Darkness Visible

MEDITATION / SPIRITUALITY ." . . we learn about ourselves and the powers of the 'other world' by surrendering to the beauty and opportunity for greater vision afforded us in darkness. . . . Ross Heaven and Simon Buxton have nurtured the most fertile ground for the development of true spiritual sightedness." --MALIDOMA PATRICE SOMe, author of Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman "A shaman is a man or woman who sees in the dark. Gifted storytellers Ross Heaven and Simon Buxton blend cross-cultural stories of initiations in darkness to bring a powerful -initiation to our modern world . . . inspiring us to open up to new perceptions made -possible by using our other senses." --SANDRA INGERMAN, author of Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self Through Shamanic Practice "Darkness Visible soars. A colossal book!" --JOHN PERKINS, New York Times bestselling author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, The World Is As You Dream It, and The Spirit of the Shuar The use of ceremonial darkness is a method for exploring hidden aspects of unconscious and super-conscious states, accessing invisible landscapes, and embracing the deeper recesses of the self. In Darkness Visible -Heaven and Buxton examine the spiritual and therapeutic practice of taking retreat in -physical darkness for the purpose of accessing inner light. For millennia mystics and sages have used darkness as a spiritual tool for breaking with their pasts, prior conditioning, and the limited reality of their societies. Spiritual seekers from many traditions--Celtic, Eastern, indigenous North and South American, Tibetan, and African--have used darkness as a tool for spiritual enlightenment. Heaven and Buxton show how experiencing complete darkness, even for only a -period of hours, brings about a remarkable clarity and mental stillness and thus provides a springboard for creativity, intuition, and spiritual development. They include exercises that explore lucid levels of dream consciousness, drawing both from their experience as teachers of this method and from the many cultures that include this practice in their spiritual traditions. Darkness Visible shows how deprivation of sight can truly teach us to see. ROSS HEAVEN is a therapist and workshop leader in personal development and healing whose books include Vodou Shaman, Spirit in the City, and The Journey to You. SIMON BUXTON, author of The Shamanic Way of the Bee, is the founder/director of The Sacred Trust in England, dedicated to the teaching of practical shamanism for the modern world. Both authors live in England and teach Darkness Visible workshops internationally.