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Let Your Goddess Grow! 7 Spiritual Lessons on Female Power and Positive Thinking

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Charlene M. Proctor, PhD, has written a no-nonsense inspirational gem in Let Your Goddess Grow! 7 Spiritual Lessons on Female Power and Inspirational Thinking. Now, it surprises me to some extent to re-read this last sentence as I have just written it, because (a) as the CEO of Enlightenment.Com, I have read an extraordinary number of self-help books in the last thirty years or so, and most of what I now read is repetitive or derivative, and (b) I usually don't like books that start out promoting one group (e.g., women) at the expense of another (e.g., men).

What makes this book special, then, is not so much its amalgam of cutting-edge brain change science, reality co-creation theory, and positive thinking, but the place of clarity, courage, and wisdom that the author obviously writes from. Charlene Proctor writes (or rather, sources) this book from the very place that she is point to, and therefore the many lessons and hints that she presents come through in a thoroughly enthusiastic, practical, and modern way.

Proctor boils it all down to 7 lessons:

* Insight: How Do We Gain Insight?
* Balance: Manage the Daily Complexity of Work, Family, and You
* Resiliency: Become Stronger Through Adversity
* Your Authetnic Self: Define Who You Are by Knowing Your True Self
* Abundance: Create a Mental Equivalent to Manifest What You Desire
* Corporate Soul: Use Spirit and Strength to Guide Work Life
* The Divine Feminine: Bring Mother God into Your Work and Life

For each of these, she uses a variety of descriptions, exercises, and affirmations to get us to approach things differently, or rather, to approach the creative spiritual powers that we hold in a practical and enthusiastic manner. For example, in the lesson on Abundance, she further develops her idea of "labyrinth thinking" and tells us the following:

Why is it helpful to apply labyrinth thinking to reach prosperity consciousness? Because we already know life is an infinite journey. The labyrinth is a metaphor for the universal superstructure we operate within - it offers an exercise in personal growth. Each time we take retreat and take self-inventory, we can go deeper within and come out with something new, whether it's a refreshed attitude or great spiritual awareness. It's the cyclical outlook on life that keeps us coming back to the center, to our self. There will never be an end to the process, only different venues with more elaborate choices. And our experiences are for our own benefit: otherwise, how would we learn to reach our own potential?

Having prosperity consciousness means that each time we vocalize what we want in our lives, we have to cooperate with spirit and not just wait for it to happen. Aciton opens the flow. We must have the courage to walk. Always be aware of who you are and listen to your higher self. Everything you experience outside the labyrinth is a reflection of your inner world of thoughts and feelings. As within, so without. As above, so below. In the world around you, consciously and unconsciously, you are demonstrating what is in your heart and mind. The more clealry you understand who you are and your journey, the greater results you see.

As for the focus on "women" and the Goddess ... well, Dr. Proctor does have a point. The feminine image of the Divine has sufferred greatly in the last two thousand years or so - perhaps longer - and the way that women are approached, by themselves and by men, has also suffered accordingly. While I sometimes wish that this book had been written more in a more gender-netural manner, I then think back to all of the women who have for years had to rewrite various spiritual services in their mind's eye and ear in order to make them palatable. So, for me, this is a bit of turnabout is fair play, and the rest of the enthusiastic, practical, grounded wisdom that this book contains makes it well-worth reading in any case.

Let Your Goddess Grow! 7 Spiritual Lessons on Female Power and Inspirational Thinking is a fine effort, well-worth perusing and musing upon. Thanks, Charlene, for letting your book grow on us.

Many people think they have little control over their circumstances. They believe their external environment determines their lives. But the truth is that humans have the ability to produce the effects they want in the world simply by observing themselves from another point of view. ~Charlene M. Proctor

Charlene M. Proctor has a creative outlook on life and has realized her power through persistence and through overcoming life's most challenging hurdles. As she worked her way through her education she learned how to manifest success, obtain greater independence and balance her masculine and feminine energies. She also has some interesting ideas about God.

