Nexus - 0403 - New Times Magazine-pages

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REVIEWS by the rich and powerful and then rejected, unable to pay years of hotel bills. Tesla was truly a man way ahead of his time, for few are blessed enough to be able to declare, as he did in his 1919 autobiogra- phy, that "for many years my life was little short of continuous rapture." MYSTERY CITIES OF THE MAYA ey Tinea Cans es ee early 1920s explorations and adventures around the Caribbean and the jungles of Central America, especially Belize and the unique Mayan city of Lubaantun which he first investigated in 1903. Gann was an archaeologist, a member of the Maya Society and a keen observer of local customs, realising they revealed much of significance about people and their histo- ry. In this book he describes Mayan stepped pyramids, burial mounds, stelas, under- ground passages, glyphs and lost artefacts, "Devil Dance" masks and day-to-day reli- gious and social rituals, and supports his narrative with classic photographs, maps and diagrams of the day. In 1924 and 1925, Gann joined his explor- er friend Mike Mitchell-Hedges on an expe- dition to Lubaantun, where the famed Crystal Skull would be discovered some time before the three-year dig was over. While they made some remarkable discover- ies, including evidence of three different periods of occupation at the site, their expe- dition was cut short due to sickness in the camp. All par for the course for intrepid explorers in search of Atlantis! Much has been discovered about the Mayan civilisation since Thomas Gann wrote this book, but Gann's reports consti- tute an important contribution to what is now a more solid body of knowledge. ley Thomas Gua MYSTERY CITIES OF THE MAYA by Thomas Gann Publisher: Adventures Unlimited Press, Kempton, IL, USA, 1997 (first published 1925, G. Duckworth, London, UK) ISBN 0-932813-17-8 (252pp s/c) Price: AUD$25.00; NZD$34.00 + p&h; USD$16.95 + p&h Available: Aust—NEXUS Magazine, ph (07) 5442 9280; NZ—NEXUS Office, ph (09) 416 7320; USA—Adventures Unlimited, ph (815) 253 6390. First published in 1925, Mystery Cities of the Maya is the story of Thomas Gann's HEALING SOUNDS: The Power of Harmonics by Jonathan Goldman Publisher: Element Books, USA, UK, Australia, 1992, 1996 rev. ed. ISBN 1-85230-848-6 (188pp s/c) Price: AUD$24.95; NZD$39.95; STG£9.99; USD$14.95; CAN$19.99 82 - NEXUS Available: Aust—Sydney Esoteric Book- shop, ph (02) 9212 2225; NZ—Penguin, ph (09) 444 4965; UK—Element Books, ph 01747 851339; USA—Element Books, PO Box 830, Rockport, MA 01966. The efficacy of sound healing is being increasingly recognised worldwide as age- old Hermetic principles like "All is Vibration" are translated for a new age where science and spirituality are aligned. To sound-healer and musician Jonathan Goldman, sound has the ability to affect us on all levels—the spiritual as well as the physical, emotional and mental. Thus, sound not only has healing abilities, but pro- found transformational powers which can alter consciousness. No small wonder, then, that specific chanting/toning techniques are used in most existant ancient cultures on Earth, from shamanic Aboriginal and Siberian peoples to Tibetan monks with their "Deep Voice" chanting. In this revised edition of Healing Sounds, Goldman has written a new introduction to acknowledge the benefits he received in his 1991 sessions with monks visiting from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Tibet. It was then that he was authorised to teach the "One Voice Chord" technique. Goldman's recent progress in harmonics has given him new insights into how any- thing can be accomplished through the right vibration. In our ever-changing reality, Goldman sees sound playing a key role in adjusting to multidimensional frequency shifts, so he encourages people to gather together to create sacred sound and "a mor- phic field resonance through a unified con- sciousness". He includes a variety of heal- ing, chanting and overtoning exercises that are bound to raise those vibrations! APRIL - MAY 1997