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A GIFT OF ROSES - 
Spiritual Labor Pains Ultimately Yield 'Roses'
What sets aside a real mystical experience from mere romanticism
or wishful thinking is whether or not it changes how you are
in the world. Unless a person makes a conscious commitment
to hold to the new level of organization such an event prompts,
old patterns have a way of creeping in around the edges the
same way skin grows over a wound. This struggle is the hallmark
of the spiritual path, and author Barbara Rasp describes hers
in engaging honesty and simplicity in A Gift of Roses.
Rasp's own journey began as many do - in the wrong direction.
The consequences for ignoring the prompts toward her "true"
life included increasing feelings of angst and years of pain
and debilitation from fibromyalgia. Then one day a friend
suggested that her problems lay in the fact that her body,
mind, and spirit were out of balance. That her physical discomfort
could be in any way connected to the spiritual crises she'd
been experiencing had never occurred to her. She gave it consideration,
and it changed her life.
The challenge for Rasp was not having context for many of
the experiences and visions she'd been having. No matter how
intense these were at the time, when they passed, doubt returned.
Then Rasp began doing some automatic writing. At first all
that came were scribbles and doodles. But she kept at it.
Over a period of months first words, then phrases, began to
come. She then began to hear the words in her mind and wrote
what she heard. Soon material came faster and faster. Eventually,
through inspired writing, the key messengers identified themselves
as Mother Mary (who always announced herself with roses in
some fashion) and Jesus. Rasp confesses her skepticism, for
she no longer felt much connection to Christianity, or to
any spiritual practice. While her heart believed what was
happening, her mind denied it, and she "bounced back
and forth between delight and distress."
Interwoven with Rasp's personal story are bits and pieces
of her channeled material. From the need for the return of
the divine feminine energy, to the idea that man needs to
make a shift from his individual consciousness to that of
a global, or Gaia, consciousness, the material includes much
that is provocative.
Though Rasp's clean prose aims for the heart, she does not
insult the mind. She carries the reader along in an unaffected
way that allows them to connect to what she says without compromising
themselves. Over and over, she stresses the need for personal
responsibility. It is only when she took it, and learned to
look at things from a soul level, she says, that she saw "with
utter clarity…all there really is, is me…I can no
longer look outside of myself for answers because, if I do,
I will not grow as a soul; I will only repeat patterns."
This sweet and gentle book is a useful primer for anyone
locked in the struggle to bring faith (no matter what "brand")
and life together.
ForeWordReviews.com
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