 Hi, my name is Danny and welcome to Esoteric Moment. Today I have a book review for you. The book is Esoteric Empathy, a magical and metaphysical guide to emotional sensitivity by Raven Digitalis. This book is published by Llewellyn, so as a paperback it's beautiful. I've got one of those really nice silky covers to it. The end pages are also black and have designs and writing on them makes it really stand out as a physical book. Actual meat of the book is separated at the beginning and the end with these dark pages that have different poems or quotes on them. This provides a really unique reading experience in the physical book which you don't often get these days. So hats off to the publication part of this. The chapters all begin with this page with a little design, the title and a quote. It then goes into a empathetic antidote, the actual content of the chapter, and it's interspersed with really great meditations and activities and practical things that you can do based on what the chapter is about in the book. So overall it's put together extraordinarily well and it was really a unique and enjoyable reading experience that I haven't had in a paperback form in a while, so that was a really nice touch. Let's get into what the book is actually about. Like why should you read this book? This book is geared towards mostly people who consider themselves to be empaths. But the really interesting part of this book is you don't have to be an empath to get a lot out of this. So I found it very intriguing and really respected the way the author balanced both appealing to the main audience and yet educating the rest of the population. For clarification, I am not an embath. In fact, if I have any magical skills along those lines, I am very much on the psychic end of things and not the empathetic side of things. I really struggle with some of that emotional connectivity and thinking and respecting those people who focus on that level of emotional sensitivity. And yet I got so much out of reading this book in two ways. One, I think some of the activities really helped me balance the way I use and respond to the emotions around me. And on the other hand, I feel like I understand my friends who are more empathetic than I am in a very different way and a much deeper and holistic way. So I think the book really accomplished what it was set out to do. If you consider yourself to be an empath, I think this is a goldmine of information and understanding that you will really, really appreciate. So the book talks at the beginning about what is an empath, how do we use empathy in the world around us, and kind of just the basics. One of the things I appreciated is that in this conversation about the basics, it wasn't depicted that empaths are so sensitive that they shouldn't learn how to handle their shit. Sometimes I hear online and in other spaces this kind of perception that empaths handle this emotion and it's really overwhelming for them and so they need kind of the special space. I don't know, it almost comes across a little bit as holier than thou when certain individuals speak of their empathetic abilities and I understand that it sets you apart and that is a beautiful and wonderful gift. But sometimes I don't think it's used as a gift, talked about as if, you know, woe is me and I have no control over this. This book really mentions that yes there are pitfalls to using empathy in the ways that those in the metaphysical world do, but there are also really great ways to bring balance and, you know, methods that allow you to live an integrated and beneficial life, not an isolated one and not a holier than thou one. So I really appreciated that part of the book. There was a lot of talk about empathy and communication, a lot of talk about how to really work with empathetic energy and what that looks like and feels like for different people and different empaths, how it affects anxiety and depression. That was a really engaging part of the book as well. There is a whole chapter on grounding, shielding and energy management, which was awesome I think for anyone. There were a lot of really useful things there, some new twists to elements and rituals that I hadn't heard of before, so that was great. There was also a chapter all about approaching the mundane world is what the author called it and it had a lot of in-depth information about boundaries and how we, you know, heal and how we work with other people, which was excellent. Whether you're an empath or not, this chapter had some really important information about how you can use your gifts to heal and still honor yourself and boundaries while making a real difference and kind of this call to action that I think we're seeing in new ways, not just like be a rebel, but like we need to make lasting and improved change both on small scale and large scale and this chapter I think is so timely in the way it discusses that, right? Considering the political world we find ourselves in and the type of magical work that's needed in our communities. This book was surprisingly eye-opening and really much more useful than I thought it was going to be in my regular life. I think it was produced really well and written lovingly and has so much to offer to people. So if you are looking for a book as you are exploring your empathetic skills or you are kind of developing magical skills and gifts in general, I think you should definitely pick up esoteric empathy. I was quite surprised by it and I think you'll really enjoy it. In the comments below, I would love to hear if you consider yourself to be an empath and if so, what does that mean for you? Because that's not something that I consider myself to be and this book has really made me curious as to what that experience is like for other people. And as always, thanks for watching and may you find peace in the sacred grove.