Coffeehouse Culture, Page 17 (PC)

SISITTING WITH SADHUS

The Celestine Prophecy -- Double-Entry Prediction?C

READ THIS STORY IN
PRINTABLE PLAIN TEXT
For many cannabis smokers
spirituality has found real
expression in devotion to Lord
Shiva, the Vedic deity who is said to have given us the plant we all love so much. As our House Shivite, G. van Mukthi, leads us through the mysteries and histories of cannabis use as a sacrament, we will be bringing old and new, east and west, together in a new spiritual symbiosis.

Lord
of the
Dance

In a time of spiritual desolat-
ion, when man had lost his
way, his connection with the
Divine, when life seemed
empty of purpose and
meaning, the wisest Seers
sent out a desperate plea.
And the All-Powerful Shiva
heard and took pity upon
humanity. Thus it was that
the Seers received the ganja
plant and the secret of bhang.
Through use of this gift and
meditating, the Seers became
the ancient Rishis who first
cognised the Vedic Verses

“BHOLENATH! Jai Jai Guru-
dev! Jai Shiva Shambo! Hara
Hara Mahadev! Bom Shankar!.”
The sonorous sounds boom
across the wide valley and fade
into the mountain stillness.
“Praise to the simple truth!
Praise to the guru who is the
manifestation of the Divine!
Praise to God, the provider, the
transformer, the source of all
good!” It is a mantra dedicated
to Lord Shiva, the Eternal Cos-
mic Dancer at the Heart of the
Wheel of Change, the Protector
and Destroyer, Master of birth,
death and everything between.
AsAs the cry vibrates across the
rocky terrain, a chillum is raised
to the Heavens, then to the
Baba’s third eye before -- bow-
ing and focusing his mind on the
eternal, omnipresent Divine -- he
inhales deep into his diaphragm,
pauses for a moment and then
exhales. Hidden by the cloud of
grey-blue smoke, he passes the
chillum to the next sadhu in the
circle and returns to his
meditation.
AsThe ancient ritual celebrating
the appearance of cannabis on
earth through the hand of Lord
Shiva, still practised in India to-
day by wandering and penniless
sannyasins, acknowledges a
timeless link between the incr-
eased consciousness experienced
in meditation and increased con-
sciousness experienced through
smoking cannabis.
AsAlthough a well-established
and generally accepted activity
in Mother India, the smoking of
cannabis is still regarded with
some suspicion. That is hardly
surprising for, among the sects
for whom smoking ganja or
charas is a central aspect of their
religious practices, are some of
the most bizarre. Naked, smear-
ed with ash, matted hair uncut,
smeared with cow dung. fre-
quenters of burial grounds,
ranting, raving, extreme and
austere, smokers of charas ---
these are the Shivites.
AsOverwhelmed by the passage
of time, consumed by the rapac-
ious fires of misunderstanding
and prejudice, lost in the conflicts
and confusions of life in a
constantly changing world, the
truth about the place of ganja and
its derivatives in spirituality has
been lost. If the true nature of
the position that cannabis occup-
ies in the repertoire of spiritual
practices has been lost in India it
is not so surprising that it is hav-
ing such a hard time finding itself
in the West.
AsBut in the West we are redis-
covering the ancient knowledge
from ‘the other end.’ Cannabis is
a sacrament, a tool in man’s con-
stant search for a higher reality.
And its use as a sacrament is not
restricted to India. In Africa,
South and North America, in the
Middle East and in other parts of
Asia, amongst Islamic Sufi
mystics, Sikhs, Taoists, as well as
numerous indigenous religions
and, of course, amongst not-so-
ancient Rastafarians, the drink-
ing, eating or smoking of the
cannabis plant was or is part of
regular devotional practices.
AsIn India, cannabis use was first
recorded in the Atharva Veda,
dating from 1000 or more BC. In
this, under the name of ‘shana’,
it is entreated, in prayers to the
Gods, to ‘preserve us from
disease.’ For thousands of years
it has been employed, mainly in
Shiva worship, as charas, a hand-
rubbed hashish, which is the
preferred choice of the chillum-
smoking sadhus; as ganja, the
flowering tops of the plant, which
is smoked by the sadhus when
they have no charas; and as
bhang, made with the leaves of
the plant, mixed with herbs,
which is eaten or mixed with
thinned yoghurt to make a sinister
green and suitably potent drink;
for those who had the ‘bhang
lassi experience’, it is often a never-to be-forgotten event.
AsThe importance of these sac-
raments in daily devotion was
recognised by the native peoples
in many parts of the world but
nowhere better than in India.
There is an old Pahari song from
the Kumaon foothills in the
Himalayas that pleads: ‘Atara ki
gati baba’ -- ‘Just a little piece of
charas, baba’. No doubt there
that the spiritual guide was also
the source of the sacrament.
Indeed, when charas is given by
a sadhu it is regarded as prasad,
holy food. It is obvious, too, that
for many foreigners who were
able to witness the sacramental
use of cannabis its spiritual
potency was clear. In the Indian
Hemp Drugs Report of 1893 -
1894, J. M. Campbell poetically
reports (perhaps too poetically for
one who has not had the exper-
ience): ‘To the Hindu, the hemp
plant is holy . . . . He who drinks
bhang, drinks Shiva. The soul in
whom the spirit of bhang finds a
home, glides into an ocean of
being, freed from the weary
round of self-blinded matter.’
AsSuch spirituality, so close at
hand.
AsThe breakdown of modern
society has been blamed on many
things. One often repeated theme
is a turning away from God, an
argument usually accompanied
by disturbing news of falling
church attendance numbers. This
argument ignores the fact that in
the latter half of this century
many people have turned away
from christianity in a search of a
spiritual understanding of the
world. For some of those people,
smoking cannabis has led them
naturally towards a genuine and
new appreciation of the Shivite
philosophy.
TOP OF PAGE

