Jun 062012
 

“Are you ready to jump in and begin the most exciting journey of your life?”

These are the words Angela Artemis uses in the first chapter of her new book The Intuition Principle: How to Attract the Life You Dream Of.

And if your answer is yes, then read on, because I’m going to tell you why I think Angela’s book is a perfect first step on that journey.

Here’s my review of The Intuition Principle.

First, The Intuition Principle is a hugely impressive book.

I’ve grown accustomed to the way Angela writes on her blog, and her book did not disappoint. Some people write fluffy, superficial pieces. Not Angela. Her blog is full of posts that you can sink your teeth into. A few minutes with Angela is like an hour with someone else.

The same goes for her book.

It is substantial.

No wonder she’s so quickly become a best selling author!

(I’ve got so many of Angela’s well-chosen words to choose from — besides an impressive clairvoyant, she’s a talented writer — that I’ll sometimes let her speak for herself. Unless otherwise noted, quotes are from the book.)

The Field of Consciousness

Much of what Angela elaborates on in her book is related to what this blog is about: Connecting with a vast field of information and possibility and learning to apply it toward living a life that’s full of joy.

In Angela’s words:

The source of our intuition is the field of consciousness, or what I refer to as Greater Intelligence. … All that it takes to reconnect to this vast storehouse of knowledge is our intention and desire. It’s always there just waiting for us to invite it to work with us.

This last sentence is much like what I said in my last post about “The Field”: that it’s always there.

It’s up to us to interact with it and to accept its gifts.

This book helps us do that.

The Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of

Here’s why I love this book and why I added it to my list (I’m building a list of favorites for you to refer to): It’s about being integrated with your authentic self.

The Intuition Principle is about getting in touch with who you are authentically by listening to your intuition. It’s not so much a book about developing intuition as it is living an intuitively inspired life. …

It’s about living your best life, feeling joy, and feeling fabulous!

~ Angela chatting with Suzie Cheel about The Intuition Principle

And again, from the book:

The Intuition Principle is the concept that within you exists an innate technology, your intuition, capable of both guiding you to and attracting to you the life and happiness you’ve always dreamed of.

“Guiding you to” and “Attracting to you”.

That means it works both directions.

So this book shows you how to best interact with your life situation and how to draw to you (or create) more satisfying life circumstances.

Intuition as a Means, Not the Main Goal

What I found is that this book actually does guide you into using your intuition but in a different way than I’ve seen in most books on the subject (and I’ve seen/read/used a lot of them)!

I think you’ll find that as you go through it, your intuition will increase easily and naturally as she shows you how to use it to investigate and ultimately discover your authentic self and its ideal relationship with the world.

She takes you on a guided journey toward the meaningful goal of discovering your spirit (and all that implies in practical term), and teaches you to use intuition as your main tool.

It’s a beautiful blend of the two subjects: discovering your authentic self and using your intuition.

So although Angela states that intuition includes psychic ability, this book is primarily about getting to know ourselves more deeply rather than about extending our psychic skills. Even as a professional intuitive, I love it and plan to go back through it more thoroughly as an intensive.

The Importance of Intuition

This is not to under-state the role given to intuition and developing it in this book. (It is, after all, the title!)

I love Angela’s bold statements about it:

You will never live your authenticity until you partner with your intuition.

and further along:

Intuition is the only way to connect to your authentic self and your true calling, your reason for being here at this time.

A Peek Inside the Book

Here are a few notes I jotted down as I read the book. (Note: This isn’t comprehensive nor even necessarily in order. Just some of my favorite things about it that I wanted to mention.)

First, I’ve seen and held the paperback edition. It’s beautiful, and it feels so good! For me, that’s always a good sign and a reliable indicator of a book’s value to me.

But paperback or kindle edition, it’s obviously a gift from the heart.

Angela’s bright spirit shines through right from the beginning as she starts you off with a “pop quiz” about if and how you use your intuition. It’s a fun way to calibrate and compare once you’ve gone through the book so you can see how much progress you’ve made.

And in Angela’s no-nonsense way, she has you making progress from day one.

The bulk of the book is various ways to apply intuition to look within and get to know yourself, or in Angela’s words: “To find your passion, purpose, and authenticity.”

