Sunday, 29 March 2026

Soul Coaching Oracle Cards


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Card Deck Review: Soul Coaching Oracle Cards by Denise Lynn http://www.deniselinn.com/ published by Hay House. 52 cards in the box with a guidebook, a page of text per card. Sample card readings: The card, Compassion states: 'The vibration of compassion shines through my every cell". You are a deeply compassionate being. Allow the light of your goodwill to shine to the world. Accept the care that the Creator has for you. You are loved and immensely lovable. Start with yourself, gently and lovingly accept yourself as you are. You dont need to be perfect. Release your judgements and negative beliefs and you will have greater undersranding for others. Release guilt and shame because they no longer serve you. Forgive yourself and others. All the vibration of compassion shine through every cell in your body. 

Saturday, 28 March 2026

Fairy Messages Cards

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Card Review: Magical Messages from the Fairies Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue contains 44 cards plus 109 guidebook with 109 pages. £13.99 Various artists. 

This easy to use pack provides information on using the cards, such as how to consecrate them and receive an answer to a question. Ideal for a one card choice per day, there is also a three card spread or use of a multiple card spread suggested.  The book contains not just the title of the card, a picture and message, but in the book there is more information about the message. The card stock is excellent, as usual for Hay House, this deck is edged with gold leaf, and the artwork is of good quality. Some of the card titles are: 'Good-Bye to the Old, Hello to the New', 'Ask for What You Want', Your Wish is Granted', all cards carry a positive message and are ideal for first time users and can be used for self or others.

Wednesday, 25 March 2026

Your Life in Colour

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book review: Your Life in Colour - Empowering Your Soul with the Energy of Colour by Dougall Fraser and published by Hay House, paperback £12.99 Author website: www.dougallfraser.com

Dougall Fraser is a Los Angeles life coach and workshop facilitator. He has an ability to see auras and has added interests in meditation, chakras and colour healing. Here he explains how to incorporate colour into our life and includes exercises, affirmations, meditations and suggestions on how to align ourself with colour energies. Colours can create positive and negative reactions so we need to find which colours work for us and he provides a simple course to work with a different colour each week. Dougall Fraser provides examples from his personal experiences and those of his clients. Each colour has a positive and a negative aspect and colour can help us to meet our goals, increase energy, influence and wellbeing. We can imagine a beautiful meditation such as imagining a ball of colour above our head which bursts into a shower of sparkles which rain down over us. He has a radio show on Hay House Radio and offers a blog on his website. White, gold, silver, blue, emerald green, purple, ruby red, orange, pink, mint green. 

Numerology Guidance Cards


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Oracle Card Review: Numerology Cards by Michelle Buchanan with artwork by Jonathan Quintin. 44 cards in box with instruction booklet published by Hay House. Card size 3.8 x 9.5 x 14cm. £14.99 www.michellebuchanan.co.nz

These are high quality cards and the instruction booklet explains how to bless and connect to the cards by talking to them, placing them over your heart and affirming your intentions. Then perform a 5 minute visualisation. There is also information on how to use the cards and how to perform a reading, such as being clear about asking a question and selecting your card. In addition to a one card reading example, a 3 card reading is shown which offers ‘situation’, ‘action’, ‘outcome’ or a ‘3 points of view’ card. There is also a multiple deck reading where you use ‘Numerology Guidance Cards’ with another deck, such as an angel or tarot deck. Every card in the deck has a different colour for recognition, a number and a title. In the booklet, there is an explanation for every card and number and an affirmation. The design is the same on the front (it is described as a ‘Merkaba star tetrahedron’ and the backs of the cards are a blue/purple colour with a circle described as a ‘Flower of Life’.   


