Customer Reviews

Catastrophobia: The Truth Behind Earth Changes in the Coming Age of Light

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3 star:		(1)
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Barbara Hand Clow is a noted astrologer, shaman, teacher, theologian and trained anthropologist, a tireless researcher, and the author of a number of important and best-selling books including "Pleiadian Agenda" and "Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets." In "Catastrophobia: The Truth Behind Earth Changes in the Coming Age of Light" she once again reaches beyond the consensus to shed new light and original thinking on the events, processes and anxieties that humans deal with on a daily basis.

The pervasive fear of an impending catastrophe is the motivating force, in Ms. Clow's postulation, behind and beneath all of the obsessions having to do with the structure of contemporary earthly civilization: work, human relationships, the economy, the environment and the state, and the search for healing of these structures and ourselves. But whence this anxiety? Why now, and indeed at periodic intervals over the course of recorded history, have we feared a coming catastrophe, a tragedy of such proportions as to snuff out the Earth and all that lives on it?

In this monumental work, Ms. Clow examines legendary cataclysms and delineates how - contrary to prevailing prophecies of dark and deadly times to come - we are truly on the cusp of an era of incredible creative and spiritual growth. The very recent discovery of the remains of ancient villages buried beneath the Black Sea is but the latest in the accumulation of mounting evidence that many of the "mythic" catastrophes of history - the fall of Atlantis, the Biblical flood - were historic events. Ms. Clow ably demonstrates how a series of cataclysmic disasters resulting from a disturbance in the Earth's crust some 11,500 years ago (itself likely caused at least in part by a stellar supernova in the nearby Vela system) "rocked the world" and left humankind's collective psyche deeply scarred and ineradicably traumatized. We are, in her view, "a wounded species," and the unprocessed, until-now indescribable fear passed from generation to generation is responsible for the constant and widespread expectation of a world-ending apocalypse, seen in such instances as the Y2K event to the much-reported end of the Mayan calendar in 2012.

"Catastrophobia" also uncovers in detail the insidious global forces - economic, political and religious - that have used these collective fears to control and manipulate humanity for countless centuries. But Ms. Clow's book offers more than a glimmer of hope. It is the work of an informed, reasonable and persuasive optimist. In the author's view, we are in the midst of a shift in the Earth's 26,000 year precessional cycle, and there is every indication that the changes in consciousness seen over the past forty years are the beginnings of a collective healing from these deep fears from the primeval past, heralding a time to come of great spiritual evolution.

Ms. Clow's monumental research effort in writing this insightful and important book and the scientific efforts underlying that research it are particularly praiseworthy. The reader is advised, for a taste of the foregoing and as a preface to "Catastrophobia," to consult the article by G.R. Brackenridge in Icarus (16:81-93) entitled "Terrestrial Paleoenvironmental Effects of a Late Quarternary Age Supernova."

Every serious student of history (both academic and alternative) has every reason to own this important, incisive and pacesetting volume. It will appeal also to the astrologer and the eschatologist, as well as the scientist willing to approach Ms. Clow's work with an open mind.

To say that ÒCatastrophobiaÓ is Òmind-blowingly provocativeÓ is an understatement. What Barbara Hand Clow does is give you the keys to the universe. And she just doesnÕt leave you at the gate entrance. She instructs you on how you, and everyone with intent, can access it. SheÕs spent a lifetime unlocking secret doors of ancient knowledge. In ÒCatastrophobiaÓ she gives us a brilliantly illustrated (and lovingly so by her son, Christopher), clearly documented and scholarly referenced tour of the labyrinth with a multi-dimensional vision of the way out. Far out!

She takes you on a trip farther than anyone in my experience. She brings us all to the truth about earthÕs changes over the last 11,500 years that historians, politicians, religions and even archeologists have worked so hard to obscure. In the end itÕs the power of really knowing this truth that is so vast and far reaching. It provides a psychological foundation for immense opportunity to consciously shake the power of fear. She doesnÕt wait until the end to tell you this -- itÕs on page one: ÒCrippled by collective fear from past earth changes...our surface minds are filled with floating images of disaster, guilt, and suffering...We project these painful thoughts out of our inner minds, which creates a coming apocalypse as a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, it already happened!Ó

We have been watching the ÒmovieÓ in reverse!