While this book is not overly religious, the theme does seem to be based on allowing our spiritual natures out to play. Spirituality doesn't have to be restrictive; in fact, Charlene M. Proctor shows how tapping into our spiritual selves can actually free us to become more conscious and to create new patterns of thinking.

If there was one point this books makes it is this: "Take Charge of Your Destiny." This is accomplished when we adapt our neural networks through conscious effort. We also have to become more conscious of how our bodies function and this book also points out how humans can become addicted to positive and negative emotions. Through conscious intention, we can change this. That is where our power comes into play. We can then start to create new realities. The seven lessons include:

Insight
Balance
Resiliency
Your Authentic Self
Abundance
Corporate Soul
The Divine Feminine

Charlene M. Proctor has an especially comforting writing style that nurtures your mind with ideas and enlightens you with creative solutions. There are special sections at the end of the chapters called: Consciously Create Your Day. To manifest abundance, she suggests the following affirmation:

I accept my gifts with joy. Every day I rise in a state of thankfulness for all that exists, especially for the blessings in my life.

To become more forgiving:

I forgive because I am capable of expressing compassion. By forgiving, I release this situation from my energy field and feel clear-headed and full-hearted.

Throughout the book there are places for you to record your journey and to analyze your progress. If you are more than ready to toss out limiting beliefs and to embrace hope, love and a new future, then this book might lead you to a more fulfilling life. Some of the very relevant topics for today include:

Affirming the Best in You and Your Workplace - two contrasting lists of beliefs.
What is Self-Worth?
Christ Consciousness and the Symbol of the Divine Feminine - Ideas about the Gnostic tradition and the nature of wisdom.
How Do We Imagine Intellect and Emotion? (How God can be understood through the masculine and feminine qualities.)

There are affirmation for: Fear, Forgiveness, Patterns, No Time for Yourself, Unrecognized Talents, Producing More Income and Overcoming Discrimination.

At times this is a very intellectual and somewhat troubling look at history and how modern religion has repressed the joy women want to feel in worship and life. The author questions biblical beliefs and comments on ancient mystical teachings. I found it fascinating to read about the reasons the libraries in Alexandria burnt down and why many ideas from ancient times are so misunderstood in our current culture. Although I think it is good to read the Bible if you want to compare teachings. Reading this book will probably leave you with a lot of questions. If you are a Christian, the information will push a lot of belief buttons.

This book might also help you understand why you became disillusioned with your religious beliefs or why you always felt something was lacking. Thinking of God as a Mother and a Father does seem more healing. Charlene Proctor definitely has a purpose behind writing this book and if it doesn't awaken your goddess immediately, it will definitely awaken your curiosity and there are many ideas to think about that could enhance your life. Overall, this book is not really about religion as much as it is about empowering women and helping women become more powerful in order to love and nurture the world.

~The Rebecca Review

We are our own worse enemy. As women, we train ourselves to believe what society has forced upon us -- men deserve and will gain every bit of praise and glory. I love Charlene's new book as it will equip you and each woman with the insight needed to love yourself and grow by leaps and bounds. If you are female, you must read this amazing book and sit back and take it all in stride that you really are worthy of many blessings. The seven lessons may be as plain as the nose on your face, but if we do not do anything with them, it won't matter.

I am so excited about this new book that I am giving it for Christmas gifts to all my female friends and hoping to do the same for male buddies. Husbands need to read it too. Another one of my favorite books, especially for moms to think of themsleves as the real CEOs in life and in their households, is Mommy CEO. They are both full of reasons why we should let go and let God help us in our daily attacks on ourselves and live life to the highest potential, especially in our own home and with our own family and life in general. In fact, it was the author of Mommy CEO who recommended Charlene's book and I will be forever grateful!

