Book Reviews "Last year I was asked to review a remarkable book, 'Soul Companions', written by Karen Sawyer. It is a watershed work comprising 40 fascinating conversations with healers and visionaries and I love it. It is a book that enfolds and encourages, hones the imagination, lights the way, and effortlessly guides the reader into magical worlds that we have always known but rarely recalled. Actually I hesitate to say 'reader' because this book is much more than a string of words, however worthy and wise they are. The book carries with it a part of the dreams and spirit of every soul who has contributed to it. It's a book to give and to share, to pass along - perhaps to a stranger, and with it a little part of you." - by Ellis Taylor, author of 'In These Signs Conquer' (www.ellisctaylor.com )     "The body of humanity is made up of so many remarkable individual cells, each one a person with their own unique storyline.This book allows the reader to hear about some of those remarkable stories, as a wide selection of respected healers, teachers, seers, visionaries and shamans from all around the world give accounts of their encounters with spirit in a series of short personal accounts. For over two years the author compiled this treasure trove of human stories, which is grouped under broad ‘categories’ such as ‘Healing the Soul’ and ‘Animal Magic’. It is an absorbing read and I felt I was sitting in a large circle of such diverse characters, listening to each person in turn relate how they were awoken to a deeper connection with spirit, how they dealt with that awakening, and how their life work has unfolded since. The contributors describe how they now work with the spirit realm, without evangelising or hype, their tales told directly and in such a down-to-earth way that left me moved at the courage of the human spirit to trust the unseen. Cosmologies vary, as do the individuals’ backgrounds and circumstances. One person may come from a hereditary shamanic line, while another emerges from a heart attack with new psychic abilities. The contributors – who include academics, a builder, scientists, a salesman, lecturers, professional psychics, journalists, and healers – have one thing in common: encounters with spirit and spirit beings that have changed their lives. Often these spirit companions or guides have arrived in ways that cannot be ignored! A book of great honesty, this circle of tales sometimes stretched my personal map of reality to the limits, but it left me with an awareness of the myriad powerful and downright inventive ways in which spirit is now waking us up to a greater and wider perception of life beyond the confines of the old religion structures. Inevitably, you will find echoes of your own experience in these tales. Ho often we all explain away a nudge from spirit – that whisper in the ear is just a draught of wind; or we ignore a sudden impulse to dance or sing as ‘silly’. Or thoughts that drop in suddenly from out of nowhere are dismissed as daydreams, or overactive imagination. But sometimes these fleeting glimpses may be our own soul companions, patiently letting us know they are there. So by reading the accounts in this book we may open up a wider perspective of possibilities for our own life. And when that draught whispers in our ear again, we may respond differently – hopefully with a broader view of possibilities. The author ends with guidelines for how to explore the presence of our own soul companions – and I completely agree with her that we all have them, whether we call them angels, shamanic helpers or guides. I really enjoyed reading about these many remarkable life stories – may your soul companions also enjoy reading this book with you." - by Jan Morgan Wood for Sacred Hoop Magazine (www.sacredhoop.org )     "Communication with the spirit worlds is what Soul Companions is all about. Not psychic or mediumistic communication but how contemporary wisdom keepers live with and encounter the dimensions of spirit that exist alongside our own. Almost 50 shamanic teachers and healers have been interviewed to compile this treasure trove of spiritual wisdom. Chapters cover dreams and visions, creativity, healing, past and future lives, nature and elemental beings, angelic realms, ancestors and soul companions. This really is a fabulous feast of insight and guidance with contributions from Denise Linn, RJ Stewart, Sandra Ingerman, William Bloom, Robert Moss and so many more! I loved reading about Mike Dunning's connection to the ancient Yew tree outside Haddington and Jessica Macbeth's faery friends and companions. Truly a book bursting with inspiration!"   - by Donald Busby for the Witch Hikers Guide (www.witchhikersguide.co.uk )   "With Soul Companions Karen has brought together people to collectively share their experiences with and beliefs about Spirit. In her introduction Karen describes how she used to think that all spirit guides were ‘dead people’, alive in another dimention ‘somewhere up there’. Through her research for this book she now fully accepts that, dead or alive, every life form has a spirit body and therefore has the potential to be a spirit guide. Most of the stories in the book were transcribed and written from conversations with the contributors, however some stories were penned by the contributors themselves. For myself reading the book I found it very easy to pick up and put down, quite important in a busy world sometimes. Each contribution was relatively short although many were so thought provoking I needed some time to assimilate the information. I liked Philip Carr-Gomm’s contribution about his guide Nuinn (Ross Nichols) who was responsible for reviving a type of Druidry based on connecting to the earth in a very deep way as a source of spirituality. Without giving too much away Philip is now Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, an organisation that his guide Nuinn was founder. Dr. Geo Athena Trevarthen describes how she grew up in a Celtic Shamanic tradition, and suggests that the whole idea of having spirit guides is based on the idea that God isn’t done with talking with us yet. There’s always fresh learning and love coming to us from Spirit and from our Spirit guides. There are so many contributors it is difficult to pick out the most enjoyable reads, suffice to say that there is a view on just about every aspect of spirit and contact, all with an amazing and mind stretching variety of forms. There was one story where the author had trouble with her printer, only to find that the printer has a spirit too, who had been ignored. The moment she acknowledge her printer’s spirit, it began to work well again. Soul Companions has provided a similar connection to the many people ‘out there’ that this web site was intended to give, showing that there are so many ways to express yourself, no way is right or wrong, it is what suits you in the moment that is important." - by Colin Whitby (The Magic of Living.com)   "A rich collection of accounts of modern spiritual teachers and ways in which they are in touch with inner guides of various kinds. A fascinating insight into different forms of spiritual guidance, and depicts a very different world involving multiple layers of intelligence. Readers will find themselves drawn to those who resonate with their own path." - Network Review