I am fortunate to have been a student of Barbara Hand Clow for over ten years and have traveled with her (through Power Places Tours) to many of the historical sites she references in the book. Together we have explored and questioned the meanings and possibilities of what we saw. However, I could never have pieced it together from what our direct experience was. I am grateful to Barbara for writing this book which culminates all that she knows to offer answers to so many questions that have gnawed at my subconscious over the years. To put forth a reason why ancient cultures were obsessed with precession opened huge doorways of immediate understanding for me.

Barbara Hand Clow offers a framework for the management of fear and mass hysteria from the macrocosm of existence to our inner world experience of it. What are we so afraid of? And why are we living in this constant fear? Barbara presents a clear understanding and explanation throughout recorded history drawing upon her vast research of Plato, Egyptology and Aegean archeology, her mastery of mythology as well as the secondary research of other writers. By doing so, this form of new paradigm writing moves the reader into a creative dance of possibility for their own lives.

I was most excited by her revelation that the ancient Egyptians would paint pictures of Òhow they wanted their life to continue on the Nile.Ó If they painted it on the tombs and temple walls, the gods would grant them the life they depicted for themselves. We do this now, with television and movies. And IÕm certain without the knowledge of what is being activated for our future on this planet.

As Barbara says, the greater challenge is to integrate this knowledge through deep spiritual intention. Her book is based on a perfectly credible premise: ÒConsciousness creates the material world.Ó And with that, she invites us into the journey of humanity over the past 11,500 years since the cataclysm.

What tickled me the most about her book is that the last word is Òfun.Ó If there is one force that can unite mass consciousness, let it by all means be fun!

Once again, Barbara has reached beyond the collective planetary miasmic thought processes to bring light to what all people deal with on a day to day basis. Fear of catastrophe is the driving force behind and underlying all of the obsessions having to do with our work ethics, our relationship dynamics and the state of how we are becoming sick, as well as how we choose to heal as a society. The book reads like a text book, so get ready to delve into deep historical revelations. Get ready to go back to school and learn the real truth with immense hope on the other end of the trail. The hope is for a future of total and complete enlighhtenment. We've been there before, and we will be there again. This time, no disaster. Like most of her works you will evolve enormously just getting connected with the truth. Enjoy.

I've been reading a lot about global catastrophe -- either as earth changes, political war-based mayhem, or weather that is out-of-control -- and it comes down to this: Change is inevitable. Ms Clow allows as to how that is the case. It's the reaction of all of us that will make or break civilization as we know it. Clow has a lot of material for us to chew on.

I've just read most of this book -- it's the technical one of the three I'm keeping close at hand. I like the meaty parts. Reality is a good thing. But I have to recommend that it be purchased with two other selections.

First, read "The Song of an Emerald Dove" by Xanna Vinson to get a feel for what it feels like to live in a world sensitized by global instability if you are a woman who "feels" in a psychic way and wants to help put things to right. Then pick up Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen's newest work, "Urgent Message from Mother" in order to see how globally the 'messages' are being received -- and then use her wise suggestions to find a way to balance truth and imagination in your own mind and world -- and learn to take action in ways that will better prepare you and your loved ones to make it through *whatever* is on the horizon with flying colors.

We aren't a world of alarmists, not most of us. But there is a time when one has to ask: Am I insane to believe what I'm feeling? Or am I insane *not* to believe it? "Catastrophobia" helps you figure that out; "Message" helps you mobilize if you feel you should; and "Dove" makes you feel empowered -- and just plain good about taking those first steps to live in a changing world.

Read all three. Do it now!

Catastrophobia has a lot of alternative scientific explainations concerning astronomical mechanics of the earth's motion. I enjoyed her recognition of the fear that seems to have swept through the modern human psyche. Clow's style is grounded, mature and not hesitant to go straight for the heart of many bizarre but well explained theories. There is a lot of information in this book and a lot of ancient knowledge comes to light.

