The Angelic Origins of the Soul is a dense, comprehensive volume that is perfect for someone who has not yet found a spiritual path that resonates with them. Tricia McCannon is a widely published author and presenter on the subject of her belief system, and her deep experience working in her field is reflected in this thorough text. It is worth noting that what McCannon proposes here is an A-to-Z spiritual worldview; you aren't likely to pick out the one or two things that work for you as you might with, for example, an overview of peculiar Wiccan tradition.
McCannon starts with the belief that we are all eternal souls currently living through one in a series of mortal lives. Before inhabiting this life we (in our eternal state) chose the circumstances of this life to facilitate our purpose of existence - to learn about humanity, to help others to heal, or... anything, really. Naturally there is an ineffable quality to our thinking in the eternal state that makes for our primarily challenge in our mortal state: making sense of our self-prescribed mission. Revealing and understanding this mission is the foundation of McCannon's text.
Part 1, The Cosmology of the Soul, is a relatively concise look at the circle of life concept (birth, death, rebirth) that is essential to following along with the rest of the book. Part 2, The Landscapes of Heaven, concerns itself with where we spend our eternal state (this is my term for what she describes, by the way) and how we can occasionally glimpse it in our mortal state. Part 3, Our Genesis Matrix, is not just the nuts and bolts of creation but also the influences upon it; it is here that we delve most deeply into her particular concept of angels. It is worth pointing out here that despite the use of the word "angel" in her work McCannon is mostly going with language that her readers are likely to have some grasp of; her mythology is only Christian to the extent that she demonstrates how Christian symbology is compatible with the more all-encompassing spiritual world that she describes. Part 4 of the book puts it all together, providing what she calls the Course Curriculum of the Soul. If you've read the first three parts of the book and feel like you are called to this material, this last third of the book is your guide to exploring your world through the lens she has provided.
While there's not a lot here that translates into existing spritual paths, if you're still searching for a direction that makes sense to you then you could do a lot worse than this very in-depth and competently portrayed system.
~review by Patricia Mullen
Author: Tricia McCannon
2017, Bear & Company Books
pp. 500, $24.00