She gets you motivated with a list of the benefits of using your intuition in this way, and talks about how “her life changed dramatically for the better afterward when she started relying on it.”

Exercises are sprinkled throughout the book. By the end of chapter 2 she already has you effectively looking within with questions designed to help you begin to get in touch with your intuition. And these are useful questions — questions I’m sure you want the answers to. (Those are the best kind of questions for prompting intuition.)

She talks about the different ways of receiving information, and how to find out which is your primary mode or vehicle.

She gives you the main tools for developing your intuition. And notice how effective these would all be in getting to know yourself!

1. Meditation

She teaches you here how to do it in a simple and easy way, along with how to integrate it into your life.

2. Guided Meditation

She includes quite a lot of powerful guided meditations, including

  • Meet the “you” that you were meant to be in the life you were meant to live
  • Remember your mission and see your blueprint

If you like guided meditations I highly recommend you purchase her guided meditation system. (I’d do it now — the price is going up any day now.) She’s got the most beautiful voice and the meditations themselves offer so many gifts, e.g. relaxation, insight, expanded awareness, etc. Plus, there are some amazing bonuses!

3. Journaling

This is another major tool, IMHO.

4. Dreams

Easy, practical ways to apply them.

5. Muscle testing and how to do it

Super! I still find this challenging – grrr. I’m going to really use this section. šŸ˜‰

6. Meeting and working with your spirit guides

A major topic in itself, and you can even download a recording of one of these exercises.

7. Mind Maps

You draw a map of your purpose and lessons – literally – as she guides you through creating a mind map (& includes related bonus materials that you can download from her site).

Incorporating the Tools

Angela is nothing if not practical. So she then gives you “Twenty-five fun and easy ways to incorporate intuitive exercises into your daily life”.

And then, a super helpful chapter is about how to troubleshoot blocks to intuition. She elaborates on 19 of them (!) and gives you ways to work through them.

If you get this book, you have no excuse not to be benefiting from your intuition on an ongoing basis, and I’m not kidding!

Wrapping Up

At the end she pulls it all together for you.

She discusses this “age of intuition”, and even includes a chapter on how doing this kind of work helps heal the planet.

And she includes a nice glossary of terms, and even an index, gasp! Those are so often missing but an index helps make it a useful reference as the years go by.

As Angela says in closing:

The intuitive personality is an evolved personality.

Do you want to evolve? Then get this book!

Note: Angela is offering you all the free bonus materials whether you get the book or not — and one of them is a free chapter! If you’re still not sure about the book, grab the bonuses and see if they speak to your soul. šŸ™‚

Comments? Questions? Please share your two bits!

Angela

Angela Artemis, an intuition coach, is on a mission to teach readers around the world to ā€œspeak intuitionā€ so that they unlock all the brilliant potential that resides within and start successfully living the life of their dreams now – not later. She blogs at www.PoweredbyIntuition.com and is an Amazon best-selling author. Her newest book is, ā€œThe Intuition Principle: How to Attract the Life you Dream Of,ā€ Readers are welcomed to download free bonus material here.

> > > Get a FREE Copy of The Intuition Principle! < < <

Angela has generously donated a free PDF copy of her marvelous book to one “lucky” winner of a random drawing. That can be you!

To enter:

1) Tweet this post or “share” it on Facebook. (Buttons below.)

then

2) Leave a comment using the term “free copy” and tell me a) how you shared this post and b) why you want to read the book.

[This contest has expired. We have a winner: Congratulations, Saralee! Thanks to everyone who entered, and many blessings to you all.]

And speaking of intuition and our authentic selves, hop on over to Facets of Joy where the fabulous Joy Holland asks — and several of us answer: “When one has set the intent to query and listen, how does one differentiate between an authentic, intuitive voice and any other voice that is heard? How does one know it is ā€˜truth’, not just ‘wishful thinking’?”. There are some excellent tips there — and do add yours to the pot!

Oct 082011
 

Well, the Jyotish Tutorial series is getting off the ground and I’ve had a lot of interest from some of you who are brand new to Vedic astrology.

The thing is, though, that the tutorial series is for people who already know the basics.

