Mind to Mind is the first of several Betty Shine publications to be reviewed on this blog over the coming months. Originally released in 1989, with Mind to Mind, Betty aims to provide a broad overview of her work as a spiritual healer, medium and clairvoyant.
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| Mind to Mind by Betty Shine |
Starting with a brief account of her childhood and family background - Shine claims that her grandmother and daughter also have psychic abilities - the first part of the book is almost exclusively dedicated to her personal biography and professional career, from becoming an opera singer to her venture into mineral therapy until taking up healing full-time. Shine's various psychic experiences throughout her childhood and the recollections of her time as an evacuee in rural Berkshire during the Second World War are particularly intriguing.
In this part of the book she also discusses her numerous physical ailments, which in the end prompt her to seek the assistance of a medium by the name of Horrey. Horrey diagnoses that her ill health is the result of pent-up energy, which is trapped in her body, thereby causing a physical imbalance. To relieve herself of this imbalance, she has to release the surplus energy by healing others, thus curing herself and her patients in the process.
This biographical overview is followed by an insight into Shines work, the methods she employs, her guiding principles and a wide selection of case histories. Considering the number of arthritic cases featuring in the book, it is fair to say that Shine seems to have developed a certain specialism when it comes to curing arthritis. The vast majority of ailments she claims to have cured in Mind to Mind are somehow connected to arthritis. She not only claims to be able to remove calcium deposits from arthritic joints through hands-on healing. She also relays instances, during which calcium deposits were audibly removed ('popped'), whilst treating clients suffering from arthritic conditions.
No doubt, this track record must have attracted the attention of David Icke. Not least because Shine discusses the case of one of her patients, a footballer by the name of 'David'. Meanwhile, Icke, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, describes his first encounter with Betty Shine's Mind to Mind time and again in both his current and historic output. Icke first came across the book when he was 'guided' towards it hiding in a pile of romantic novels, whilst trying to locate his son inside a bookshop on the Isle of Wight.
Himself seeking alternative ways to cure his rheumatoid arthritis, he consults Shine as a result of reading Mind to Mind. During one of these consultations, Shine channels messages, which are discussed in detail in Icke's Truth Vibrations. In fact, it is fair to say that on the basis of Icke's own account, his interpretation of Shine's messages can be considered the starting point of his very own spiritual journey.
Arthritic conditions and Icke aside, Shine also provides detailed case histories on animal healing, healing small children and teenagers as well as cancer patients of all ages. Whilst she dedicates a rather large part of the book to case histories, she also offers practical advice to her readers. This ranges from a variety of meditation and visualisation techniques to recommendations on integrating spirituality into everyday life and how best to harness what she terms 'mind energy'. All this is rounded up with a selection of practical exercises and a bibliography for further reading at the very end of the book.
Mind to Mind is a somewhat bizarre book. It is unbelievable and plausible at the same time. Shine's claims, including accounts of varicose veins being removed with the help of hands on healing and calcium deposits being audibly 'popped' through the forces of mind energy, are, to say the least, rather bold. A case of seeing (or rather, hearing) is believing, I would suggest.
Compared to contemporary mediums of the day, Shine was never really all too popular in the New Age movement of the 1980s. Considering the sheer number of publications following Mind to Mind, she was nevertheless successful at establishing her very own niche and circle of clients, most of which were somehow connected to the media and/or publishing industry in Britain at the time. David Icke, no doubt, complemented this group.
Nonetheless, Mind to Mind is worth reading. Despite focussing on her own case studies, Shine repeatedly tries to provide a realistic assessment of spiritual healing, its remit and limitations. The methods she personally advocates most prominently are surprisingly simple. These include positive visualisation techniques and meditation as well as suggestions on how best to integrate activities of this sort into daily routine. No matter whether one believes that Shine can heal her patients remotely utilising a laser beam made of 'mind energy' or not, her advice to limit negativity to no more than a maximum of five minutes per day, certainly does not cause any harm.
