritual enlightenment. Heaven and Buxton show how experiencing complete darkness, even for only a period of hours, brings about a remarkable clarity and mental stillness and thus provides a springboard for creativity, intuition, and spiritual development. They include exercises that explore lucid levels of dream consciousness, drawing both from their experience as teachers of this method and from the many cultures that include this practice in their spiritual traditions. Darkness Visible shows how deprivation of sight can truly teach us to see.

Ross Heaven is a therapist and workshop leader in personal development and healing whose books include Vodou Shaman, Spirit in the City, and The Journey to You. Simon Buxton, author of The Shamanic Way of the Bee, is the founder/director of The sacred Trust in England, dedicated to the teaching of practical shamanism for the modern world. Both authors live in England and teach Darkness Visible workshops .

Contents

Forewords
Inviting the darkness in by Malidoma P. Some
Journeying farther than the eye can see by Sandra Ingerman
Prefaces
Entering darkness and seeing the light-Ceremonial darkness in the Haitian Vodou Tradition by Ross Heaven
If honey, then also sting-Darkness and the path of pollen by Simon Buxton
1 God in a time of darkness-The spirit beyond the light
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Close your eyes
Inviting the darkness: The interior stars
Playing God
Forgiving God
2 The tunnel at the end of the light-The paractice of darkness
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Awakening the senses
The spirit of nature
The cave of souls
3 The mythological mind-The impact of darkness on those who enter there
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Initiation into darkness
Hearing the truth
Future-seeing
4 The landscape of myth and emotion-The psychology of darkness
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The voices within
Active imagining: Using darkness for positive change
The flow of things
5 Entering the dark world-Initiation into darkness
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The wise elder
Dying to live
Rebrith
6 The stories of our lives-Exploring the dark self
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Your conception/Life story
Who are you?
Earth's embrace
7 What's your name, what's your number?-The question of identity
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What's your name?
The ancestral chain
Temple dreaming
A blessing for yourself
8 Welcome home-Coming out of darkness into darkness
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The meaning of life
The sadness of the world
The crossroads commitment
9 Beginning to see the light-Life after darkness
Notes
Biblliography
Resources: darkness visible and other workshops show less