Overall, I enjoyed the book. I know this book isn't for everyone, but with that being said there is some interesting information in here if you can put any bias aside.

One of the things I find challenging about the current moment is that we live in a time where it is very collectively clear that a major shift is afoot, and yet everyone seems to have a very different (and often polarizing) take on what that shift is. I want to be clear that this review comes from the perspective of someone who is spiritually inclined, experiences things that one might call “supernatural,” and approaches this book with an open mind, as I know how frustrating it can be to read critical book reviews that reject the overall discipline rather than the specific theory put forward.

My intention in this review is not to belittle or even necessarily doubt the author’s personal felt experience and abilities as a medical intuitive, but rather to share what I perceive to be the potential harm this book could cause without further context. My concern isn’t that the method is unscientific or that the people Meredith claims to have healed have not in fact experienced healing.

Rather, I believe readers should know that the framework Meredith uses to understand her own abilities and share them with others as a teacher is not one universally shared by intuitive people, and that reading this book particularly as an introduction to spiritual or intuitive healing may lead some to a harmful interpretation that Meredith herself may not even share. If you’re interested in intuitive healing, I also want you to know that there are alternative viewpoints and frameworks, including some excellent titles also from this publisher. Unfortunately, the entire field tends to get written off as ridiculous on the basis of sensational accounts like these, which is a shame!

That said, let’s get specific. I picked this book up assuming based on the title and the early description I read from the publisher that it would cover the science behind intuitive healing modalities (perhaps energy work, bodywork, intuitive counseling, etc.) There is, in fact, fascinating research being conducted in this field, and it’s an exciting time for those of us who perceive subtle energies and are looking for answers! But this book is focused exclusively on the experiences of an author who practices what I would term “faith healing,” a modality of “laying on of hands” and prayer. While she claims that her abilities are “proven,” those claims seem to originate from fairly dubious sources, and the fact that she misstates her medical credentials in this book is also concerning. (See Carrie Poppy and Ross Blotcher’s investigation for more on this, if you’re interested.)

Personally, I was more interested in what Meredith teaches in this how-to guide than I was in investigating her scientific claims. Does Meredith offer, as she posits, instructions for healing through intuitive modalities that anyone can benefit from?

The book is fairly evenly split into five themes: first we learn about Meredith’s personal story including near death experiences and a sudden onset of healing abilities, then she explains her beliefs and methodology, followed by specific practices including prayers, affirmations, and exercises. The fourth section honestly reminded me a little of a 90s diet book with recipes and a laundry list of environmental harms ranging from legitimately toxic substances to more conspiracy theory sounding claims, and the book concludes with client testimonials.

The writing is an odd mishmash of fairly common spiritual ideas (unconditional love, acceptance, living in the present moment, working with divine gender) with much more religiously specific and idiosyncratic concepts. This mix may make it difficult for some readers to discern when there’s a jump. I noticed that while these broad spiritual values are discussed, there’s no mention of spiritual autonomy or personal values, which is always a red flag for me.

I think it’s important to take the book in context—it’s coming from a person who is selling healing services within a market, and thus has a motivation to convince readers that her services are both valuable and unique. While some authors can do this while also encouraging readers to make up their own mind, Meredith’s tone leaves little room for nuance. She uses New Age language mixed with Christian reference points to distance readers from responsibility for social issues and encourage them to buy into her model. Even assuming good faith and that her abilities really have remarkably healed people, my take is that Meredith has mapped these tangible experiences onto a harmful New Age worldview that claims to unify but in reality separates.

The New Age vocabulary gives the impression of something specific and measurable, a knowledge of that which is unknowable. This is a very binary perspective, pitting angels against “dark energies,” with constant reinforcement of “100%” belief in God being a prerequisite to healing. While I did start the book with an open mind, intending to translate terms as I often do when the particular words don’t fit my beliefs, in this case the monotheism at least is impossible to set aside. While Meredith was raised Jewish, and her spiritual vocabulary is a mishmash of (mostly unattributed) traditions including Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and New Age spirituality, there is still a heavily Christian tone. She uses terms like “Christ consciousness” and “Holy Spirit” alongside out-of-context scientific references that aren’t anchored in explanation.

Of course, this odd sort of unremarked-upon syncretism is not new. There is a broad mass appeal, especially in the United States, to straddling the line between a Christian worldview and vague New Age spiritualism, allowing both Christians and non-religious people searching for some escape from modern life to see themselves in the teachings. I have no way of knowing whether Meredith is intentionally doing this or is simply transmitting her own beliefs that rise out of her lived experience of healing, combined with what she’s read or heard about various traditions. Either way, the references to different traditions appear out of context and it’s unclear why she chose them.

