Palmistry by Johnny Fincham (“Britain’s leading palmist”) provides fresh information for anyone interested in reading palms.

The subtitle is accurate: Apprentice to Pro in 24 Hours; The Easiest Palmistry Course Ever Written.

However, this book is the real deal.  The “24 hours” means 24 hours of lessons, each covered in detail in this book.  Unless you’re a fast reader (and learner) and breeze through this book (not advised), you won’t learn it all overnight.

The author’s advice is excellent.  Early into your studies, he’ll tell you to skip the things that don’t make the person unique.  That’s brilliant.

Another important feature of this book:  The author uses actual palm prints — not vague sketches that leave you wondering — so you’re always confident about your readings.

The accuracy of the readings will astonish you.  These aren’t the general comments many palmists offer, such as “You’ve faced many challenges, and some still bother you.”

Instead, the author shows things such as exactly where jealousy shows up in a person’s palm, and whether it’s severe enough to cause relationship problems.

At a glance, you’ll be able to separate introverts from adventurous people, and — from a single fingerprint — tell someone pragmatic from another who’s constantly challenged by indecision.

This book makes palmistry simple to learn, and the book is paced with humor, clear illustrations, and self-tests so you can move through the lessons with confidence.

From spirituality to sexuality, and from home to career, people’s hands reveal far more about their characters (and potential for happiness) than they realize.

If you’d like to include palmistry in your readings or professional practice, this book is a must-own.  It’s easily the best book we’ve seen in this field, and the only one we can enthusiastically recommend.

However, it’s also an ideal book for people who are simply curious, and want to understand people better.

The next time someone extends his or her hand in welcome, a quick glance may tell you everything you need to know about their passion for life and whether they’re trustworthy.

That’s a skill and knowledge that everyone can use.

Rating:

Order this book at Amazon.com

Psychic Self Defense and Protection: An Energy Awareness Guide, by John Culbertson is a very helpful, detailed book mixing New Age beliefs and practices with Christian and Pagan counterparts.

For New Age practitioners, those other ingredients shouldn’t deter you from enjoying this book and learning new, useful skills from it. At least 90% of the book works well with most New Age philosophies, and many readers will be fine with everything presented in this book.

For anyone in desperate need of psychic self-defense or protection, this book is a must-read.

The author is both a Mason and a Rosicrucian.  Both provide some extremely powerful — and sometimes controversial — tools for energy work.  All but the most uninformed spiritual dabblers respect those two organizations and what they’re able to accomplish.

In addition, the author is bright. His research backs up his claims with facts and statistics.  So, this isn’t a heavy-handed manual; it’s intelligently presented, and generally in light terms with occasional recommendations for further  study.

However, though most of this book aligns well with all aspects of New Age beliefs, this is definitely not a lightweight, “think happy thoughts” book.  It gives readers many intensely powerful solutions to psychic attacks.

Early chapters are gentle but firm.  I especially like the chapter, “Repairing a Weak Aura and Rebuilding Lost Energy.”

If you’re looking for psychic protection, “just in case,” this is the information you seek, and it may be all that you need from this book.

In the chapters that follow, the author gradually builds your arsenal of tools to protect yourself and those you care about.  His resources range from angels to elemental energy to concepts well-presented in the Celestine Prophecy.

By the time you complete Chapter 7, you probably have all the information you need to protect yourself and people (and pets) close to you.

If you’re timid about Rosicrucian and Pagan issues:  The author doesn’t breach the topic of magick until the second-to-last chapter in this book.  However, if — before Chapter 8 — you haven’t found anything powerful enough to help, you may need the extra muscle of magickal tools.

Remember: Survival is your first priority when you’re dealing with severe attacks.

There’s nothing unethical in this book.  You may even recognize some of the attitudes in Chapters 8 and 9,  if your beliefs are based in Arthurian or Celtic history.

For everyone else, especially sensitive New Age readers, you can safely close the book at the start of Chapter 8, with enough less controversial tools to protect and defend themselves from psychic and spiritual attacks.

This book has earned our respect as an important contribution to the field of psychic self defense and protection.

Rating:

Order your copy at Amazon.com

Several readers have asked how I’d define Doreen Virtue’s books. (Click on the book cover, at right, to read my review of her Healing with the Angels book.)

At Doreen Virtue’s angel website, she says, ““The angels are with us as a gift from our Creator, and their aim is to establish peace on Earth, one person at a time.”

To me, that phrasing suggests that her beliefs work with most traditional and modern forms of spirituality.

She also defines herself as a “a teacher of mind-body-spirit” issues, and as a “spiritual doctor of psychology and a fourth-generation metaphysician who works with the angelic, elemental, and ascended-master realms.”

So, from my viewpoint, Ms. Virtue’s field of study — and how she phrases her materials — represent views that are not dogmatic or intrusive, and they’re perfectly compatible with most religious beliefs.

For further reading: About Doreen Virtue (Angel Therapy website)

Rating:

Invisible Armor was among my favorite books when it came out in late 1999.  Ten years later, author Tommy Hensel has revised, updated and expanded the original text.

Even better, it’s a digital download (ebook) with guided meditations to spark greater success and a confident sense of protection.