Sunday, 22 March 2026

Alchemy of the Soul


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Alchemy of the Soul - The Arc of the Ancients by Gloria O’Neil-Savage. Self Published June 2025. hardcover US $19.98 

The author is a healer, an aromatherapist and astrologer. She is also a word smith who delights in language and description, etymology and weird association. She hears the words oof Angels and offers us the knowledge of spirit teachers and she describes herself as a servant of the Most High who lives according to spirit instructions. The book is well written in a poetic style. childhood betrayals, life’s obstacles, challenges, dreams, friendships, celebrations, are all detailed here. This is an autobiography full of wisdom, and beauty. Autobiographies are often hyped, a business calling card that is written to promote a business, but this has nuggets of meaning and purposed, and is a spiritual life explained for the reader. 

Friday, 20 March 2026

The Spirit Animal Oracle


Mind, Body & Soul Ezine Card Deck Reviews: The Spirit Animal Oracle by Colette Baron-Reid, Boxed set of 68 cards and guidebook, published by Hay House, U.K. £19.99 : US $29.99 : CAN $39.99 Card size: 6 “ x  4.5”

“The spirits residing in the natural world have much to share, and the secrets of their forgotten language are now available to us.”

The cards have a number, image, title and subtitle on the face and inside in the guidebook, there is a further 200 words of messages on upright cards and an addition 200 words of a protection message for each card that is reversed. 

Wednesday, 18 March 2026

Flower Therapy Oracle Cards









Mind Body & Soul Ezine Card Deck Review: Flower Therapy Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue and Robert Reeves. Boxed set of 44 cards and guidebook £13.99.

Enjoyable high colour cards featuring flowers from across the world. How to use the cards, how to clear them, consecrate them, invoke angelic protection, and how to ask a question. Choose a 3 card spread or multiple cards! Each card is explained with 100 words of information on insight and healing. Gold leaf edging on mine, enjoyable high colour photo quality card images! Hay House is always good value and excellent quality card stock. The cards provide guidance for yourself and others. A latin and local name are given for each flower and a slogan of advice. Friendly, easy, take them to the coffee bar to share the readings with friends and family. 

Review: Wendy Stokes www.wendystokes.co.uk

Sunday, 15 March 2026

Tarot and the Gates of Light


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Tarot and the Gates of Light - A Kabbalistic Path to Liberation by Mark Horn, paperback, 530 pages published by Destiny Books.

This is a workbook to assist the student to gain enlightenment through an ancient Kabbalistic cleansing ritual known as ‘Counting the Omer’. This practice traditionally began at Passover and continued for 49 days to Shavuot or what many know as Pentecost or Whit (white) Sunday. Tarot cards are used here - b/w drawings of the Rider Waite deck are provided within the text, in this newly designed method, which incorporates Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim texts and has therefore, an ecumenical base that does not exclude anyone of these religions, or none.

The Language of Letting Go


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie. 

A book of 365 advice style meditations provided on a daily reading basis. Melody shares her recommendations for letting go of anxiety, despondency, needyness, frustrations, and other common problems, replacing them with confidence, joy, self understanding and positivity. Each daily meditation is followed by a one sentence prayer. AA and other similar programmes for recovery from addictions, codependency and compulsions are the foundation of this book. 

Recommended. Review by Wendy Stokes https://wendystokes.co.uk

Friday, 13 March 2026

The Knights Templar in the New World


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Knights Templar in the New World - How Henry Sinclair Brought the Grail to Arcadia by William F Mann, published by Destiny Books. 

Did Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and a Scottish Prince, in 1398 sail to the New World of Nova Scotia and was this recorded by Micmac legends about Glooskap? Did the same Prince offer refuge to the Templar Knights after their persecution by Philip the Fair of France at the beginning of the fourteenth century? What do the archaeological sites reveal? Was there a refuge for the Templar Knights and their followers and did they have in their possession the sacred Grail cup or bloodline connecting Jesus and Mary Magdalene to the Merovingian dynasty? What are the indigenous legends? Was sacred geometry handed down to the Freemasons? These questions are answered, using original research by the author, Wm F Mann. Bill is an esteemed Officer of Canadian Order of Knights Templar with many accolades and credentials to his name.  

