Catastrophobia: The Truth Behind Earth Changes (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

. . . an empowering, thought-provoking book. -- Nexus, September - October 2001

Barbara backs up her views with some very thorough and impressive research. -- Jaye C. Beldo, The Konformist

Catastrophobia shines with keen insights into the nature of consciousness and a credible account of humanity's spectacular yet hidden past. -- Dell Magazine, May 2002

Compulsive, compelling, and authoritative. An important addition to our understanding of ancient catastrophes and their impact on human consciousness. -- Andrew Collins, author of Gateway to Atlantis and From the Ashes of Angels

Extensively annotated, and loaded with fascinating information, this book uplevels the Earth game a notch or three. -- Branches of Light, Spring into Summer 2001

Mind-expanding, provocative. -- Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing

This book is a gem, jam-packed with scientific information, spiritual interpretations, relevant hypotheses, human psychological development, [and] earth changes. -- Maya Del Mar's Daykeeper Journal, December 2002

This well researched book with numerous illustrations offers a comprehensive and challenging account of the history of the world. -- Jane Lee, New Dawn, May-June 2002

Review

"Mind-expanding, provocative."
(Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing )

". . . An empowering, thought-provoking book."
(Nexus, September - October 2001 )

"Barbara backs up her views with some very thorough and impressive research."
(Jaye C. Beldo, The Konformist )

"Catastrophobia shines with keen insights into the nature of consciousness and a credible account of humanity's spectacular yet hidden past."
(Dell Magazine, May 2002 )

"Extensively annotated, and loaded with fascinating information, this book uplevels the Earth game a notch or three."
(Branches of Light, Spring into Summer 2001 )

"This well researched book with numerous illustrations offers a comprehensive and challenging account of the history of the world - its people and beliefs - and the coming age of light."
(Jane Lee, New Dawn, May-June 2002 )

"This book is a gem, jam-packed with scientific information, spiritual interpretations, relevant hypotheses, human psychological development, [and] earth changes."
(Maya Del Mar's Daykeeper Journal, December 2002 )

"Compulsive, compelling, and authoritative. An important addition to our understanding of ancient catastrophes and their impact on human consciousness. Essential reading for the alternative prehistorian."
(Andrew Collins, author of Gateway to Atlantis and From the Ashes of Angels )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Company; annotated edition edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879181622
• ISBN-13: 978-1879181625
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #121,749 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Catastrophobia: Have We Been Viewing the Film in Reverse?, July 4, 2003

By	William Courson "William Courson" (Montclair, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Barbara Hand Clow is a noted astrologer, shaman, teacher, theologian and trained anthropologist, a tireless researcher, and the author of a number of important and best-selling books including "Pleiadian Agenda" and "Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets." In "Catastrophobia: The Truth Behind Earth Changes in the Coming Age of Light" she once again reaches beyond the consensus to shed new light and original thinking on the events, processes and anxieties that humans deal with on a daily basis.

The pervasive fear of an impending catastrophe is the motivating force, in Ms. Clow's postulation, behind and beneath all of the obsessions having to do with the structure of contemporary earthly civilization: work, human relationships, the economy, the environment and the state, and the search for healing of these structures and ourselves. But whence this anxiety? Why now, and indeed at periodic intervals over the course of recorded history, have we feared a coming catastrophe, a tragedy of such proportions as to snuff out the Earth and all that lives on it?

In this monumental work, Ms. Clow examines legendary cataclysms and delineates how - contrary to prevailing prophecies of dark and deadly times to come - we are truly on the cusp of an era of incredible creative and spiritual growth. The very recent discovery of the remains of ancient villages buried beneath the Black Sea is but the latest in the accumulation of mounting evidence that many of the "mythic" catastrophes of history - the fall of Atlantis, the Biblical flood - were historic events. Ms. Clow ably demonstrates how a series of cataclysmic disasters resulting from a disturbance in the Earth's crust some 11,500 years ago (itself likely caused at least in part by a stellar supernova in the nearby Vela system) "rocked the world" and left humankind's collective psyche deeply scarred and ineradicably traumatized. We are, in her view, "a wounded species," and the unprocessed, until-now indescribable fear passed from generation to generation is responsible for the constant and widespread expectation of a world-ending apocalypse, seen in such instances as the Y2K event to the much-reported end of the Mayan calendar in 2012.