"Bholenath! Jai Jai Gurudev!
Jai Shiva Shambo! Hara Hara
Mahadev! Bom Shankar!.”

xxx

READ THIS STORY IN
PRINTABLE PLAIN TEXT
PROPHECY
AND
PROFIT
Although the unlikely success of The Celestine
Prophecy has made it seem more an exercise
in double-entry bookkeeping than inspiration,
it is clearly a book that touches a
commonly held human need

aperback writer? Here’s the recipe. Take one slight but
readable adventure story in the classic mode, season
with a little pop psycho-philosophy, add a large measure
of esoterica and sprinkle with that magic ingredient, relevancy.
Mix together thoroughly and then half-bake in a lukewarm oven
until you have a best-seller
TheIt is easy to be cynical. But for cynicism to be meaningful it
must be tempered with a little fair-mindedness. And there are,
after all, many best-sellers that have been produced solely for
the money, that have little to contribute to elevating or under
standing the human condition, have no art or artifice, that are
puerile and prurient.
TheThe Celestine Prophecy, for all its literary inadequacies, is
not so devoid of merit. Far from it. While its melodramatic
storyline might be somewhat puerile, the main body of the book
-- the prophecies themselves -- are revelationary, insightful and
profound. So much so, in fact, that it can, indeed, assist us in
understanding and elevating our condition. And who needs art,
anyway?
TheApparently not the book-buying public. My much- thumbed
copy tells me that over one million copies have been sold in the
USA (they waited for the TV mini-series but when it did not arrive
had to buy the book). And elsewhere? Almost everyone seems
to have read it, be about to read it or, at least, have it on their
reading list. So the next question must be: How do you produce
a book according to the formula above that, even in these cyn-
ical times, sells like proverbial hotcakes?
TheThe answer, of course, lies in that magic ingredient: ‘rele-
vancy’. On all sorts of levels, The Celestine Prophecy is a book
for this time. As more and more people have become aware that
they are a part of a society that offers little hope for the future,
they have increasingly looked around for answers. Searching
for answers that explain how we got into this unfulfilling situation
and what we can do about it has produced an inevitable con-
frontation with our own culpability. In a mood of introspection we
have questioned our own functioning and motives. That we have
found few answers is reflected in the fact that we welcome
suggestions from any source.
TheFor many people, The Celestine Prophecy provides credible
answers that explain why people are as they are and why soc-
iety is such a mess. In doing so it is responding to the call of our
time. This call is not just for self-knowledge to help us function
in a way that makes life better but for something much more
important to us — hope.
TheIndeed, the whole book hangs on the hope engendered with-
in the first two prophecies (or ‘insights’, as they are called in the
book). These describe a new spiritual awakening in which
people become aware that their lives are not meaningless or
without direction, that every life has a coherent shape that is
revealed in its coincidences.
TheIt is, however, in the subsequent insights that the Celestine
Prophecy validates its offer of hope and establishes its own
credibility. In a systematic fashion, the six insights that follow
redefine the world in terms that explain its deficiencies and the
part we all have to play in them. In doing so, it gives us the
opportunity to consider the roots of the social conditioning to
which we have all been subjected and offers an opportunity to
realign ourselves to a more elevated and elevating principle.
TheHaving laid out suggestions for a new kind of society based
on very different principles to those that have dominated for the
last two millennia and have virtually consumed us over the last
500 years, in the Ninth Insight The Celestine Prophecy offers us

