Customer Reviews

The Magus of Strovolos: The Extraordinary World of a Spiritual Healer (Compass)

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For those with any mystical inclination, this is a mustread.

It reveals the intricate and elaborately detailed constructsof the 'mystical world' of a spiritual healer known as 'Daskalos', asseen by a visiting Cypriot-American professor through his'anthropological glasses'.

The philosophy centers around esotericChristianity, but resonates most because of the excellentparallellisms it draws with other esoteric traditions such as theKabbala, Sufism and Hinduism. It speaks of spiritual healing, thenature of reality, the multiple planes of existence, reincarnation andkarma, and offers numerous incredibly insightful interpretations ofthe proverbs and stories of the bible. It is one of the few booksthat offers insight on the mechanics of death and rebirth, exomatosisand the law of karma.

This book is definitely mind-expandingregardless on your take on mysticism. I consider myself lucky to havecome across it and Daskalos himself in 1987. Though I am still tryingto interpret Daskalos' comment from my one hour meeting with him, thebook was definitely key to opening my mind to questioning mystical,social and political philosophies, the nature of existence andreligion...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Indeed, I went on to read _Homage to the Sun_, _Fire in the Heart_, and _Riding with the Lion_. I recommend them all. I recognised in Daskalos a certain type of rare healer/teacher that can found all over the world. Personally, I think of these natural wise men as the true priest-kings of the world. The professional priests and professors have largely driven them underground or to society's margins, but the people always seem to recognise a man, or woman, of true Spirit. You can find them on the reservation, the ghetto or barrio, the hills of Appalachia, or remote Greek isles. They all seem to mysteriously share quite simular spiritual beliefs- are all united by the same "golden thread."

Of course, they also like to occasionally pull the leg of would-be students- especially gullible academics. This is because they want you to run everything you see and hear through the filters of your own reason and intuition.

Have you ever looked into the topic of energetic healing? Have you ever looked at biographies and autobiographies of healers? I have. I've read lots of them. And the "Magus of Strovolos", which is about "Stylianos Atteshlis", a Greek Cypriot healer who lived until the early 1990's, did what no single book has done that I've read so far. It tied everything together and proposed a truly complete view of things, from reincarnation and Karma, to healing, astral projection, to philosophy, to ethics necessary to move into the work. And, it was absolutely hilarious at times...

But before you decide that "funny" isn't a good thing in a book that covers this topic, let me tell you that it's not funny through and through. It's deadly serious at times. And the subject matter is so thought- provoking that I've found myself reading this book (and the subsequent two that are now out of print), several times, just to be sure that I didn't miss anything.

It's THAT good...

I completed this wonderful book just this past afternoon. I am compelled to discover the true identity of the Magus, if indeed he is still alive. What a fountain of knowledge and wisdom this great master possesses. Such a wide range of topics he can speak of, from demonology to cosmology, from one end of the scale to the other. A truly enlightening read, every page an education for the ever thirsty mind. The Magus shows us a path that can never lead to failure; a journey of self discovery and dissolution of the ego.

After thirty years of studing healing, I have finally found a book that is worth recommending to others. This is it. Read it.

This is a rich and rewarding book about a profound and complete spritual teaching and path. The author has contributed a narrative about his contacts with an authentic spiritual teacher. Those interested in healing and spirituality should read this book.

This book is wonderful. I am a healing touch practitioner and found it so enlightening. He is truly a wonderful healer and the writer does a great job in getting the story across. I am looking forward to the next book in the series. Homage To The Sun. It is going to take a lot to beat The Magus. Thanks for a great book.

I have often advised young people to travel the world, not as a tourist but for extended visits to immerse themselves in other cultures. If nothing else, the traveler encounters a diversity of beings and ways of living that change, to a greater or lesser degree, how one sees his or her normal life. New doors of perception open, new senses are enlivened, and when one returns "home" it is never quite the same as before. And that's what this book does to the spiritual or simply curious traveler.

Through young Markides' eyes, we stay at the home of a true magus, that is, one who understands how the life force operates beyond our normal perceptions. For the magus, it's somewhat of a workaday world of dealing with elemental beings, karmic energies (which he sometimes consciously "takes on" as a gift of mercy to others), and other forces of which we normal people are most often quite unaware. A magus, or magician, may be black (harmful) or white (helpful). In this case, get to see how a conscientious, helpful healer operates in a commonplace setting, surrounded by regular people. No pointy star-spangled hats or boiling pots of newts and goat hooves here. You'd walk right by him on the street.

This is a fascinating story sincerely chronicled by the author. We're given a peek behind the curtain of miracles and get a sense of how they happen, of what it takes (beyond the typical waving of a wand or sprinkling of stardust) to restore balance and healing where chaos and illness have prevailed. For anyone interested in the idea of natural or psychic healing, and to see how it happens in plausible, everyday circumstances, you'll really appreciate this story. Especially in this age of preposterous medical costs and the pharmaceutical shroud blanketing our health care system, it's encouraging to encounter a practice of real healing knowledge that's not only priceless, but free.

Best and most life changing book I have ever read. Some of the stuff can be a little bit confusing at first, but just keep reading it. This book answers many questions about the universe. If you are at all interested in spiritual matters, buy this book.

This truly exceptional and fascinating book delves into explaining karma, past lives, spiritual healing, going out-of-body (including how an advanced enough person adept at this skill could appear in more than one place simultaneously or the infamous 'doppelganger' phenomenon), the various layers of the spiritual realms, the manipulation of energy and matter, and much more in terms the lay or common person can understand.

If you're into qigong, chi manipulation or research into the same, mysticism of any kind, the paranormal, spiritual fulfillment or development or the like you may well find this a must-read. It is not a tutorial nor a "how-to" instructional tome for developing the abilities demonstrated by the subject of the book, so don't expect that, but in a field where so many books and videos on the subject don't live up to their title, Magus of Strovolos is an extraordinary, enlightening work- one of the few that explains the how's and why's of many esoteric practices and beliefs.