"Catastrophobia" also uncovers in detail the insidious global forces - economic, political and religious - that have used these collective fears to control and manipulate humanity for countless centuries. But Ms. Clow's book offers more than a glimmer of hope. It is the work of an informed, reasonable and persuasive optimist. In the author's view, we are in the midst of a shift in the Earth's 26,000 year precessional cycle, and there is every indication that the changes in consciousness seen over the past forty years are the beginnings of a collective healing from these deep fears from the primeval past, heralding a time to come of great spiritual evolution.

Ms. Clow's monumental research effort in writing this insightful and important book and the scientific efforts underlying that research it are particularly praiseworthy. The reader is advised, for a taste of the foregoing and as a preface to "Catastrophobia," to consult the article by G.R. Brackenridge in Icarus (16:81-93) entitled "Terrestrial Paleoenvironmental Effects of a Late Quarternary Age Supernova."

Every serious student of history (both academic and alternative) has every reason to own this important, incisive and pacesetting volume. It will appeal also to the astrologer and the eschatologist, as well as the scientist willing to approach Ms. Clow's work with an open mind.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Keys to Understanding the Universe in Time, June 24, 2001

By	"geminitoo" (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

To say that ÒCatastrophobiaÓ is Òmind-blowingly provocativeÓ is an understatement. What Barbara Hand Clow does is give you the keys to the universe. And she just doesnÕt leave you at the gate entrance. She instructs you on how you, and everyone with intent, can access it. SheÕs spent a lifetime unlocking secret doors of ancient knowledge. In ÒCatastrophobiaÓ she gives us a brilliantly illustrated (and lovingly so by her son, Christopher), clearly documented and scholarly referenced tour of the labyrinth with a multi-dimensional vision of the way out. Far out!

She takes you on a trip farther than anyone in my experience. She brings us all to the truth about earthÕs changes over the last 11,500 years that historians, politicians, religions and even archeologists have worked so hard to obscure. In the end itÕs the power of really knowing this truth that is so vast and far reaching. It provides a psychological foundation for immense opportunity to consciously shake the power of fear. She doesnÕt wait until the end to tell you this -- itÕs on page one: ÒCrippled by collective fear from past earth changes...our surface minds are filled with floating images of disaster, guilt, and suffering...We project these painful thoughts out of our inner minds, which creates a coming apocalypse as a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, it already happened!Ó

We have been watching the ÒmovieÓ in reverse!

I am fortunate to have been a student of Barbara Hand Clow for over ten years and have traveled with her (through Power Places Tours) to many of the historical sites she references in the book. Together we have explored and questioned the meanings and possibilities of what we saw. However, I could never have pieced it together from what our direct experience was. I am grateful to Barbara for writing this book which culminates all that she knows to offer answers to so many questions that have gnawed at my subconscious over the years. To put forth a reason why ancient cultures were obsessed with precession opened huge doorways of immediate understanding for me.

Barbara Hand Clow offers a framework for the management of fear and mass hysteria from the macrocosm of existence to our inner world experience of it. What are we so afraid of? And why are we living in this constant fear? Barbara presents a clear understanding and explanation throughout recorded history drawing upon her vast research of Plato, Egyptology and Aegean archeology, her mastery of mythology as well as the secondary research of other writers. By doing so, this form of new paradigm writing moves the reader into a creative dance of possibility for their own lives.

I was most excited by her revelation that the ancient Egyptians would paint pictures of Òhow they wanted their life to continue on the Nile.Ó If they painted it on the tombs and temple walls, the gods would grant them the life they depicted for themselves. We do this now, with television and movies. And IÕm certain without the knowledge of what is being activated for our future on this planet.

As Barbara says, the greater challenge is to integrate this knowledge through deep spiritual intention. Her book is based on a perfectly credible premise: ÒConsciousness creates the material world.Ó And with that, she invites us into the journey of humanity over the past 11,500 years since the cataclysm.

What tickled me the most about her book is that the last word is Òfun.Ó If there is one force that can unite mass consciousness, let it by all means be fun!

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The time to wake up is now., July 12, 2001

By	Frances W. Hoffman (Goodlettsville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

Once again, Barbara has reached beyond the collective planetary miasmic thought processes to bring light to what all people deal with on a day to day basis. Fear of catastrophe is the driving force behind and underlying all of the obsessions having to do with our work ethics, our relationship dynamics and the state of how we are becoming sick, as well as how we choose to heal as a society. The book reads like a text book, so get ready to delve into deep historical revelations. Get ready to go back to school and learn the real truth with immense hope on the other end of the trail. The hope is for a future of total and complete enlighhtenment. We've been there before, and we will be there again. This time, no disaster. Like most of her works you will evolve enormously just getting connected with the truth. Enjoy.