"Let Your Goddess Grow: 7 Spiritual Lessons on Female Power and Positive Thinking" is an empowering book spiked with affirmations to nurture and enrich a woman's soul and psyche.

The seven spiritual lessons are: gain insight by examining the past; manage the daily complexity of work, family, and you; become stronger through adversity; define who you are by knowing your true self; create a mental equivalent to manifest what you desire; use spirit and strength to guide work life; and bring Mother God into your work and life.

Proctor uses affirmations to help imprint the lessons in our subconscious. The chapter on Abundance starts with "I have everything I need in life. My supply is limitless and I continually accept gifts from the universe."

Towards the end of each chapter is a section entitled "Consciously Create Your Day," listing several affirmations for the various personal challenges covered by the lesson. For example, for the chapter on "Your Authentic Self," this is the affirmation for Aging: "Each stage in my life is wonderful. My wisdom and experience acquired from life make me a person who has a lot to offer the world. Every moment I continue to engage in the world is valuable to others. I no longer need disease or illness to secure a place in the world. I am shining, with all my wisdom, in my security. I feel safe knowing no one can take my place."

Proctor caps each lesson with "Taking Spiritual Inventory" where she asks us to analyze our personal circumstances, write our own affirmation, and list specific action plans. The closing sections of each chapter serve as intimate self-dialogues, where Proctor guides us to appreciate ourselves and map a course to further improvement.

In not so subtle terms, Proctor taps the spiritual nerve to stress the power of the divine in every woman's daily endeavor. Some may feel that the book is religious, even risqué in the idea that God is both Mother and Father. But if we go beyond the parameters of religion, and transcend to the laws of life and the power of the mind, we will realize that the lessons presented in this book are, in fact, universal.

"Let Your Goddess Grow" is a must read for today's female. It fleshes out universal truths and awakens the inner senses. It is enlightening, empowering, and absolutely essential to the well-being of the woman within.

-Ruby Bayan, www.OurSimpleJoys.com

Let Your Goddess Grow!
7 Spiritual Lessons on Female Power and Positive Thinking
review by Bonnie Cehovet

author: Charlene M. Proctor, Ph.D.
The Goddess Network Press
2005
ISBN #0-9766012-0-6

I don't know a woman out there who isn't looking for some way to empower herself. A growing portion of those women are actually willing to work on themselves, to learn to unconditionally love who and what the are. It is for these women that Charlene Proctor writes. This is more than a book to read ... it is a template to be put into practice. Through applying these lessons, you will learn to recognize old patterns that are holding you back, find ways to release them and replace them with positive patterns that will support your personal and spiritual growth. You will discover the divine feminine within, and, through her, manifest your independence from cultural and familial imposed boundaries.

The seven spiritual lessons in this book are:

1. Insight - Gain insight by examining the past.
2. Balance - Manage the daily complexity of work, family, and you.
3. Resiliency - Become stronger through adversity.
4. Your Authentic Self - Define who you are by knowing your true self.
5. Abundance - Create a mental equivalent to manifest what you desire.
6. Corporate Soul - Use spirit and strength to guide work life.
7. The Divine Feminine - Bring Mother God into your work and life.

In each lesson Dr. Proctor shares her personal philosophy and insights, as well as reflections from her life and exercises that allow the knowledge of the lesson to be turned into wisdom in the readers life. Liberally sprinkled throughout are side-bars with comments from women like you and I ... everyday women who have thoughts on their own spirituality.

At the beginning of each lesson are a few words of wisdom. For Lesson 1 - Insight - the words of wisdom are: "We gain insight by allowing change in our lives, and letting go of the past."

At the end of each lesson, Dr. Proctor brings it all together with a section entitled "Taking Spiritual Inventory", consisting of a series of question to help you analyze where your blockages are, followed by formation of an affirmation centered on what you wish to manifest in your life. "Walk Your Talk" is a section where the reader is encouraged to list actions and realistic that the reader can make to support a new set of goals. "Share the Spirit" encourages readers to share their insights with others around them - whether in a formal group setting or in their everyday life. The reader is also encouraged to allow others to help them create and stick to new changes.

