Here he describes fifteenth century France into which Joan of Arc was born. It was a time of enormous social disuption and turmoil. England and France were engaged in what is now known as the 100 Years War. The Catholic Church was divided with different claimants to the title of Pope. He describes the visions [...]

Here he reviews the many accomplishments of William Blake (1757-1827), a visual artist, poet, and mystic. Blake was an important influence on people such as W. B. Yeats, Alan Ginsberg, Kathleen Raine, Aldous Huxley – the contemporary artist, Francis Bacon – and even the rock musician, Patti Smith. Many of his contemporaries, and even some [...]

Jeanne Achterberg, former President of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, was author of Imagery in Healing and Woman As Healer.  She discusses the holographic model of the brain and suggests that mental images mediate between the conscious intentions and the physiology of the body.  She points out that imagery has been used in healing since [...]

Here she tells how she developed a close connection with shamans from Mongolia who visited the United States in 2004. As a result of this connection, she was invited to present at a conference on shamanism in Mongolia. She describes a variety of adventures with shamans in Mongolia, including some in which it appeared to [...]

Here she describes the capacities of the brain’s right hemisphere for experiences of transcendence and wholeness. She maintains that higher states of awareness are achieved, naturally, by deactivating certain areas of the brain that keep us focused on egoic concerns – the right parietal lobe and the default mode network. She describes stages in humanity’s [...]

Here he points out that the earliest known Buddhist texts emerged several hundred years after the Buddha lived. Therefore, to better understand the origins of Buddhism, he relies upon artistic and architectural evidence – particularly the stupas of Buddhism, to which there are few textual references. Buddhism appears to have influences both from central Asia [...]