I’m always a little suspect when an author takes universal experiences, maps them onto a specific system, and then tells you that’s absolutely how the world works. It doesn’t really help that Meredith refers to nebulous concepts like the Age of Aquarius (which, as an astrologer, I’ve noticed everyone has a different definition for!) as well as some racist / uninformed interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar that have been fairly clearly debunked.

More troubling is the way Meredith’s views, like those of many New Age proponents, engage in spiritual bypassing of major issues such as climate change and systemic oppression. Instead of suggesting that this crux point for civilization should be pushing us towards returning to natural rhythms and cycles, holding racist capitalism accountable, processing collective trauma, and letting go of the myth of constant growth and striving in favor of embracing the nature of life-death cycles, Meredith leans in hard to escaping the earth and achieving “Ascension.” Her approach doesn’t so much empower the reader as encourage them to think of our current reality as an illusion. Certainly this may appeal to some, but its risks lie in real world harm as is evident in recent attempts to justify white supremacy using New Age frameworks.

Meredith’s account is highly individualist and reliant on blame, which seems consistent with her upbringing by a grandmother who encouraged her to “pull herself up by her bootstraps” when recovering from a major traumatic injury (an anecdote Meredith recounts sentimentally). Though Meredith doesn’t personally identify as Christian, there’s a distinctive tone of punishing fire-and-brimstone morality here. When she talks about forgiveness for example, it’s not about understanding human imperfection or acknowledging systemic contexts, but rather how fortunate we are that God forgives us for our sins. One prayer literally references doing as you’re told, and Meredith shames clients for not “proclaiming” the word of how she heals them online, which has a tinge of both Christian evangelism and pushy word-of-mouth marketing for her services. Self-denial is encouraged, and the dynamics of worldly harm get brushed aside. The idea seems to be that if you are “high vibe,” you’re safe, and if you experience harm it’s your own fault for not rejecting “dark energy.”

BIPOC especially may want to steer clear of this book. It’s clear from the way issues of illness and financial hardship are the only life problems addressed in the narrative or in the prayers and affirmations that systemic oppression just isn’t a concern of Meredith’s. The name she grew up using is, of all things, described as a Vietnamese name (without accent marks, I couldn’t confirm) brought back by a (presumably white) US American grandfather who served in the Vietnam War. There may not be straight-up proclamations of racist beliefs here, but I doubt the narrative will resonate with many who aren’t white. Even if Meredith’s intention was not to exclude, the lack of context makes it easy for a white reader to come away believing that there’s no need to work on internalized bias or advocate for inclusive policy changes, since they’re just going to Ascend.

Ultimately, I’d tend towards the benefit of the doubt and give this book two stars, as I often do when there are some legitimate ideas included. However, there’s nothing here that you can’t learn from a more ethical source, and in addition to what I’ve already covered I find it highly concerning that Meredith is essentially telling people to cure cancer and COVID-19 with prayer alone. She includes a standard disclaimer about seeking medical advice, but in the body of the text suggests that unhealthy habits are to blame for the pandemic, again putting the blame back on the reader.

It seems suspiciously convenient that Meredith is the cure for all that ails you. While she’s charging a fairly reasonable market rate for one-off sessions, she makes it clear that healing is both effective on those who don’t “100% believe” in her worldview and temporary. In other words, you might have to keep coming back, and if you do it’s again your own fault. (Her website offers a mix of claims that her technique is effective in a single session and disclaimers that the total number of sessions needed can’t be determined in advance. Presumably the single session claim requires that full belief.) The book is about teaching the reader, but at the same time she clearly singles herself out as chosen by God.

While it is entirely possible that Meredith has a unique and unusual gift that she feels compelled to share, the encouragement of spiritual bypassing in a world fraught with major collective problems, the focus on self-blame, and the inclusion of claims that could lead a reader to skip necessary cancer or COVID treatment make it difficult to recommend to any audience. It’s quite rare that I give a one-star review, but I would recommend that those considering this book try another title on intuitive healing and give this one a pass.

This book was very interesting and fast-paced, the author held my attention and the plot was very appealing. I would recommend this book to friends.

There were so many reasons I was drawn to this book: curiosity about the subject, a mention of Edgar Cayce; and the forward from Norman Shealy.  The author is very open about her growing up years and the events that led up to her ability to heal people.