[You can download the meditations through links in the ebook.]

Hensel has fine-tuned Invisible Armor and its many helpful exercises.  The focus is laser-sharp and it can be immediately helpful, no matter how much you’ve been worn down by life’s “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

Where the author really shines is in easy-to-understand explanations, and real-life examples.

Whether the reader has a background in New Age thought or Spiritualism, or if those concepts seem a little too “out there,” Hensel’s advice can provide almost instant relief.

Often, when a teacher writes a book like this, the tone is either too “tell-all” or it’s simply too lofty.

Hensel isn’t trying to set himself up as a guru, he doesn’t talk down to you, and he shares only enough personal insights to establish rapport with the reader.  Tommy Hensel wrote this book to help people, period.

That’s refreshing.

In addition, he provides a series of exercises that very gradually increase in difficulty.  Every step of the way, it’s like he’s there to guide you.  This process is never overwhelming.

If you liked Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self-Defense but want something a little more accessible, I think you’ll be very pleased with Invisible Armor.

Website and download information: Invisible Armor

The 1999 edition of Invisible Armor is still available (in limited supply) at Amazon.com.
However, I recommend the expanded, 2010 digital edition.

Is there really a definition for “New Age”?  What is the “New Age” and what does it mean?

We couldn’t find a good, complete New Age definition.  We’re not sure that one exists.

According to Wikipedia, “New Age” isn’t a new term.

In fact, the term New Age was used as early as 1809 by William Blake who described a belief in a spiritual and artistic “New Age” in his preface to Milton: a Poem. (Click on the image at right to see it larger.)

The New Age — as we use that term today — draws upon many beliefs and practices from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Spiritualism, Theosophy and New Thought.

It is interconnected with alternative health discoveries, and sometimes with Western esoteric and occult traditions.

In the mid-20th century, Edgar Cayce was among the leading visionaries who established the New Age movement.  By the 1960s, a growing counterculture embraced New Age concepts.  Findhorn, an intentional community in Scotland, played an instrumental role in the evolution of New Age ideas and ideals.

The following are some concepts adopted by some — but not all — believers in New Age ideas.  It’s important to consider them when you’re searching for a New Age definition.

God is an abstract concept, sometimes described in Universal terms, rather than a person with (sometimes negative) human impulses such as anger and destruction.

Spiritual beings such as angels, spirit guides, ascended masters, and extraterrestrials can assist humans if they need — and/or seek — their help.

Spiritual healing is not only possible, but it can be an important part of traditional, holistic and alternative medicine.  Food, environmental influences, and a mind-body connection are of greater importance among some people in the New Age movement.

Death is a transition, not an end, and we continue as energy or spirits.   This may be phrased or conceptualized in a variety of ways, depending on the individual’s personal theology and beliefs.

Astrology is among the practices respected for its influence — and sometimes predictions — of events and behaviors.

The Age of Aquarius is believed to be a time of peace, harmony and spiritual realization.  Many members of the New Age community think that this age is here now, or it will begin soon.   For some, this is has a clear astrological connection; for others, it is an era with general astrological associations, but it is primarily an evolutionary change in the human condition and experience.

The Age of Aquarius is the next step after the Industrial Era, and another swing of the pendulum towards greater harmony and balance in our lives.  Beyond that, there’s no simple New Age definition for this Age of Aquarius.

Earth-based beliefs and practices are part of some New Age lifestyles, but they are often more inclusive than anything with a defined structure or religious label.

Quantum physics and related sciences are explaining — and proving –  some New Age concepts that were scoffed at in previous years.

Parallel realms, ancient civilizations, alternative realities, and mystical worlds are all possible within some New Age concepts.

Indigo children are being born into our world with higher awareness and consciousness, to facilitate the changes of the New Age, and perhaps the Age of Aquarius.

Some believe that indigo is a predominant color in the auras of these gifted children.

Others correctly explain that the term “Indigo children” was coined by synesthete Nancy Tappe.  (Many synesthetes perceive words, letters, numbers or concepts in terms of color.  They are not necessarily literal associations, but a conceptual connection.)

In addition to the Indigo children, new waves of gifted, sensitive children are being born now.  Instead of labeling them with medical terms suggesting problems, we need to see that they are bringing us important gifts to help and heal our world.

Many other beliefs, practices and traditions can be part of  and define “New Age” but the nature of “New Age” beliefs make it almost impossible to provide a complete New Age definition.

In general, the New Age movement avoids strict rules and dogmas.  It places faith and optimism in the innate goodness of all people, and the spiritual forces we believe in, as well as the positive qualities that connect us all.

For further information

Findhorn Foundation (website)

Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (website)

Indigo children

The Indigo Children Ten Years Later: What’s Happening with the Indigo Teenagers! (book)

The Children of Now: Crystalline Children, Indigo Children, Star Kids, Angels on Earth, and the Phenomenon of Transitional Children (book)

Indigo Child (website)

Quantum discoveries

The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World (book)

The Intention Experiment (website)

Spirituality

Agape International Spiritual Center (website)

New Age, at ReligiousTolerance.org (webpage with good information – but their links aren’t current)