Still, I’m hearing from beginners that you want to be able to participate in and learn from the tutorials right along with everyone else.

To that end, I decided to recommend some materials for you that can give you a jump start.

Books are not only informative but they’re an inexpensive way to get a taste of something and see if you want to pursue it more seriously.

So I thought a few book recommendations would be most helpful.

You really only need one of these, and no prior knowledge of astrology (East or West) is required!

Here we go.

Recommended Jyotish Books for Beginners

1) Beneath a Vedic Sky by William R. Levacy

If you want a book that gets right to the point, no muss no fuss, then this is it. It has the basics without a lot of verbiage around them. If you want to get the basics quickly, then I recommend this book.

2) Astrology of the Seers: A Guide to Vedic/Hindu Astrology by David Frawley

This is my all-time favorite and the book I started with (you should see my copy; well-used and well-loved). I still refer to it often, especially for remedial measures.

If you’ve ever read any of Dr. Frawley’s books or attended his workshops, you know he is not a surface guy. His products are packed with information. He gives you both depth and breadth and is extremely knowledgeable and a highly respected expert. (It was his correspondence course that I began my jyotish journey with, and I’m so glad. It’s excellent.)

This book would take more focus and time than #1, but it’s more comprehensive and has a lot more depth to it.

If you want to learn jyotish fairly thoroughly and get a real taste for it as the sacred art and science that it is, then this is the book I recommend the most.

3) Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India by Hart de Fouw and Dr. Robert Svoboda

I love this book. I didn’t use it to learn from initially but it seems to have all the basics. Like Dr. Frawley (#2), the authors give much voice to the deep philosophy behind jyotish, yet doesn’t neglect the basics.

There is a lot of information here that I’ve not seen elsewhere, and I highly recommend this book.

4) Vedic Astrology: A Guide to the Fundamentals of Jyotish by Ronnie Gale Dreyer

This book seems to have all the basics, and I own it, but I have to admit I never use it. But as I look through it I see that it has all the basics, so I think this book would do the trick to get you up and running fairly quickly.

5) Last but not least: Path of Light Volumes 1 & 2 by James Kelleher

In contrast to #4 which I own but don’t use, I don’t even own this set of books but I have no doubt it’s excellent.

James was my main teacher/tutor/mentor and I worked one-on-one with him every week for well over a year. As a result I’ve got a big fat binder and dozens of tapes (yes, tapes!) filled with much of the same information, otherwise you can bet I would have snatched these up in a heartbeat! (And probably will, some day. ;-))

James is a well-versed expert in traditional jyotish and a delightful story-teller. He spins yarns about the mythology on which much of the jyotish symbology is based, and shares illuminating stories of his work with clients and how their charts translate into real life. What he teaches is much enhanced by his extensive knowledge gained from working full time with clients for over 20 years and his attention to what really works and what doesn’t.

He’s also done something wonderfully original and that is to organize the material (in the 2nd book) according to the areas of life. Most jyotish books go by indicators such as signs, houses, planets, etc. But this book goes by life topics such as finances, relationships, career, etc. Life-centric instead of indicator-centric. It’s the first I’ve found that does this and that in itself makes it especially attractive and super useful.

On top of all of that, James is an excellent teacher (no matter what medium). He translates the astrological jargon into practical and easily understandable concepts and his love of and respect for jyotish are infectious.

Sight unseen, I recommend these 2 books; especially the first for beginners since it’s the more fundamental of the two.

When I started learning jyotish 15 years ago, there were few introductory books available and even those were hard to find.

Now, I notice that if you do an Amazon search on Vedic astrology over 500 books are listed and many of them are introductory and highly rated by readers. So do browse around, read reviews, and find what feels right to you. If you want to know if I’m familiar with any of them or their authors, just ask me in the comments below and I’ll share what I know.

So there you go.

If you’re a quick study, you can probably pick up enough basics that you can make use of the tutorial series.

In any case, I hope you enjoy the books, and with some luck, the tutorials too!

NamastƩ.

Or maybe you have your own recommendations for beginners? Please share them in the comments!

IfĀ  you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook. Want posts delivered to your reader or email? Click here to subscribe. Thank you!