Customer Reviews

The Four Insights: Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers

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I have just finished reading this book, and my plan is to read through it again, slowly, and work with the exercises associated with each insight. I know that I have only begun to absorb the lessons, and that this will take more study and practice. This is some of what I have gleaned so far:

Insight #1: The Way Of The Hero.
This is a concept I relate to, since the book I wrote is in the form of a (shamanic) hero's journey.
We can be the heroes of our own journeys, regardless of the stories we have been telling ourselves up to this point; we can re-write our own myths. To begin again from a new paradigm, that of the hero, and to look at our journeys in this empowered way, we will heal, by recognizing that we have triumphed by surviving our challenges. As spiritual adults, we can honor our ancestors, without having to repeat their karmic patterns; we can learn to do our own journeys, the ones we originally incarnated for. With a new perspective, we begin to respect the heroes that we are; the ones who learned, adapted, & evolved as we walked our paths.

Insight #2: The Way Of The Luminous Warrior--the power of fearlessness.
To practice fearlessness is to simply be what we truly are, which is love. This is the only way out of the dark and into the light. When fear settles into the body, the lifeforce is clouded & darkened to the point of affecting our DNA. We're essentially inviting death to come visit that much earlier, by holding fear inside our bodies.
In this insight, the exercise given is to look at three former lifetimes; the one where we suffered the most, the one where we misused our power, and the one where we used our wisdom to serve others. This practice helps to clarify & release old patterns.
The path to fearlessness requires that we let go of the war within, and the way to do this is through the practice of Nonengagement. It is not necessary to engage in outside battles, which of course only reflect inside battles. What needs to be healed is our inner woundedness.
I agree with the Practice of Certainty; if we do not fully commit to a path, we will not succeed. I also agree with the concept of Nondoing; we're not machines that run the world, we're human beings moving through life.

Insight #3: The Way Of The Seer
This insight is about being aware of the dreams we are dreaming. What have we bought into, from the media & from other people's standards, that we have incorporated into our own dreams? And how do we each view the dream that is our life? This insight is about visioning, manifesting and the law of attraction. The energy we carry around determines what we will encounter in our respective dreams. So if we let go of expectations and our own current mindset, there is no telling what the universe might offer to us. Villoldo used the example of Nicola Tesla and the expression of his own genius, which was only possible because he wasn't stuck in what had already been "proven" to be real.

Insight #4: The Way Of The Sage
I take this insight to be about wisdom & the responsibility of knowing that we have designed our own paths to learn from. I think that by working with the first 3 insights, we will energetically come to a new place inside ourselves, a type of surrender, knowing that we are love, peace & abundance--we don't need to create these attributes, we just need to BE them.
This is also about paying attention to what the dream is telling us, because the dream is paying attention, too! Witnessing our thougths, the constant running commentary that occupies our minds, witnessing our reactions to physical pain and/or inconvenience and recognizing these as projections, is the work of the sage.
I found the part about owning our projections to be very interesting. I did shadow work a few years back, which was transformative, and out of which came several chapters in the book that I wrote.

There is much wisdom in this book, far more than can be covered in one review, and I am looking forward to rereading The Four Insights and doing the exercises. The first book I read by Mr. Villoldo was Shaman, Healer, Sage, wherein he describes healing methods for the luminous body. Since then I have been reading all of his work, and anything else I can find that talks about our evolution into Homo Luminous.

Blessings to Mr. Villoldo for performing the sacred task of bringing these insights to us.

Louise Teresa StrongBear, author of: Journey By Night: A Solitary Journey
Journey by Night: A Solitary Journey

I LOVE this book. The direction and explanation of the Four Insights are multi-layered and clearly put. Powerful exercises are included, and are worth their weight in gold as they train the sub-conscious to a unique and enlightening perspective. As we practice our ability to know and experience these universal insights, our inner world heals, and the outer world follows. Many thanks to the author who took the time to share his wisdom.

I found the introduction to be the most interesting and informative section of the book. The facts of the Laika shamans coming out of seclusion and the cover ups of the conquistadors are fascinating. Throughout the book, the author continually refers to shifting perceptions between levels of serpent, jaguar, hummingbird, and eagle which I found a little convoluted. The insights are valuable though and include the practices of nonjudgement, beauty, nondoing, certainty, living consequently, and owning your projections. Villoldo's personal accounts throughout the book are entertaining.

Important to read his earlier books first. This book is thought-provoking and filled with ancient wisdom, things not lightly dabbled in..
I feel this book should be used as a text..

I was so pleased to find this book in print! Alberto has a gift of combining story telling and grounded reasoning in such a way that these new concepts to the average western mind are easily understood. Anyone who wants an thorough introduction to the spiritual practices of the medicine wheel and the Laika people will enjoy this book.

If you are or have been a student of Alberto's Healing the Light Body School, you will want this book on your shelf as a textbook. It is a wonderful review of the practices of each of the Four Directions.

I have been involved in the Four Winds shamanic work for a couple of years (led by Alberto V). It has been wonderfully helpful and has grounded me in a way that no other system has. It is like living 24/7 in sacred space. Yet, this book is not that strongly written and a bit boring. I can highly recommend getting the shamanic rites and the Four Winds Society work but cannot highly recommend this book.

Every time i read a chapter, i felt truth jumping out to me from each page, so much so, that my eyes would well up with tears from inner knowing. It was an easy read, the suggestions in the book are very easy and practical. I loved it so much, i bought a few copies for my friends. Even for people who have never learned about Shamanism, this book will help you appreciate Mother Earth and your special role in the Universe.

This is a book that everyone should read more than once. Alberto Villoldo's insights and suggestions are fabulous. His books are just like hearing him in person. He is a born story teller, and a gifted shaman, teacher and writer. This book describes how we would all like to live our lives, and why we should try.

Villoldo has presented material here that is better than many people may realise. I train shamans. I absolutely must recommend this book to all my students because of the incredible significance of the exercises within it. The material on the four perceptual levels has the great potential to change lives. People who read the book but do not perform the movement of the Assemblage Point or the mirror exercise that shows how to track your perceptual levels will not understand my adamancy about how good this book is! But true shamanistic practice is experiential and this book provides some very significant ways to broach the realm of experiencing spirit. Taken together with the other writings of Villoldo, this is a very important work. It will continue to be at the top of my Recommended Reading List for my students.

All of the works by this author will help you in your spiritual development. He is truly a healer and teacher.