When people ask me what this book is about, my first response is to tell them that it is about a few different things at once. First and foremost, it is a book about alternative medicine, ancient healing and curing.  It is a book about making your goals a reality as well as how you can be of service to others. It is a journey through history and healing practices throughout the ages. Perhaps most of all, it is a book about the human mind and heart.

In it, I share my personal experiences and inspirational stories from people who’ve touched my life, as well as some of the old teachings about divination and the power of the Soul, Spirit and God.

While researching the material for this book I asked people, “What do you want?” and “What are you looking for?” Their answers fell all along the spectrum, but they could be boiled down to a few simple truths, namely,  they want health, a long life, love, money, miracles, success, security, power and they want to belong to communities that help them feel important. They want a purpose. Having a purpose in life is all about reaching your own goals and helping others reach theirs. Some people take the most logical path, and some are struggling, like lost animals in a vast desert. Life in this desert is painful at times; there is no exact map or formula to get to where we want to be.   However, we can learn and grow from the pain, and we can learn to enjoy the unfolding mystery of the road less traveled. Our world exists in both directions – it stretches into the past and reaches out to a future that’s always full of surprises.

There is wisdom in the ancient model, but it is not always easy to use it in the modern world.  While our soul knows the geography of our destiny, everything on our external path- our personality, our rhythm, our behavior, our senses, and our traditions – changes over time. The trick is to learn how to navigate these changes.

Here I have tried to create a map that bridges the old way and the new, a rebirth of ancient wisdom and a practice for our modern times. It is a map marked with techniques and inspiration to find a rewarding purpose.  This book was born not of reading articles and intellectualizing, but from the work I have done in my own life.  Like any ritual, the creation of this book was a transformational experience, and reading it can be as well.

Each day is a journey, and the path to success is filled with failures. I know, because I have experienced failure many times, but I have learned to view these failures as valuable lessons on how to get back on the wheel of balance, knowledge and power. I am still learning, and like everyone else, will continue to do so for the rest of my life. No matter how much we know – or think we know – there is always more to learn. We are forever searching and exploring our possibilities and our limitations, all within the context of our personal landscape.

 Throughout our lives we have walked through many, ever-changing landscapes. These landscapes are sometimes serene; sometimes they’re wild and dangerous.  We are part of the ancient landscape, we are an eternal essence; this is the reason we are here. The process of self -discovery is not easy; we need to change the language of our own soul, create a new lens through which to view our inner landscape.  The mystery of this landscape is mirrored in all the stories, legends, ideas and places of this life, as well as our past lives. Life is considered to be a journey of many stages, not just one. By whatever route people come, they tend to share common feeling of having arrived “home,” a remembering of something ancient that is buried deep within their psyche.

Oftentimes we find ourselves in the vast desert of our own minds, alone, lost, without the energy to continue our positive thinking or creating our prosperous future.  No matter how hard we try  we are not happy. We feel like some desert animal, digging burrows to protect itself from the sand-filled winds. Eventually we realize that it’s not working, and we decide to simply give up.  We become unwilling to spend one more minute engaged in this futile struggle; we give up living in frustration and hopelessness.

This is a critical moment, for it is a kind of death of our old identity. The words “I would rather die than keep trying” tend to pull us outside of ourselves. In order to create the new world, we must be willing to move out of the old. 

The worst thing we can do in this situation is panic. Panic blinds a person’s reason and leads them to make negative decisions. Controlling panic is a matter of focusing the mind and operating in an organized manner.

The desert is among the harshest places on earth, with its extreme temperatures and miles of vast sand. The desert is full of adverse conditions that animals and plants must adapt to in order to fulfill their basic needs.

There is much we can learn from coyotes, rattlesnakes and scorpions, for they know the desert well. They know how to survive in extreme conditions, from the freezing cold to the stifling heat. These creatures could teach us much about how to navigate the desert of our own minds and make it a place in which we can gain knowledge. We can learn a new philosophy, whereby we do not fight the desert but become part of its ecosystem.

It is important to remember that when we get lost in the desert, even if we are disappointed or depressed, our soul sees another reality or opportunity, a second chance of survival. Like an animals in the desert, the soul feeds on whatever life grows in its immediate environment. It is basic; it is a primordial urge.  We need to find “over there” - who we are and what kind of journey we are on.  A physical journey can be many kilometers deep and high, but a journey of the soul is endless, as endless as the mysteries of the spiritual worlds that dwell within us.

 When starting on this journey we need to be aware of our landscape; we need to know where we are now and where we want to be. This is how we make sure we get to our destination, even when we feel lost in the endless sand. Sometimes it is wise to wait for the next day, because each day is different and in and of itself a new journey.  A new day (light, mother of life) brings new opportunities and new ideas. We are clearer in our thinking, our learning and our ways of doing things.

Again, we should learn from the animals and wait for the better time, the one sunny day when we can get out from beneath the sand.

Walking and thinking in the desert is hard from the beginning, because we have to know its laws.  We need to learn about the desert first, about the condition we are in right now. This condition can be tricky and complicated, like a human mind, but it also offers us the opportunity to grow stronger. The more we know about these opportunities, the more we can help ourselves, and one day, help others. Everything we need for our desert journey has already been given to us. We only need to know the direction, because a place is not simply location, but a place of profound individuality.

Once we realize this, we will see that even the desert landscape changes every few miles, offering new pictures that surprise the eyes and delight the imagination. To live in the desert is to enjoy a private sky, where life is framed by the horizon. When we really gaze at that horizon we are bringing it first closer to us, then inside us, and all of a sudden the whole landscape changes.  Each desert field has a different name and a secret and silent memory of the past and present. It is a place where nothing is lost or forgotten.

This does not mean your wounds disappear; they must still be treated. Paying attention to your problems is a first step.   When we are aware of our feelings and emotions, we are in continual communication with our soul. The soul wants what is good for us, our soul desires to heal, and when we listen to it, it will guide us to the truth.

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