A shaman’s handbook focuses on overcoming the demons of daily life.
Dunblazier (Master Your Inner World, 2016, etc.), a self-described empath, reincarnated soul, and spiritual healer, here continues her Demon Slayer series. She looks at the possible complications individuals might experience as a result of their own past lives, and the strategies people afflicted with a variety of “demons” can use to find inner strengths they didn’t know they possessed. The author styles herself as a demon slayer, a spiritual warrior with survival skills honed over many lifetimes. In her latest book, the long sections on her own life are the most intriguing parts. She recounts, for instance, squatting in a third-floor walk-up in a derelict 1980s Harlem apartment building, and she relates her personal interactions and pregnancy. Through her own and other personal stories, she’s able to bring to life her underlying “demon slayer” philosophies: the strategies “for balancing life’s traumas” and daring to have “the audacity to laugh and see the world through someone else’s eyes.” The author prefaces her book with a disclaimer that it presents no legally constituted medical advice, and her approaches range over a wide variety of New-Age or “alternative” medicine concepts such as massage therapy, acupuncture, Kundalini energy points, and herbal supplements. The drift of the engrossing volume returns often to the idea of past lives and their effect on the present and—this account being about reincarnation—the future: “The state a person is in when they die is the state they remain in after death,” she writes. “And it is the lower vibrational states of being—like anguish, fear, anger, grief, bitterness, or hate—that keep a spirit earthbound.” In this and all cases, Dunblazier acts effectively as the reader’s coach, foremost cheerleader, and guardian angel, and this has a cumulative effect that’s genuinely encouraging. The overarching message of empowerment should speak to people struggling with their own personal demons.
An inspirational guide to using a soul’s long history to combat present-day negative forces.
Kirkus Reviews
Author, spiritual empath, and shaman extraordinaire Tracee Dunblazier possesses the kind of skills found in very few people. Dunblazier specializes in energy dynamics, and connects it with grief and healing. Her vivid and clear understanding on the subject has made her very successful in counselling, empowering, and helping people recover from soul injuries. Dunblazier has dedicated herself to learning and exploring all aspects of the subject, and consequently shares her understanding with the world through speaking, writing, and counselling. Over the years Dunblazier has penned down many articles and blogs about her new experiences and connections. Her biggest undertaking so far is her book Heal Your Soul Story: Activate the True Power of Your Shadow.
The Demon Slayer’s Handbook Series touches upon reincarnation, and how people who go through this perplexing experience can come to terms with it, and can live their current life in peace and harmony. The book is a guide for both, the believers and non-believers of reincarnation, as Dunblazier discusses spirituality extensively and how each unique soul endures it differently. The author believes that better understanding of self always leads to a better life. The book counsels the readers to empower themselves and know their own strengths, by fighting the evil spirits from the underworld, hence the name–Demon Slayer’s Handbook.
The book is worded in a straightforward style and has easy-to-understand explanations. The author’s aim is not to become a wordsmith but rather a spiritual guide for the souls gone astray. This handbook is a combination of the author’s personal experiences and case histories. The book also provides an insight into many practices and techniques and the author’s knowledge of them. The book is for everyone who is trying to find a new perspective on the mysteries of life, and particularly for people who find human nature fascinating. Five Stars!
SeriousReading.com
Heal Your Soul History will resonate with those interested in a life of peace and wholeness.
Tracee Dunblazier’s Heal Your Soul History is a unique take on walking through the modern age with energy, self-esteem, and an open heart. Her message to readers? Slay the demons that beset you.
While the book belongs on the spiritual self-help shelf, Dunblazier offers many personal stories from her life, both before and after she embraced her work as a spiritual empath. Throughout the text, she employs the notion of “slaying demons”—and she literally, for the most part, means demons, or low-vibration entities that latch on to people energetically and bring pain and strife.
Though these notions require a degree of credulity, those with firm beliefs in the spirit world will have no problem picking up on their meaning. For others, the text still well promotes the idea that ridding lives of suffering is an active process.
The book’s five parts each begin with a story about one of the author’s past lives, as experienced and processed in her present lifetime. Though interesting—and beautifully rendered, with five color images—the stories feel extraneous to the rest of the sections’ content.
Though it is made clear that the past-life stories should resonate with the guidance offered, all five narratives are intense, even melodramatic, and are difficult to relate to. The result is that the organizing structure of the text is not particularly effective, especially when juxtaposed with the richer material that follows.
All five sections end with excellent suggestions for rituals, like the use of home altars, that can help people actively work toward desired changes. Specific, heartfelt affirmations are given to help enrich the process.
Passion over the subject matter is evident throughout. The resultant tone is empowering and conversational. Some notions are striking, particularly fresh ideas about the worth of tears, the potential power of negative thinking, and the process of depression. The inclusion of topics such as bigotry and cultural isolation is also refreshing.
The volume’s focus is often unclear, and discerning its ultimate meaning is not easy. The “shadow” of the subtitle is only referred to once or twice, which will disappoint those who want a more thorough exploration of the subject and what it connotes in archetypal psychology.
Toward the end of the book, movements between brief sections that offer advice, tell a story, or share a personal anecdote become frenetic. Headings stop connecting with the content that follows. Inconsistent organization presents an additional challenge.
Though slaying literal demons is not for everyone, Heal Your Soul History is an unconventional blend of memoir and self-help that will resonate with those interested in crafting a life that is moving energetically toward peace and wholeness.
Reviewed by Margaret Fedder, Foreword Reviews
“This book is a wonderful resource for healing. I finished it in one day, but I know that the things I learned will stick with me for years to come.”
-MC
“Very viable info… learned so much!”
-Beth B
