Monica recommends...


Just a few of my favorite things—mostly books!
I have been attending Dr. Adam McLeod, ND, aka, Dreamhealer workshops since he was 17. He's now in his 30s and I can tell you, he's the real deal. He is an excellent healer of the physical, and I have witnessed and experienced phenomenal healings at his workshops that have greatly helped me, as well healings for my family and friends. One of the many tools that he uses himself and that he teaches is visualizations. He's done two DVDs over the years that are narrated by him and have interactive visualization examples for all sorts of physical issues. If you're wanting to up your visualization game and are not sure how to go about that, I highly recommend one or both of his DVDs: Dreamhealer: Visualizations for Self-Empowerment and Dreamhealer: Heal Yourself. They have unique content and compliment the other. Intention and visualization are two of the most powerful tools for healing! You'll want these DVDs if you're a healer who teaches, too, because they're great to use in workshops.
The Power of Eight by Lynne McTaggart

Lynne McTaggart has been researching intentions for many years. Her latest book is chock full of miracles about how groups, both those with thousands and those with merely 8 people, experienced radical, spontaneous healings with group intentions. Their scientific method to study intentions found that a focused, specific thought sent at the same time impacted not only people, but plants, levels of violence in countries, and elements such as water. The results were so phenomenal, Lynne herself had to shift her own paradigm to include the immediacy of the miraculous. Great, inspiring book. 
Dr. Alexander, a neurosurgeon, had a near death experience (NDE) due to meningitis. His experiences during the NDE have propelled him to pursue how to integrate spirituality and consciousness with science. If you love looking at how science, spirituality, and consciousness compliment each other OR if you're a skeptic who doesn't think they belong together at all, this book is for you. With his thoroughly left-brain educated worldview, Alexander explores mindfulness, the mystical, alternative healing and more in his follow-up book to Proof of Heaven.
This book is an excellent introduction to energy healing and how it works. With many examples, Marie, a local PNW healer, shows how the mind, the emotions, and the body all link together with the soul and different levels of energies to bring more healing and wholeness to individuals. It is essentially a primer for beginners and for those who are curious but have little knowledge of energy healing. She also offers helpful exercises for each chakra. More advanced healers will be mostly interested in the vivid story-telling and will want to overlook some generalizations that are necessary for teaching basics. Highly recommend!
If you're looking for good summer reads, check out Louise Penny's engaging Inspector Gamache series. Although not a main feature, spirituality comes in around the edges, whether it's chakras, or smudging, or the mystical chanting of Catholic monks. The main character, the Chief Inspector of Homicide of Quebec, Armand Gamache, is also a deeply moral man—a rare treat in adult fiction. It also features a charming village, Three Pines, where the arts, books, and food are highlights. There are 13 books in the series so far, with Still Life (above) the first. The 14th is out this fall and a 15th has begun, so there's a lot to keep you interested!
This is a helpful read for those of us who are introverts and yet in some sort of private practice or self-supporting business that requires what we would normally consider extroverted activity. The author gently guides the reader to reaching out in ways that are more natural for introverts and reframing networking possibilities in a manner is energizing rather than draining.
The Young Healer is a story of a young Native American girl, Feather, who lives in New York City and is learning about healing from her grandfather. It is an important read, showing healing from a First People's perspective. Pure of heart, and full of heart, it is a great read for all ages. Winner of National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) chapter book award.
The holidays can be a difficult time for anyone grieving the loss of loved ones. Theresa Caputo AKA The Long Island Medium, offers practical and insightful help for grief in her newest book, Good Grief. From her unique perspective as a medium, she can offer comfort and healing that come from knowing your loved ones are safe and at peace that is unparalleled. She's the real deal.
If you enjoy reading epic fantasy adventures like The Lord of the Rings, you'll love Patrick Rothfuss' trilogy that begins with The Name of the Wind. One warning, though, the trilogy isn't yet complete. The second book is done along with a filler extra book—all well-written and masterful. I'm on my second read of all of them and am hoping the new year will bring the third book. Still, thoroughly love them. 
This autobiography reads like a real life version of The Girl with a Gift! I enjoyed her stories from when she was a young girl, learning from her guide, and giving healings to other children and animals. Growing up as an intuitive, empathic seer in Ireland had its advantages and disadvantages. Helen Parry Jones offers an inspiring look at how Spirit helps us help others.
Barbara Brennan's third book, Core Light Healing, was just released! It has been enjoyable reading more about her impressive scientific work at NASA, as well as diving deeply into core light (or Divine Spark) healing. She adds greater detail to her two previous books, and focuses on creating a life based on Divine Desires. I highly recommend this!
Deep Theta is my favorite of Steve Halpern's "Brainwave Entrainment Music." It puts me instantly into a meditative state and if I listen to it before bed, I sleep and dream amazingly well. Deep Alpha is also great for general relaxation, especially while doing other things around the house. These are scientifically shown to alter brainwaves and help induce altered states of relaxation, meditation, and self-healing.
A thoroughly charming read, full of humor and heart. Probably my favorite fiction book in quite a long time. The story follows a man called Ove (ha!) who's not at all what he appears to be. The complexity of his being is, in the end, understood and appreciated and loved.
I enjoyed this book! More than just tips and strategies, this little gem is a love song to creativity. It blew out some limitations and structures I didn’t even know I had around creativity, setting me more free. A practical and yet thoroughly inspiring read. For you Enneagram 4 types, I’d venture to say it’s an incredibly healing book. If you want to find a way to wade through the water of your creative impulses, this will help you find it in a way that promotes wellness.
This is a great book for synthesizing shamanic, mystical, and Jungian psychological para-digms, IF (and that’s a big if) you are already very familiar with each of these paradigms. In other words, I wouldn’t recommend it as an introduction for beginners. Al-though he does some fine work here, the personal stories are inspiring, and I was thrilled to learn a new spiritual practice, he uses terminology in unique ways that don’t really work across paradigms. I found this a bit confusing at times, especially when he writes about energy bodies in the context of a healing paradigm. I loved his emphasis on direct knowing and when he wrote from this place his writing was the strongest. Ironically, it’s when he himself strayed from this, I found his book wanting. Still, check it out if you’re not a novice!
Highest Duty, though not at all a "spiritual" book in any traditional sense, still carried an all-important message for everyone: integrity matters. This memoir recounts Capt. Sully Sullenberger's life, the pilot who successfully landed in the Hudson in 2009 with all passengers and crew rescued. Although much of the book is about his formative years as a pilot, Sully's primary message is about always aligning oneself and one's actions with one's highest ideals even if you do so anonymously for years. One day it may make all the difference in the world. Great read.
Thank and Grow Rich (and she means grow rich spiritually!) is chock full of creative, inspiring ideas about how to live a life full of extreme gratitude or I would say "ecstatic" gratitude. I enjoyed reading the many stories of real life examples and the energy of the book is amazing. Just holding it felt like a big energy boost. Grout's writing style is quirky and funny and that makes the reading even lighter. A keeper.
Thoroughly enthralling fiction about a drug that retrieves past life memories. Suspense, intrigue, adventure, and romance--it's got it all. Page-turner.