It is an interesting book which includes suggestions for the reader to tap into some of the things she know how to do.

3 star read. I enjoyed the author's story, which is told in the first section of the book. I did think that it could have used a bit more editing for clarity.

The rest of the book offers helpful prayers and exercises. Having a print copy of the book would make this section easier to access versus the kindle copy that I read. I think many readers will find this book useful though I didn't think it was as revolutionary as many of the blurbs indicate.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital review copy.

Kimberly Meredith, better known as Kim Meredith, was at one time a bit actress on television shows, mostly soap operas. She is most well-known for the Lifetime show Strong Medicine, playing a nurse who appeared in red scrubs. She was a working actress for several decades (while also working at a hospital as an actual nurse). While working on the HBO series Getting On, a freak accident forced her to the hospital and caused her to lose her job as medical consultant. However, this and a subsequent near-death experience gave her a second career as an intuitive healer.

Admittedly, that what drew me to this book is her near-death experiences. I’ve found some accounts of near-death experiences to be utterly fascinating and credible. However, Meredith’s descriptions leave a lot to be desired. Most people who have near-death experiences report incredible, vivid details. I can imagine being that close to death would be something you would never forget. Her descriptions of the experiences are pretty bland. She describes the all-too-common blinding light in her first experience, and then “darker spirits” in her second near-death experience.

Additionally, the writing isn’t so strong as to overlook these flaws. There are entire paragraphs where she begins each sentence with “I.” I understand that necessarily in books with strong autobiographical tones, using “I” at length is necessary, but at least change up the sentence structure a little bit.

That said, I found the strongly autobiographical bits of the book to be the most interesting. Meredith allows herself to be vulnerable by sharing large amounts of information from her troubled past. Her parents divorced when she was very young, and it seemed to have a profound impact on her. She seems to find solace in her grandmother, while struggling in her relationship with her mom, as well as her dad. This part made me sympathetic to her situation and want to know more about her.

However, I couldn’t help walking away with a fair amount of skepticism. I believe in spirituality and the power of energy (as shown in physics), but I stop short when someone claims to be a “psychic surgeon.” She claims to regularly have visits with Mother Mary, Jesus, Angels, and the spirit of Albert Einstein. I can plausibly believe psychics who claim to communicate with family members and know incredible detail (these are exceedingly rare), but Albert Einstein?! Maybe it's possible, but the idea definitely stretched the limits of my imagination.

I believe Meredith is a genuinely kind person who wants to help others. The larger message here, and the one I really hope more readers connect with, is one of optimism, love and faith and finding better health and healing as a result.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing a digital ARC in exchange for an independent, honest review.

It was a bit of a struggle to determine the clearest and most concise way to describe my response to this book. Having worked with multidimensional energies and levels of consciousness for several decades, I requested an ARC because I was curious about the title and the author’s viewpoint. Unfortunately, I found my knowledge and experience was often incompatible with the book’s content. I respect for the author’s spiritual perspective, and based on the documentation of her work by several reputable scientists, I have little doubt that she is profoundly gifted. Given that, I did not resonate with much of the information.

The content is very basic and may appeal to those just beginning on their spiritual path. The source of much of the channeled information is the author’s guides, including the late Edgar Cayce, a well-known medium. Chapters are comprehensive and include a glossary of terms; a description of the author’s life experiences that lead to her healing work; a compendium of basic spiritual practices to awaken higher consciousness; a description of the chakra system and balancing techniques; a discussion of principles and practices for spiritual healing (prayers, affirmations, and spiritual exercises); a series of case studies; and a fairly extensive list of recommendations for diet and supplements (and recipes!). It is these latter chapters on diet/supplements that raised my biggest concerns. I am not a fan of generalized, one-size-fits-all guidelines for nutritional information. The author does note that she works doctors and other healthcare professionals and advises the reader to consult with their health practitioner before making changes, especially with regard to pre-existing medical directives.

Please be advised that much of the information has a significant Christian overtone. For some readers, the vocabulary (God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Mother Mary) may not be supportive of their particular spiritual path. For others, this may speak directly to their inner being in a powerful way. Above all, the author’s message is one of hope and faith in each person’s capacity to connect with these higher dimensional frequencies for health and healing. I gave this book three stars because I am confident that there are many who will find this book inspirational; it just wasn’t a match for me.

My thanks to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing a digital ARC in exchange for an independent, honest review.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.