Seven Sisters: Spiritual Messages from Aboriginal Australia

by Laine Cunningham

WINNER, CAROLINA WOMAN INSPIRATION AWARD

For readers of The Secret, A Course in Miracles, and Paul Coelho's works.

Seven Sisters harnesses Dreamtime energy to help modern people address their challenges. In this collection of essays, readers discover that love and friendship, parenting, life and the afterlife can be addressed with the unchanging wisdom of the human heart.

According to Australia's ancient cultures, all creatures and things emerged from the Dreamtime. The Dreaming is not just a collection of lore or a long-ago time; it is a living energy that flows constantly through the universe. It is then and now, divine and human, spirit and law. Because the energy is as vibrant today as ever, these ancient stories show us how to survive in a harsh world and how to thrive in our souls.

Each Aboriginal story in this collection is enhanced with an essay from award-winning author Laine Cunningham. Our modern perspectives on love and friendship, illness and joy, life and the afterlife can be enriched with this ancient knowledge. Open this book and take your own journey through the eternal Dreamtime. Along the way, you will discover that the ancient connection to god/goddess/the divine still resonates in your soul. You will discover your own truth.

These award-winning self-help essays are delivered with a custom artwork black and white interior. This new release has been enhanced with additional content on the Australia Laine has come to love. Also comes in a full-color edition with custom artwork. Both make great gifts!

Genres: Spirituality, Australia, Nonfiction

108 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2010

About the author

Laine Cunningham is a novelist and a three-time recipient of The Hackney Award. The Family Made of Dust, set in the Australian Outback, considers how Indigenous lives thrive despite oppression. Reparation is a contemporary novel of the American Great Plains. She is the senior editor and publisher of Sunspot Literary Journal, a multinational publication seeking to change the world.

Reviews

[Eden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this in a goodreads giveaway. This book has many Aboriginal stories that teach lessons. My favorite story is the first one and is called Seven Sisters, which is also the name of this collection of stories.

Overall, the collection of stories were good and definitely worth a read. I think the stories teach lessons that will help people even in our modern world.

[Jeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not recommend a book more than this one. The relevance that transcribes each and every page, through the stories and the explanations is astounding!

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you flip through the pages of Seven Sisters, before you have even read a page, you can sense a special essence about the book. The design from the cover flows through the pages giving the reader a feeling of the wholeness that Laine Cunningham shares of her knowledge of Australian Aboriginal culture.

I was attracted to the book because of a fondness for reading Indian legends and lore. Cunnningham's first-hand experiences hearing these stories and her ability to share them will not disappoint the reader. The spiritual tales include Seven Sisters, War, The Prank, The Orphan, Hunger, The Dance, Thirst, Trickery, Yandying, The Glow, and The Promise. In addition to the cultural stories, the author shares her insight into not only the ancient Aboriginal culture but also into how these tales relate to our existance today.

I was drawn to a passage from Yandying because of the interactions I observe between teens and adults.

"That left only younger, less experienced men to hunt, and that meant even less meat than before. People began to argue over the smallest thing. A missing scrap of food or an imagined slight could start a fistfight. Teenagers hid their fears behind disobediaence and elders threw insults. One experienced hunter studied these developments with despair." (p. 90)

In Laine Cunningham's commentary following "The Promise" she explained that,"It doesn't matter if you believe all, one or none of these concepts. When we began exploring these ancient stories, we undestood that while the details of culture and environment would be different, the issues would be universally human. Beliefs about the afterlife are merely a patina around core truths: a specific energy animates life; we can access the divine because it is around us and within us; we are at once perfect and striving for perfection." (p. 101)

As Cunningham concludes the book, she explains that it is her goal is to assist each individual in idenitifying the message that is meaningful to them on their own individual journey. She defines a divine consciousness that has always resided within us personally and within all cultures. (p. 105)

Her concluding paragraph is an affirmation of life. You may choose to save reading these words for when you finish reading the book.

"May your relationship with the All-knowing Force lead you to your personal truth. May the light of your own perfection illluminate your heart path. May you hold it or share it as you see fit. No matter what you choose, know that your divine beauty and your ratiant soul support all living things. (p. 105)

[Silas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. The book itself has a unique look, with interesting borders on the pages, which was a nice touch. I am not terribly familiar with aboriginal Australian culture or mythology, only having experienced a little bit in an overview world mythology class. The stories presented in this book are rather interesting fables, and reasonably well told. The book runs into problems, though, with the author's essays trying to related the stories to modern life. These felt way too preachy and many times unrelated to the original story. Honestly, I would skip those if I were to read again, and just read the original stories, which are much better. I think there are probably better books for learning about the stories of aboriginal Australia than this.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Goodreads win review. This is a very unique book about spiritual messages from Aboriginal Australia. The reason this book is so wonderful is because the author is very passionate in her quest. I just loved the message of finding our light and personal truth. It has taken me time to learn these things. But we have radiant beauty inside of us and when we share that our lives are better.

[Theresa Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven Sisters is a collection of Aboriginal stories that teach lessons. As I read each story I could think of people in my life where I could relate characters in the stories. It is a book for everyone to read.

[Bettina]

I loved this book it spoke the truth and didn’t hold back. Powerful.

[Emily Buehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know much (i.e., anything) about Australian folklore, and I found the folk tales interesting. (Sometimes they seemed a little harsh, with violence and death, but I think that's in line with other cultures' fables and myths—like remember the boy who cried wolf? I'm just not in the habit of reading folk tales anymore, and I had forgotten what they can be like.) I also found the author's interpretations (relating the tales to modern life) interesting and sometimes surprising. This book was a quick read.