Caroline Myss (pronouncedmace; born December 2, 1952) is an American author of 10 books and many audio recordings about mysticism and wellness. She is most well known for publishingAnatomy of the Spirit (1996). She also co-publishedThe Creation of Health with Dr C Norman Shealy, MD, former Harvard professor of neurology. Myss describes herself as amedical intuitive and amystic.[1]
She was onThe Oprah Winfrey Show several times including her 2002 appearance.[1] In 2001 she hosted a TV series titledThe Journey With Caroline Myss on theOxygen (TV network), co-owned byOprah Winfrey,[2][3] exploring the spiritual and psychological roadblocks of life in an intimate workshop setting.[4]
Her work has been criticized by some as being unsubstantiated and pseudoscientific.[5][6] However, other sources suggest that energy medicine can have a place in an integrative approach to health,[7] and while some are skeptical that "our biography becomes our biology",[5]: 538 the concept may have a scientific basis.[8]
During the course of her career, she interviewedElisabeth Kübler-Ross, the author of the famous bookOn Death and Dying, which inspired her to pursue a master's degree in theology fromMundelein College, Chicago, which she completed in 1979.[9] In 2008, she wrote the foreword to Kübler-Ross's revised version of "On Life After Death".[13]
She started givingmedical intuitive readings in 1982[14] and co-founded a smallNew Agepublishing company, Stillpoint Publishing inWalpole, New Hampshire, where she also worked as an editor[15] in 1983. Next she began consulting with holistic doctors,[9] which in 1984, led to her extensive collaboration withC. Norman Shealy, physician and founder of the American Holistic Medical Association,[16] with whom she later co-authoredAIDS: Passageway to Transformation, in 1987, followed byThe Creation of Health: The Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Responses that Promote Health and Healing, in 1988. Deriving from her practice as amedical intuitive, she started writing books, in the field ofenergy medicine, andhealing, five of which becameNew York Times Best Sellers.[17] Myss wroteAnatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing (1996), which was followed byWhy People Don't Heal and How They Can (1998), which explored the reasons people do not heal through her concept of "woundology." Her next book,Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential (2002) dealt with the issue of finding one's life purpose, describing sacred contracts as a set of assignments to help one identify their particular spiritualarchetypes.[1] She has since appeared onThe Oprah Winfrey Show numerous times.[18]
By 2000, she discontinued doing privatemedical intuitive readings, and began teaching how to do them through her workshops, seminars, radio shows and guided tours.[19] She tours internationally as a speaker onspirituality and mysticism,[20] and lives inOak Park, Illinois, near Chicago.[10][21] In 2003, she founded the Caroline Myss Educational Institute (CMED) in Chicago, Illinois, with business partner David Smith,[22] offering weekend workshops on her books and teachings.
Her 2007 book, "Entering the Castle" draws upon the writings ofSaint Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-centuryCarmelite nun, who wrote her most important work,The Interior Castle (1577), towards the end of her life.[23][24][25][26] Her next book,Defy Gravity, Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason (2009) took the ideas further with mystical laws, the seven shadows and also seven graces inherent in all of us.[27]
Myss started hosting a weeklyCall-inTalk radio show, "Sacred Contracts" around 2005, atHay House Radio, anInternet radio site, run byHay House publishing, where she gave online intuitive readings to callers. Then in 2009, the show was renamed "Defy Gravity" after her book by the same name was released in October 2009.[28][29]
InMichael Shermer's bookThe Skeptic: Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, Phil Molé says "Caroline Myss offers no tangible evidence to support any of her claims. Her hypothetical energy system cannot be detected, her intuitive diagnostic abilities are unproven, and her holistic philosophy is riddled with inconsistencies and unsubstantiated judgments."[5]
Joe Nickell, a skeptic and paranormal investigator, says, "Myss provides no proof of her alleged abilities. She intuits, of course, her intuitive power, offers only hearsay testimonials and anecdotal evidence as support."[31] He has also described Myss as having "many of the traits associated with a fantasy prone personality."[6]
Her first three books have consecutively been onThe New York Times Best Seller list: Anatomy of the Spirit (1998),[32] Why People Don't Heal and How They Can (1998),[33] Sacred Contracts (2002)[34]
The Creation of Health: The Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Responses that Promote Health and Healing, with C. Norman Sheally, Three Rivers Press, 1988.ISBN0-609-80323-9.
Why People Don't Heal and How They Can, Three Rivers Press, 1997 (paperback);ISBN978-0-609-80224-3
The Creation of Health: The Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Responses That Promote Health and Healing, Three Rivers Press, 1998 (Audio CD);ISBN978-0-609-80323-3
Spiritual Power Spiritual Practice, Three Rivers Press, 1998 (audio cassette);ISBN978-1-56455-647-9
ForewordTrue Coming of Age: A Dynamic Process That Leads to Emotional Well-Being, Spiritual Growth, and Meaningful Relationships, by John T. Chirban. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2004.ISBN0-07-142681-7.
Made in Image of God – Caroline MyssThe Fabric of the Future: Women Visionaries of Today Illuminate the Path to Tomorrow, by Mary Jane Ryan, Patrice (INT) Wynne, Ken Wilber, Published by Conari, 2000.ISBN1-57324-197-0.Page 120-124.
^"Oxygen Debuts Spiritual Series "The Journey With Caroline Myss" Premiering Saturday, January 12 At 10 pm".Business Wire (Press release). November 28, 2001.ProQuest446455144.