Templar Antiquities

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Temple Antiquities – The Templar Papers II By Oddvar Olsen Published by O Books Paperback 260 pages

This is book II and follows ‘Templar Papers: Ancient Mysteries, Secret Societies and the Holy Grail’ and is compiled by Oddvar Olsen as a collection of essays by a number of writers, some very well-known in their field and with a love of research into the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (known as the Knights Templar). This was a Mediaeval Western Christian military and religious order (1129-1312) that guarded pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. They were the most important figures of the Crusades and began a banking system so that pilgrims could deposit money in one place and collect it in another. Philip IV of France borrowed large sums of money from them and the Pope of the day declared the Order was heretical and many were tortured and put to death, and it is said some escaped.


The Templars


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Templars - The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades by Piers Paul Read. 

The Templars were a multinational force of religious warriors, the first uniformed standing army in the Western world. They owned and managed vast estates and were pioneers in many fields, including fighting, travel, banking and building. Were they guilty of the charges to which they pleaded guilty under torture of blasphemy, heresy and sodomy yet withdrew their guilty plea knowing that death by fire awaited them? What relevance has their story for our modern times? 

Each of the Jerusalem temples are detailed, the founding of the Templar Order, their daily lives and responsibilities, each of their battles, including Acre and its fall, and the many colourful characters, Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Louis of France, etcetera are covered. The author provides a balanced account, and documents some interesting scandals, errors and tragedies. Each success and defeat is described and the many complex circumstances that led to their demise are detailed, including a major internecine dispute about the marriage of a Princess in Tripoli. A tracing attempts of the Templars to protect their treasure takes it from Sidon then to Cyprus, with many lost battles along route. An interesting piece, page  249, about Roger of Flor, son of a falconer of Emperor Frederick II, extortionist, commander of the  Falcon galley and the Olivetta, expelled from the Templar Order, he sailed to Marseilles, then Genoa, making vast sums through piracy, leading Catalan mercenaries, in 1302 he commanded 32 galleys and a force of 2,500 men, and was eventually assassinated. He was one of the very few recorded renegade Knights Templar.

Thursday, 12 March 2026

The Murdered Magicians

Mind Body &  Soul Ezine Book Review: The Murdered Magicians - The Templars and their Myth by Peter Partner, hardback, published by Crucible.

This is an interesting study which is balanced, realistic and well researched. Is it possible to explain the Templars as great rogues, heroic yet ordinary men involved in a blame game by the King Philip 'the Fair' of France with the reluctant collusion of Pope Clement V?  The Order began with a dream of Saint Bernard and ended with a mythic curse from the tortured and dying Jacques de Molay.

This book does not artificially praise the Order, due to accusations of avarice, pride and other sins of their day, yet we are made aware of their honour and of their suffering. Most interesting, the court cases are described in detail along with the privations of their incarceration. 54 were burned to death in 1310 and the two Templar leaders burned to death in 1314. All went to their deaths claiming their innocence. What was their wrongdoing? They had no money and they failed to have further successes in the Holy Land. Were they really stupid to keep the secrets they were accused of? 

Templar Sanctuaries in North America

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Templar Sanctuaries in North America - Sacred Bloodlines and Secret Treasures by William F Mann, Foreword by Scott F Wolter. Published by Destiny Books, 419 pages Paperback: £14.99 Also available in Kindle format.

The Templars History & Myth

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Templars History & Myth - From Solomon's and Herod's Temples to the Freemasons, a Guide to Templar History, Culture and Locations by Michael Haag, published by Profile Books, 384 pages with black and white diagrams and photographs.

"The Templars have something to do with everything!"

A factual and readable account of the building of Solomon's Temple to the instigation of the Knights Templar, including the many crusades, their castles, banking empire, successes and failures, alleged conspiracies, trials and exiles, to the capture, imprisonment, torture of members, and to the eventual burning at the stake of their Last Grand Master. Details of the Chinon Parchment - which proved their innocence - and their escape to various countries, under various guises and denominations.