Barbara Hand Clow has brought everything into clear focus with this well researched book. We have been subjected to a lot on non-truths over the years that has locked us into a controled behavioral pattern that needs to be broken. This book opens that door for you so you can release these chains and shackles that trap you (us) in this Phobia that we all have been living with. This book will make the history lessons you'll learn fun and enlightening as well as debunking all the myths we have accepted as truths. I have read other books on this subject with this one being so much clearer, easier to understand, and more up to date. A must read for anyone interested in our changing times. We all need to know our hiSTORY.

If you know deep down at a soul level that whatever Barbara says it's true... that her theories and statements arouse a bit of your ancient memories... then this is the book for you. A part of you knows... just knows... that it's all a scare tactic that the Media/Hollywood relating to the real message behind 2012...

In other words... there's nothing to be afraid of. All of the seemingly catastrophes (whether personal or in the global hemisphere)... is just the process of evolution.

Enjoy deep reading. Make sure you read with your Heart... not your head.

I'm no shaman and I haven't even read this book yet, but I HAVE read most of THE Mayan Code by this self-acclaimed frequent flyer Ms. Clow and I believe the negative review (3***) is confused regarding the catastrophe that Clow claims occurred circa 9500 B.C. Something BIG slammed into the earth and sunk about $2 trillion dollars worth of prime real estate, along with its attendant advanced, global, maritime civilization (and that's in 9500 B.C. dollars!), which the experts have further hidden, we have internally sublimated as no doubt tramatic and is coming to the surface in accelerated Mayan time (think the end of Sgt. Pepper).

Whether we get slammed again by some junk from space is beside the point because, apparently, we're all headed to the Pleiades and then maybe some. Chances are, 2012 will hand us something big and it will change everything. I'm stashing $20 bills in various books in my trailer and have only one request: please Popul Vuh, don't burn down my freekin trailer until this THING plays out. A quart of milk could very well be quite expensive in the Pleiades with the nearest cow a few light years away, if you get my galactic drift.

What is funny here is that Ms. Clow and the other 2012 writers are so concerned about what's going to happen on the one hand, but also confident of some great awakening. You'd think they would be less obsessive about it then. My take is they (we) want our cake and be able to eat it too. Higher consciousness is a lot more fun if you're zipping around rural Arizona in a Porsche 911, believe me. How many gurus do you know of who died of acute alcoholism? I can think of two off hand. All that meditation can make a bloke mighty squirrelly and there's nothing like an ice cold mug to cool things off.

Ms. Clow is good reading (and easy on the eyes too) (I'm just goading her: if it weren't for MEN, we wouldn't be in this pickle, according to her.) Has she forgotten that hell hath no wrath like a woman's scorn? Apparently. Her feminist points are pretty much accurate though. Problem is you're just so dualistic, girl.

I'd start with The Mayan Code before hitting yourself over the noggin' with Catastrophobia, as Clow regularly refers to the latter book in the former. Everything will be fine though, you know F(*&#& up, insecure, neurotic and emotional and, yes, possibly further submerged under the ocean. But we need to get this cataclysm karma out of our systems, and an errant asteriod slamming into LA might just be the ticket. We could use some beaches here in Arizona, so I'm thumbs up on a direct hit.

The more Ms. Clow and others explain the ins and outs of this THING, the more confused I become and the more I need to read on. Pretty snazzy marketing if you ask me.

So, don't hold your breath and, whatever you do, make it a good month. (Richard Young is the funniest financial adviser I've ever read.)

I have not finished this read yet as I am going slowly and thinking through passages before continuing on to the next bit of info - and, while Barbara can get technical with her facts, she has done an awesome job with her research materials before pulling her book together - I have been fascinated with the info thus far......it engulfs and absorbs me - something higher awareness books haven't done for some while. There are many things I just "know" to be true and she has validated some of these knowings for me with her depictions of 11,500 years ago and of the geographical changes. I am loving this book and it appeared just when I was ready for this particular info about our past - I'm ready to learn how to live in this world while not being attached to linear time - thank you, Barbara!

I found this book to be exciting, addictive, though not always, or at all, easy to comprehend, and it introduced me to several new fields of knowledge.