For some people, viewing the Divine as both masculine and feminine will be akin to shock treatment. For some, it will be their salvation. The research that went into this book, the presentation of the history of the Feminine archetype, and the Feminine in the Divine, are quite well done. This book is well worth reading - even if you don't agree with it. It will make you think, it will make you accountable for your actions, it will make you a better person.

© August 2005

This is the book for the woman who is stiving for more. More confidence, more self-esteem, more abundance, more resiliancy, more courage to become the person she longs to be. Dr. Proctor helps the reader uncover hidden strengths and develop new goals. She gently shows the reader how to overcome the setbacks of the past while honoring, not forgetting, the lessons that were gained from the struggles. Men will enjoy this book too, especially if they have ever tried to understand the beautiful, inner strength of the women who most influence their lives.

By JoAnna Carey, Author of Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life

Of all the self-limiting beliefs so many women retain, the greatest may well be culturally cemented in our minds and hearts.

In Let Your Goddess Grow! 7 Spiritual Lessons on Female Power and Positive Thinking, author and therapist Charlene Proctor, Ph. D., begins to chip away at the idea that divinity is the pervue of men, that women - because of Original Sin - are somehow less deserving of anything but blame.

With a gentle humor and countless revealing insights, Proctor guides readers into the depths of the ancient past to release old hurts, reprogram old thoughts and bring about a new and more powerful understanding of themselves.

Proctor goes deeper than so many self-help authors who urge the power of positive thinking. She takes a step beyond by sharing her personal spiritual beliefs and understanding of the feminine divine, a centuries old concept whose adherents have been labeled heretics or, worse, physically attacked for challenging patriarchal authorities.

Chapters delve into the seven lessons: Insight, Balance, Resiliency, Your Authentic Self, Abundance, Corporate Soul and The Divine Feminine, all of which end with a series of intriguing questions to help the reader connect concept and reality, as well as a set designed to encourage discussion circles.

Proctor's central message weaves in and out of the pages, encouraging a generation of weary women:

"Above all, know that we are beautiful entities -and the soul's journey is a gift, a miracle," she writes. "We are beloved treasures who have an incredible opportunity to learn. People who are our greatest critics are there for our own benefit. By harnessing our own capabilities to create a world where we express our own divinity, we can evolve together. And who knows where it will lead?"

Dr. Charlene M. Proctor has truly written an authentically empowering book that I feel will help woman re-claim their authentic Divinity, their core essence, and learn how to re-chart the path of their lives coming from pure soul purpose.

This incredibly well written book is a beacon of light, hope, truth, and will take you on a "journey of the soul" so that you can live, shine, be and express your soul essence and true purpose in this life. Her book is an experience to savor, and I recommend it with all of my heart.

Barbara Rose, Ph.D. author of Know Yourself: A Woman's Guide to Wholeness, Radiance & Supreme Confidence and Stop Being the String Along: A Relationship Guide to Being THE ONE

Charlene Proctor is the authentic Goddess. More importantly, in her book "Let Your Goddess Grow", she magnificently shows the reader the way to enlightenment and authenticity. This book can be read from cover to cover, OR, (this is part of the beauty of this book), you can go inside and digest bite size chunks of wisdom that has the potential to beautifully and magnificently "move" you to reveal the Goddess inside of you.

As a human being, we are evolving. Nothing stays the same. We're either growing or not. Charlene's book helps us to grow, in many beautiful ways.

Personally, I love Charlene's work and highly recommend others to give themselves the gift of letting your own Goddess grow.

I purchased the book for my 19 years old daughter as a Christmas Gift. She's enjoying the reading and is happy about owning this book. I can see a slight improvement and a learning as on a mother daughter day she'll explain to me how she's learning to think positive based on her reading.......