Archives: Book Reviews

Remarkable Healings: A Psychiatrist Discovers Unsuspected Roots of Mental and Physical Illness by Shakuntala Modi

Reviewed by Thelma B. Freedman, Ph.D.
In JRT Issue 15, 1997

 

Those of us who work with past-life and/or spirit releasement therapies have long anticipated the day when Shakuntala Modi, M.D., a psychiatrist for over twenty years, presented her findings to the world, and she does not disappoint us. Indeed, she gives us more than we had hoped.

Here she sums up her findings from eleven years of working with psychiatric patients with a wide diversity of symptoms, with different types of therapies. Modi uses an intricate mix of past-life therapy and the therapies of spirit releasement and soul integration, as called for by the particular patient’s needs and insights. Following her patient’s lead, she found that although many … Read the rest

9 January 1997

Regression: Past-Life Therapy for Here and Now Freedom by Samuel Sagan

Reviewed by Russell C. Davis, Ph.D.
In JRT Issue 15, 1997

 

Dr. Samuel Sagan lived in France for 27 years before moving to Australia where he founded the Clairvision School in Sydney to train past-life therapists. Clairvision is described as a western school of spirituality and the past-life training there is based upon many of the theories of traditional Hindu thought concerning the nature of the human being.

This is not light reading, though it is also not an obtuse tome of impossible-to-comprehend philosophical concepts. It is not a how-to-do-it book, but rather a how-to-understand-it book. Like the Clairvision School, it is based largely on Hindu concepts and constructs which are drawn from ancient Hindu texts thousands of years old. … Read the rest

9 January 1997

Reincarnation: A Critical Examination by Paul Edwards

Reviewed by Robert T. James, J.D.
In JRT Issue 15, 1997

 

In his Introduction, Edwards states that “The belief in Reincarnation and Karma has been steadily gaining support in recent decades,” and therefore, “There is an urgent need for a comprehensive and systematic evaluation” of these doctrines. In spite of his opinion that the beliefs in these doctrines are “one aspect of the tide of irrationalism that has been flooding the Western World, especially the United States,” Edwards assures us that in making his critical examination of these doctrines, he has “attempted to state, fairly and fully, all the main arguments offered in support of reincarnation and Karma.”

One would anticipate that a “critical examination” of such doctrines would … Read the rest

9 January 1997

Children’s Past Lives: How Past-Life Memories Affect Your Child, Carol Bowman.

Reviewed by Hazel M. Denning, Ph.D.
In JRT Issue 15, 1997

 

Seldom has a book come out in any field with more potential impact on society than Carol Bowman’s Children’s Past Lives. The information regarding the former experiences which impact children’s behavior today could revolutionize our educational system, the psychological approach to children’s problems, and parental responses to the aberrant behavior of their offspring.

There is probably no stronger evidence in our society today of the validity of the reincarnation hypothesis than the plethora of children who, from the ages of two to eight, spontaneously report in detail experiences about which they could have no knowledge in their current life.

This book is, indeed, long overdue and sorely … Read the rest

9 January 1997

Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects – Ian Stevenson

Reviewed by Rabia Lynn Clark, Ph.D.
In JRT Issue 15, 1997

 

Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects. Two volumes, hardcover, 2268 pages, $195.

Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. Synopsis, one volume, 203 pages, paperback, $17.95, cloth $59. Ian Stevenson, M.D., 1997, Westport, CT: Praeger.

It is a difficult task to adequately review a 2268-page book! I will start by saying that in this long-awaited two-volume work, Dr. Ian Stevenson has created a masterwork. For those of us who wish there were some scientific proof of reincarnation, this book has hundreds of carefully researched cases, examined with the intent of studying a segment of the reincarnation phenomenon, birthmarks and birth defects, … Read the rest

9 January 1997

Returning From the Light by Brad Steiger.

Reviewed by Wade P. Bettis, Jr., J.D.
In JRT Issue 14, 1996

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In Returning From the Light, Brad Steiger brings us his many years of writing and research as well as the personal experiences of himself and of those that he interviewed. Steiger discusses and demonstrates the many benefits of using past lives to understand and heal our present lifetime challenges of all kinds.

Steiger starts the book by discussing his own thirty-six year phobia for flying, a serious phobia which had no apparent cause and greatly interfered with his need to fly to promote his books. It was only after a spontaneous past-life recall one night in 1972, when he experienced himself as a German pilot in … Read the rest

8 January 1996

Echoes from the Battlefield, by Barbara Lane

Reviewed by Wade P. Bettis, Jr., J.D.
In JRT Issue 14, 1996

 

Lane, a clinical hypnotherapist, tells of her experiences in visiting American Civil War reenactment battlefields and camps. Her interest was stimulated by the deep commitment of the men and women who reenact these battles: “One Confederate reenactor…said he was fighting for state’s rights and that the Supreme Court had never ruled on the right to secede from the Union. I was impressed by the level of his historical knowledge…Beyond his words, however, his fervor swept over me like a wave. He was clearly impassioned about what he was doing.”

By their own admission, many of the reenactors are obsessed with their roles as Civil War soldiers. It was … Read the rest

8 January 1996

From Ashes to Healing: Mystical Encounters with the Holocaust, by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom

Reviewed by Amy Shapiro, M.Ed.
In JRT Issue 14, 1996

 

From Ashes to Healing, Rabbi Gershom’s sequel to Beyond the Ashes, follows fifteen individuals whose past-life memories of Holocaust experiences led to inner peace, strength and healing through their spiritual journeys. The remarkable and multi-dimensional stories in From Ashes to Healing exude a most satisfying sense of spiritual intimacy, as if touching the very threads out of which the cloth of soul is woven.

Recounted, among other fascinating cases, are the experiences of a Canadian goat farmer who located a clock from past-life flashbacks and a Swedish woman whose memories were confirmed when she visited the site of Buchenwald. Also discussed is the concept of the “ethnic soul,” … Read the rest

8 January 1996

True Hauntings: Spirits with a Purpose, by Hazel M. Denning, Ph.D.

Reviewed by Thelma B. Freedman, M.A.
In JRT Issue 14, 1996

 

Hazel Denning, for decades a well-known parapsychologist and the true Founding Mother of APRT, has done something truly original: She has organized haunting entities into surprisingly common-sense categories. In doing so, she shows us the many different meanings of the word “haunting” and makes it clear that these are situations that can be dealt with humanely. The sub-title indicates her basic finding: These haunting entities have some purpose, something they hope to accomplish. Denning devotes separate chapters to entities who are guilt-ridden, malevolent, benevolent, bound by love, or restless; some entities seem to be here to help, but others need help themselves from the living; still others are here … Read the rest

8 January 1996

The Boy Who Saw True, Anonymous

Reviewed by Rabia L. Clark, Ph.D.
In JRT Issue 14, 1996

 

What a treat it is to find a book that is so fascinating, enlightening, and educational that it can’t be put down until it is all read! The Boy Who Saw True is such a book. It was first printed in 1953, and is now in its 11th printing. The author preferred to remain anonymous.

It is the story of a boy who started his diary of psychic experiences as soon as he could write. He lived in the Victorian era in England, when psychic phenomena were discounted. His parents thought him odd, and never encouraged him, but he had a tutor who was open-minded. The boy was … Read the rest

8 January 1996