Dedicated to transformative healing at the level of the soul, this expansive volume surveys the craft and many accounts of specific results of what Pagani identifies as “soul healing,” starting from the premise that we all already possess the capacity to heal ourselves—and that Pagani’s task, as a “facilitator and Soul counselor,” is to guide individuals in giving “space” for the “Divine to do its work.” The nature of that guidance: revealing to individuals how to take “self-responsibility for the manifestation of what ailed us and healing it,” whether that ailment be physical, mental, or spiritual. Drawing on her long experience as a healer, including her work at New Mexico’s HeartPath Retreat, where she’s the founder and director, Pagani digs deep into general practices of soul healing a variety of ailments, then a selection of specific ones (depression, the healing of childhood wounds) with detailed case studies.

Those techniques and case studies address expected topics like disease, mental illness, addiction, and overcoming trauma, arguing that “disease points to separation from God, separation from the Source” and urging readers to re-connect to “the divine essence of the self,” an essence that our “drugged society” too often sunders, especially in times of crisis. Readers already steeped in Samsara, auras, the alignment of chakras, and the idea that “we are spiritual beings temporarily inhabiting a body” will find Pagani’s treatment thorough and illuminating; meanwhile, the book’s many case studies and testimonials, as well as Pagani’s accounts of her own journey, invite in the uninitiated.

Those case studies are frank, sometimes earthy, connected to the complexity of contemporary existence and to the effort that a healing process demands. They stand as Pagani’s most convincing material, demonstrating a correlation between the process of connecting with the Divine and positive health and wellness effects. Still, claims that photos can reveal entities that possess us and cause ailments like addiction or that lymphatic cancer means “a deep secret is eating away at one’s core” are unlikely to persuade the skeptical.

Takeaway: A soul healer’s inviting magnum opus argues, with case studies, that healing begins with connecting to the Divine.

Great for fans of: Keith Sherwood’s The Art of Spiritual Healing, Caroline Myss’s Anatomy of the Spirit.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A