Foreword

by Leo Rutherford

Healing is a very broad subject and Philena Bruce, in this book, has brought to it a refreshing breeze of common sense and practicality, to say nothing of 30 years of experience. She backs her discourse with lively anecdotes and stories of actual events she has experienced or witnessed. There are numerous ideas which struck home to me in this concise and bullshit-free work.

Firstly, how we view our relationship with the Universe is fundamental to whether healing happens for us. When we hold ourselves as loved by the Universe (God), we hold open the channel for healing and for good vibes of all kinds. If we hold ourselves as sinners struggling for redemption or in any way unlovable and not OK in the eyes of Creation, we block the natural flow. Healing is not so much something done to us as engendered by us so that it can take place within. So how we feel about our self, our worth, our place in the Universe, is fundamental to whether we can let ourselves receive healing or not. Part of the skill of the healer is to get past the client’s blocks and create the space where healing can happen.

The feeling of being loved or not is also fundamental to how our life goes and I heartily endorse the practice Philena describes in Chapter 2. We live in a hall of mirrors and the Universe keeps on reflecting our internal thoughts/beliefs to us whether we like what we get or not. And that’s the great feedback system of life; we are shown by external events how we are doing in the real world, which is the one inside.

A most useful practice I garnered from this book is the use of symbolic visualization, rather than literal visualization. To replace the scenes of what you want to bring into your life with symbols, thus leaving the Universe greater freedom as to how it brings to you that which you desire. I am currently engaged in working with this method on something that has proved so far to be somewhat intractable in my life. I am expecting success within the next three months!

This brings me to the whole question of materializing what you desire in life, a question which has been highlighted by the popularity of ‘The Secret’ and other such manuals. There has always seemed to me to be something left out of these theses. I remember a friend back in my San Francisco days who was deeply into this concept and worked her magic on the stock market with spectacular results, until the day when Mr Market had one of his periodic relapses. Her BMW quickly metamorphosed into a beat up Ford Capri and she become sadder but definitely wiser. The Universe gives us what we need, not what we want. Abundance, from a spiritual sense, does not mean ease and plenty in the world of BMW’s and McMansions, it means ease and plenty in the world of what really matters: friends, love, a convivial life, compassion and mutual support.

My own journey parallels Philena’s in many ways. I, too, grew up in a conventionally mixed up family with blame, shame and guilt thrown around like confetti, and with buckets of judgments regularly put upon me. Thus I learned to judge others in a similar manner and oh so frequently to imagine what awful things they were thinking or saying about me. It took some time in therapy groups to realize that most people were far too busy with themselves to be bothered with judging me, unless I did or said stupid things to bring that about! Turning around and releasing the negative thinking and beliefs taken on in early life is a mega task and Philena gives an excellent series of exercises and meditations which one can do in the little spaces of life, on public transport, while queuing or waiting for something, which help retraining the inner habitual belief system until we grasp our power back.

This is a great manual of commonsense living, healing and helping, read it and find the butterfly within your chrysalis!

Leo Rutherford

Letter to the Reader

Dear Reader
My own healing path has been a thirty-year-long adventure filled with trial and error. Standing on the edge of sanity trying to find my way to ‘normal’, I had low self-esteem, felt that no one cared about me and that I was hated by the world. Along the way, particularly in the early years, I discovered many different ways of healing that transformed my life and those of my clients, well beyond my expectations.

I discovered that the vital key to living a happy, fulfilled life was to know that I was unconditionally loved by God, the Universe, the Planet. I know that many people may not be quite ready to take on this belief, as I could not in the early years. Thus you may find it easier to start with one of my other healing methods.

Part I of this book shows you ways to change your life to live in a more fulfilled way. These are methods which anyone can apply with a little perseverance and the desire to live a happier, more successful life. In Part II, I describe the most successful methods of healing which I have practised on myself and my clients, most of which are simple enough to use yourself. If I were to teach you one thing only, it would be the fundamental truth that you are unconditionally loved.

May the Goddess bless you and transform you into the beautiful butterfly you truly are.

Philena Bruce