Overtones and Undercurrents

Drawing on more than 50 years' experience as a transpersonal psychotherapist, Ralph Metzner explores the spiritual overtones, karmic undercurrents, and ancestral connections that shape our individual psychologies.

Sharing 15 detailed histories from his casebook and the innovative practices he uses in his therapeutic sessions, Metzner shows how the psychological problems we confront often derive from factors not considered in conventional psychotherapy. These factors include birth trauma, unconscious imprints from prenatal existence, memories from past lives, ancestral and familial soul connections, and even psychic intrusions.

The case histories he describes encompass a wide array of practices, including the use of quiet meditative retreat, guided regressions, as well as imagery visualizations amplified by entheogens. He explains how tuning in with the spiritual overtones of our being and the karmic undercurrents of our lives can address issues such as a fear of intimacy, help heal the after-effects of abuse and abortion, reconcile estranged parental and ancestral relationships, dissolve fears from past incarnations, and convert malignant presences into protective allies.

In addition to guided meditations, visualizations, and yogic light-fire exercises, the techniques in his psychotherapy sessions sometimes include the selective use of small amounts of psychedelics, mind-expanding substances that function to amplify awareness of the subtler realms of consciousness. Part of each case history includes a description of the particular visualization used, enhancing the book's practical use as a guidebook for transpersonal psychotherapists.

Through the healing experiences he describes, Metzner reveals how attending to karmic undercurrents and spiritual overtones can often bring about a peaceful resolution to long-standing distress and spiritual alienation.