Customer Reviews

The Man in the Woods: The Recapitulation Diaries

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I recently finished J E Ketchel's book, "The Man in the Woods". Although the descriptions of the horrific sexual abuse she experienced are extremely graphic and at times extremely uncomfortable to read, her writing is of superb quality. Her clear message that it is possible to heal from sexual abuse, makes her amazing story an inspiration to anyone who has experienced it.

It is very difficulty trying to comprehend the horrendous amount of cruelty and torture that was inflicted on her as an innocent child, but there was never the slightest hint of revenge in her voice. She has clearly transformed her trauma on all levels.

She truly is a courageous woman, not only to have so bravely taken this journey but to
have the courage to openly speak about it now. On every page she put real words to all the difficult feelings she had buried deep inside. She has taken sexual abuse out of the darkness, proving that healing from it is not just a distant dream but a real possibility. I was drawn to her openness and to the degree of total detachment she has achieved as the result of the recapitulation of the abuse.

She describes in great detail exactly how in therapy, guided by her spirit self and with the help of a gentle, seasoned guide named Chuck, she learned how to use "recapitulation", a very valuable shamanic tool.

Recapitulation is a practice that involves reliving all aspects of the abuse in minute detail, going back, time and time again, gathering all the knowledge and truths that have been left behind. The process, though a lot of work and very painful physically, mentally and emotionally, is a necessary, spirit driven journey. By freeing all the energy attached to these prior experiences and discovering unknown truths, she was able to join all the fragmented parts and become whole. No longer having power over her, she is now free to experience life and really "feel" for the first time-- leaving us on a very positive note.

I applaud her strong spirit and her ability to persevere though all those years of memories.

Thank you so much, J E Ketchel for sharing your remarkable life story and most of all for giving us hope!

The tremendous success of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the rest of the Millennium Trilogy bear witness to the universal drive to seek retribution for childhood sexual abuse and torture. Though these books and subsequent movies offer aggressive release and revenge, the main character, in the end, remains a highly defended victim encased in the traumatic residue of her childhood, her innocence forever lost. Her experience typifies that of many PTSD survivors.

J. E. Ketchel's The Man in the Woods documents the very different possibility of total healing and release from the lifelong impact of severe childhood trauma. Through the use of the ancient shamanic practice of Recapitulation, introduced to the modern world by Carlos Castaneda, J. E. Ketchel embarks upon a complete soul retrieval of her childhood self. Her journey takes her through the dark world of the sexual predator where she faces the full experiences of her child self, freeing her innocent energy as she releases and purges herself from the predator's grip. The result, to be further revealed in her own trilogy, The Recapitulation Diaries, is total healing, and, what's more, an outcome of evolutionary advance: access to energetic possibilities sorely needed at this juncture of world crisis.

J. E. Ketchel's book is both a virtual manual for the seeker of deep healing and change, as well as a thorough case study for the dedicated professional. The fact that J. E. Ketchel could write this book and send it out into the world is testament enough to her complete lack of attachment to her personal history, which she fully accepts, but which has no impact on her current openness to life.

J. E. Ketchel's gift to the world in this book is both the full exposure of the truth of what can and does happen to many in childhood, as well as the exposition of the healing power of an ancient shamanic practice brought to bear on life's most challenging of experiences. This is groundbreaking work!