Caroline Myss

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Caroline Myss
Born (1952-12-02) December 2, 1952 (age 72)
Chicago, Illinois
OccupationTeacher, author
NationalityAmerican
Period1987–present
Genre Spirituality
Subject medical intuitive, spirituality, mysticism
Notable works Anatomy of the Spirit
Website
www.myss.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Caroline Myss (pronounced mace; 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 publishing Anatomy of the Spirit (1996). She also co-published The Creation of Health with Dr C Norman Shealy, MD, former Harvard professor of neurology. Myss describes herself as a medical intuitive and a mystic. [1]

Contents

She was on The Oprah Winfrey Show several times including her 2002 appearance. [1] In 2001 she hosted a TV series titled The Journey With Caroline Myss on the Oxygen (TV network), co-owned by Oprah 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]

Biography

Caroline Myss was born on December 2, 1952, [9] in Chicago and grew up with her parents and two brothers, one elder and one younger, in the Melrose Park, Illinois neighborhood near Chicago. [10] She was raised a Catholic in a large Polish American family, [11] and attended the Mother Guerin High School, River Grove, Illinois, run by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. [12] She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana in 1974, and started her career in journalism in Chicago. [9]

During the course of her career, she interviewed Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the author of the famous book On Death and Dying , which inspired her to pursue a master's degree in theology from Mundelein 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 giving medical intuitive readings in 1982 [14] and co-founded a small New Age publishing company, Stillpoint Publishing in Walpole, 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 with C. Norman Shealy, physician and founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, [16] with whom she later co-authored AIDS: Passageway to Transformation, in 1987, followed by The Creation of Health: The Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Responses that Promote Health and Healing, in 1988. Deriving from her practice as a medical intuitive, she started writing books, in the field of energy medicine, and healing, five of which became New York Times Best Sellers. [17] Myss wrote Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing (1996), which was followed by Why 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 spiritual archetypes. [1] She has since appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show numerous times. [18]

By 2000, she discontinued doing private medical 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 on spirituality and mysticism, [20] and lives in Oak 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 of Saint Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Carmelite 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 weekly Call-in Talk radio show, "Sacred Contracts" around 2005, at Hay House Radio, an Internet radio site, run by Hay 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]

In June 2012, Myss appeared on a Super Soul Sunday episode with Oprah Winfrey, on OWN Network. [30]

Criticism

In Michael Shermer's book The 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]

Books and recordings

Her first three books have consecutively been on The 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]

Bibliography

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Books Seen on the Show | Sacred Contracts". www.oprah.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2002.
  2. "Caroline Myss on Discovering Why You Are Here". www.oprah.com. The Oprah Winfrey Show. January 25, 2002. Archived from the original on August 20, 2002.
  3. Stanley, Alessandra (February 25, 2002). "The Oxygen TV Channel Is Bowing To Tastes". The New York Times. ProQuest   92214464.
  4. "Oxygen Debuts Spiritual Series "The Journey With Caroline Myss" Premiering Saturday, January 12 At 10 pm". Business Wire (Press release). November 28, 2001. ProQuest   446455144.
  5. 1 2 3 Molé, Phil (2002). "Holistic Medicine". In Shermer, Michael (ed.). The Skeptic: Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience (PDF). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 537–546. ISBN   1-57607-653-9 . Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Nickell, Joe (2007). Adventures in Paranormal Investigation. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. p. 216. ISBN   978-0-8131-2467-4.
  7. Wisneski, Len; Anderson, Lucy (2005). "The Scientific Basis of Integrative Medicine" (PDF). Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2 (2): 257–259. doi: 10.1093/ecam/neh079 . ISSN   1741-427X. PMC   1142191 . Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  8. Clarke, David D (2017). "Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal: by Donna Jackson Nakazawa". The Permanente Journal. 21 (1). doi: 10.7812/TPP/16-039 . ISSN   1552-5767. PMC   5224799 . PMID   28080953 . Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Spear, Jane (April 6, 2001). "Myss, Caroline (1953– )". Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. Archived from the original on June 21, 2012.
  10. 1 2 Caroline Myss' Journey www.consciouschoice.com, September 2003.
  11. Barendsen, Kristin (July–August 1997). "Why People Don't Heal". Yoga Journal. Archived from the original on June 28, 2010.
  12. "Luminary: Caroline Myss". www.shiftinaction.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008.
  13. Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth (March 1, 2008). On Life after Death, revised. Caroline Myss (foreword). Celestial Arts. ISBN   978-1587613180.
  14. "I Can Do It 2007 Conference | Caroline Myss Profile". www.icandoit.net. Hay House. 2007.
  15. Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth (1987). Serinus, Jason (ed.). Psychoimmunity & the Healing Process: A Holistic Approach to Immunity & AIDS. Celestial Arts. p. 324. ISBN   0-89087-461-1.
  16. Bio Archived March 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  17. Hardcover Advice The New York Times , April 1, 2007.
  18. Discovering Why You Are Here The Oprah Winfrey Show.
  19. Seven Days, Six Nights, One Author; If You Liked the Book, You'll Love the Tour Guide – Page 2 The New York Times , September 5, 2000
  20. Entering the Castle – Interview Beliefnet.com.
  21. Caroline Myss Author spotlight – Random House Official website.
  22. "CMED - Caroline Myss Educational Institute - Caroline Myss". myss.com. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  23. Holeman, Daniel B. "Caroline Myss: Entering the Castle of the Soul". randypeyser.com. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  24. 'God Doesn't Want Your Real Estate' Beliefnet.com .
  25. Entering the Castle Archived February 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Integral Institute.
  26. Interior Castle – Text Works of Teresa of Avila.
  27. "Caroline Myss: Defy Gravity, Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason". Findhorn Foundation. November 20, 2009. Archived from the original on July 3, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  28. Show Hosts Archived December 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Hay House Radio.
  29. Hayhouse Radio, Daily Schedule Archived May 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine www.hayhouseradio.com.
  30. ""Super Soul Sunday" Full Episode: Caroline Myss on Power, Intuition and Grace". Oprah.com.
  31. Nickell, Joe. "Joe Nickell Book Review". Unproven Claims of Caroline Myss. CSI. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  32. "Paperback Best Sellers: November 22, 1998". The New York Times. November 22, 1998.
  33. "Paperback Best Sellers: November 1, 1998". The New York Times. November 1, 1998.
  34. "Best Sellers: February 17, 2002". The New York Times . February 17, 2002.
  35. Stuttaford, Genevieve (September 9, 1996). "Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing". Publishers Weekly . 243 (37). New York.

Sources