The profitable prophet:
James Redfield, author
of 'The Celestine
Prophecy'
TOP OF PAGE

the ultimate hope --- Heaven on Earth. In
the midst of a dark and desperate age,
with a future that seems to be leading
inexorably towards oblivion, in a world
where a violent and inhumane history
presages a more violent and inhumane
present, hope is as relevant as at any
time in the past.
TheThe success of The Celestine
Prophecy, however, rests on much more than hope. Which is a
good thing because, as we all know, hoping without some kind
of attendant action never got anyone anything. It is action that
drags hope out of Limbo and into the Real World, action that
makes it real and realisable, action that allows it to stand tall
and look the good, the bad and the ugly defiantly in the eye. Yes,
indeedy (sticking with the cowboy motif), without that ‘attendant
action’ hope ain’t worth a spit in a barrel of pig’s brine. (What the
hell is ‘pig’s brine’!?)
heSorry about that.

PICTURE CAPTION:
Said to have been found in
a Mayan Temple not un-
like this one, The Celestine
Prophecy (or the manu-
script from which it is said
to have been taken) is just
one of a number of proph-
ecies associated with the
mysterious Mayans. They
might not have left us any
easy explanations when
they disappeared but they
did leave us plenty of very
large clues for the elaborate symbolism and picturesque iconography of their legacy is
carved into the many great structures they left. Our picture shows the Pyramid of
Inscriptions at Palanque in the Tabasco area of Mexico. Discovered deep within the
pyramid was a tomb chamber containing the remains of the great Mayan Priest/King,
Pacal. Although there were many treasures in and around the tomb itself, it was the
lid of the sarcophagus that has fascinated researchers. Its deeply etched surface,
densely covered with Mayan hieroglyphs, seemed to have something to say to us.
TOP OF PAGE

TheBut it is not on the techniques and other actions contained in
The Celestine Prophecy that its success rests but on the
common relevancy of the rationalisations that underwrite them.
If there is any magic in the book that is where it is to be found.
And, indeed, it is some kind of magic to come up with a few brief
generalisations that seem to have deep and meaningful

PICTURE CAPTION:
The Tomb Lid of Palanque offers up a
very different prediction to that con-
tained in The Celestine Prophecy. Said
to show the various ages through
which the world has passed, the tomb
lid took over thirty years to decipher.
Before the scrambled message inscrib-
ed in the tomb lid could be understood
extensive research was necessary to
work out the elaborate and detailed
Mayan calendar. Once this had been
accomplished, the tomb lid began to
reveal its secrets. Not least amongst
these was the date of the end of our
own age right down to the very day.
(Coffeehouse Culture End of the
World Tip: Don’t bother shopping
early for Christmas 2012.)
TOP OF PAGE

