Skaggs, R. (2004). Music: Keynote of the human spirit. Baltimore, MD: PublishAmerica. 189 pages, ISBN 1-4137-4601-2. $19.95

Abstract

Skaggs, R. (2004). Music: Keynote of the human spirit. Baltimore, MD: PublishAmerica. 189 pages, ISBN 1-4137-4601-2. $19.95. well-written book is a rich resource about music's power to expand human consciousness and promote healing. The author, Ruth Skaggs, has been trained professional counseling, expressive arts therapy, and the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and (BMGIM). She has also been a trainer BMGIM. book is the culmination of her 21 years of as a psychotherapist and her study of many diverse sources. A statement the introduction stood out for me as a focus for this work. She writes, This book is an attempt to explore the meaning of the whole of humanity, its part the evolution of consciousness, its role as a carrier of unconscious universal motifs, and its power to heal (p. 11). She increases the reader's awareness of the need for healing our world today, and she challenges the reader to be responsible and intentional the use of music. In discussing the dynamic and universal role can play healing, she states, music can provide a connection to our human roots (p. 13). The book is thought provoking, inspiring, and easily understood, even by a reader untrained psychology or music. There are 9 chapters and many include short exercises for listening, as a (p. 21) purposeful and focused way. Skaggs has taken great care to warn the reader about using these exercises without proper training for someone else. Each exercise has clear guidelines to prepare the listener and suggestions for processing afterwards. There are many examples given from her therapy sessions throughout the book. As someone also trained the BMGIM, I found these examples to be very helpful and inspiring. I see this book as being useful for therapists, counselors, or psychotherapists, medical professionals, hospice professionals, hospital chaplains, spiritual counselors, massage therapists, teachers, musicians, and lay readers who are interested using for personal growth. In chapter 1, as Oracle, Skaggs captures the reader's attention by sharing many inspiring examples from her sessions with clients. She discusses how has acted as an oracular guide throughout history and many cultures. She clearly shows how functions as oracle through images, metaphors, and synchronistic moments. She compares sound patterns to the visual patterns Rorschach ink blots in that the response to them is unique to the individual's psyche (p. 22). She also provides some scientific theories from physic as a basis for ways can act as an oracle to sometimes predict future events, including accurate medical information. In this chapter she lays the groundwork for ways functions to evoke archetypal images. The second chapter, Expanding Consciousness Through Music, is derived from a wide variety of sources ranging from a seventeenth-century poet to twentieth-century physicists. Skaggs provides the reader with several theories about consciousness. The lay reader is shown the value exploring the inner world of the unconscious and how can be a bridge between the conscious and unconscious worlds. She provides concise information on how brain waves change different states of consciousness and how narrowing the focus of attention, as BMGIM, enables one to reach these states. There are several fascinating examples relating to the science of cymatics and quantum physics. She demonstrates the importance of using classical over other types of exploring the unconscious. She states, Music that has its source an intentionality devoted to the deepter nature of humans reaches the listener physiologically, emotionally, neurologically, and spiritually. It facilitates an expansion of awareness into limitless realms of experience (p. 47). I found chapter 3, The Archetypal Nature of Music, to be the most interesting chapter the book. …