Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly [Paperback]

Cindy Silbert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2008

In Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly, Cindy Silbert guides you beyond your ego and intermittent happiness to your true self and lasting fulfillment. Based on her own encounter with the Divine Feminine, she reveals untouched wisdom and three Divine Archetypes that hold the key to balance, expression, power and your destiny. Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly is more than just another "self-help" book, it takes you on a mystical journey to manifest your greatest desires. The book features famous Chameleons (such as Oprah Winfrey, Hilary Clinton and Anita Roddick), Butterflies (such as Angelina Jolie, Madonna, Audrey Hepburn) and Dragonflies (such as J.K Rowling, Byron Katie and Marianne Williamson), which brings the archetypes to life and allows readers to identify mentors. Through a self-quiz, readers discover their eminent archetype further revealing their unique characteristics, lifestyle tendencies and life purpose. Ultimately readers receive inspiration and practical guidance to create their destinies and make their mark in the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (June 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419699105
• ISBN-13: 978-1419699108
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,438,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good coach for achieving balance and your true self, September 9, 2008

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly (Paperback)

The Hawaiian Goddess Hina was purportedly the inspiration for "Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly." The book is intended to help women achieve their best Yin qualities by achieving balance between the three divine archetypes which control certain aspects of their personalities.

Chameleon: Organization, Finances, Initiative, Accounting, etc.
Butterfly: Creativity, Sexuality, Decorating, Public Speaking, etc.
Dragonfly: Life Purpose, Peace of Mind, Intuition, etc.

Of course, you get a brief personality test to tell you which of these basic archetypes you embody. The book also contains characteristics which help you identify imbalances in each of these archetypes. Meditation and affirmation to reach each of these archetypes is described as well.

What's great about "Chameleon" is that it's written in simple language that is easy to comprehend and follow. The advice is practical and won't take that much time to follow correctly even in a busy day. Best, the three archetypes are images every woman can connect to and understand. The book may not be for every woman, but many of us have needed to find balance and connect to our true selves. This book is one took which will help you do that.

Rebecca Kyle, September 2008

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Room for improvement, but powerful, August 28, 2008

By 

Breeni Books "www.breenibooks.com" (Rockwell, NC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly (Paperback)

Readers may be tempted to give up on Cindy Silbert a few chapters into Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly due to the fantastical nature of the introduction. Purporting that she has a message to deliver, channeled from the Hawaiian goddess Hina, Silbert first lays out the origins of her book and her internal struggle to get the ethereal memo onto paper.

It seems Hina was a little overeager to get her words of wisdom to the public and Silbert's first attempts came out as pages of unorganized gibberish. Hopefully, this explains the frequency of run-on sentences and lack of punctuation throughout the book. Strangely enough, these grammatical distractions start to diminish the further one reads, and the text takes on a more orderly form midway.

The introduction belies the amount of self-awareness that can be achieved through Silbert's guided meditations, so it is definitely worth sticking with. Once she moves past her motivation for writing and begins to delve into the archetypes of the Chameleon, the Butterfly, and the Dragonfly, the book becomes a mirror for the feminine psyche. She describes the personality traits of the three Divine Archetypes in detail, and through a short quiz, readers can identify which archetype they are more closely connected to and which ones need to be strengthened.

The key is balance, according to Silbert. Each person should strive to maintain an equilibrium among the three for a healthy, rewarding life. The book infers that over time, women have become disconnected with the Divine Feminine and our personalities have become fragmented. This is driving our loss of balance and our inability to enjoy life. By reconnecting with the divine, readers should be able to focus on weakened attributes and heal the rifts between the archetypes.

While fascinated with spiritual abstractions, I am also a skeptic. At first, I found Silbert's story a bit too imaginative and removed from reality for my taste. She is also a professional life coach, and I am generally wary of individuals who adopt this title. It is way too easy to smooth talk your way into a commercial enterprise in this field.

Once she began to describe the archetypes in detail, however, I found myself relating in such fashion that I was entranced and could not stop reading. I am pretty sure at this stage in my life, I am alternating between Chameleon and Dragonfly and have put Butterfly on the back burner. Everyone's experience will be unique. Silbert explains the unique tendencies of each archetype and how they can be called upon for Divine inspiration and guidance.

One last complaint: Amazon and Lulu would have you believe this book is 190 pages long, and for numerical purposes that is true. There are actually 150 pages of content, and 40 pages of blank journal pages. While journaling is a great exercise and I'm sure its meditative qualities will only enhance the reading experience, I feel like including blank pages in an informational book serves mostly to fatten up the appearance. It makes it look like there is more "meat" to the book than there actually is. It's back-to-school season. I can pick up a ten cent notebook at Wal-Mart to serve the purpose. Fluffing up the book with blank pages is not necessary and, in my opinion, bordering deceptive. Unfortunately, it is a common practice of self-help books.

I have a love/hate relationship with Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly. Some areas are incredibly inspiring and logical, while others are bothersome. It is definitely worth the effort and I think readers will find many life enhancing opportunities within it. It does, however, have a lot of room for improvement and expansion.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Discover Your True Self and Enrich Your Life, August 21, 2008

By 

Bryan Carey "Bryan Carey" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Chameleon Butterfly Dragonfly (Paperback)

Chameleon, Butterfly, Dragonfly is a self- help guide written for women by a woman who is practiced at the art of life cultivation. This book aims to help women everywhere to achieve self- fulfillment by connecting with their mind, body, and spirit and then experience the feeling of harmony when all of these dimensions are acting together and the individual has reached a level of self- actualization.

This book is like other self- help books in many ways. Like others, it includes a short questionnaire to discover one's personality type and in this book, the emphasis is on personality archtypes. By answering a few questions, the reader will know the dominant archtype and will discover how well balanced they happen to be between the three archtypes discussed in this book: Chameleon, Butterfly, and Dragonfly. This book also recommends ways to improve one's overall health by taking time out from your busy life and getting in touch with your inner self. This can be accomplished through meditation, yoga, or simply by finding a quiet place where you can clear your mind and focus on your mind, body, and spirit. These aspects of the book are similar to other self- help guides and they are typical of what you would expect when you read this type of book.

Similarities between self- help guides are common, but there are some other aspects of Chameleon, Butterfly, Dragonfly that are different from other guides and make the book a little more interesting. The entire concept of the Chameleon, Butterfly, and Dragonfly is something unique to this book and it is something I have never heard of before. It isn't necessarily something extraordinary, but it is at least something original. The Chameleon, Butterfly, and Dragonfly each have a specific set of personality characteristics and achieving balance between the three archtypes is good, but there are many people who have a dominant personality type and are perfectly happy. What is most important is that an individual is true to themselves. In other words, if an individual's personality leans toward butterfly, and in reality they are behaving like a chameleon, then this individual needs to work on transforming themselves because they are obviously not living as their true self.

Chameleon, Butterfly, Dragonfly is intended for women, so my opinion on this book may not be worth much to a potential female buyer. However, what this book is talking about could possibly apply to men also. Applying the guide to myself, I quickly discovered that my dominant personality archtype is the Chameleon. But since this system was really intended for women, the concept may not apply in my case. Perhaps the author will write another book in the future that is designed for men, with a unique set of archtypes that apply exclusively to men.

Chameleon, Butterfly, Dragonfly is a pretty good self- help book that many women will find useful. I like some aspects of it and I can see how it could help some women discover their true self and fulfill their own destinies. It is a little short to take seriously as a complete guide, but it does have some useful advice nonetheless.