relevance at an intensely
personal level for so many
people.
TheThe Celestine Proph-
ecy’s magic is worked
through drawing our attent-
ion to the ‘coincidences’ that shape our lives. For Coffeehouse
Culture, The Celestine Prophecy was as influential as it has
been for many of its million and more readers. Coincidences,
coincidences, coincidences.
TheBy the time The Celestine Prophecy crossed our path, the
Coffeehouse Culture concept was fully developed and as it is
described in this issue. Already plans were afoot for our move
from London to Amsterdam and the dummy issue was starting
to take shape. Having spent some time questioning our motives
and methods, we were confident that we were doing the right
thing in the right way. But . . . . Life is an objective experience
being lived subjectively. So questioning one’s integrity is not a
bad thing.
TheThen came The Celestine Prophecy. With the sound of giant
cogs engaging, groaning and grinding as they drive massive
pistons and towering crankshafts, we looked again at our baby.
Even now I cannot resist a shudder as I recall the powerful
revelation of all those coincidences falling into place. It all
seemed so gloriously, wonderfully, beautifully clear. Everything
(well, virtually everything) I had done in my life seemed to lead to
that point and to Coffeehouse Culture.
TheAnd hope for the future? Well if, as The Celestine Prophecy
says, there is going to be a big spiritual awakening, maybe
Coffeehouse Culture is a part of that happening or has a part to
play in it happening. We hope so.
TheIn future issues we will be looking at The Celestine Prophecy
from a number of angles. Where did the insights actually come
from? They are said to be Mayan but . . . . We will try to come up
with some answers. And what do the insights mean? How can
they be used? Where do they lead? All these questions and
more, we will try to answer.
TheTOP OF PAGE

FURTHER READING GUIDE
Our Personal Recommendations
in association with Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

PROPHECY AND PROFIT

THE CELESTINE
PROPHECY
By
James Redfield

The one that started it all. A book of extremes in which the good bits (the insights and how they are described and explained) are fantastic and the bad bits (the obviously fictional melodrama in which the insights are revealed) are awful. Nonetheless, a 'must read' if you haven't already.

UK READERS SAVE £1.60
US READERS SAVE $2.79

THE CELESTINE
PROPHECY:
An
Experiential
Guide
By
James Redfield

How to apply the
insights in your life
and the effects they have. For us
the value of 'The Celestine
Prophecy' was in the explanations it
gave for why things are as they are
and what the future might hold so
we found this much less compelling,
and, indeed, useful.
UK READERS CLICK HERE
US READERS SAVE $2.59

xx
x

THE TENTH
INSIGHT
By
James Redfield
Although we looked at this in a bookshop we didn't buy it. 'The Celestine Prophecy' had given us enough to think about
for the next few decades and we really didn't want to read something that might make us question the credibility of the nine insights we'd already got. This appeared to be a lot more 'channelled' than the first book.