An extremely useful book for helping readers move into more harmony with the earth. Rituals, ceremonies, and practical advice as well, are woven throughout the chapters.

A helpful overview of shamanic journeying and ceremonies with lots of instructions, examples, and personal illustrations. My favorite is toward the end: helping people and the earth heal by holding them in Light.
Inquiry Cards are a beautiful, intuitive tool to help you tap into your own internal wisdom. I LOVE them!          Buy here!




​

A thoroughly charming read about a girl learning to discover and use her magic --her savvy. Mythopoeic fantasy at its best.


My favorite medium delivers another spiritual primer with lots of great stories showing there's more to life than what most of us can see!

One of my all-time fave books ever. Written by a friend of a friend, too. Hauntingly beautiful--where the Old West meets the Old Testament.

A beautiful memoir about growing up with lions, tigers, and snakes (oh my!) and learning to come home to oneself and the Unity of all.

Mesmerizing! A Celtic inspired mystical tour de force. Academy Award nominated animation for adults and kids age 9+. DVD
This book is one of the ones that helped me make sense of all the woo-woo I experienced during my years as a whistle-blower. Assuming that the universe is holographic explained a lot for me spiritually and scientifically.



A remarkable movie about growing up female in Saudi Arabia. Heartbreaking and inspiring, it's the first full-length movie by a female director in the country, and first fully filmed in SA as well. 

Donna Eden's newest book! It is a thoroughly wonderful resource for how to use relationship for spiritual transformation. Lots of energy tips for helping partnerships of Love thrive!

A gorgeous compilation of stories about the Sacred Mother. Much here that nourishes the soul. Some here that challenges. All of it from the heart of compassion.



A great introduction to communicating with animals by well-known and local (Seattle-area) pet psychic and healer, Joan Ranquet.

Dr. Weiss was the first brave soul to go public with past life therapy back in the '80s. Still relevant today. A life-changing classic.


My fave author/life coach, Martha Beck, teaches how to use your mystical GPS to live into the emerging paradigm. Her best yet.


A masterpiece! Riveting fiction based on the true story of the most famous (infamous) women in pre-Civil War America during the abolition movement.
Expansive science and fascinating personal stories are pulled together to teach about neuroplasticity--how the brain heals. Blending eastern and western medicine, Dr. Doidge shows how ADHD, autism, dyslexia, brain injuries, eyesight, ear issues, Parkinson's, and other sensory processing disorders can heal.
This is an extraordinary story of a Christian mystic healer from Cyprus written by a Cypriot-American sociologist who befriended him. The first of three books. I mention this healer in my blogpost this month. 
This doesn't really have to do with healing, per se, but if you're a fan of the movie (I am!) this is a fun, enjoyable read with lots of laughs, and isn't that healing?



​The eloquence of Michael Bernard Beckwith is unparalleled. This book of his is no exception. I found much here to expand one's soul and to help clarify and align one's spirituality. In a word: transformative.
Believe it or not, a truly romantic read about soul mates reuniting over many lives. Truly miraculous synchronicities bring two people together after being convinced they were never going to find Love!
A great read for anyone interested in past lives. This book brought a lot of insight into our own family events! Written by a mom and therapist with a lot of her own stories!
Local (Seattle) author. Very local setting (UW, LFP, PNW)—but a bigger-than-life true American story that reaches to Hitler's Berlin Olympics. Thrilling read.

For anyone wanting to shift into a new economy based on Spirit rather than one based on fear and greed, this is a must read.

Provides a refreshing heroine. Though the Holocaust is minimized as through a child's eyes, the movie still brings a heartfelt message of Love no matter the world's circumstances. DVD
Monica McDowell is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.