Turning the Templar Key


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Turning the Templar Key - Martyrs, Freemasons and the Secret of the True Cross of Christ by Robert Lomas 

The book opens to Martin Foulks’ glowing appraisal of Freemasonry and its charitable and self development aims, though fortunately, we don’t need to join a secret society with hidden handshakes, threats and a death ritual with knives and coffins to achieve a Christian life! 

The book begins with a fantasy of the morning of 13th October 1307 when the last Templar Grand Master was arrested by the soldiers of King Philip the Fair in the dormitory of the Paris Temple - the place where the royal valuables were kept for safety. Templar knights were monks. Priests are initiated, they say mass, and are. very different, though some monks were also priests, but not the Grand Masters, as one priest for a few dozen monks would have been adequate. Even with minimal criticisms, did I enjoy the content of the text? Yes, very definitely. It is beautifully written, and the author is a great story teller. 

The Templar Treasure of Gisors


Mind Body Soul Ezine Book Review: The Templar Treasure of Gisor by Jean Markale, Published by Inner Traditions/Bear & Co. Paperback 304 pages, £15.99 
Using source documents, this controversial author, the late Jean Markale, considers that Templar treasures were hidden within the Cathedral at Gisor, possibly within the many underground chambers and passageways that are held to be too dangerous to investigate by modern archaeologists. The author accepts that the original confession of the Templars to heresy (conducted under extreme torture) was true and ignores their following retraction. Jean Markale (1928 - 2008) was the pen name of Jean Bertrand - described by himself as a Celtic and mediaeval scholar at the Sorbonne. Here he suggests that within the Knights Templar Order was a secret band of knights who had access to knowledge and wealth, spiritual and material, that is still to be found. This author has been discredited more than a couple of times!

Wednesday, 11 March 2026

History of the Knights Templar

Mind Body Soul Ezine Book Review: The History of the Knights Templar: The Temple Church and The Templars by Charles G Addison, 332 pages, reprinted and published. Hardback, paperback and Kindle. 

Written by a member of London’s Inner Temple (ie and licensed to practice law), the author, Charles Greenstreet Addison, refers to Latin, French and Early Modern English citations and source material,  and describes the origin of the Templars, their popularity, their rivalry with the Knights of Malta, (Hospitallers), their activities in the Holy Land, eye witness accounts of the battles' wins and losses, the 1312 suppression of the Order, their arrest, accusations of heresy and secret rites, their torture and the execution of the the last and highest of the Order. The London Temple Church, their headquarters in the UK, its architecture and history and how the area became the centre of the legal profession, a hostel and school for lawyers. All is detailed, with the culmination of the survival of their legacy. Expertly written and researched. 

Ben Mijuskovic - Loneliness

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature by Ben Lazare Mijuskovic  is available on Kindle £2.52 with 309 pages and there is a FREE download of the book from the website.

This book focuses on the link between literature, psychology and philosophy throughout time and on humankind's ability to deal with loneliness. The author, Ben Mijuskovic, explores the various ways society uses loneliness, for example, "punishing" prisoners by isolation from others. The book discusses in detail the reasons why children fear being alone and how adults deal with a similar anxiety but do not share their concerns with others. The author is a Professor and this is very much reflected in the style of writing. The book provides in depth academic understanding and will be of great interest to students and fellow academics. Reviewer: Susan Griffiths


The Templar Revelation


Mind Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: The Templar Revelation - Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, published by Corgi Books.
Visit: www.picknettprince.com

Exciting research and interesting speculations about the Order of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon! Why is St John the Baptist so important? Who was Mary Magdalene and was she Mary of Bethany? What is the connection between St John the Disciple and Mary Magdalene? What is the 'John gesture'? Are there Mysteries encoded within Leonardo's work? Whose image is on the Turin Shroud? What did the Templars discover in the Holy Land? What is special about Friday 13th? Was Mary the 'Ark of the Covenant'? How important was alchemy to the Templars, the cathedral builders, Leonardo and others?