Cultivating Inner Radiance and the Body of Immortality [Paperback]

I just got my copy of Robert Powell's book, Cultivating Inner Radiance and the Body of Immortality, and have looked it over. One word comes to mind: WOW! It includes just about everything Robert Powell has taught (as meditative exercises, prayers, and sacred dance) over the past number of years--with much new material as well--all in one volume. What appears to be a workbook with a simple cover design is a great treasure indeed!

Robert Powell was awarded a Ph.D. for his research into the history of the zodiac. He also has some forty years of experience working with Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science as well as being engaged with research in astrosophy, or star wisdom, as his many books testify. He is also the editor of the yearly Journal for Star Wisdom and is co-founder of the Sophia Foundation.

In 1982 Robert Powell completed training in eurythmy at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, a center founded in Switzerland by Rudolf Steiner for the continuation of research into the many impulses that he seeded through his extraordinary spiritual work. The impulse for eurythmy, a new artistic form of movement, was given in 1912, and the Inner Radiance book is written in part to honor the 100th anniversary of this artistic and healing gift to the world.

As a trained eurythmist, Robert Powell has worked for the last thirty years with eurythmy, and also for twelve years with the therapeutic application of eurythmy as a new healing modality. He saw an opportunity through eurythmy, and Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science, of the possibility for people to be able to experience the more subtle levels of existence that are addressed in the Inner Radiance book.

He was thus inspired to bring forth Choreocosmos, a movement or dance form born out of many years of serious and deep work with eurythmy, based firmly on Rudolf Steiner's indications. Choreocosmos (from the Greek, meaning "cosmic dance"), which includes cosmic as well as sacred dance (or prayer eurythmy), enables people to move "in harmony with the heavens" and experience the blessings of the planets and the zodiac as they ray down upon the earth and humanity, and as they work throughout the course of planetary and human evolution.

Choreocosmos is intended for anyone with an interest in spiritual development--whether or not they've had any formal dance or eurythmy training. Participants may be interested in a spiritual path through movement, or they may wish to develop through prayer and meditation, or gain insight into planetary and human evolution. Through Choreocosmos they are able to receive spiritual insights and blessings, as well as experience a deep harmony in their being, because it involves not only their thinking, but also feeling and the will, as they work with words, music, movement, and gestures in groups or individually. (A video clip of Choreocosmos can be viewed on the Sophia Foundation website: [...]).

The practices and exercises in the Inner Radiance book are the result of many years work and those of us who have been privileged to work with them over time can attest to their efficacy and profundity. With this book one can work with and build up an individual practice that supports inner growth and spiritual development, as well as cultivating inner radiance. I especially like the inclusion of material on Peter Deunov's music (with which I am familiar, through Paneurhythmy), as music is an important dimension of this work. I am also grateful for the drawings, which are helpful in working out, or remembering, the movement.

This is a book that can be read by anyone, though there is a great deal of material here that cannot be absorbed all at once. It is above all, meant to be worked with and returned to again and again, as one feels the desire to deepen one's understanding and practice. However one chooses to work with the material-- there are many levels and options--this is a valuable companion for the millennium. It represents a tremendous labor of love and is a real culmination of Robert Powell's life's work. I am very grateful for the gift of this book, which introduces a newly birthed work into a world that is in such need of spiritual help and depth!

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