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Review:
Reviews and Excerpt:
SPIRIT WITHIN BOOKSTORE Review: "If you liked Chicken Soup for the Soul, you'll love Breathe Deeply!"
NAPRA Review: "These are fairy tales the modern reader can easily identify with... just what the trapped and endangered child in each of us needs to help us find our own way out."
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BREATHE DEEPLY! HEALING STORIES FOR THE SOUL is a delightful collection of therapeutic and spiritually transforming fairy tales for adults and children (ages ten and older). Come explore the healing world of the imagination and meet magical characters like a little-boy prince who becomes addicted to his teddy bear and finds recovery with the help of a mysterious shaman, a young dolphin who finds healing from sexual trauma with the help of an angel, and a beast from the primordial ooze who must claim his own voice in order to remember who he really is:
"BARBUDOM was an exceedingly large creature, covered with fur and scales and feathers. He had a dragon's tale, the body of a rhinoceros, and the head of a tiger. Long, sharp talons grew from his paws and fangs the size of sabers from his jaws.
"As he emerged from the Glorious Mother's womb, BARBUDOM examined the unfamiliar surroundings. 'Where am I?' he pondered aloud. 'Why have I come to this strange place?'
"The beast then looked at his own body. Suddenly BARBUDOM's face turned a pale shade of green, his lips a deep blue. 'What's this ugly shell around me?'"
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"Patricia Burke's stories convey deep psychological/spiritual truths
poetically and lovingly."
-- Judith Saly, editor of CREATING UNION AND THE PATHWORK OF
SELF-TRANSFORMATION
"Patricia Burke has written an enchanting collection of powerful stories with
healing metaphors on almost every page. BREATHE DEEPLY! is enlightened
reading."
-- Charles L. Whitfield, M.D., author of MEMORY AND ABUSE and HEALING THE
CHILD WITHIN and Barbara Harris Whitfield, author of SPIRITUAL AWAKENINGS
"Reading BREATHE DEEPLY! is like opening a treasure chest full of jewels.
These are stories that can help us remember who we really are and return us
to what really matters."
-- Joseph Jastrab, author of SACRED MANHOOD, SACRED EARTH
"The finely crafted stories in BREATHE DEEPLY! nourish and sustain my faith
in the healing power of metaphor."
-- Camilla Bayliss, Ph. D
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Table of Contents:
William and the Bear:
- A little-boy prince becomes addicted to his teddy bear and finds recovery
with the help of a mysterious shaman.
The Great Wise Dolphin:
- A young dolphin named Jewel finds hope and healing from the after-effects
of sexual trauma with the help of an angel and the Goddess as dolphin.
BARBUDOM:
- A beast from the primordial ooze must claim his own voice and open his
heart in order to take his place in the "family of things."
A World Without Darkness:
- Ariel, a little girl with the voice of an angel, frees her village from
the terror of a fire-breathing dragon with the weapons of self-acceptance and
compassion.
The Golden Thread:
- Jackson learns how to grieve the tragic death of his grandfather and say
"hello" to life with the help of a "craggy old man."
Elizabeth and the Unicorn:
- An abused child is escorted on a journey to reclaim the pleasure of touch
by a magnificent unicorn.
The Beautiful Divine Blob:
- Jonah, an adventuresome youth, frees his town from religious despotism by
finding God within himself assisted by a strange and fearless beast called
the Wildling.
The Rainbow Warrior Woman:
- World peace depends upon the outcome of a vision quest in which Hunete,
the light-bearer and hope of her clan, must face her own inner demons of
pride, self-will and fear.
Jennifer's Mysterious Disease:
- An angel teaches a sick little girl and her anxious mother, the Duchess of
Bliterbottom, that being ill is not a sign of failure or "being broken." And
that true healing comes from seeing ourselves as whole.
The Waterbug:
- During a mysterious encounter in an enchanted woods Jamie is guided by a
character from an ancient legend, who teaches her the true meaning of
compassion and how to stop "enabling" her alcoholic mother.
The Flowering:
- The Little Green Flowering Essence finds forgiveness for the old gardener
who accidentally crushes her tiny green shoot, thus, awakening her own inner
power and claiming her special place amongst the glorious flowers in the old
English garden.
The Cave Dweller:
- A misshapen creature who has lived forever in darkness listens to her
body's call, confronts her own fearful thoughts and leads others out of the
cave into the light of day.
Zartu and the Haemon:
- The juvenile Orca, Zartu, is guided by the elder of the pod to an
underwater cavern filled with beautiful crystals. In that sacred space the
youth learns that revenge is not a solution to being attacked by the greedy
Haemon, but that he must feel his hurt and release it.
The Way Home:
- In a story, within a story, within a dream an old woman is guided by a
beautiful lady of the moon to find within the answers to life's questions she
has always sought outside herself.
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BREATHE DEEPLY! HEALING STORIES FOR THE SOUL is:
Entertaining and Healing For:
- Children ages 10 and older
A Must Read For:
- Adult Children from alcoholic or dysfunctional homes
- Adults in recovery from addictions / Adults on a spiritual path
A Valuable Teaching Tool For:
- Parents, Teachers, Psychotherapists, Nurses, School Counselors, Social
Workers, Substance Abuse Counselors, Jungian and Transpersonal Psychologists,
and other Healing Arts Professionals
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Author Bio:
Patricia A. Burke, MSW is a poet, story-teller, educator, and psychotherapist in private practice in Maine. She is the co-founder of the Beyond Mind Healing Center and a member of the New York Region Pathwork, a spiritual community in upstate New York. She is on the faculty of the Rutgers University School of Alcohol and Drug Studies and the Department of Social Work at the University of Southern Maine. Ms. Burke lectures extensively and has appeared on radio and television talk shows including DRIVETIME and LUNCH BREAK.
