Medicine Woman

Rating:
Summary: Seek enlightenment elsewhere...
Review: I bought this book thinking it was nonfiction, but as I read it I found it harder and harder to keep from being angry and dismayed. The story seemed a poor stew of bits and pieces of "Native American" spirituality" but the gullible public had made it a best seller. The "mysterious" events, the meetings with "the tall Indian man" all seemed contrived.
Maybe I was just jealous because the Great Spirit chose *her*?
I stopped reading and started trying to find out more about the writer and her subject.
First stop was the writer's web page: Here I found what she is selling.
Next, I searched for people mentioned in the book like Hyemeyohsts Storm and Agnes Whistling Elk. I cannot tell you what I decided about them. You will have to do this research yourself because I am afraid of lawyers.
I read the Amazon.com reviews. I found others who shared my skepticism, but many who thought this a truly spiritual work.
I am writing this review for the latter. Seek enlightenment elsewhere. You will have to find your own path.

I respect most books, but this one is going into a tub of water to be dissolved to make handmade paper.

For Ish, who would have called Lynn V. Andrews "a plastic oreo."

Rating:
Summary: No Matter What the Source.........
Review: Long before I knew of L.V. Andrews, a love interest would often read to me excerpts from Carlos Castenada's books as we sat under a tree. Castenada's books are an exemplary example of command of the english language and his descriptions, often put humorously, not without a touch of eloquence. But both Castenada and Andrews portray a certain un-gracefulness of the human nature that can only be refined with growth and that is the point. How that growth is attained though is pertinent to an individual's soul choices and the message it brings to assist others - not based on whether the journey it's self began in Beverly Hills or while a student at U.C.L.A.. These are only extrodinary precicely for the fact that consciousness could indeed "meet it's fate" and flourish from such a mundane starting point. In the case of Ms. Andrews (and Mr. Castenada), both were fortunate to have physical teachers to guide them which to some would be considered a luxary now days. Though as Andrew's mentor, Agnes, interjected in one of her later books, Andrews herself would one day graduate to teachers of higher learning and she (Agnes) would no longer be necessary. This then confronts us with an even more seductive proposal which I venture to say hinges on the universal rather than the particular (race, culture or language) of which so many jealously guard. The glimpse's of Ms. Andrew's various "lives", as illustated by her books, confirms that the soul is diverse in it's many sojourns and that lives are merely identities or roles played by a higher self or over soul. That her teachers were Native American or Buddist doesn't ultimately matter because the message is always the same: "know thy self". A suggestion given but not often considered since to do so requires a certain identification with others firstly and an acknoweledgement of our collective human dilema that is often too painful to admitt. In her succeeding books, again, L. Andrew's depicts a course that is not exclusive to her teacher's heritage since in one she delves into a life lived in England and another, Japan. What is exclusive is the bond that she has with these women whom have obviously guided her throughout many life times and I find this no different from Babaji guiding Paramahansa or the many Masters so many identify with today. I find it unfortunate that others would miss the point altogether and judge what they don't understand and that she would not be allowed to be supported for her efforts that no doubt have assisted others, including myself. That her writings be fiction or non-fiction is also not the point, except that they inspire another to seek the hidden potential within. As we read, within our imagination is a truth which her writing conveys and that is: on some level what we imagine is already real even if only seeming "fiction", because we cannot see it.

Rating:
Summary: Medicine Woman
Review: The first book I read from Lynn Andrews was Crystal Woman. Though it is different from Medicine Woman, I enjoyed them both. When reading these books instead of disecting every paragraph & page, one would recieve more enjoyment just to read and not keep asking where is the message or what the heck is it I am supposed to learn. If you are meant to get something out of this book, you truly will. ~peace~blessings & ~moonlight~

Rating:
Summary: Fiction versas Non-fiction,
Review: We live in times where we feel we want to have a more personal relationship to the great mystery and all things spiritual. We want to feel the magic. As a result we seek paths that will include these missing elements - explain the unexplainable, know the unknowable. A book such as, Medicine Woman can fill that collective longing. It is about an ordinary woman who"blunders" upon extraordinary events, whose storytelling allows us the opportunity to fulfill our own unlived fantasy lives. Subconsciously, we are hopeful that if it could happen to her, it could happen to me. Unfortuntnately, we will remain fantasy - bound, mainly because the story and its supposed real events cannot be embodied or experienced. They are words printed in a book, their mastery, as factually described, unattainable only to the author. I believe the hunger is real for the spiritual experience, but that at this time these kinds of books do us a disservice. Narratives of this nature tie us to the author's extraordinary experiences and their accompanying interpretations but, they can never be truly authentic for anyone else. In addition, the "guru" type teachers who "always" insist on anonymity, are forever unaccountable, remaining dream - like and etheric. One would think that there would be building resentment in their apprentices, for by never being able to disclose their identities they have to remain under a constant cloud of criticism, always on the defensive. My final question is for those of us who do feel a geniune calling for the imaginal and unknown. Perhaps it is time to insist that these authors make avaliable their sources. After all, no one would study any other disapline expecting anything less. It is interesting that we let these people off the hook so easily, their credibility intact. These types of books may have served a purpose in the past, in that they inspired their readers to take the imagination and its experiences seriously, but now it may be time to tell the truth - I ask these authors to free their readers with an honest show and telling of the truth, and I bet that by doing so, it will free them in the process as well.