UK READERS CLICK HERE
US READERS SAVE $2.79

TOP OF PAGE

SEE PAGES 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 16 AND 21 FOR MORE FURTHER READING GUIDES

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WHAT'S ON THIS PAGE NAVIGATION BOX FEATURE: Lord of the Dance \| FEATURE: Prophecy and Profit (Pictures: The profitable prophet; Mayan temple; Tomb lid of Palanque) \| CARTOON \| Further Reading Guide \| Go To Contents \| Go To Next Page (18)
xx
SISITTING WITH SADHUS		The Celestine Prophecy -- Double-Entry Prediction?C
READ THIS STORY IN PRINTABLE PLAIN TEXT For many cannabis smokers spirituality has found real expression in devotion to Lord Shiva, the Vedic deity who is said to have given us the plant we all love so much. As our House Shivite, G. van Mukthi, leads us through the mysteries and histories of cannabis use as a sacrament, we will be bringing old and new, east and west, together in a new spiritual symbiosis. Lord of the Dance In a time of spiritual desolat- ion, when man had lost his way, his connection with the Divine, when life seemed empty of purpose and meaning, the wisest Seers sent out a desperate plea. And the All-Powerful Shiva heard and took pity upon humanity. Thus it was that the Seers received the ganja plant and the secret of bhang. Through use of this gift and meditating, the Seers became the ancient Rishis who first cognised the Vedic Verses “BHOLENATH! Jai Jai Guru- dev! Jai Shiva Shambo! Hara Hara Mahadev! Bom Shankar!.” The sonorous sounds boom across the wide valley and fade into the mountain stillness. “Praise to the simple truth! Praise to the guru who is the manifestation of the Divine! Praise to God, the provider, the transformer, the source of all good!” It is a mantra dedicated to Lord Shiva, the Eternal Cos- mic Dancer at the Heart of the Wheel of Change, the Protector and Destroyer, Master of birth, death and everything between. AsAs the cry vibrates across the rocky terrain, a chillum is raised to the Heavens, then to the Baba’s third eye before -- bow- ing and focusing his mind on the eternal, omnipresent Divine -- he inhales deep into his diaphragm, pauses for a moment and then exhales. Hidden by the cloud of grey-blue smoke, he passes the chillum to the next sadhu in the circle and returns to his meditation. AsThe ancient ritual celebrating the appearance of cannabis on earth through the hand of Lord Shiva, still practised in India to- day by wandering and penniless sannyasins, acknowledges a timeless link between the incr- eased consciousness experienced in meditation and increased con- sciousness experienced through smoking cannabis. AsAlthough a well-established and generally accepted activity in Mother India, the smoking of cannabis is still regarded with some suspicion. That is hardly surprising for, among the sects for whom smoking ganja or charas is a central aspect of their religious practices, are some of the most bizarre. Naked, smear- ed with ash, matted hair uncut, smeared with cow dung. fre- quenters of burial grounds, ranting, raving, extreme and austere, smokers of charas --- these are the Shivites. AsOverwhelmed by the passage of time, consumed by the rapac- ious fires of misunderstanding and prejudice, lost in the conflicts and confusions of life in a constantly changing world, the truth about the place of ganja and its derivatives in spirituality has been lost. If the true nature of the position that cannabis occup- ies in the repertoire of spiritual practices has been lost in India it is not so surprising that it is hav- ing such a hard time finding itself in the West. AsBut in the West we are redis- covering the ancient knowledge from ‘the other end.’ Cannabis is a sacrament, a tool in man’s con- stant search for a higher reality. And its use as a sacrament is not restricted to India. In Africa, South and North America, in the Middle East and in other parts of Asia, amongst Islamic Sufi mystics, Sikhs, Taoists, as well as numerous indigenous religions and, of course, amongst not-so- ancient Rastafarians, the drink- ing, eating or smoking of the cannabis plant was or is part of regular devotional practices. AsIn India, cannabis use was first recorded in the Atharva Veda, dating from 1000 or more BC. In this, under the name of ‘shana’, it is entreated, in prayers to the Gods, to ‘preserve us from disease.’ For thousands of years it has been employed, mainly in Shiva worship, as charas, a hand- rubbed hashish, which is the preferred choice of the chillum- smoking sadhus; as ganja, the flowering tops of the plant, which is smoked by the sadhus when they have no charas; and as bhang, made with the leaves of the plant, mixed with herbs, which is eaten or mixed with thinned yoghurt to make a sinister green and suitably potent drink; for those who had the ‘bhang lassi experience’, it is often a never-to be-forgotten event. AsThe importance of these sac- raments in daily devotion was recognised by the native peoples in many parts of the world but nowhere better than in India. There is an old Pahari song from the Kumaon foothills in the Himalayas that pleads: ‘Atara ki gati baba’ -- ‘Just a little piece of charas, baba’. No doubt there that the spiritual guide was also the source of the sacrament. Indeed, when charas is given by a sadhu it is regarded as prasad, holy food. It is obvious, too, that for many foreigners who were able to witness the sacramental use of cannabis its spiritual potency was clear. In the Indian Hemp Drugs Report of 1893 - 1894, J. M. Campbell poetically reports (perhaps too poetically for one who has not had the exper- ience): ‘To the Hindu, the hemp plant is holy . . . . He who drinks bhang, drinks Shiva. The soul in whom the spirit of bhang finds a home, glides into an ocean of being, freed from the weary round of self-blinded matter.’ AsSuch spirituality, so close at hand. AsThe breakdown of modern society has been blamed on many things. One often repeated theme is a turning away from God, an argument usually accompanied by disturbing news of falling church attendance numbers. This argument ignores the fact that in the latter half of this century many people have turned away from christianity in a search of a spiritual understanding of the world. For some of those people, smoking cannabis has led them naturally towards a genuine and new appreciation of the Shivite philosophy. TOP OF PAGE "Bholenath! Jai Jai Gurudev! Jai Shiva Shambo! Hara Hara Mahadev! Bom Shankar!.”	xxx	READ THIS STORY IN PRINTABLE PLAIN TEXT PROPHECY AND PROFIT Although the unlikely success of The Celestine Prophecy has made it seem more an exercise in double-entry bookkeeping than inspiration, it is clearly a book that touches a commonly held human need aperback writer? Here’s the recipe. Take one slight but readable adventure story in the classic mode, season with a little pop psycho-philosophy, add a large measure of esoterica and sprinkle with that magic ingredient, relevancy. Mix together thoroughly and then half-bake in a lukewarm oven until you have a best-seller TheIt is easy to be cynical. But for cynicism to be meaningful it must be tempered with a little fair-mindedness. And there are, after all, many best-sellers that have been produced solely for the money, that have little to contribute to elevating or under standing the human condition, have no art or artifice, that are puerile and prurient. TheThe Celestine Prophecy, for all its literary inadequacies, is not so devoid of merit. Far from it. While its melodramatic storyline might be somewhat puerile, the main body of the book -- the prophecies themselves -- are revelationary, insightful and profound. So much so, in fact, that it can, indeed, assist us in understanding and elevating our condition. And who needs art, anyway? TheApparently not the book-buying public. My much- thumbed copy tells me that over one million copies have been sold in the USA (they waited for the TV mini-series but when it did not arrive had to buy the book). And elsewhere? Almost everyone seems to have read it, be about to read it or, at least, have it on their reading list. So the next question must be: How do you produce a book according to the formula above that, even in these cyn- ical times, sells like proverbial hotcakes? TheThe answer, of course, lies in that magic ingredient: ‘rele- vancy’. On all sorts of levels, The Celestine Prophecy is a book for this time. As more and more people have become aware that they are a part of a society that offers little hope for the future, they have increasingly looked around for answers. Searching for answers that explain how we got into this unfulfilling situation and what we can do about it has produced an inevitable con- frontation with our own culpability. In a mood of introspection we have questioned our own functioning and motives. That we have found few answers is reflected in the fact that we welcome suggestions from any source. TheFor many people, The Celestine Prophecy provides credible answers that explain why people are as they are and why soc- iety is such a mess. In doing so it is responding to the call of our time. This call is not just for self-knowledge to help us function in a way that makes life better but for something much more important to us — hope. TheIndeed, the whole book hangs on the hope engendered with- in the first two prophecies (or ‘insights’, as they are called in the book). These describe a new spiritual awakening in which people become aware that their lives are not meaningless or without direction, that every life has a coherent shape that is revealed in its coincidences. TheIt is, however, in the subsequent insights that the Celestine Prophecy validates its offer of hope and establishes its own credibility. In a systematic fashion, the six insights that follow redefine the world in terms that explain its deficiencies and the part we all have to play in them. In doing so, it gives us the opportunity to consider the roots of the social conditioning to which we have all been subjected and offers an opportunity to realign ourselves to a more elevated and elevating principle. TheHaving laid out suggestions for a new kind of society based on very different principles to those that have dominated for the last two millennia and have virtually consumed us over the last 500 years, in the Ninth Insight The Celestine Prophecy offers us The profitable prophet: James Redfield, author of 'The Celestine Prophecy' TOP OF PAGE the ultimate hope --- Heaven on Earth. In the midst of a dark and desperate age, with a future that seems to be leading inexorably towards oblivion, in a world where a violent and inhumane history presages a more violent and inhumane present, hope is as relevant as at any time in the past. TheThe success of The Celestine Prophecy, however, rests on much more than hope. Which is a good thing because, as we all know, hoping without some kind of attendant action never got anyone anything. It is action that drags hope out of Limbo and into the Real World, action that makes it real and realisable, action that allows it to stand tall and look the good, the bad and the ugly defiantly in the eye. Yes, indeedy (sticking