Customer Reviews

Personal Totem Pole: Animal Imagery the Chakras and Psychotherapy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
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I realy liked the book. I like Steve's Humour and his obvious love for and faith with the process. He realy has taped into something obviously very profound and powerfull. He deserves a lot of tanks for taking the risk to sound crazy, and share his rediscovery of an ancient power that was forgoten or ignored or despised by a modern, materialistic word. It is a very refreshing read and Steve's sharing of his journeys makes it like reading a novel or better an adventure book. His animals are so creative, so wise and so funny you have to fall in love with them. Each journey despite being personal carries a universal message. What a wonderfull and magical way to connect with one's inner-wisdom! What a nontreatening way to deal with deep hurts and heal the past. Should be recommanded to anyone who wants to reconect with their own inner powers of self healing and self discovery. A lovely and powerfull book, full of humour, common sense and oportunities. Yves A. Chavanne

I got this book because Seena Frost in her excellent book "Soul collage" explicitly recommends "The Personal Totem Pole" by Eligion Gallegos. Unfortunately Gallegos barely goes beyond narrating therapy sessions with individual clients who talk about what their specific animals mean to them. He hardly mentions how to find the animals in each chakra, he does not discuss the history of totem poles and their relationship to these chakras. The book is 90 % case specific accounts of people and what these animals mean to them. I get the impression the reader is supposed to discover the general applicability of the totem pole process him or herself. This is a book of individual stories perhaps designed to help a therapist work with a client who already knows his or her animals. If you are, however, looking for a book that will help you find your animals this is not it. To me it was very frustrating how the author finds the time to talk in detail about talks he gave on the subject, but finds little time to actually teach the subject.
At the end of the book Galegos does mention his workshop, however, in which I can imagine, people are supposed to learn all the things that for whatever reason he left out of the book.

I liked this book a lot. Uncomplicated and straightforward, Gallegos tells of his own meeting with his chakra animals which led him to develop an imagery based psychology. Friends I know have read the book and been inspired to successfully seek their own meetings with chakra animals. Others, like me, have so loved what he talks about that we have studied with him. It is not a book about Totempoles but a book about inner aliveness. The reviewer who complains about the lack of information on totempoles missed the point. The chakra animals can be envisioned as forming your own inner totempole. Gallegos gives very little theory and instead speaks of experiences he has had and his clients have had. In a world were we mistake theory for knowledge, it is refreshing to read some one who does not play that game. There is no jargon or concepts. Just a factual account that by focusing on chakra centers, you can call forth your own imagery... no tricks, no complicated process, no manual, just a simple engagement with deep imagery. The book is over 20 years in print but still offers a simple and clear introduction to Deep Imagery.

I LOVED this book. The book does not simply go into the dynamics of the process, but instead begins with how he came about the process and then goes in to certain clients experiences and personal growth. Through these accounts the reader comes to understand the meaning and depth of what this personal totem pole can achieve. Its not just a simple little how-to book which I greatly like about it. All and all a lovely and powerful book full of great information for personal growth one way or another.