However, the author seemed to write the book as though for her peers and others extremely knowledgeable on the subject of prehistoric times, earth changes, Egyptology etc. She used many words I'd never heard of, and even though some of these may have been defined or explained. this didn't help much, since several pages later dozens of new words and place-names of special significance were introduced and used together with the original words and I couldn't remember what these latter words meant. The book absolutely lacks a list of definitions of these specialized words. If the index had been comprehensive/inclusive, I could have looked up the words in question and checked what the author had previously written about them in connection with their first use, but sadly the index was severely restricted/lacking in its inclusion of uncommon but (by the author) frequently used words and names, including place-names. Still, I've given the book five stars because of its exciting content.

The book treats of how accepted theory about earth changes and the cataclysmic and precataclysmic days of Earth history is vastly erroneous, and informs us that early Man, far from being primitive, was in fact highly developed, possessing knowledge of the stars and telescopes and having the ability to travel to distant star systems, albeit this may have been out-of-body travel.

Clow was blessed in having Celtic/Cherokee grandparents who taught her advanced knowledge at an early age, which now stands her in good stead, and has given her access to alternative or perhaps natural means of gaining knowledge. Instructed by her grandparents, she studied Plato and Egyptology and learnt Cherokee and Celtic stories. She learnt how to see nature spirits and how to work with the Ancestors, among many other things.

The "working hypothesis" presented by Clow in this book is that we all at a deep level have memories of past cataclysmic events, and thus continually fear that new such tragedies will befall us in the future. She informs us that 11,500 years ago (i.e. in 9,500 B.C.) our Earth suffered an axial tilt of 23 ½ degrees from the vertical (caused by "the separation of Kingu ... a moon of a destroyed planet, Tiamat, from the Akkadian epic, the Enuma Elish" from Phaeton. Unfortunately, I can't find any explanation of what Phaeton is/was, the name not being included in the Index.
This axial tilt resulted in the advent of seasons and humanity having to adopt agriculture. Apparently, before this the Earth had a vertically positioned axis. Clow's theories are supported by other experts in the field, including J. B. Delair, who clearly explains about the axial tilt and about Earth changes in useful appendices.

An illustration depicting Seth I erecting the Djed Pillar from Abydos Temple in the Osiris Hall shows us the early Egyptians' obsession with the axial tilt and their need to perform ceremonies to right this tilt.

Clow discourses at great length about "precession", which I did not find to be clearly defined and thus did not clearly comprehend, though she does write "precession of the equinoxes is an astronomical cycle that describes the times and qualities of cultural patterns by symbolism". Precession occurs because of Earth's tilted axis.

She asserts that we are "a wounded species afflicted with global collective fear", and being basically an astrologer, discusses the role of the recently discovered asteroid or comet Chiron in our predicament, Chiron being the "wounded healer".

She enlightens us as to the role of the Global Elite (the Illuminati, Secret Government - it has many names), who have controlled us for thousands of years. The Global Elite is also discussed at length in the works of David Icke and by the Sirian High Council (Patricial Cori).

Clow believes that instead of the envisaged/predicted earth changes in the near future (2012) - we have in fact experienced many already, and I heard on the TV news the other day that due to the recent earthquake in Japan the earth's axis had been further tilted to a significant degree, instead of these, she argues, we are heading towards a golden age of peaceful evolution. Well, I quite agree with this, I just believe that the Earth changes will come first, and these need not necessarily be so severe - this may depend on the extent and rapidity of our spiritual development at this time.

The book includes chapters on "The Fallen Angels & the Stones of Ica", "The Stargate Conspiracy & the Kosmokrater" and "Goddess Alchemy & the Heliopolitan Mysteries". The author states "We are completing 11,500 years of a collective degeneration, and we are rapidly shifting into an exciting regenerative phase." She refers us to books on ecstatic body postures, by means of which we can go into trances and access other realities.

To sum up, this is a fascinating, mind-expanding, comprehensive book that touches on many spheres of knowledge. I would strongly advise you to read the book, but unless you're already exceedingly knowledgeable about the subjects the author deals with, I would recommend that you have a dictionary by your side!