The Sword of Heaven: A Five Continent Odyssey to Save the World (Travelers' Tales Guides) (Hardcover)

by Mikkel Aaland (Author) "At a dinner party in San Francisco, the conversation turned from adventurous tales of the Orient to the apocalypse..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, San Francisco, Sword of Heaven (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Did a Shinto Priest save the world? A few years before the Berlin Wall came down, a mysterious Shinto priest in Japan broke a holy sword into 108 pieces. The priest then called on his followers to place the pieces throughout the world so that the threat of thermonuclear destruction would be nullified.

Mikkel Aaland was one of the people drawn into the circle of those placing the gods. Readers get an insider's view of sacred Shinto ceremonies as the holy pieces are placed at key sites in order to form a complete magnetic web of goodwill and positive energy.

A few months after completing their task, the Soviet Empire crumbled. You too will become a believer after reading this powerful memoir of Aaland's journey toward personal and world peace.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Travelers' Tales; 1st Printing edition (January 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885211449
• ISBN-13: 978-1885211446
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,687,657 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From a Native American Partcipant, November 3, 1999

By	Turtle Heart, Ojibway ([e-mail]) (Taos, NM) - See all my reviews

I was also involved in putting the Sword of Heaven. I am a Native American religious teacher. I placed the Kami at the Trinity site in New Mexico. The subtle beauty and integral integrity of this story is a great study for those living in an increasingly mannerless and faith-less American Society. I strongly recomend this book to those whose hearts really believe in Peace..... Turtle Heart Ojibway Ahnishikad

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The fate of the world is in YOUR hands!, November 23, 1999

By	Brad Newsham (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One cannot read this exciting book without considering in a new light some old and fundamental questions: 'Does my life REALLY make a difference in the grand scheme?' 'Is it possible that what I do in each moment of each day DIRECTLY DETERMINES whether or not human civilization advances or fails?' Mr. Aaland subtly raises these questions by sharing the remarkable story of his life over the last two decades, and leaves one wondering: Did he and his allies IN FACT bring down the Berlin Wall, end apartheid, and reverse the spiral of nuclear proliferation? These are all worthy questions, and Mr. Aaland's way of framing them-the way of the exceptional raconteur-is delightful.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On Becoming, March 24, 2006

By	Elijah Kuan Wong (Elmhurst, New York United States) - See all my reviews

Having just finished 'Sword of Heaven' earlier today, i am left with what i'd imagine to be one of Mikkel Aaland's intentions in documenting such a monumental nearly two-decade long endeavour; i am left inspired and ever the more forward looking. What struck me most about his account of placing the broken shards of such an auspicious and revered piece of Shinto tools/iconography is how dilligent he is in keeping us intimately close to the stream of emotions and consciousness throughout; as if we were in his back pocket the whole time, learning his lessons, eaves-dropping on the conversations, and getting lost and confused and frustrated with him every step on the way to inner and outter peace. I am grateful for the photographs that inaugurate each chapter, it only furthers a sense of inextricable union with Mr. Aaland's journey and our outside-in perspective. Furthermore, those photos really drive home the fact that such an incredible "five continent odyssey to save the world" actually happened. Having my incredulity at such a feat (in the greatest sense of the word) continuously trumped by the constant reminder that the Shinto Peace Project actually took place on this plane, this corporeal reality, was a gift; it's a pleasure amongst pleasures to balance the cynicism that is induced via bombardment of media coverage of wars/crime/murder/rape with the inspiration that is induced with a book that proves that happiness, though may be arduously hard-earned, is indeed possible for each of us as we define it and in our own terms.

With this book in my life, i feel as though the space occupied within the walls of my apartment and the space occupied within the cells of my body is perceptibly warmer as is evidenced by my increased attention to not so much 'being' anything per se, but on the process of 'becoming'.