From the Inside Flap
"In this day and age of spiritual teachers that come in every conceivable guise, Spiritual Vampires is an important manual on the appropriate use of power-a strategy for healthy spiritual recovery for those who have been subject to religious abuse." - Harvey Joyner, Jr., minister "This book is so timely and valuable. It will challenge our personal experiences and beliefs, and rightly so.I honor Marty for her courage to reveal these much-needed (and much-resisted) truths. The emperor truly has no clothes on!" - Liese Keon, MFCC, psychotherapist
"Vampires was a gift sent from heaven for me! While editing this book, I had some profound personal insights related to latent incest memories that brought about a healing which allowed me to cancel a hysterectomy. - Colleen Rae, author of Perchance To Dream
"Marty Raphael bravely names a form of abuse we'd rather believe does not exist. Her personal story of healing is a powerful contribution to the healing of all spiritual abuse survivors!" -Sandra Felt, MSW, LCSW psychotherapist
"I especially love the final chapters of this book because they offer hope and a vision for how it can be different. They also provide the tools necessary for preventing abuse of any sort, not only for ourselves, but for our children." -Karyn Wyse, minister
"Your story (Spiritual Vampires) is quite moving. I am certain that many will find deep encouragement to return to the ever-present Truth within, and in that return to drink deeply of that which is total nourishment. Good work! Makes it all worth it when the story is offered up to help others." - Gangaji
"The road to hell is a freeway paved with peoples' good intentions. The road from hell is a winding, unpaved path that we construct. And the end of the path is only the beginning. Oh, but what a powerful, beautiful beginning it turned out to be! Thank you for the courage to survive and to share your journey. Your book, Spiritual Vampires, is a gift of healing to yourself and a gift to all of us." - Stan Friedman, photographer and documentary producer
"Spiritual vampirism is an insidious process. I read your book with great interest having once been a 'victim' of a so-called guru. I found some revealing answers and valuable information in the chapters dealing with how people become entangled in spiritual vampirism. Specifically the chapter on power led me to understand more clearly how my hunger for spiritual answers led me astray." - Sharon Holley, MS, research writer
From the Back Cover
"In this book you're about to read, you will hear Marty Raphael's heartfelt story of her journey through the lessons of personal empowerment and true love-love for the real Self, of which we are all an integral part." - Jacquelyn Small, author of Awakening In Time and Transformers.
"(Spiritual Vampires) contains important observations and a vivid, if disturbing, narrative! It takes courage and much clear-headedness to write and publish such personal histories to a useful end." - Miles Vich, editor, The Journal Of Transpersonal Psychology.
"I feel as though thirty-five years of shame is dropping away! My father, a Mormon bishop, sexually abused me. This book has finally brought dignity to something for which I thought I'd always feel embarrassment and horror!" - Rene, ritual abuse survivor
"All I can say is that I'm not the same person after reading this book! I now have a whole new reference point for my own healing from incest and spiritual abuse and for how I participate in the healing of others." - Connie Cruz, R.N., critical care nurse
