Awakening the Planetary Mind: Beyond the Trauma of the Past to a New Era of Creativity

by Barbara Hand Clow

Completing our conscious evolution by releasing our collective fear of catastrophes

• Explains how we are on the cusp of an era of incredible creative growth

• Shows how we are about to overcome the collective fear caused by ancient catastrophes as we awaken to the memories of our lost prehistory

• Examines legendary cataclysms and scientific evidence of a highly advanced global culture that disappeared 11,500 years ago

In this completely revised and expanded edition of Catastrophobia , bestselling author Barbara Hand Clow explains how we are on the cusp of an age of incredible creative growth made possible by restoring our lost prehistory. Examining legendary cataclysms--such as the fall of Atlantis and the biblical Flood--and the mounting geological and archaeological evidence that many of these mythic catastrophes were actual events, she reveals the existence of a highly advanced global maritime culture that disappeared amid great earth changes and rising seas 14,000 to 11,500 years ago, nearly causing our species’ extinction and leaving humanity’s collective psyche deeply scarred.

Tracing humanity’s reemergence after these prehistoric catastrophes, Clow explains how these events in the deep past influence our consciousness today. Guided by Carl Johan Calleman’s analysis of the Mayan Calendar, she reveals that as the Earth’s 26,000-year precessional cycle shifts, our evolution is accelerating to prepare us for a new age of harmony and peace. She explains how we are beginning a collective healing as ancient memories of prehistory awaken in our minds and release our unprocessed fear. Passed from generation to generation, this fear has been responsible for our constant expectations of apocalypse. She shows that by remembering and moving beyond the trauma of our long lost past, we bring the era of cataclysms to an end and cross the threshold into a time of extraordinary creative activity.

Genres: Astrology, Metaphysics, Nonfiction, Spirituality

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2011

About the author

Barbara Hand Clow is an astrological counselor, an editor of books on New Consciousness, and a ceremonial teacher at sacred sites. She lives in rural new England.

Reviews

[Kat Starwolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains a Massive Amount of Great Information, But Condescends to Those Who Don’t Agree with Her

This is the third time I’ve read this book, the first time under her first imprint/publishing when it was titled Catastrophobia, and the second and third times when it was titled Awakening the Planetary Mind: Beyond the Trauma of the Past to a New Era of Creativity.

This is a jam-packed book, not only full of all kinds of information, but full of some significantly dense information that requires several re-reads in order to comprehend it all. It also helped that since the second reading I’d read various works from other authors on similar topics that further facilitated my understanding of what Clow says in Awakening the Planetary Mind.

As far as the ideas of Catastrophobia or how Humanity has been negatively affected/impacted by the planet wide catastrophes since at least 11,500 BP/9,500 BCE, Clow has done an impressive job of not only gathering the information together that explicates how it has been probable that our civilization has been horribly traumatized by these multiple catastrophes, but she continues to gather and extrapolate impressive information. She also ties together quite a bit of disparate information and lays it all out as clearly and succinctly as possible in order to prove her contentions. And I applaud her. This is definitely excellent work.

For the most part.

The three problems I have with some of her conclusions are:

1) Although she believes that Atlantis existed, she doesn’t believe that the civilizations of either Atlantis or Egypt – or any other civilization for that matter – were the result of either extraterrestrial influence or direct extraterrestrial intervention when there’s significant evidence that suggests the contrary (which I’m sure she and others would disagree with, but it is out there) –

2) She spends the good portion of one chapter accusing those who believe that we HAVE been visited by extraterrestrials of being delusional and nonsensical as she – in, again, pretty much the same breath – states that she has been in contact with another extraterrestrial group, the Syrians (from the Syrius star system) through her meditative trance states. But then –

3) She either changes her mind about NOT believing in extraterrestrials at all or that they HAVE visited Earth and/or intervened in our culture, yet she doesn’t seem to realize that in pretty much the same breath, she says that she DOES believe that the Pleiadians (an extraterrestrial race for those of you not familiar) have been visiting us!

Actually, it’s really quite interesting that Clow would say she doesn’t believe that extraterrestrials have been in contact with us, apparently forgetting that she channeled information from the extraterrestrial group, the Pleiadians, in her book THE PLEIADIAN AGENDA.

Confused yet? I sure was. Maybe that’s why I had to re-read THIS book three times!

The bottom line is, however, I was really turned off by her condescension of those who don’t believe as she does (the primary reason this book didn’t receive the full 5-Star rating), and I find it sad that she would stoop to calling names as well.

While her summation of ex Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs [sic], Zahi Hawass (according to Hawass’s website, he is the former Minister of Egyptian Antiquities) is shared by many of both his own colleagues and peers – her summation of just about everyone else she dissed was, in my opinion, beneath her.

And finally – and in spite of (in my opinion) her tendency towards condescension – her APPENDICES (as always) contain a massive amount of additional information that is quite enlightening, as is her BIBLIOGRAPHY. LOTS of great jumping off points.

In my opinion, Clow did a fairly decent job of bringing unique and important information to the world at a time when we definitely need to be aware of it.

