The Dreaming, or the Dreamtime, is the English translation of a complex Aboriginal religious concept. It relates to the idea of an ancestral presence which exists as a spiritual power that is deeply present in the land. This presence or power also exists in certain paintings, in some dance performances, and in songs, blood and ceremonial objects. In Ancestral Power, Lynne Hume seeks to further our understanding of human consciousness by looking through a Western lens at the concept of the Dreaming. She examines the idea that Aboriginal people may have used certain techniques for entering altered states of consciousness. Could their experiences in such states, together with their extensive knowledge of their environment, have helped to create the cosmological scheme we call the Dreaming? With these questions in mind, she brings together and examines, for the first time, a wide range of existing literature on Aboriginal cosmology and spiritual practices, together with studies of Aboriginal art, data from anthropologists and ethnomusicologists, and statements by Aboriginal people from many different regional areas of Australia. Much of the information she highlights is little known. Ancestral Power suggests that Aboriginal spirituality is much more complex and compelling than the early missionaries could ever have imagined.

This groundbreaking book shows you how to work with different types of ancestors to find, develop, and celebrate the personal power of your own inner badass. By embracing the strength of your lineage--both blood relatives and those chosen by the heart--you can improve your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Badass Ancestorsprovides a compelling series of rituals, meditations, mantras, and exercises that connect you with ancestral guides. You'll discover solid advice on the fascinating world of helpful techniques for genealogy research, the history of ancestor veneration in cultures around the world, healthy ways to deal with problematic ancestors, and how to best leave your own legacy. Each chapter offers unique calls to action that help you build self-confidence, empowerment, and overall badassery with your ancestors' assistance.

A practical guide to shamanic ancestor work, inspired by Huna and supported by guided rituals and exercises • Explains how to heal traumatic experiences and old blockages that are stored in the memory of your lineage • Includes Hawaiian teachings about spiritual and genetic ancestors and reveals how to bond with your spirit family, your Aumakua • Shows how unlocking the support of your ancestors enables you to shine your light fully Knowing your ancestral lineage is not only a matter of curiosity, your life path will unfold with much more ease if you are aware and in harmony with your origins. Exploring the heritage of your bloodline as well as the energy of your spiritual family, which we are often less aware of, opens you up to enormous potential for healing and self-development. This practical guide explains, in a clear and straightforward way, how the energy field of our ancestors influences our personal lives and how we can draw from their strength as well as liberate ourselves from burdens that have been carried over generations. It helps us to lift the veil of forgetting and allow ourselves to fully shine our light, supported by the souls that came before us, by making peace with past hurts and traumas. Drawing on the Huna Hawaiian shamanic tradition as well as other shamanic and energetic practices, the authors show how to connect with our Aumakua, our ancestors and higher self, which includes our close relatives, ancestors stretching back thousands of years, and our spiritual ancestors or karmic family. The authors offer practices to reconcile with our parents and spiritual family, uncover suppressed matters and family secrets, clear and charge our personal energy field and our family energy field, and awaken the potential of our bloodline. They explain how to perform an ancestor healing circle, carry out an ancestor release ritual, and offer blessings for children and grandchildren as well as providing meditative journeys to meet our ancestors, our spiritual family, and our spiritual roots in other realms. They also provide short case studies to illustrate how the rituals and exercises have worked for other people. By enacting ancestral healing, we can recognize who we are, where we come from, and truly fulfill our destiny in this life.

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Contributes to the growing literature on comparative religion and new religious movements. More specifically, it draws attention to a new religious movement. Using a multidisciplinary approcach, Hume describes the emergence of a controversial worldview which has roots in ancient ideas but whose ideology is rooted in the 20th century.

• Illustrates the role of transpersonal fields of consciousness in healing a range of issues, from inherited family and ancestral problems, to past lives and womb trauma, to near-death experiences, merged identities, and spirit attachment • Shares remarkable cases of healing and personal transformation from the author’s more than 20 years of energy healing work, as well as experiences from other gifted healers, psychics, and shamans • Provides diagrams of the human energy body, the spectrum of states of awareness, the multilayered fields of consciousness, and the psycho-energetic dynamics of the transformation process Sharing remarkable cases of healing and personal transformation from his and his wife’s more than 20 years of intensive professional energy healing work as well as experiences from other gifted healers, psychics, and shamans, Peter Mark Adams illustrates the role of transpersonal fields of consciousness in heal ing a range of issues--from inherited family and ancestral problems to past lives and womb trauma to near-death experiences, merged identities, and spirit attachment. Drawing on esoteric tradition as well as scientific research, such as Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic field studies, the author maps out the human energy field in all its subtleties, providing diagrams of the human energy body, the spectrum of states of awareness, the multilayered fields of consciousness, and the psychoenergetic dynamics of the transformation process. Through compelling testimonials of powerful healings, Adams demonstrates how the processes of healing and of peak spiritual experience are closely aligned with harmony within the larger energetic field of consciousness. Proposing a new model of consciousness, reality, and energy healing that incorporates the anomalous phenomena that occurs on the outermost edges of human experience, the author draws these many strands together to outline not only a multilayered approach for different kinds of energy healing modalities, such as Reiki, breathwork, EFT, and remote healing, but also a useful program of self-help that anyone can follow to make lasting improvements to their physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

This collection of essays by regional specialists draws on a wide range of ethnographic and historical data to reassess the significance of the ancestors for changing relations of power and emerging identities in Madagascar.

Yolngu art as a communication system encoding meaning as form; relation of art to the systems of clan organisation and restricted (secret) knowledge; contact history and social contexts of art production; iconography of clan paintings; response to the art market; social organisation rights to land and law; marriage and kinship; rights to paintings; knowledge system - structure, inclusiveness, power, secrecy; role of paintings in ceremonies - burial rituals; range of meanings associated with paintings - examples used in ceremonies associated with the Wawilak Sisters and ancestral shark images; graphic components of painting - figurative and geometric, clan designs; chronological change - the Donald Thomson Collection, past and contemporary categories of painting, commercial art; iconographic analysis of Manggalili clan paintings; relation of events in painting to Yolngu cosmology - creative powers , life and death, male and female dualities.

The anthropology of art is a fast-developing area of intellectual debate and academic study. This beautifully illustrated volume is a unique survey of the current state of anthropological thinking on art and aesthetics. The distinguished contributors draw on contemporary anthropological theory and on classic anthropological topics such as myth and ritual to deepen our understanding of particular aesthetic traditions in their socio-cultural and historical contexts. Many of the essays present new findings based on recent field research in Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, and Mexico; while others draw on classical anthropological accounts of the Trobriand Islanders of Melanesia and the Nuer of the Southern Sudan to form new arguments and conclusions. The introductory overview of the history of the anthropology of art, by Sir Raymond Firth, makes this volume especially useful for those interested in learning what anthropology has to contribute to our understanding of art and aesthetics in general.

"Many masterpieces of central African sculpture were created to amplify the power of sacred relics that affirm a family's vital connection to its ancestral heritage. This important volume, focusing on some 130 works representing a diverse variety of regional genres, illuminates the purpose and significance of these icons of African art, which first came to prominence because of their appeal to the Western avant-garde. While providing an overview of sources ranging from colonial explorers, missionaries, critics, artists, and art historians, the book breaks new ground in its examination of the complex aesthetic and spiritual dimensions of the reliquaries. Its interdisciplinary approach brings together the perspectives of scholars in African and medieval art history along with those in African history, religion, and ethnography." -- Publisher.