Stories and practices from the casebook of pioneering transpersonal psychotherapist Ralph Metzner
• Shows how psychological problems often derive from factors not considered in conventional psychotherapy, such as prenatal imprints and ancestral connections
• Shares 15 detailed case histories from Metzner’s more than 50 years of practice
• Describes how guided imagery meditations, yogic light-fire practices, and selective use of entheogenic substances can be integrated with transpersonal psychotherapy and bring about deep healing
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, such as 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 include a wide spectrum of practices, such as the use of quiet meditative retreat, guided regressions, as well as imagery visualizations amplified by entheogens.
He describes how tuning in with the spiritual overtones of our being and the karmic undercurrents of our lives can resolve issues such as a fear of intimacy, help heal the after-effects of abuse and abortion, reconcile estranged parental and ancestral relationships, dissolve fears left over from past incarnations, and convert malignant presences into protective allies.
In addition to guided meditations, visualizations, and yogic light-fire exercises, the practices in his psychotherapy sessions at times include the selective use of small amounts of psychedelics, mind-expanding substances functioning to amplify awareness of the subtler realms of consciousness. Part of each case history gives a description of the particular visualization used, adding to 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.
About the Author
Ralph Metzner obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Harvard University, where he collaborated with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert on psychedelic research. He is the author of more than 100 articles as well as several books, including The Unfolding Self and Green Psychology. He is a psychotherapist in private practice and Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. President and co-founder of the Green Earth Foundation, he lives in Sonoma, California.
Industry Reviews
"Warning: Do not read this book if you are committed to limiting your reality to the Western scientific bias. However, do read this book if you are open to realizing that certain aspects of consciousness found in almost every society throughout history truly do exist. The moving and well-told case histories and short flashes of therapeutic breakthrough illustrate clear benefits of going beyond the Western paradigm. Without preaching or scolding, Metzner gives example after example of how much more a therapist can accomplish using tools developed and refined by other cultures. Better yet, Metzner describes the tools in full detail and how he uses them so that we are not only enlightened but empowered. Reading this book will loosen your own boundaries, let you reflect on the practical value of opening up to other realities, and surprise you with how easily and how quickly people can dissolve previously intractable pathology when guided to accessing and using altered states." * James Fadiman, Ph.D., microdose researcher and author of The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide *
"A most welcome addition to the highly influential and gifted scholarship of Ralph Metzner's vibrant life work. This erudite set of well-documented case studies profoundly illuminates the empowerment and healing to be evoked through a masterful weaving of psychedelic medicines, invocations, and divinations. As a genius alchemist of consciousness, Metzner successfully challenges erroneous accepted worldviews with insights into both how karmic undercurrents of suffering persist across generations and how close we are to healing through the powerful practices he has developed and deftly illustrated here. So potent are these insights, the reading of this visionary book is an act of receiving the vital medicine it describes." * Janis Phelps, Ph.D., California Institute of Integral Studies *
"Legendary transpersonal psychologist Ralph Metzner's deeply compelling, page-turning stories will keep your eyes glued to this one-of-a-kind book. Metzner writes with great clarity, insight, and profound knowledge. This book provides the instructions for re-creating the alchemically transformative, conscious-altering explorations that reveal possible influences from past incarnations and ancestral spirits. Metzner recounts 15 thought-provoking case histories that will surprise and instruct the curious mind as well as help those in need of psychotherapeutic assistance. With its abundance of rare knowledge, this extraordinary book can help to put much unexplained phenomena into perspective, so as to become more comprehensible, more manageable, and to help facilitate a deep healing process." * David Jay Brown, author of Dreaming Wide Awake and The New Science of Psychedelics *
"Ralph Metzner draws on his intuitive understanding of the subtleties and varieties of psychedelic experience as he recounts these very human stories of spiritual healing and family reconciliation across time and space." * Don Lattin, author of The Harvard Psychedelic Club *
"Ralph Metzner is a modern Western medicine man. His knowledge in his extraordinary stories is to be savored again and again, encouraging us to become spiritually aroused. In a larger sense, Metzner is a spiritual statesman. . . . You will enjoy this wonderful book, and your soul will be immeasurably enhanced in response." * Hank Wesselman Ph.D., anthropologist and author of The Re-Enchantment *
"Ralph Metzner has done it again! Each of his books expands the domain of human knowledge and explores neglected aspects of human potential. In Overtones and Undercurrents, he tells his readers what he has discovered as a psychotherapist who incorporates psychedelics, reincarnation, and spirituality into his work with clients. Each case history reads like a novella; in addition to his skill as a therapist, Metzner is a superb storyteller." * Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., coauthor of Personal Mythology *