It’s just too bad she seems to feel it necessary to do this at the expense of those with whom she does not agree.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even the worst of books, and this book is certainly pretty close to that, can be immensely helpful.  In this case, the author provides as wide variety of terrible interpretations of various aspects of heathen worldview and belief to express a hope in a period of creativity that shows the typical Janus-faced approach of many who are not self-aware.  The author makes all kinds of willful interpretations of texts and archaeological sites around the world in order to support her thesis about a supposed nearly 10,000 year old tragedy that greatly harmed humanity and left trauma in a human collective memory.  If this book is a failure, and it is definitely a failure, it is a failure for instructive reasons.  The way that the author shows a complete inability to separate in her mind the text she interprets and the interpretation she gives to it, and the way that she thinks of herself as a peaceful person but writes a text that is full of all kinds of very harsh statements made towards Christians, Jews, Muslims, rival esoteric thinkers, practitioners of Western medicine, and others suggests a lack of self-awareness about her supposed peacefulness.  A bit more humility and a bit more self-awareness would have gone a long way in making this a more tolerable book.

This book of almost 300 pages is divided into 9 chapters and five appendices.  After a foreword, acknowledgements, and introduction the author begins her book with a discussion about supposed cycles of stars and a firm belief in catastrophism that is hostile to uniformitarian geology (1).  After this the author moves to a speculative prehistory of a supposed great cataclysm, namely a great flood (2).  The author relates the bicameral brain to the Sphinx (3) and provides more speculative prehistory about a pre-flood world based on fanciful interpretations of Plato and the (4).  An entire chapter about geomacy and its connection to heathen Egyptian religion follows (5) along with a chapter that attempts to connect the Catal Huyuk ruins of Turkey to Noah's flood (6).  The author then talks about fallen angels and their connection to the stones of Ica (7) before entering into arguments about a supposed stargate (8) and the connection of "goddess alchemy" with Egyptian mystery religion (9).  Then there are five appendices, relating to an Egyptian timeline (i), the changes on the earth during the Holocene epoch (ii), some highlights of the Holocene epoch (iii), reflections on the earth's tilted axis (iv), and some thoughts about the fifth underworld and its connection to a supposed paleolithic revolution (v).

Make no mistake, this book is weird.  It is weird in the way that the author claims to have been possessed by some sort of extraterrestial beings who have given her insights, weird in the way that it combines everything from a fascinating interest in comparative heathen religion, speculations on prehistory, astrology, geomancy, thoughts about a supposed supernova which sent a fragment that supposedly caused massive damage to the earth during prehistory and that wrecked various advanced Atlantean civilizations, and thoughts about vibrations.  The author demonstrates an eclectic approach to alternative history, science, medicine, and religion that is immensely hostile to a wide variety of people, and is especially hostile to revealed religion and contemporary experimental science and mainstream history.  Obviously well-versed in various conspiracy theories, the author adopts an approach that will leave little middle ground between those readers who find her views compelling and those who find them to be absolutely rubbish.  Although I am not her spiritual authority, there is enough that is troubling in this book that the author might want to take a visit to a friendly exorcist and deal with those supposed nonmaterial extraterrestrials who she claims have possessed her, as that sounds like a serious problem that needs to be dealt with.

[Claire Titchmarsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating for anyone wondering about Atlantis and cataclysms. She writes so well, and interestingly, is thorough, researches her info properly, uses lots of different sources then ties it all together. So much to think about. Her books are a real treat, if you haven't read one yet I totally recommend this author.

[Letecia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barbara Hand Clow creates a cohesive view of Earth's prehistory drawing from other's extensive research. She presents an insightful notion that we are indeed moving into "a New Era of Creativity", but first collectively we need to address the cultural traumas of our past.

https://www.innertraditions.com/awake...

[ReConnect · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for book, full of strange data but it’s good to be aware of this kind of thinking, of this way of experiencing the world :)

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book as my favorite of 2024. Clow is the type of author that I love, one that asks big picture questions and looks for answers to the what, why and how. She blends astrology, shamanism, indigenous knowledge together as an incredible humanitarian guide of the 21st century. I can't wait to read her other books.

[Helen W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was, and continues to be, pivotal to my understanding of humanities "lot" seen within a multi-dimensional cosmology or, in simple terms, why we are the way we are, how and when that happened, where we are now, and what choices do we have in front of us as we approach the time of transformation. If you have ever wondered about "the fall" of humanity and why we seem so fixated upon things going wrong or life having to be such a struggle between dark and light, this will shed more light than you are probably used to...

Read in conjunction with Dr Carl Johan Calleman's "The Nine Waves of Creation", you then have a powerful "kit" of new understanding at your disposal; use it in your daily lives and become part of the momentum for change!

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

So far I am finding this book confusing and poorly written. She tends to mention certain things without giving a clue as to what they are as if the reader would already be as familiar with as a kitchen sink. There is no glossary to easily look them up.

I will journey on as far as I can tolerate and report back. I looked for some videos on youtube to get a better sense of her and they are generally not well known and cheesily put together. Already in the book are some weird conspiracy theories you would likely encounter on Alex Jones.