The Spiritual Awakening Guide: Kundalini, Psychic Abilities, and the Conditioned Layers of Reality

by Mary Mueller Shutan

The first modern, comprehensive resource on spiritual awakenings, this pragmatic, clear guide covers everything from the first step on a spiritual journey to enlightenment, and the different types of spiritual awakenings, from mild to dramatic, we may go through.

Using the concept of the twelve layers that cover an awakened state Mary Mueller Shutan addresses every step of the spiritual journey, starting with the Self and showing how family, ancestral, past lives, karmic, archetypal, and other larger layers such as societal, cultural, global, and cosmic energies condition us to sleep and obscure our realization of an awakened state. Instructions for how to navigate through each of these layers and how to recognize where we are in our spiritual journey are included each step of the way along with common physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms that may be experienced. By addressing post-awakening states, oneness, dark nights of the soul, ego death, near-death and severe illness, psychic abilities, addictions, dietary changes, the God self, personal and collective shadow, and psychosis vs. awakening we understand the experiences we may go through while struggling with spiritual awakenings. This practical book opens new understandings of how to live in the world while going through an awakening process, and offers the revolutionary idea that we are meant to be humans, to have a physical body with physical, sensate experiences and emotions. We are meant to live in the world and be a part of it even as fully awakened individuals. This guide proposes a look at the possibility of leading a grounded, earth-bound life of work, family, friends, and other experiences in an awakened state.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2015

Reviews

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely could not set this book down.

Super fun, interesting and helpful (all synonyms in my world).

A very helpful, sober, not overly religious, or traditional culture-bound resource for anyone interested in (or undergoing) spiritual awakening.

5/5 stars ✨

[Gea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The spiritual path is not all one of peace and serenity, and as a person journeys farther along it, truly challenging or terrifying experiences can arise, from the spiritual and psychological to the very physical. This is attested to in religious literature again and again, such as Jesus being challenged in the desert, the Buddha beneath the Bodhi tree, and Saint Teresa of Avila's dramatic physical and spiritual experiences, to name just a few. For anyone on a spiritual path, or even those who aren't, but are suddenly experiencing the world in a radically different way, this book is like being thrown a life raft when you're all alone in the middle of a storming sea. It is such a relief and help!

It's also a fascinating road map of the awakening experience and while reading I thought of many books and writers (Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea, Alice Hoffman) as well as actual biblical characters, (the prophets especially) that expressed what Shutan writes of in her book. If you're interested in religion and spirituality, it's incredibly interesting.

[Kaberoi Rua · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone going through an awakening process. The author provides the understanding that there are common ways to awaken, common symptoms and guideposts that can let you know that you are making progress on your awakening journey. The book is divided into four major parts. Part one covers awakening and the twelve layers of conditioned reality. Part two is about the various types of awakenings. Part three provides details about sudden awakenings. Part four goes into the common experiences of awakening.

[shelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. The premise is compelling, and I appreciate any sincere attempt to map the terrain of spiritual awakening. But for me, the experience of reading it was frustrating.

The author lays out 12 or more distinct stages of awakening, and while she does mention that the process isn’t always linear, the overall structure still suggests a kind of fixed progression—that certain insights or phenomena should happen at certain points. In my experience, the path is far less tidy than that. Things return, overlap, dissolve. Trying to fit it all into stages felt more aspirational than real.

The tone also didn’t sit well with me. At times, the author came across as arrogant or overly self-assured, which made it hard to trust the deeper wisdom that might’ve been there. And the writing itself—honestly, it felt overworked. The sentences were often heavy, meandering, and strangely constructed. I kept wondering why the syntax felt so bogged down and what was really trying to come through underneath it all.

I’m sure this book has been helpful to some, but for me, it didn’t land. The structure felt too rigid, the tone too self-important, and the writing too weighed down to be illuminating.

[Carolyn Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and Insightful

Spiritual awakening is a very difficult topic that often lends itself to muddy writing and murky realizations based on a particular religion or agenda. This author does a brilliant job of bringing clarity to this all important and challenging topic. I highly recommend the book.

[Courtney]

This book completely resonated with me. It’s by far the most impactful, comprehensive, and authentic book on spirituality/awakening that I have ever read. I am so glad Mary exists.