with the cowboy motif), without that ‘attendant action’ hope ain’t worth a spit in a barrel of pig’s brine. (What the hell is ‘pig’s brine’!?) heSorry about that. PICTURE CAPTION: Said to have been found in a Mayan Temple not un- like this one, The Celestine Prophecy (or the manu- script from which it is said to have been taken) is just one of a number of proph- ecies associated with the mysterious Mayans. They might not have left us any easy explanations when they disappeared but they did leave us plenty of very large clues for the elaborate symbolism and picturesque iconography of their legacy is carved into the many great structures they left. Our picture shows the Pyramid of Inscriptions at Palanque in the Tabasco area of Mexico. Discovered deep within the pyramid was a tomb chamber containing the remains of the great Mayan Priest/King, Pacal. Although there were many treasures in and around the tomb itself, it was the lid of the sarcophagus that has fascinated researchers. Its deeply etched surface, densely covered with Mayan hieroglyphs, seemed to have something to say to us. TOP OF PAGE TheBut it is not on the techniques and other actions contained in The Celestine Prophecy that its success rests but on the common relevancy of the rationalisations that underwrite them. If there is any magic in the book that is where it is to be found. And, indeed, it is some kind of magic to come up with a few brief generalisations that seem to have deep and meaningful PICTURE CAPTION: The Tomb Lid of Palanque offers up a very different prediction to that con- tained in The Celestine Prophecy. Said to show the various ages through which the world has passed, the tomb lid took over thirty years to decipher. Before the scrambled message inscrib- ed in the tomb lid could be understood extensive research was necessary to work out the elaborate and detailed Mayan calendar. Once this had been accomplished, the tomb lid began to reveal its secrets. Not least amongst these was the date of the end of our own age right down to the very day. (Coffeehouse Culture End of the World Tip: Don’t bother shopping early for Christmas 2012.) TOP OF PAGE relevance at an intensely personal level for so many people. TheThe Celestine Proph- ecy’s magic is worked through drawing our attent- ion to the ‘coincidences’ that shape our lives. For Coffeehouse Culture, The Celestine Prophecy was as influential as it has been for many of its million and more readers. Coincidences, coincidences, coincidences. TheBy the time The Celestine Prophecy crossed our path, the Coffeehouse Culture concept was fully developed and as it is described in this issue. Already plans were afoot for our move from London to Amsterdam and the dummy issue was starting to take shape. Having spent some time questioning our motives and methods, we were confident that we were doing the right thing in the right way. But . . . . Life is an objective experience being lived subjectively. So questioning one’s integrity is not a bad thing. TheThen came The Celestine Prophecy. With the sound of giant cogs engaging, groaning and grinding as they drive massive pistons and towering crankshafts, we looked again at our baby. Even now I cannot resist a shudder as I recall the powerful revelation of all those coincidences falling into place. It all seemed so gloriously, wonderfully, beautifully clear. Everything (well, virtually everything) I had done in my life seemed to lead to that point and to Coffeehouse Culture. TheAnd hope for the future? Well if, as The Celestine Prophecy says, there is going to be a big spiritual awakening, maybe Coffeehouse Culture is a part of that happening or has a part to play in it happening. We hope so. TheIn future issues we will be looking at The Celestine Prophecy from a number of angles. Where did the insights actually come from? They are said to be Mayan but . . . . We will try to come up with some answers. And what do the insights mean? How can they be used? Where do they lead? All these questions and more, we will try to answer. TheTOP OF PAGE

FURTHER READING GUIDE Our Personal Recommendations in association with Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
PROPHECY AND PROFIT
THE CELESTINE PROPHECY By James Redfield The one that started it all. A book of extremes in which the good bits (the insights and how they are described and explained) are fantastic and the bad bits (the obviously fictional melodrama in which the insights are revealed) are awful. Nonetheless, a 'must read' if you haven't already. UK READERS SAVE £1.60 US READERS SAVE $2.79	xx	THE CELESTINE PROPHECY: An Experiential Guide By James Redfield How to apply the insights in your life and the effects they have. For us the value of 'The Celestine Prophecy' was in the explanations it gave for why things are as they are and what the future might hold so we found this much less compelling, and, indeed, useful. UK READERS CLICK HERE US READERS SAVE $2.59	xx x	THE TENTH INSIGHT By James Redfield Although we looked at this in a bookshop we didn't buy it. 'The Celestine Prophecy' had given us enough to think about for the next few decades and we really didn't want to read something that might make us question the credibility of the nine insights we'd already got. This appeared to be a lot more 'channelled' than the first book. UK READERS CLICK HERE US READERS SAVE $2.79
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SEE PAGES 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 16 AND 21 FOR MORE FURTHER READING GUIDES
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